So let’s talk Pokémon. There has been much made of the recent announcement of Pokemon X & Y , And I have to say that I’m really excited for the newest generation to come out and breathe new life into to this franchise. But this being said it got me thinking, never a good thing, about gaming in general and more importantly about how the modern games industry and how it relates to Pokémon.
That is when I realized that Pokémon is actually a microcosm of everything that wrong with modern gaming today, seriously, everything people complain about in modern gaming is not only present in Pokémon but are actually a fundamental part of the gameplay. Many of you are currently looking at me like I forgot which was up is, but follow me on this.
The Ways Pokemon Is a Microcosm of What Is Wrong With Modern Gaming…
Locking away content you already paid for
This is an integral part of the Pokémon franchise, the fact that you actually have to buy multiple copies of the game in order to unlock all of the monsters even though their code is accessible on the cartridge.
Non-Compelling Generic Characters
Throughout the entire gaming franchise you’ve basically been playing the same mute ten year old with different hairstyles going on a journey.
Recycled Plotlines
Evil “team” seeks legendary Pokémon in order to try an rule/destroy the world, this plot has not changed since Gold/silver.
Impossible Completion Goals
In order to 100% the current Pokémon generation you would have to catch/breed all of the, over 650 Pokémon, train all of them level 100 and all of them would have to be shinnies.
Over-reliance on Franchise Content
This is Nintendo so what can you really expect but this franchise has been going for almost 15 years now and shows no sign of slowing down.
Making The Consumer Jump Through Unnecessary Hoops
Keldeo, Genesect, Meloetta – three Pokémon whom you could not get access to without actually going to the GameStop and download during a promotional window. If you miss that window, too bad.
Unnecessary Gimmicks That Don’t Add Anything
Black & White 2 featured Pokestar Studios, a film studio where you could make cool movies with your Pokémon, what effect did this have on the plot or even gameplay? Why none at all!
Backwards Compatibility Issues
Fixed now with the release of Heart Gold/Soul Silver but before there was no way to go from gen 2 to gen 3 and it was actually impossible to “catch’em all” [Ed Note: This was a limitation of the Gameboy Advance Hardware being unable to interface between GBA and original GB games, not a design choice.]
Lack of Innovations Touted As a Valuable Additions To The Franchise
The first handheld Pokémon game with fully 3D monsters! I’m going to point out that this could and probably should have been done as of Gen 5.
Read that list and tell me it doesn’t actually look like Pokémon is an example for everything wrong with the modern gaming industry. That being said I’ve still already got my copy of Y on pre-order.