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On the troubling state of the Pokemon franchise


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“Innovation required”, a.k.a. F-Zero level hell... Or it would be a mobile game perhaps.

 

It’s funny seeing this because not too long ago I saw the 20th anniversary post for Pokémon Snap on the “On this day in gaming” twitter and I was like “Imagine waiting 20 years for a sequel to this”...

 

Pokemon spinoffs are dead now anyway outside of the mobile junk, let’s be honest, and I had yearned for a Snap sequel since gen 2. 

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7 hours ago, Ridley Prime said:

 

 

“Innovation required”, a.k.a. F-Zero level hell... Or it would be a mobile game perhaps.

 

It’s funny seeing this because not too long ago I saw the 20th anniversary post for Pokémon Snap on the “On this day in gaming” twitter and I was like “Imagine waiting 20 years for a sequel to this”...

 

Pokemon spinoffs are dead now anyway outside of the mobile junk, let’s be honest, and I had yearned for a Snap sequel since gen 2. 

I'm figuring it would be the latter... given their obsession with mobile gaming now. Which honestly sucks.

 

Yep.  :(   Now any spinoffs would probably be mobile based.  Gee thanks Game Freak... 

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That screenshot of the Wild Area is such a step back from what I've been use to from Nintendo with regards to open areas: I cannot make out a single Pokemon. I imagine the bike is in due to Sword & Shield having (one would think) much more potential ride Pokemon than the Let's Go games, and Game Freak just not caring to make the effort to allow the player to really explore with their Pokemon. An Arcanine and a Gyarados for example can accomplish the same purpose of bike traveling on land or water and are much more visually appealing. In itself, I don't have a problem with Dynamax since it plays into the design of the region's gyms, but becomes a problem with the subtraction of two previous battle mechanics. Game Freak really shouldn't have to subtract anything from these games since they're releasing on Nintendo's most powerful system. 

 

I hear about Pokemon Snap quite a bit, and it's a shame that it's in a state of only being on the table if it has some crazy twist. With how many Pokemon there are now, simply having that much more Pokemon and environments compared to the original should be refreshing enough for a sequel to be developed. 

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Pointing out that Game Freak had nothing to do with Pokemon Snap. Comments on what they'd like to do about a future installment aside the Pokemon Snap we know didn't even begin as a Pokemon game, but that's what it eventually transitioned into. Throughout the whole process Hal Labs had oversight of that project.

Edited by Kezay
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I'm aware that Pokemon Snap was made by HAL Laboratory, and since HAL doesn't really do much stuff anymore, perhaps they had trouble deciding what team would/should handle a sequel? I don't know, but I think a Snap sequel was on the mind occasionally, at least at some point, but why one never ended up happening is anyone's guess. It's hardly defensible though. They know people have been wanting one, and for Masuda or someone to occasionally come out and just say "It can only happen if it has this unique gimmick twist" or something leaves little to no hope. I'd be down for whatever team doing a Pokemon Snap 2 though; doesn't have to be HAL, and definitely not GameFreak.

 

But alas, Pokemon spinoffs outside of mobile stuff is dead now I think as aforementioned. Pokken Tournament failing to take off twice was kinda the swan song for traditional spinoffs.

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What were the expectations for Pokken? It sold over a million on Switch and I'm almost positive that during the Wii U years it was on Nintendo's list of million sellers at one point. It for sure didn't light up the charts like a traditional Pokemon game would or as some spinoffs have but it didn't die on the market or anything.

 

As for Pokemon Snap it has come up in multiple interviews in the past so I know there is awareness for it the same way there is awareness for want of a new F-Zero. In both cases we've seen comments where interest around developing a new one is reliant on what new thing can they do with it. F-Zero is understandable, F-Zero GX was a huge undertaking for a game that ultimately did not do well as unfortunate as that is. Pokemon Snap, I have no idea how well it did but I've always assumed it did at least alright for the kind of game it is. But considering Pokemon Snap was born out of marrying the license to a former project's gimmick I don't fault them for feeling like a new game would have to do more than iterate on that. Doesn't mean who does has to necessarily reinvent the wheel with it or anything.

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2 hours ago, XLW said:

So, these games won’t have all Pokémon? 

 

That’s rather... disappointing. I guess I’ll play the Gen VII games when I miss a Pokemon. Feeling like the days some characters were gone from Melee to Brawl. And I never had my trust broken since... Conquest, maybe? But never any of the mainline games.

I totally forgot this one existed, had to google it again to remember what it looked like again.  One I always wanted to play back when it first came cause one of my coworkers at the time got it and was pretty addicted to it.

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Was gonna post the JWittz thing if it wasn't already, but yeah, he's one of the better unbiased Poketubers who usually gives a fair fresh perspective.

 

p.s. When a Chinese mobile bootleg game has better animation than GameFreak...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KDEmTUOsbA&feature=youtu.be

 

f57700f.gif.bad40e0e70b75ef86a833e61fb8dae01.gif

 

*posted gif since the video if not game itself will probably be DMCA'd later, but you get the idea.

 

Ya know, looking back at the "intricate animations" with Sun/Moon even, it falls apart the moment you look at the Z-moves that are used for all Pokemon (a.k.a. not the exclusive ones). Yeah the attack is flashy, but what are the Pokemon themselves doing? Standing completely still while their model gets flung around.

 

NLzdy9v.gif.e763466f7383c7b7685ad5e7c4c677af.gif

 

 

Again, the only reason the animations are being harped on this much now is because Masuda said that the current direction/removal of the National Dex would allow them to be much more expressive with each of the individual Pokemon in Galar... which was a blatant lie. One they'll get away with since Pokemon gets eaten up no matter the quality with anything.

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I have faith that we as fans can force GameFreak to reverse their decision if we all stand together and make enough noise.

 

It worked for the Teenage Alien Ninja Turtles. It worked for Sonic's movie design. It worked for Mario Maker 2's online with friends.

 

You can't say that corporations never listen to the consumers. There just needs to be a big enough backlash.

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2 hours ago, Tyranogre said:

I have faith that we as fans can force GameFreak to reverse their decision if we all stand together and make enough noise.

 

It worked for the Teenage Alien Ninja Turtles. It worked for Sonic's movie design. It worked for Mario Maker 2's online with friends.

 

You can't say that corporations never listen to the consumers. There just needs to be a big enough backlash.

So pretty much to accomplish this boycott this version and don't speak with our wallets then?

 

A little easier said then done, perhaps?

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Charizard's new attack... but the fire/beam doesn't align with his mouth or even his body. Comes from the side of his head?

 

ssdc5pyrds931.png.90a01d74e3df4c686dd1e7c9e070a000.png

 

It's one thing for them to not animate Blastoise's water cannons with hydro pump or anything (even though the Stadium games and such did that no problem), but for them to fuck up with Charizard like that, you know they just don't give a shit anymore period. Pokemon's not the focus for GameFreak now, their vanity/passion projects are.

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Just spitballing... but could it be a mega fire spin? (That said, if it's not that, I'm not excusing it not lining up with him.)

 

Got a cap of when he's starting... but we need a shot right before he spits fire completely to be sure.

 

gAPEMPh.png

 

Found a video about the evolution of Flamethrower:

 

 

 

And here's a video that includes the evolution of Fire Spin:

 

 

After checking that video... it's looking more like a Mega Flamethrower.  That said, it seems as if Flamethrower has been misaligned before, with Pokémon G/S/C and with Fire Red/Leaf Green - both times it seems as if the fire comes out of either its throat or its stomach. :v

Edited by Doc Brown
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I don't either.

 

tcTzLo0.gif

 

That said, there's some interesting tidbits in the article.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/cb2z26/japanese_interview_from_famitsu_reveals_all_old/

 

Came across this video while reading through some of the comments in the above reddit post.

 

 

Just came across this via r/pokemon for Charizard:   https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/cce765/dynamax_charizard_max_flare_vs_bootleg/

 

Edited by Doc Brown
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There are going to be plenty of fans that will likely latch onto that piece of information. I personally don't buy it simply due to the timing of the information, and the fact that Masuda didn't even address that aspect of development when attempting to respond to the backlash over 2 weeks ago. I also cannot buy it because they've put out false information before with regard to better, more expressive animations which they now seem to be admitting are the same at least based on that section. It just seems like another narrative to try and quiet as much of the negative reaction as possible before the games release. They should just focus on trailers, especially looking at the like/dislike ratio for Gigantamax, to speak for the games rather than fan the flames with questionable details trying to excuse the lack of Pokemon. 

 

 

Edited by IU
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I saw Nintendolife has put out an article as well regarding the translation. The Famitsu interview is from around this year's E3, June 13th, so it's not just coming out but is just now being used by those trying to excuse the games. If true, this should've been said at Treehouse Live on the 11th rather than choosing to lie. It's possible that this was the next excuse from Game Freak following the claim of having better animations. Masuda also should have reiterated that they had to start from scratch when putting out a response statement to the backlash just over 2 weeks ago, he didn't. It's just more BS to me that just happened to go under the radar due to a lack of translation, and it only hurts the look of the games and Game Freak by adding more fuel for the negativity. Some fans get so caught up in trying to find justification for decisions that they can't see that. 

 

Edit:

 

Some slightly good news for Game Freak is that the Famitsu interview appears to be mistranslated, so this isn't another lie, but there are still a lot of fans making them look bad by running with the bad translation. I'm interested to see how long it takes for sites to make updates or if they're willing to stick to a false narrative for additional clicks. 

Edited by IU
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