Good and Bad Adaptations of Mainline Game Material

[Bakugames]

im late to this but i cant believe i had to see emerald slander in 2024. emerald is probably the best character in adventures tbh, hes peak. his backstory is interesting and, while kusaka is not what id call a respectful writer, we do get to see how having a disability made him be ostracized and lead him to be closed off to people and pokemon. if anything i wish pokespe had inbetween chapters to show him becoming friends with ruby and sapphire.

the big showdown is the weakest part of the arc imo but i do think its still pretty thematic, with his internal desire to finally have friends

i like to say that emerald is wally if wally was a good character. if his disability actually mattered, if he had a more cohesive plotline etc

anyway hgss and oras are so dogshit bad man. oras is personal but hgss is so ????????? WHAT are you cooking. no one is likeable, everyone annoys me, the plot is dumb as fuck AND it messed up the timeline.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Reminded of how much I like the Yellow chapter of Adventures recently. It's not strictly an adaptation of Pokemon Yellow in any sense of the word but it's such a wacky, interesting story that takes such grand liberties with all the characters involved - but never to the point that it ruins them. Particularly like the plot point about Vermilion Harbour having four massive evolution stones buried in its seabed. It pulls that classic sequel move of bringing back villains from the first story (in this case Sabrina, Koga, and Surge) to have them team up with the heroes against an even greater threat: this is a cliche I like when done well, and the Spoons of Destiny mechanic makes it feel natural and earned.

It also links to a lot of later elements - Lugia, Johto, Volt Tackle, the Silver and Rainbow Wings - without these feeling contrived. In fact, most of the "retcons" probably weren't anything of the sort given that GS was well on its way by then. Compare that to a lot of later retcons or repurposed plot elements that felt bizarre or out-of-place.

 

[Besrebs]

I liked that the Detective Pikachu movie was about, well, not Detective Pikachu per se, but that it didn't try to adapt the story of Red and Blue but just took place in the Pokemon universe. (Though they did claim that Mewtwo was *the* OG Kanto Mewtwo, which is ignorable enough. Better than the giant Torterras or the magic gas merging people and Pokemon. But I digress.)

The Fallout show was similarly praised for taking place in the Fallout universe and not just trying to adapt one of the games. Now, if the rumors about the Netflix show that a) it exists, and b) it i will focus on Red are true, that will be disappointing. It just seems like the opposite of creative. Make a new story! And don't just use the original 151!

One adaptational thing that slightly annoyed me is the lack of an adaptation: Pokemon Masters has given a lot of trainers Pokemon that the never had in the main games, but with the exception of Cynthia having Kommo-o in one episode, I don't think any of these pairings made it into the anime. In particular, this could have been a way to work some Alola mons into the Masters Eight tournament. Literally no Alolan mons appeared in that tournament! Cynthia could have used Kommo-o, Steven could have used Alolan Sandslash, heck, let Iris have her Halloween Naganadel. It wasn't in the Masters Eight, but they should have given Korrina Marshadow (ok, they wouldn't have done that in a series where one of the main characters is seeking a mythical Pokemon, but c'mon, the Sun & Moon anime showcased a ton of mythicals, including Shaymin, and Marshadow was relegated to a 5 second gag).

I totally agree - adaptations work best when they explore new corners of the world instead of just retelling the same story. If the Netflix show really ends up being about Red again, it’ll feel like a missed opportunity. There’s so much unexplored potential in regions like Johto or Galar, or even focusing on side characters from the games.

 

[Karxrida]

I totally agree - adaptations work best when they explore new corners of the world instead of just retelling the same story.

I mean is it really an adaption at that point? Genuine question. If you change too much you're not really adapting the material.

Speaking of, it's kind of funny looking back on how terribly the Inigo League era of the anime functioned as an adaptation. Now, this isn't to say the OG anime was all-around bad since it had its own charm, but hell if it didn't bother trying to depict a lot from the games. Most notable is how anything big Team Rocket does (read: the major set pieces like Silph Co.) is completely excised. While RBY admittedly didn't have much of a plot, the anime didn't even try to take what was there and tie it all together. The way the S.S. Ann was used was cool tho.