I was going to do a review of Pokemon X and Y, but I
realized that Pokemon games are enormously difficult to review. The contents of
the review have to change dramatically depending on who the audience is,
because many of the improvements from game to game, and most of my favorite new
features, are only significant to hardcore or long time players. Even major
updates to the game could be seen as revolutionary, or obvious, depending on an
individual’s connection to the series. I can talk about how the graphics are
now full 3D for the first time ever, and the camera and battle sequences take a
cue from the Pokemon Stadium games, and that will sound amazing from one
perspective, and trivial from another. Conversely, if I tell you that Destiny
Knot can now pass down 5 IVs from parents, significantly improving the yield
for IV breeding, half of you will give me blank stares while the other half
jumps up and down with glee.
So that’s why I’m going to be writing sort of a
retrospective of the Pokemon series, or the main games at least. Pokemon has
always been a game that has offered a ton of hidden complexity, under a cute,
kid friendly shell. Contrary to popular internet complaining, Pokemon has
always had hidden stats and tedious training in one form or another, but it
wasn't until comparatively recently that these factors have been well
documented and critically considered. It’s these elements of simplicity and
complexity that, when held in perfect balance, enthrall so many people and
generate record breaking sales.
These elements of complexity and simplicity, combined with a
“minute to learn, lifetime to master” mentality, are what make Pokemon so successful
and long lasting, especially in the face of competitors. Since Pokemon’s
explosive burst on to the scene in the 90s, a number of copycat, monster
collecting series have come and gone, in an attempt to capitalize on the
Pokemon frenzy. Nearly all of them, however, have fallen by the wayside,
usually as a result of elements which made their unique universes too complex
for their audience to handle. The two most famous Pokemon “knock offs” are
Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon, and while they both survive in one form or another today,
neither of them even come close to the sales or brand power of Pokemon. This is
primarily because in an attempt to be ahead of the curve, both series resorted
to creating a multitude of new mechanics and monsters much faster than their
player base could keep up with, and as a result their players gave up out of
frustration.
Pokemon is a paragon of self-control, in this sense, as they
tend to make lots of little changes gradually, so no generation of games feels
dramatically different from the previous one, and the core mechanics of the
game barely change at all. A number of critics penalize the Pokemon franchise
for “releasing the same game every year”, but unlike other series such as Call
of Duty, where worthy competition comes out at the same rate and yet they do
the bare minimum to get by and coast on their brand recognition, Pokemon was
the original big “monster collection” game, and is still the most popular one
today. Pokemon manages to outperform the competition every time, not only
because of their brand name power, but also because of the level of quality
that dwarfs every major competitor. Nintendo knows what they’re doing when it
comes to handheld games, it’s sort of their thing.
Anyway, short version is: Pokemon is great, the new game is
great, if you want a cute RPG where you can force your monsters into a pit
fight with your friend’s monsters then go buy it!
