I kinda like the resource management of items you sort of have to do with bag items in the games. Like healing items, Pokeballs etc. Like using worse Pokeballs on weaker mons and saving better Pokeballs for stronger mons. It's simple but I kinda like it
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https://m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Eternal_Battle_Reverie
While this is the easiest battle facility challenge in the series (aside from SwSh Battle Tower?!), I like how Pokémon made a battle facility challenge where Arceus of all things is the leader and it willingly sends a bunch of Pokémon up to level 100 to battle you, including legendary gods like Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, and lake trio. There are no restraints with this battle facility. You can bring anything and face who are literally all the most powerful Pokémon of the game. Arceus itself is the boss fight after a 49 streak win. Unlike normal battle facilities, it doesn't matter if they are some major box art legendary. You can still battle them here.
It doesn't even take a high streak to get as far as facing level 100 legendary mascots and you can already face them at level 80 minimum right from the beginning. This, alongside the system USUM's Battle Agency holds (ignoring online requirement) is the type of battle facility I've always wanted Gamefreak to make back when I was a kid.
While this is the easiest battle facility challenge in the series (aside from SwSh Battle Tower?!), I like how Pokémon made a battle facility challenge where Arceus of all things is the leader and it willingly sends a bunch of Pokémon up to level 100 to battle you, including legendary gods like Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, and lake trio. There are no restraints with this battle facility. You can bring anything and face who are literally all the most powerful Pokémon of the game. Arceus itself is the boss fight after a 49 streak win. Unlike normal battle facilities, it doesn't matter if they are some major box art legendary. You can still battle them here.
It doesn't even take a high streak to get as far as facing level 100 legendary mascots and you can already face them at level 80 minimum right from the beginning. This, alongside the system USUM's Battle Agency holds (ignoring online requirement) is the type of battle facility I've always wanted Gamefreak to make back when I was a kid.
Just finished a themed run of Ruby using all the Pokemon that would later gain a Fairy typing (including Altaria via its Mega) and it reminded me how much I enjoy replaying the older games with one or two simple restrictions. Gen 3 is such a smooth and streamlined game experience and I never get tired of traversing RSE Hoenn.
Also, while I'd generally say Emerald is strictly superior to RS, being forced to play Ruby to gain access to Mawile ended up working out super neatly for a couple reasons. The busted Pickup table meant I could accumulate resources in the early game (particularly when I first caught Ralts and had to raise it with Struggle strats) which I later realised was crucial for beating Wattson, since the only way Kirlia/Azumarill/Mawile realistically gets past him without overlevelling is if you buy Flamethrower from the Game Corner for Mawile and stuff it with Calcium and Carbos. Having Steven as the Champion was also fitting: the Steel-type specialist against my team of future Fairies.
Speaking of Steven, it was fun (if a little anticlimactic) trouncing him with Iron Defense+Flamethrower+Baton Pass Mawile into Gardevoir, which Traced Claydol's Levitate and ended up at +6 in Def/SpA/SpD and evasiveness before smashing everything else on the team. I like that Gen 3 has fairly sparse and suboptimal move options with juuuust enough room for some fun stuff.
Also, while I'd generally say Emerald is strictly superior to RS, being forced to play Ruby to gain access to Mawile ended up working out super neatly for a couple reasons. The busted Pickup table meant I could accumulate resources in the early game (particularly when I first caught Ralts and had to raise it with Struggle strats) which I later realised was crucial for beating Wattson, since the only way Kirlia/Azumarill/Mawile realistically gets past him without overlevelling is if you buy Flamethrower from the Game Corner for Mawile and stuff it with Calcium and Carbos. Having Steven as the Champion was also fitting: the Steel-type specialist against my team of future Fairies.
Speaking of Steven, it was fun (if a little anticlimactic) trouncing him with Iron Defense+Flamethrower+Baton Pass Mawile into Gardevoir, which Traced Claydol's Levitate and ended up at +6 in Def/SpA/SpD and evasiveness before smashing everything else on the team. I like that Gen 3 has fairly sparse and suboptimal move options with juuuust enough room for some fun stuff.
HGSS Morty marks the precise turning point where human character design in mainline Pokemon started to get really good.
I raise you
Emerald:
Crystal:
One could actually argue Jasmine’s Crystal art is better than her HG/SS art tbh.
I really like ORAS' redesign of Mt. Pyre. Moving the outside entrance to the third floor means you have to go through at least some of the dungeon to make story progress -- in RSE, it was basically entirely skippable due to being on the bottom floor. That's also just very odd geographically and is done in a way where on the other hand to skipping the interior dungeon, it's very easy to miss the outside exit, while in ORAS it's made central to the third floor and you have to go near it if you want to go further up the interior as well. The "optional dungeon" aspect also isn't entirely missed out on, as there's still a fourth floor you can skip. Removing the broken floor puzzle also gives a feeling of the place being better maintained, which is especially nice if you played RSE when you were younger like me
The new Team Star online competition is great, not just because I think the gimmick competitions are really cute conceptually, but because they're dedicated to only using pokemon used by the 5 star bosses means that Pawniard (since its on Giacomo's original team) & Primeape (since Eri has it on her rematch team alongside Annihilape) specifically are allowed
It's so silly. I hope they do a gym leader version of this so I can see the list of pokemon include things like Nymble & Smoliv.
It's so silly. I hope they do a gym leader version of this so I can see the list of pokemon include things like Nymble & Smoliv.
The final three major first party Switch games that we know of are:
-Metroid Prime 4, whose main villain has been teased in various games for over a decade
-Pokemon Legends Z-A, a sequel to a game famous for its cut content whose third mascot never got its story told
-Xenoblade X DE, a rerelease of another game with lots of cut content that originally ended on a cliffhanger
This wasn't intended at all but it's nice that the last year of the Switch accidentally got this appropriate throughline of "tying up loose ends"
-Metroid Prime 4, whose main villain has been teased in various games for over a decade
-Pokemon Legends Z-A, a sequel to a game famous for its cut content whose third mascot never got its story told
-Xenoblade X DE, a rerelease of another game with lots of cut content that originally ended on a cliffhanger
This wasn't intended at all but it's nice that the last year of the Switch accidentally got this appropriate throughline of "tying up loose ends"
Nintendo tying up the loose ends before the next console flop.
GC -> Wii -> Wii U -> Switch -> Flop
;)
I'm fairly certain Coronis is joking, but yeah.
Also the Wii U had a lot of things that contributed to its failure, many of which Nintendo is already aware of and made active efforts to rectify with the Switch which has led to it becoming the behemoth that it is now. But most of all was one that was rooted in the original Wii itself. The Wii may have been a commercial success but it had little longevity once the novelty of motion controls wore off. It ultimately became a fad that people lost interest in and it lost all momentum by 2010. No one took the Wii seriously as a proper gaming console and anyone who was seriously invested in games gravitated to the PS3 and Xbox 360 instead. Which basically meant by the time the Wii U was revealed the general sentiment towards it, for those who did understand what it was, was that of apathy. In other words, "yeah cool Nintendo. Nobody cares.". The Wii U was never going to succeed in trying to ride off the "success" of a platform no one cared about anymore. That is of course in addition to how severely disadvantaged the Wii U itself was in many ways compared to the PS4 and Xbox One, on its own it was not a very compelling product even for those who did understand what it was.
Meanwhile the Switch has had not only incredible commercial success but incredible longevity. The hybrid home+on-the-go machine concept of it is so brilliant and well executed that it's become a device that not only was amazing at launch but has withstood the test of time. Add that to a constant stream of great games coming out for it and it's become something that not only do people buy but they're still using their Switches to this day. The vast majority of people who bought Switches are still regular users of it. And it shows because right now anticipation and interest in the upcoming Switch successor is quite high and many are excited for what Nintendo is gonna do next. Everyone's down for a new and better Switch console iteration.
(Not to mention the Switch 2 will of course have Pokemon. Nintendo's portable consoles have always been successes thanks to them being the place of the Pokemon games, and we all know atp how much of a juggernaut the Pokemon brand is. Mainline Pokemon being on it will most certainly ensure a substantial number of sales for Switch 2 hardware).
Also the Wii U had a lot of things that contributed to its failure, many of which Nintendo is already aware of and made active efforts to rectify with the Switch which has led to it becoming the behemoth that it is now. But most of all was one that was rooted in the original Wii itself. The Wii may have been a commercial success but it had little longevity once the novelty of motion controls wore off. It ultimately became a fad that people lost interest in and it lost all momentum by 2010. No one took the Wii seriously as a proper gaming console and anyone who was seriously invested in games gravitated to the PS3 and Xbox 360 instead. Which basically meant by the time the Wii U was revealed the general sentiment towards it, for those who did understand what it was, was that of apathy. In other words, "yeah cool Nintendo. Nobody cares.". The Wii U was never going to succeed in trying to ride off the "success" of a platform no one cared about anymore. That is of course in addition to how severely disadvantaged the Wii U itself was in many ways compared to the PS4 and Xbox One, on its own it was not a very compelling product even for those who did understand what it was.
Meanwhile the Switch has had not only incredible commercial success but incredible longevity. The hybrid home+on-the-go machine concept of it is so brilliant and well executed that it's become a device that not only was amazing at launch but has withstood the test of time. Add that to a constant stream of great games coming out for it and it's become something that not only do people buy but they're still using their Switches to this day. The vast majority of people who bought Switches are still regular users of it. And it shows because right now anticipation and interest in the upcoming Switch successor is quite high and many are excited for what Nintendo is gonna do next. Everyone's down for a new and better Switch console iteration.
(Not to mention the Switch 2 will of course have Pokemon. Nintendo's portable consoles have always been successes thanks to them being the place of the Pokemon games, and we all know atp how much of a juggernaut the Pokemon brand is. Mainline Pokemon being on it will most certainly ensure a substantial number of sales for Switch 2 hardware).
The real question there is justifying people who already own a Switch to buy a Switch 2.
It's taken several years to start justifying selling off your PS4 to get a PS5. Unless Nintendo starts making all their new IPs Switch2 only, many people will not justify spending another 400+ bucks for a console when they already own the previous one.
Meanwhile other companies are already reluctant to make Switch ports due to how weak the console is and how less the games sell on them (with limited exceptions) compared to PS/PC/Xbox, and now having to make ports for TWO mediocre consoles isn't going to be exactly enticing.
I wouldn't automatically say Switch 2 will be a success nor a flop, but depending on how the console, the release and the following game releases are handled, it could very well be either a major W or a disastrous L.
Remember, a major contributor to Switch success was Covid. People being stuck at home for long time invested in consoles and Switch was one of the cheapest and better investment since it's portable and you can carry it around on travels.
Pokemon and Mario alone aren't going to carry the console sales, *expecially* if they also release on OG Switch. It'll need more than that.
I don't see much reason to assume they'll do what Sony does and put out everything on Switch 1 & 2. That's just hamstringing your developers who are extremely running into walls on your own system for no real reason.
I also recall that Switch 1 was doing very well for itself before covid (what with being on the market for like 3 entire years), so while I'm sure that helped significantly it was still like. Doing pretty good.
I also recall that Switch 1 was doing very well for itself before covid (what with being on the market for like 3 entire years), so while I'm sure that helped significantly it was still like. Doing pretty good.
How dare you assume! But yeah I was.
I mean, the only reason they were making Wii U titles compatible with the Switch e.g BotW was because the Wii U was such a failure, no? I’m assuming they’ll be making things exclusive to the next console, and hopefully with a strong selection of exclusive games at release, likely propped up with Switch ports of smaller/3rd party games.
And I wouldn’t underestimate Pokemon/Mario, they definitely can hard carry a handheld, and even on the Switch from figures I can find.. 6 of the best selling titles are either Mario or Pokemon and Mario/Pokemon overall have been like, a third of the Switch’s software sales. I don’t doubt there’ll be a new AC game either.
Diamond and Pearl certainly had their issues, but looking back I don't think it's appreciated or talked about enough that those games contained every Pokemon in the series at that point (minus the obvious exception of all the previous gen's starters and legendaries, and of course Tropius and Tangela). No other game since has had anything like that - even B2W2, with their massive addition of older-gen Pokemon and the various species obtainable from the Dream Radar, don't even come close.
Junichi Masuda once wrote on his blog that he wanted Diamond and Pearl to be the "ultimate" Pokémon versions and I think that this single aspect went a long way towards that goal. Sinnoh is of a comparable size to both Hoenn and the combined Kanto-Sevii area, yet both those regions only contained around 250 species each - Sinnoh crams in over 440 with various different methods like the Pokeradar and the dongle feature.
It's one of the very few notable things about BDSP, that they contain even more Pokemon than the originals did - afaik literally every one of the first 493 Pokemon except Celebi, Deoxys, Manaphy, and Phione are obtainable in those titles. Pretty damn cool if you ask me.
Junichi Masuda once wrote on his blog that he wanted Diamond and Pearl to be the "ultimate" Pokémon versions and I think that this single aspect went a long way towards that goal. Sinnoh is of a comparable size to both Hoenn and the combined Kanto-Sevii area, yet both those regions only contained around 250 species each - Sinnoh crams in over 440 with various different methods like the Pokeradar and the dongle feature.
It's one of the very few notable things about BDSP, that they contain even more Pokemon than the originals did - afaik literally every one of the first 493 Pokemon except Celebi, Deoxys, Manaphy, and Phione are obtainable in those titles. Pretty damn cool if you ask me.
This image from the leaked XY storyboards
> Hakase on panel 9
Atsuko Nishida is absolutely insane and doesn't get nearly enough credit. This is the woman who designed:
-Pikachu(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
-The first form Kanto starters + Charizard and its X Mega form
-Every Eeveelution besides Jolteon and Flareon
-And more
This resume should put her in the same conversation as Walt Disney and Jack Kirby and yet even within the core Pokemon fanbase she isn't brought up that often
-Pikachu(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
-The first form Kanto starters + Charizard and its X Mega form
-Every Eeveelution besides Jolteon and Flareon
-And more
This resume should put her in the same conversation as Walt Disney and Jack Kirby and yet even within the core Pokemon fanbase she isn't brought up that often
I always think back to even as late as Gen 4, where the general idea in both the fandom and just general regular perception if it ever came up was Sugimori explicitly made everything.
To an extent it's understandable, even with credits information about who designed what was pretty loose and also most of us were children going into teens, but even post-gen 5 -where we had a variety of interviews talking about how everyone contributes to design work and of course James Turner- I'd still see some of that sentiment applied to either the games as a whole or the "early" games specifically. I feel like it only really picked up in the past however many years as we've gotten more people international interviews, social media credits, people pulling out older interviews and comments, and leaks of development materials.
Still does feel like Nishida should be on more people's lips. Wonder how much of it at this point is just not seeing the name enough to commit it to memory.
Literally prior to reading this post I'd no idea who A. Nishida is. Man I need to hit the sites for who designed who.
For some people like me, what Sony is doing is exactly what has killed both hope on them and any desire of buying the next console as well.
It isn't exactly a fair comparison since unlike the Switch, the PS5 doesn't do anything to distingish itself from a PC (and I don't even own a gaming one) but that's evwn worse. You are expected to pay hundreds for what is esentially graphics update, because it has less exclusives than the Virtual Boy. It's hard to imagine the Switch 2 messing up that badly, even if they don't add a new gimmick (like sure it's Nintendo, they will try, trough it's hard to top the handled thing). Just by virtue of existing, Mario and eventually Pokemon and Zelda are going to sell consoles. Meanwhile the PS5 doesn't have any breakthrought games because everyone and their grandma are also avaliable in PS4. The only games I'm sad about missing out in all the time the console has been out (half its lifespan) are Sparking Zero and Monster Hunter Wilds...which would be fixed if I had an up to date PC as they are not even exclusives! Even ignoring Pokemon, that's not going to happen with most Nintendo IPs. And even then the Wii U being a failure didn't end on them releasing games for the Wii at the same time. What Sony is doing is not only perplexing, but also showing how little of substancial change is on their new gen.
Like it's worse for my money and it's pure capitalism, but I would hope Nintendo doesn't follow Sony's steps...and as you say, why would they? It isn't like they are, as the console wars people say, "winning the generation". At least around here, the PS5 is a meme both because of the initial avaliabity issues and because of the lack of games.
My only real point here is that I'm way more likely to buy a Nintendo console blind than a Sony one after this gen. The PS5 situation is not the usual one so I see no reason to expect it- even if Switch 2 ends up being compatible with Switch games (trough personally that's more of a reason to buy it). I probably won't do it right away for financial reasons, but at least I have no worry of potentially feeling like my money was spent in a pointless way.
(This long rant mainly comes because I almost bought a PS5 and thanks Arceus I didn't because I'm already salty about it without one lmao)
I remember when Haxorus' design origins were revealed, because I saw people that argued than Sugimori not doing it was the reason behind the designs of Unova being bad/weird. (Despite Haxorus itself being quite standard to say, Gen 4 if you ask me)
I think that most people who don't spend much time in the fandom probably still think it was all Sugimori-I had a friend who ranted to me about James Turner and SWSH, and years later I can only laugh at it because he talked like if he was new at that moment. Similarly, a lot of people seemed surprised Sada and Turo were his work.
God soooooo many "these designs suck [any generation] -> it's because sugimori doesnt do them all anymore" posts in retrospect.
People can never just not like a design, it's always gotta be both a sign of a larger problem and also this one guy in particular I can yell at.
What's funny is that the klink line, a hated gen V objectmon was designed by Sugimori.
The moral is caraleful who you blame.
The moral is caraleful who you blame.
Did she not design much past Gen 1? If so it's very cool they brought back Charizard's original designer for one of its new forms