Pokemon has been one of Nintendo’s most successful franchises. And with good reason: it brought people together with an intriguing storyline, cute and cuddly creatures – not to mention some grumpy scary ones – and friendly, accessible graphics and gameplay.
But there’s been a problem since those Red and Blue days of the franchise: too many damn Pokemon.
See, originally, the game hosted 151 creatures, from Bulbasaur to Mew. There were plenty of creatures, each with their own abilities and style, and the customization options of the game seemed endless. But then The Pokemon Company had to go and add another hundred. Fine, so now we’re at 251 Pokemon, and we’re taken to a new region with the Gold and Silver entries in the franchise. But since then, we’ve seen the world balloon to nearly three times that amount, and frankly, it’s too many.
Joystiq got their hands on the box art for the Japanese version of the new Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 edition games. And while they look gorgeous, it is clear that we just won’t see a more simplified version of the game anytime soon.
Pokemon as a franchise was a fad in the late 1990s. We understand that its popularity would wane as time went by regardless of how true to the original series the game stayed. But given that, we think that Nintendo would be able to capture the original audience that fell in love with the franchise all over again if they would just get back to its roots.
Now, you might be saying, “well, they did release Fire Red and Leaf Green versions of the game”. But while that’s certainly true, we’re not entirely convinced that Nintendo and The Pokemon Company did all they could have to bring the series back to its roots.
So without getting too far into things about minor details, here is our request: re-release the entire Pokemon series through Gold and Silver games as downloadable content on the Nintendo 3DS eShop, but do it in a way that really attracts people to the game again. Make it a bundle with new Nintendo 3DS systems. Perhaps give away a free copy of the original game for a limited time and get people re-interested in the roots of the series. Retro gaming has seen a huge surge in popularity lately, so capitalize on it and make it great for us gaming veterans who loved our Pidgeottos but don’t give a crap what a Braviary is. Seriously, do these new Pokemon names even sound like names or diseases? Cacnea sounds like an eye infection, and don’t get us started on Gorebyss.
Nintendo, we love Pokemon, but here’s to making us Pokemaniacs again.