A retrospective editorial by Dale Campbell
Remember the days as a child, when you would put the cartage of your preferred game (at the time, either Pokémon Red or Blue, personally I played Blue a load more than Red) into the Gameboy and lose hours trying to find, at the time, all 150 Pokémon, defeating other random Pokémon trainers and discovering new cities or towns along your adventures. For the record, I am not 100 years old, but rather a traditionalist, a person who does not like changing something that works. The Pokémon franchise or brand for a lack of a better word, has evolved and sadly intern has become one of the most complex games to comprehend and cannot be simply picked up and expect to start playing.
As consoles developed throughout time, so it appears so did the Pokémon series. My first experience of this was Pokémon Stadium for Nintendo 64. Pokémon Stadium, along with the N64 Transfer Pak, brought your Pokémon to life on the ‘big screen’ and as an extra bonus mini games, for those times if you needed a break from all the stress of Pokémon training (as it is such a stressful task playing a Pokémon game.)
Shifting though time at a quicker pace (because I could be here all day), we Pokémon games outside of the “traditional method” include Pokémon Pinball, Pokémon Snap, Pokémon Puzzle, Pokémon Channel (or Pokémon TV), Pokémon Dash among others. Oh, we better not forget the disaster that was My Pokémon Range for the Wii (that I played!) a game that lets you watch as Pokémon and Miis interact with each other for the first time. Enjoy the relaxing Ranch life by viewing your Ranch and its Pokémon, taking pictures of their activities, and sending those pictures to your friends! (YUCK!)
Lastly let’s not forget that Pokémon can teach your children how to type, with help from the Nintendo DS. No Pikachu does not send shocks to your child if they get a word wrong, however the more accurate they type, the more chances Pokémon will appear, teaching them...something. Sadly as research for this article, I picked this game out of the bargain bin at a local game store and was disappointed, both at the game and the fact that Pokémon has gone off on this path.
To Nintendo and their resent Pokémon releases credit, they have been returning to the traditional plot and premise of ‘Gotta Catch Em All.’ Surprisingly, I can forgive the Pokedex growing to irresponsible numbers and recreate itself as it just adds more challenges for the player. With the release of Pokémon X and Y upon us, it quite exciting that, with the addition of some really cool technologies, it’s good to see Nintendo returning to a ‘modified traditional’ way of handling Pokémon franchise. But then again unfortunately, this run will only last so long and then the question will become, “How will Nintendo play with my Pokémon concept this time?”
