Game Info
GAME NAME: Pokémon X and Y
DEVELOPER(S): Game Freak
PUBLISHER(S): Nintendo
PLATFORM(S): Nintendo 3DS
GENRE(S): RPG
RELEASE DATE(S): 12 October 2013
Last week, I got my hates on pretty hard over Nintendo and Game Freak’s insistence on releasing different versions of the same Pokémon games. While I think they’re keeping one foot planted firmly in a past where there wasn’t the technology to do things more efficiently (ahem, DLC), others argue that choosing a version is part of what makes Pokémon great. But that’s like saying side-scrolling is what makes a Mario game great, if side-scrolling made you pay twice for the same game.
A lasting video game series shouldn’t be afraid to evolve.
(Yeah. Sorry. This article is probably going to be filled with puns.)
That’s not to say Pokémon hasn’t evolved. Pokémon X and Y mark an uncharacteristically large step forward for the franchise. With its 3D world, it’s starting to look like the game we dreamt up when we imagined the potential of Pokémon on the Nintendo 64, before Pokémon Stadium triumphantly shattered those dreams. Pokémon’s evolution as a series has always been gradual. Each generation has only ever slightly tweaked the formula, so much so that I didn’t realise how much it had changed until I stumbled upon a YouTube clip from one the original Game Boy games. And, oh boy.
So before Pokémon finally makes the jump to 3D (yes, I’m ignoring the Gamecube RPGs, and you should too), let’s look back at some of the ways that the Pokémon series has evolved in the fifteen years since its English debut.
The introduction of new Pokémon
This is always the first thing people think of when they think of changes to the series over time, and it’s often brought up as a negative. The conversation usually goes, “Guys, have you seen that new Pokémon that’s a soft-serve ice-cream that evolves into a double soft-serve with a Flake? How stupid!” But, um, remember Diglett? That one worm thing that evolves into three worm things?
Of course, we’re going to remember the less-stupid Pokémon of our childhoods more fondly than the newer Pokémon, one, because of nostalgia, and two, because we’re older, a little wiser and a lot more cynical when we’re first exposed to it. Let’s face it, Pokémon has never really held up under adult scrutiny.
Like, what is Gastly? Do Pokémon die and become Gastly? Is that how you get a Ghost-type Pokémon? What about the different Ghost Pokemon? Do different Pokémon die and become different Ghost-type Pokémon? If not, what is Gastly a ghost of? And why does it faint when I inflict damage? How can I inflict damage without a vacuum cleaner? So many questions.
At the end of the day, you need to remind yourself that you’re playing a game where animals (wild and genetically modified) are raised to fight each other for the gratification of their owners. It makes zero sense, which is why a soft-serve ice-cream Pokémon makes perfect sense.
Generation II introduced 100 new collectable creatures, Generation III, 135, Generation IV, 107, and Generation V, 156, bringing the total to 649 Pokémon. Those Pokémon weren’t just more objects to collect, they came with new types and new abilities, and each additional creature has, in its own way, added another layer of complexity to the gameplay.
Besides, in the second generation, we got Delibird, a Pokémon modelled after Santa, whose key move is Present. And I don’t want to live in a world where that isn’t a thing.
Breeding
The introduction of breeding in Generation II was monumental. Two Pokémon could be left at the Pokémon Day Care, and if they were compatible (nudge, nudge), they would mate and you’d be given an egg. Depending on the mates, you’d either get all-new baby forms (like Pichu), lower-level duplications (if you had a non-legendary Pokémon shacking up with a Ditto) or super-charged Pokémon (cross-breeding Pokémon to teach their offspring specific moves and abilities).
And to think, there was once a time when Pokémon games didn’t involve forcing your collectible friends to have sex.
Multiplayer
Some of the biggest generational steps forward have been in the ways we trade and battle our friends. Early on, we had the tedious link cable. You had to stand uncomfortably close, and not move your Game Boy for fear of the cable coming loose and your save file becoming corrupted. The wireless alternatives were slightly less tedious, but it wasn’t until Generation IV that Nintendo opened Pokémon up to the world, and we were finally able to trade and battle with friend codes around the world through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
The Little Things
Even with all the larger advances that the series has made, sometimes, it’s the little things that we’re the most thankful for, like the Pokémon Center absorbing the PokéMart so that we only ever have to visit one building, being able to set items to SELECT so that we’re not always in the menu, and having Pokémon hold items life-saving more ability-enhancing items. Like having the MOVE function on the PC (has anyone actually used WITHDRAW or DEPOSIT since?), and accessing that Habitat menu in the Pokédex that features Pokémon availability ordered by region (ie, all the information I used to go online for).
Now, I can’t imagine a Pokémon game without those ’minor’ enhancements, much like I can’t imagine a Pokémon game without breeding or Delibird. But once, it existed. And hey, maybe in ten years’ time, someone will write a Stevivor feature about not being able to imagine two virtually identical Pokémon games being released at the same time. That’s the awesome thing about being a gamer, you get to see your favourite series grow, and evolve from single-serve ice-creams to double-serve, and that’s exciting.
Unless you’re a Sonic fan, then it just hurts.
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