For the triple/rotation battle fans

[SionReaver]

I'm not sure if this is the right area, so here it goes.

I've been very let down the formats weren't included and its killed a lot of my enjoyment since its my main thing. I got burned out from singles, and doubles is nice but its not quite the same for me. From what I've witnessed and others statements I think it was a hardware issue.

True, there is the popularity argument and the two definitely weren't as popular as the main ones but I don't think its entirely true since if that was the case, doubles would have been shafted long ago. People forget it wasn't too popular in the early years. That being said, its an odd spot whether it'll return or not with remakes aside since its been in two generations so far.

I'm curious of others who enjoy triples think they'll return again besides remakes or they're a thing of the past.

 

[Codraroll]

I'm pretty sure they won't return to us this generation, at least. Not without some serious optimization of the graphical software. On a regular 3DS, Double battles have a framerate comparable to most PowerPoint presentations. Adding another Pokémon on each side of the battle would likely fry the poor machine. So I bet that until the 3DS is shelved, Triples and Rotations will be.

That being said, I'm not sure if they would return even on a beefier system. Game Freak never really committed to Triple and Rotation battles. Only a handful of in-game trainers ever challenged you to these battles outside dedicated facilities, the vast majority of which were in B2W2 (famously, there was one pre-E4 Triples OR Rotations trainer in all of BW). In Gen VI, they were left as a curiosity for post-game battle facilities. Heck, in ORAS there is only one Rotation Battle trainer period, and it's even stated in-game that she's reluctant to battle you.

It seems like the battle styles were introduced for their novelty, and then turned out a hassle to implement, and confusing to new players. A gimmick that did its job, but not particularly well. Just look at how rare even Double Battles are, even before Gen VII. I think it's unlikely that Game Freak would want to commit significantly to these play styles, considering that even Doubles is a rarity in-game. Maybe they'll return for some post-game facility, but with little fanfare.