Nintendo Okie

“When I was your age there we only 151 Pokémon.”  Why do I have the feeling I will be saying that to my kids one of these days?  So far Nintendo has added at least 100 Pokémon to each generation of games.  At the moment we only know of two extra for Black and White but I’m sure more will follow. 

I think what bugs me the most is that you can’t catch all of them in the games anymore.  You have to do a file transfer with older Pokémon games to fill out your Pokédex.  It is a cool feature for hard core Pokéfans that play all the games but it isn’t really fair to newcomers.  With some Pokémon, you have to trade with other trainers with the opposite version of the game.  Again, cool for the hard core, but not so much for the n00bs.  I would really like to see those features left in but give the player a way to find the rest of the Pokémon within the game they bought.  I guess that isn’t going to happen though.  I’m sure Nintendo makes a lot of money by releasing two different versions of a game.  I realize it is a goofy thing to complain about but I can be a little OCD sometimes. 

Can someone explain to me why one version always sells better than the other?  Last month Soul Silver sold a quarter of a million more that Heart Gold.  Nobody seems to know why.  The best theory I have heard is because of the box art.  It makes sense I guess.  The games are nearly identical in every way.  So when presented with the choice, you will pick the one that looks better to you.  I remember the same thing happened with Diamond and Pearl.  I think it is odd to make two versions if the main difference is the box but obviously Nintendo knows what they are doing. 

Now we have Black and White coming out soon.  Is this going to be an oversaturation of pocket monsters?  I never finished Diamond so I didn’t see any point of picking up one of the new Pokémon games.  If I had there is no way I would be ready for Black and White to come out.  Even if I had finished one of them, I think my Pokéitch would be scratched for a while.  Was anybody else surprised to learn that Black and White are not going to be 3DS launch titles?  When I first heard the news I figured they had to be since Heart Gold and Soul Silver just came out.  A Pokégame would be a guaranteed system seller.  Again I am questioning Nintendo’s methods.  Reggie is probably taking down my name right now. 

Maybe Nintendo has a new concept for Pokémon on the 3DS.  At least I hope they do.  Don’t get me wrong the Pokémon games are awesome, but it is starting to feel a bit repetitive to me.  All the remakes don’t really help either.  Maybe I am the only one who feels like that.  What if Ruby and Sapphire are remade for the 3DS?  The timing would be about right.  Would a remake be the proper way to show off the features of a new system?  Would adding in tons of new features/mechanics be the proper way to pay homage to a classic game?

Why do we never get an RPG style Pokégame for a home console? Pokémon Snap was cool but it’s not exactly what we were looking for.  They were close with Pokémon Stadium but the fighting alone didn’t seem to be enough to carry the game.  Will has his genius idea of an open world RPG game with the combat from Smash Bros.  That would be such an awesome game.  Even if they don’t use Will’s idea, they should still make an RPG style game for a console.  It would be nice to see some more elaborate animations when my Pokémon are beating each other up. 

I imagine Black and White will result in around 600 Pokémon.  As the franchise goes on that number will only increase.  After too much longer, the creatures are going to start losing their charm and uniqueness.  Maybe that is already starting to happen.  Hopefully Nintendo doesn’t just keep adding Pokémon till nobody cares anymore.  The Big N is too smart to drive one of their most beloved (and profitable) franchises into the ground but when do they have to draw the line?  I guess in the mean time I will wait for Will’s game to become a reality.  I would settle for a Smash style fighting game with all the Pokémon in it.  Can you imagine balancing a fighting game with 495 characters in it?  Maybe that is why they don’t make a game like that.  Dibs on Ditto.  Too late, I already called him.