Little things you like about Pokémon

Just quickly responding to Suspicious Derivative post that was before mine:

Running Shoes: Running Shoes were definitely a defining addition to the games. It's just a shame the "always on" button for the Running Shoes they had in HGSS didn't stick around. I also miss the skates from XY, they felt like a fresh take on the Running Shoes, and you could perform tricks with them!

Release Event: I like the Release Events which gives you a Pokemon you feel alright using in-game, pretty much the ones from XY on (though I didn't train up the Shiny Beldum cause in the back of my head I want to raise a Shiny "right" though honestly I should have just trained it); them having Hold Back and/or Happy Hour also doesn't hurt having them around. Not that I don't like the Victini or Genesect events, but it just kind of feels cheap to be using a Legendary early in the game.

Wild Starter: Would be neat if they added secret locations where you could find where they raise the Starters and maybe be able to battle wild ones (or they let you battle and catch ones which have evovled since obviously they're not going to be given to the Professor to give out; and they could give those their HAs like in XY).

Pokedex Encounter: I do like it pointing out when you encountered a new Pokemon as it serves a functional purpose being a Pokedex. There are plenty of things Rotom Dex does good... the problem is the main thing it doesn't is a bigger problem: not knowing when to shut up.

Detective Barricade:
When was the last time you watched the anime? Around mid-Hoenn they had an entire cast change when PUSA took over dubbing from 4Kids.

Team Rocket Takeover:
And wow, I didn't think to even check Pokemon's Twitter! For the entire day they had Team Rocket writing posts, asking what should they do next in their plan to capture Pikachu, had questions and polls, etc.. Got to hand it to PUSA, they really went full in on the idea.

Not everyone on Twitter was receptive but they hardly responded to that many anyway.

They also added some articles to Pokemon featuring Team Rocket, some of them even throwing shade onto Ash! Trainer Spotlight of the Rocket Trio, Hideout Evaluation, TR's Pokemon Episodes, & Team Rocket through the TCG.

Overall, a nice little April Fools Day event from Pokemon. :)
No mention of those amazing slowpoke tail noodles for April Fools Day. I'm surprised. I thought you would jump all over those. Either way, those slowpoke noodles adverts that they showed off for april fools day was pretty funny, and actually looked tasty. Am I now a bad person for saying that.
Just look at them being happy over mutilating a slowpoke

No mention of that Eevee wresting that Japanese wrestler named EVIL, either . That one looked cool, but I couldn't read any of the things that were said, so I'm just going to assume Eevee beat up that wrestler.
 
I like when random route trainers use starters as well. In newer games the starters are mostly unique to you and your rival, but in Kanto and Sinnoh you'll see random Wartortles or the odd Infernape, which honestly makes more sense. Why would only we get gifted a super unique Pokemon as our first?
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
Pikachu315111 about sometime in the Diamond and Pearl season.
Huh, in that case maybe he sounds different because Carter Cathcart got more familiar with his character and started giving his own interpretation of James. Or, it could also just be that we're so used to the Eric Stuart version (you know, the version we knew as kids) it's easy to forget how he currently sounds like as, when we think of James, we default to Eric Stuart's voice of him automatically.

No mention of those amazing slowpoke tail noodles for April Fools Day. I'm surprised. I thought you would jump all over those. Either way, those slowpoke noodles adverts that they showed off for april fools day was pretty funny, and actually looked tasty. Am I now a bad person for saying that.
Just look at them being happy over mutilating a slowpoke

No mention of that Eevee wresting that Japanese wrestler named EVIL, either . That one looked cool, but I couldn't read any of the things that were said, so I'm just going to assume Eevee beat up that wrestler.
Oh, that was an April Fools thing? I thought they were just announcing Pokemon themed ramen noodles. XD

I'm guessing you're talking about this:

Along with this "in-game" screenshot.

It's not a wrestling thing, it's a Tekken 7 thing. Bandai Namco and Katsuhiro Harada looked to have used their current connection with the Pokemon Company (being they, you know, are the developers of Pokken Tournament and are gearing up to release more DLC for it) to joke they're adding Eevee to the roster... of Tekken 7, the screenshot showing an obviously photoshopped Eevee plush fighting Devil Jin (LONG story, I vaguely know about it but from what I understand the story of the Tekken series is even more confusing and nonsensical than Kingdom Heart's story).

Anyway, it was funny thought not really anything noteworthy.
 
(LONG story, I vaguely know about it but from what I understand the story of the Tekken series is even more confusing and nonsensical than Kingdom Heart's story).

Anyway, it was funny thought not really anything noteworthy.
How could any bestselling game series be more confusing than Kingdom Hearts? I understood less about the storyline after I finished Kingdom Hearts 3D than I did at the beginning.

I miss the Battle CDs from Pokemon XD. They were fun little puzzles that used competitive battling mechanics.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
How could any bestselling game series be more confusing than Kingdom Hearts? I understood less about the storyline after I finished Kingdom Hearts 3D than I did at the beginning.

I miss the Battle CDs from Pokemon XD. They were fun little puzzles that used competitive battling mechanics.
Kingdom Hearts keeps adding to its story and more questions. From what I understand of Tekken's story, they keep changing/retconning the story. But to be fair, Tekken is a fighting game first off while Kingdom Hearts is an RPG where story is important so you could say failure to make people understand the story is more worse due to that then a fighting game constantly trying to justify why certain characters have returned when in the last game they got killed off in the story mode or want to add a new mechanic.

But back on topic, Battle CDs were a neat idea as well as Battle Bingo.
 
Huh, in that case maybe he sounds different because Carter Cathcart got more familiar with his character and started giving his own interpretation of James. Or, it could also just be that we're so used to the Eric Stuart version (you know, the version we knew as kids) it's easy to forget how he currently sounds like as, when we think of James, we default to Eric Stuart's voice of him automatically.



Oh, that was an April Fools thing? I thought they were just announcing Pokemon themed ramen noodles. XD

I'm guessing you're talking about this:

Along with this "in-game" screenshot.

It's not a wrestling thing, it's a Tekken 7 thing. Bandai Namco and Katsuhiro Harada looked to have used their current connection with the Pokemon Company (being they, you know, are the developers of Pokken Tournament and are gearing up to release more DLC for it) to joke they're adding Eevee to the roster... of Tekken 7, the screenshot showing an obviously photoshopped Eevee plush fighting Devil Jin (LONG story, I vaguely know about it but from what I understand the story of the Tekken series is even more confusing and nonsensical than Kingdom Heart's story).

Anyway, it was funny thought not really anything noteworthy.
Yeah, I distinctly think of Eric Stuart's performance of the character. Still amazes me that the voice actor for James of Team Rocket (and Brock. And I think Scyther) was also responsible for the voice of Seto Kaiba in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. Either way, it probably is me remembering Eric Stuart's James over Carter Cathcart's, and either way it's quite the effort on the Pokemon YouTube Channel's part to bring in the actual voice actors for everyone's favorite misfit trio of ne'er-do-wells for this little April Fools video.
 
Oh, that was an April Fools thing? I thought they were just announcing Pokemon themed ramen noodles. XD

I'm guessing you're talking about this:

Along with this "in-game" screenshot.

It's not a wrestling thing, it's a Tekken 7 thing. Bandai Namco and Katsuhiro Harada looked to have used their current connection with the Pokemon Company (being they, you know, are the developers of Pokken Tournament and are gearing up to release more DLC for it) to joke they're adding Eevee to the roster... of Tekken 7, the screenshot showing an obviously photoshopped Eevee plush fighting Devil Jin (LONG story, I vaguely know about it but from what I understand the story of the Tekken series is even more confusing and nonsensical than Kingdom Heart's story).

Anyway, it was funny thought not really anything noteworthy.
Nah, he's talking about this:

From New Japan Pro-Wrestling as an April Fool's joke.

I can't read Japanese either, I just remember seeing it on reddit earlier this week and memory + google-fu was strong enough to find the original source.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
JWittz just released a video for his favorite TCG art. It was a fun video to watch and I pretty much agreed with everything he said (not exactly of course, probably would have different favorites, but I do like the "overall" showcases he done such as the HGSS Energy Cards (they really should do more artistic stuff with the Energy Cards), Tomokazu Komiyu art, cards that tell a story (and I agree with the favorite choice), and the dual Legend cards. However there's a particular group I want to talk about and that's the recent full art Supporter Cards of trainers from the games. While some are kind of bland/generic, there's a few which add some character to the character.






... And some which are just shameless...


 

Tenebricite

Leader of the Pawniards
is a Top Tiering Contributor
OUPL Champion
JWittz just released a video for his favorite TCG art. It was a fun video to watch and I pretty much agreed with everything he said (not exactly of course, probably would have different favorites, but I do like the "overall" showcases he done such as the HGSS Energy Cards (they really should do more artistic stuff with the Energy Cards), Tomokazu Komiyu art, cards that tell a story (and I agree with the favorite choice), and the dual Legend cards. However there's a particular group I want to talk about and that's the recent full art Supporter Cards of trainers from the games. While some are kind of bland/generic, there's a few which add some character to the character.






... And some which are just shameless...


What would have made the "favorite choice" card perfect imo is if there was some connection with the moves as the mon evolved, although I suppose that's not in the competitive spirit of the TCG.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
New music video, this time starring Staryu and Starmie (Misty approves). BUT for some reason they're not subtitled. Oh well, at least its a catchy tune:

Also, a while back on the Japanese Youtube channel they had Shigeru Ohmori (director for SM) and Kazumasa Iwao (co-director for USUM) do quick segments where they played two version of "Who's That Pokemon". First was a blindfold challenge where they were given a Pokemon plush and the second was the traditional silhouette challenge. On the English channel they finally subtitled both, having released the blindfold challenge in April and the traditional silhouette challenge today. Both videos are cute and funny, and they get ALMOST all the Pokemon right:
Poor Brionne...

They also totally should have done the "Jigglypuff seen from above" gag, just to see if they get it. :P
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
So, apparently there's a real like Bulbasaur. Or rather, there was a real life Bulbasaur.

In 2017 a prehistoric animal (a species and new genus of dicynodont, an infraorder of therapsids/synapsids (proto-mammals which had reptilian like appearance) which were notable for their squat bodies and tusks) was identified. It had a unique skull morphology, it's nasal bosses were unusually bulbous compared to other related species. So, for its genus, they combined the Latin word "bulbus" (after it's unique nasal bosses) with the common suffix for prehistoric animals "-saurus" to get "bulbasaurus". While having a perfectly logical explanation, the describers of it did note that the similarity in name "may not be entirely coincidental". And that's further proved by its species name, phylloxyron, coming from the Latin words "phyllos" which means "leaf" and "xyron" which means "razor"; phylloxyron means "leaf razor", a reference to its keratin covered jaws which were used to cut leafs like a razor... and is just a swapped phrase of the move "Razor Leaf" which Bulbasaur popularly associated with.

(Artist interpretation of it)

I'm kind of hoping if they find any more species of the genus they're all named after either Grass-type moves or Bulbasaur's Abilities... :P
 
So, apparently there's a real like Bulbasaur. Or rather, there was a real life Bulbasaur.

In 2017 a prehistoric animal (a species and new genus of dicynodont, an infraorder of therapsids/synapsids (proto-mammals which had reptilian like appearance) which were notable for their squat bodies and tusks) was identified. It had a unique skull morphology, it's nasal bosses were unusually bulbous compared to other related species. So, for its genus, they combined the Latin word "bulbus" (after it's unique nasal bosses) with the common suffix for prehistoric animals "-saurus" to get "bulbasaurus". While having a perfectly logical explanation, the describers of it did note that the similarity in name "may not be entirely coincidental". And that's further proved by its species name, phylloxyron, coming from the Latin words "phyllos" which means "leaf" and "xyron" which means "razor"; phylloxyron means "leaf razor", a reference to its keratin covered jaws which were used to cut leafs like a razor... and is just a swapped phrase of the move "Razor Leaf" which Bulbasaur popularly associated with.

(Artist interpretation of it)

I'm kind of hoping if they find any more species of the genus they're all named after either Grass-type moves or Bulbasaur's Abilities... :P
Sorry, Bulbasaur, but Aerodactyl beat you to it.

1527975057924.png


It's nice to see how Pokemon get named after real-life things... only to end up getting real-life things named after Pokemon.
 
Sorry, Bulbasaur, but Aerodactyl beat you to it.

View attachment 119619

It's nice to see how Pokemon get named after real-life things... only to end up getting real-life things named after Pokemon.
Aerodactyl is not a Aerodactylus scolopaciceps, Pterodactylus antiquus or Pteranodon longiceps, It's abviously a Dimorphodon macronyx or Rhamphorhynchus longicaudus
Scientifically inaccurate plebs.

images.jpg
ffb84d796541d5ff5736a84894b2a7b7.jpg
 
Last edited:

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
Aerodactyl is not a Aerodactylus scolopaciceps, Pterodactylus antiquus or Pteranodon longiceps, It's abviously a Dimorphodon macronyx or Rhamphorhynchus longicaudus
Scientifically inaccurate plebs.

View attachment 119632View attachment 119633
Eh, let's raise it to the suborder Rhamphorhynchoidea, aka the group all toothed pterosaurs are labelled under including the Dimorphodontidae and Rhamphorhynchidae family. Aerodactyl is just a toothed pterosaur, it's not based on a specific one. Heck, since Aerodactyl doesn't have a beak it's more of a dragon/wyvern in a typical shape of a pterosaur.
 
I really like that Pokémon now sees fit to make little qol adjustments even between different games in the same gen now; like adding the overworld "do you want to use another repel?" thing in BW2 instead of BW making you go back in the menu. The most recent one of these was making the option to save your game keyed to the Y button in USUM's menu, which is really nice and convenient.
 
I really like that Pokémon now sees fit to make little qol adjustments even between different games in the same gen now; like adding the overworld "do you want to use another repel?" thing in BW2 instead of BW making you go back in the menu. The most recent one of these was making the option to save your game keyed to the Y button in USUM's menu, which is really nice and convenient.
Granted, in HG/SS and the gen 6 games the entire menu was on the touch screen at all times and thus could just tap save without needing to hit any buttons first, but hey. Let's hope the press Y to save thing sticks around for the Switch games. (both the upcoming Let's Go, Pikachu!/Eevee! games and the gen 8 games due out in 2019)
 
Granted, in HG/SS and the gen 6 games the entire menu was on the touch screen at all times and thus could just tap save without needing to hit any buttons first, but hey. Let's hope the press Y to save thing sticks around for the Switch games. (both the upcoming Let's Go, Pikachu!/Eevee! games and the gen 8 games due out in 2019)
Even when major features go away, the minor qol additions seem to stick around so it's likely.
 
I don't remember if I had said this before, but even if I did, it's worth stating it multiple times.

The interactive book you find in the Game Freak office in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon is one of the most lovely things in the series. How it tells you that there are multiple ways to get inspiration to work in making a videogame and multiple ways to help in making one - whether it's as a programmer, an artist, a sound designer, a storywriter, etc.

That's passion.
 
I have said earlier that I like the events connected to the games. There's a Wi-Fi event tied to every new game release, and in recent generations, there have been many other events after that. In addition to this, I like how there are other things that happen which affects the games after they have been released. For example, there were the Global Missions in Gen 7, online Battle Competitions for Gen 6 & 7 (maybe Gen 5 too, don't remember exactly), and Dream World updates with new areas in Gen 5, giving access to new Pokemon and new Hidden Abilities that couldn't be obtained previously. There are also other similar things that unlock new stuff in the games such as the recent release of the Alola starters with their Hidden Abilities through Bank. To summarize all of this, I really like how Game Freak are supporting the games even after they have been released, keeping them alive and relevant for long after their release.

I have also said earlier that various things in Gen 7 reminds me of other Nintendo games. And I have some more things to say regarding that. The night music in Festival Plaza sounds like something you'd hear in a Mario game, at least that's the way it feels to me. Can't really explain it better. I like it a lot anyway.

One more thing on that subject. This time, it is from X/Y and not Gen 7. Not sure if I have ever posted this anywhere before. It is about Bergmite. The first time I saw this Pokemon, I thought that it reminded me of the Crystallites from Metroid Prime. That is awesome.

In Gen 7, the pattern on the Gentlemen's shirt is a Meganium, while the Madame's dress has the pattern of a Shaymin. A small detail that I really like.

Not sure if this has been said before, but I guess I'd say it again in that case. I like how they lowered the entry threshold for the regular lines at the Battle Tree in US/UM. The way they handled the regular lines in S/M just made them unnecessary. The entire point of splitting the lines in normal and Super was to keep the easy battles in the normal lines so you could get started on the hard battles right away in the Super lines. In S/M, the normal lines featured harder battles right from the start, making the whole thing unnecessary. But the way they did it in US/UM is great. It means that the normal lines are easy once again. It means that it is possible for people who aren't semi-competitive players to get up to Red and Blue on the regular lines and beat them there. It makes it easier to obtain the Kanto starter Mega stones, unlocking Super Multi with an AI partner is also considerably easier (it was a pain in S/M). Also, it gave everyone who has ever dreamt of using any legendary or mythical Pokemon in a Battle Facility the chance to do so.

Talking to various Pokemon in the overworld will always give a saying in the form of a cry or a sound. Most of them are very short and not that special. But then there's this one in US/UM who goes all out.

Love it.

After US/UM, there has been some discussions about how cutscenes can't be skipped in the Pokemon games. This got me thinking about what can be skipped in the games, and I realized that there's one thing I really like that is optional. Battle Animations. The main series games have always had the option to turn them off, all the way from Gen 1 to present. That is a very good thing and an example of something the games have done very well in every generation.

Lastly, I want to talk about something that I really like even if it isn't my favorite. Sinnoh. It is my second favorite region in the series. I really like this region. It has pretty much everything I want in a Pokemon region: diverse environments with a lot of variation, many optional areas along the way and a large area to explore during the post-game. As well as snow. I love snow and I love seeing it in video games. I also really like Mt. Coronet, it is one of my favorite dungeons in the series. It is large and complicated, you also have to explore parts of it on the outside which makes it feel more like an actual mountain as opposed to just another generic cave. In addition to this, I also like the Sinnoh games on the whole. Platinum is a really great game all around, and I think D/P were good for their time as well.
 

Sondero

Don't you dare say you'd rather lose!
is a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnus
Minor thing here, but I really think the Roto-powers in US/UM are handled pretty well. I love that they're stored like items, so you can build up a massive collection of for example Roto-hatches and Roto-catches and use them almost as much as you want as opposed to Entra powers (I think that's what they were called in Gen 5) and O-powers, which had a small battery that had to recharge after a little use. I don't know for sure about this, but if you can trade Pokemon holding rotom powers (at least between the ultra versions), then that's another thing about it I appreciate as it can help out people who struggle to get their hands on hatching powers or such. I know there's some issues with the Rotom dex as a whole, but I don't mind them that much personally, at least not more than I like that roto powers are stored as items.
 
https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/creator-profile-the-creators-of-pikachu/

TPCi released an interview about the origins of Pikachu's design, as well as some other tidbits about the starters and Gorochu!

Despite everything, I do like Pikachu. Interesting that one of its design inspirations is a squirrel!

Nishida: “I didn't draw an illustration on paper, but went straight to the computer screen and punched in the dots. Using dots to create the face of this dumpling-shaped creature with no definition between its head and body! At the time, I was obsessed with squirrels. I didn't own a squirrel, but I wanted to because I thought its movement was comical. It was here that I was inspired to make Pikachu store electricity in its cheek pouches. When hamsters store food, their entire body puffs up, but with squirrels, it's just their cheeks.”
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 9)

Top