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06-03-2008, 03:30 PM
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When you think of Pokemon, I bet you either think of a really kiddy RPG for handhelds, or a really hardcore kiddy RPG for handhelds. Now, I know that Pokemon is more than just a kids’ game. Hell, I’ve spent hours of my life even recently hunting for those little buggers. Considering how it’s been marketed over the past decade, I’d bet that most people can’t tell the difference.
The way I see it, the Pokemon franchise embodies Nintendo perfectly. There is plenty of room to cater to the most hardcore of gamers and give them exactly what they want, but instead they choose to continue with more of the same, only with minute changes here and there.
Find out how I came to this conclusion after the jump.
Pokemon was released for the original Gameboy in the US with two flavors: Red and Blue. The game featured a top-down RPG world with turn based battles between 150 different types of Pokemon that you could catch and build a custom party out of. Sound familiar? It should, that same formula hasn’t change in a decade, except when the game was brought to the home console.
Now, you think that the Gamecube would have more power than the Gameboy Advance or the DS. Sadly, when Pokemon came to the Gamecube, it was actually missing features from the original Gameboy release. Instead of featuring a vast open RPG, gamers were pushed along a linear path with a set number of Pokemon that they were allowed to control. You weren’t even able to capture wild Pokemon, which was pretty much the draw of the first one (Gotta Catch ‘Em All!) Instead, you could only capture enemy Pokemon that the game decided you could, then rubbed salt in the wound by showing you that many other monsters were programmed in, but you would never be able to use.
Thanks, Nintendo.
So, a game that’s a huge hit on the handheld platforms gets a console release that’s lacking from the version released ten years prior. I could speculate for hours just why this is, but the end result is that Nintendo failed once again to capitalize on a popular franchise that many of their fans see as hardcore. I would guess that their little Arena game releases might have something to do with it, games that are basically 3d battle simulators that require the handheld versions to even be useful, but need a deep seed of fanaticism in the customer to be worth the disc they’re printed on.
Where’s our hardcore RPG on the Wii that takes Pokemon to the next level? Now take that question and replace ‘RPG’ and ‘Pokemon’ with the genre and game of your choice. Mario Kart and Smash Bros are fine games, but are they really taking advantage of everything the Wii has to offer? Smash Bros, maybe. Mario Kart? No. But where’s our hardcore Zelda game that wasn’t originally developed for the Gamecube? Where’s the Wii version of Metroid Prime Hunters where you can go online and test your skills? How about the Animal Crossing that’s double or triple the size of the original? Pikmin anyone?
As you can see, this long rant about Pokemon digs deeper into my feelings for Nintendo as a whole. I grew up playing Nintendo games, and back then they felt hardcore. The number of hours I spent on Pokemon Blue were well spent and quite enjoyable. But now it seems that Nintendo has taken a huge step backwards. Every Nintendo branded Wii game I’ve played has seem skimmed down from their original versions, and I can’t help but to feel that something is missing. It might be indigestion, but I swear it’s something that’s missing.
So, the question is: Is Nintendo going to do anything about it? Or perhaps the DS is meant to be the hardcore system. The Wii certainly has the power to take any DS game and make it 10 times better, but instead they’re usually either the exact same with pretty graphics, or worse off. Time will only tell, but it looks like my hopes of a hardcore Pokemon game are nothing but pipe dreams.
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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~4/303975738
Click here to view the article. (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~3/303975738/how-nintendo-failed.html)
When you think of Pokemon, I bet you either think of a really kiddy RPG for handhelds, or a really hardcore kiddy RPG for handhelds. Now, I know that Pokemon is more than just a kids’ game. Hell, I’ve spent hours of my life even recently hunting for those little buggers. Considering how it’s been marketed over the past decade, I’d bet that most people can’t tell the difference.
The way I see it, the Pokemon franchise embodies Nintendo perfectly. There is plenty of room to cater to the most hardcore of gamers and give them exactly what they want, but instead they choose to continue with more of the same, only with minute changes here and there.
Find out how I came to this conclusion after the jump.
Pokemon was released for the original Gameboy in the US with two flavors: Red and Blue. The game featured a top-down RPG world with turn based battles between 150 different types of Pokemon that you could catch and build a custom party out of. Sound familiar? It should, that same formula hasn’t change in a decade, except when the game was brought to the home console.
Now, you think that the Gamecube would have more power than the Gameboy Advance or the DS. Sadly, when Pokemon came to the Gamecube, it was actually missing features from the original Gameboy release. Instead of featuring a vast open RPG, gamers were pushed along a linear path with a set number of Pokemon that they were allowed to control. You weren’t even able to capture wild Pokemon, which was pretty much the draw of the first one (Gotta Catch ‘Em All!) Instead, you could only capture enemy Pokemon that the game decided you could, then rubbed salt in the wound by showing you that many other monsters were programmed in, but you would never be able to use.
Thanks, Nintendo.
So, a game that’s a huge hit on the handheld platforms gets a console release that’s lacking from the version released ten years prior. I could speculate for hours just why this is, but the end result is that Nintendo failed once again to capitalize on a popular franchise that many of their fans see as hardcore. I would guess that their little Arena game releases might have something to do with it, games that are basically 3d battle simulators that require the handheld versions to even be useful, but need a deep seed of fanaticism in the customer to be worth the disc they’re printed on.
Where’s our hardcore RPG on the Wii that takes Pokemon to the next level? Now take that question and replace ‘RPG’ and ‘Pokemon’ with the genre and game of your choice. Mario Kart and Smash Bros are fine games, but are they really taking advantage of everything the Wii has to offer? Smash Bros, maybe. Mario Kart? No. But where’s our hardcore Zelda game that wasn’t originally developed for the Gamecube? Where’s the Wii version of Metroid Prime Hunters where you can go online and test your skills? How about the Animal Crossing that’s double or triple the size of the original? Pikmin anyone?
As you can see, this long rant about Pokemon digs deeper into my feelings for Nintendo as a whole. I grew up playing Nintendo games, and back then they felt hardcore. The number of hours I spent on Pokemon Blue were well spent and quite enjoyable. But now it seems that Nintendo has taken a huge step backwards. Every Nintendo branded Wii game I’ve played has seem skimmed down from their original versions, and I can’t help but to feel that something is missing. It might be indigestion, but I swear it’s something that’s missing.
So, the question is: Is Nintendo going to do anything about it? Or perhaps the DS is meant to be the hardcore system. The Wii certainly has the power to take any DS game and make it 10 times better, but instead they’re usually either the exact same with pretty graphics, or worse off. Time will only tell, but it looks like my hopes of a hardcore Pokemon game are nothing but pipe dreams.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/TheSarcasticGamer?i=9ZKWLL</img> (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/TheSarcasticGamer?a=9ZKWLL)
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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~4/303975738
Click here to view the article. (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~3/303975738/how-nintendo-failed.html)