Little things you like about Pokémon

Even though Game Freak has focused on many Super Modes and several Underground Monkeys recently, I really like how permanent forms have not been treated as different species once Generation IV arrived. However, if regional variants like Dugtrio and Sandslash existed in Gen 1, they would have probably taken up extra slots in the Dex like most monster collectors. It's like having stronger recolors in many RPGs.

Even though Kyurem's forms have appeared in BW2 and onward, I have to wonder if we'll get Pokémon Fusions in a future game.

EDIT: Regarding that joke about fusions, I meant something more like Yo-kai Watch or Shin Megami Tensei. Those two series utilize this gimmick all the time. As of the second game, YW has taken more of a liking to item fusions, kind of like evolutionary stones and traded held items. Pokémon can fuse with items, so why not each other? Otherwise, that striked part of my post would've been a joke.
 
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Pikachu315111

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Even though Game Freak has focused on many Super Modes and several Underground Monkeys recently, I really like how permanent forms have not been treated as different species once Generation IV arrived. However, if regional variants like Dugtrio and Sandslash existed in Gen 1, they would have probably taken up extra slots in the Dex like most monster collectors. It's like having stronger recolors in many RPGs.

Even though Kyurem's forms have appeared in BW2 and onward, I have to wonder if we'll get Pokémon Fusions in a future game.
Actually, though they never too up a dex slot, they did in a way take up a lot for a new Pokemon in development. Gen VI only introduced 71 new Pokemon, but add in the Mega Evolutions (28 in XY) and you get 99. Just because the dex doesn't reflect it doesn't mean in development the Mega Evolutions didn't take up time for a completely new Pokemon to be made (not to mention Gen VI also had a lot of alternate forms taking more development time). Gen VII has 80 though then you got to count the Alolan Forms which brings it up to 98, one less than XY had altogether (and once again, we're not even including alternate forms).

But just looking at it from the dex, it is nice the number of new Pokemon species/family has gone down and they're going back to improve older Pokemon (even if its just with Mega Evos or Regional Variants, but they are increasing the BST of several Pokemon outside that). But with that said, I would like to see actual new evolutions (and baby evolutions if they make them worth it) for a few Pokemon. Too late for those Pokemon who got Mego Evos, but there are some like Jynx who I feel can get another evoution before a Mega Evo.

And yeah, all these Pokemon would be considered their own species in Gen I because of limited hardware. That's why the Nidoran family are two different families. Nowadays both Nidoran would be one Pokemon that look different depending on gender and they'd probably branch off to Nidorino/Nidoking or Nidorina/Nidoqueen depending on gender (or they could also combine the 1st stages; Nidorine).

Yeah, fusion for all Pokemon I think is off the table. MAYBE they could do it for a specific few Pokemon they newly create, but nothing on the level of say Digimon or that Pokemon fusion generator (kind of wish they update that with other gens). If there's any sort of fusion thing I would say maybe melding Moves or Items together, but that would probably be a side feature. If they do introduce a new "super" mechanic akin to Mega Evo/Z-Moves I kind of think it would be for Abilities.
 
Something I loved they added in Sun/Moon was they made you not hurt by evolving a Pokémon late. When I evolved my Eevee to Espeon (can't remember the exact level but I think around 24), I thought "well, this will be a pain until I learn a Psychic move", but immediately after evolving it learned Confusion. I don't know how widespread this is but it was really nice.
 
Something I loved they added in Sun/Moon was they made you not hurt by evolving a Pokémon late. When I evolved my Eevee to Espeon (can't remember the exact level but I think around 24), I thought "well, this will be a pain until I learn a Psychic move", but immediately after evolving it learned Confusion. I don't know how widespread this is but it was really nice.
Unless you evolve Cubone which will be a pain no matter the level.
 

Pikachu315111

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Pokemon Red & Green just got inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame (along with Donkey Kong, Halo: Kombat Evolved, and Street Fighter II)! These four beat out eight other finalists: Final Fantasy VII, Microsoft Windows Solitaire, Mortal Kombat, Myst, Portal, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, and Wii Sports.

Previous winners:
2015: Doom, Pac-Man, Pong, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, World of Warcraft
2016: The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Invaders, Grand Theft Auto III

Pokemon Red & Green had actually been nominees since 2015. They were one of seven held overs in 2016 (five of those getting inducted), and the only held over from 2015 to remain in 2017 (the other 2015 held over that didn't make it past 2016 was Minecraft). I'm wondering if they kept getting it held over since it got a lot of votes but not enough to win until now (not surprised Mario and Zelda got in before it, them and Pokemon are Nintendo's big three with Pokemon being the youngest). Wikipedia's article has a listing of the year's nominees (and winners) if your curious.
 

Pikachu315111

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I loved being able to get every starter in Yellow. In both my original playthrough and my eShop one I used nearly the same team. Both had Pikachu, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise and Mr. Mime. The only difference I had was I swapped Omastar in my original playthrough for Nidoking.
It's nice whenever they let you get the other Starters without needing to trade. As mentioned Yellow did this, though it's a special case as its based on the anime and Ash got all the Kanto Starters so you did too in the game. Then there's XY where Shauna will give you the base stage of her Starter (hey, Serena/Calem, why don't you do the same? Infact why don't all the friendly rivals who get starters do that? They could even require you to breed for the base stage of your starter to trade to them). There was also Friend Safari that let you capture the middle evolutions of both the Kalos and Kanto Starters.
 

Xen

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Sun/Moon also partially does this by giving you a full set of Johto starters and the evolved Unova starters via Island Scan.

But yeah I do hope more games in the future let us pick up a full set of starters instead of having to trade for them. I don't mind having just one during the main story, but getting the other two post-game is still nice.
 

Pikachu315111

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I like how Araquanid is one of the scariest and kindest creepy crawlies.

So from the front you see this
View attachment 81773

but from the top you see this

It's so happy to see you.


Though that two different views of it does match its Pokedex description:

Sun: It delivers headbutts with the water bubble on its head. Small Pokemon get sucked into the bubble, where they drown.
Moon: Despite what its appearance suggests, it cares for others. If it finds vulnerable, weak Pokemon, it protectively brings them into its water bubble.

So if you're ever in trouble near water and see an Araquanid you don't know whether you're saved or lunch.
 
disclaimer: Considering how slow I am, everybody knows about this already probably, but bear with me anyways please.
So I was playing ORAS again and there's this Ace Trainer in Rustboro City who gives you a Float Stone. Ok, fine, no biggie. I head upstairs to explore the rest of the building. Once I'm done, I head back, but the Ace Trainer isn't there anymore! There's a Hiker instead which got me like "wait. was this here bofore?" for half a minute. I interact with him and he drops this one on me:

Never change Game Freak.
 
disclaimer: Considering how slow I am, everybody knows about this already probably, but bear with me anyways please.
So I was playing ORAS again and there's this Ace Trainer in Rustboro City who gives you a Float Stone. Ok, fine, no biggie. I head upstairs to explore the rest of the building. Once I'm done, I head back, but the Ace Trainer isn't there anymore! There's a Hiker instead which got me like "wait. was this here bofore?" for half a minute. I interact with him and he drops this one on me:

Never change Game Freak.
Don't worry, I've seen people never noticing this.

Now all we need is a person flying giving us an Air Balloon and later finding him crashing on the floor.
 

Pikachu315111

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I can't believe it, they actually translated the Magikarp song:

The original is like a year old. Why are they translating it just now? Well, I guess better late than never. So of course we got to compare it to the original:

Helpless and pathetic
Famous for being incredibly weak

Was it extremely powerful in ancient times? There are legends that say so, but
Today it’s extremely weak. So weak that it makes you cry!

The weak Pokemon Magikarp, the weakest of them all
The weak Pokemon Magikarp, so shockingly weak

Splashing about, always splashing
It can splash and splash up and through entire mountains

Why does it splash? Splashing for no reason, splashing even in battle with no purpose
Splashing in rhythm, on and on, and sometimes getting caught by a Pidgeotto!

The splashing Pokemon Magikarp, splashing the most of them all
The splashing Pokemon Magikarp, always jumping with a “flop flop!”

You can first encounter it anywhere
Using an old rod will make you fish out way too many

The sea, river, or even a dirty puddle –It will be found swimming in any body of water
It paddles along regardless of if the river is calm or flowing

If you manage to catch one: “Catch and release?” will probably cross your mind soon
If you manage to catch one: “Catch and eat?” What nonsense!

Even when it is shiny, with a golden color
It is still exactly the same on the inside

When it evolves into Gyarados, it becomes super strong. But waiting until then is really tough!
That old guy sold it for 500P! And with no refunds!

The unfortunate Pokémon Magikarp, it gets booed even when trying to help people
The unfortunate Pokémon Magikarp, nowhere near the top ranks

My Pokemon Magikarp, the one I’ll still continue to raise!
My Pokemon Magikarp, I’ll raise a party of six and fight with them!

The Magikarp we love, the one we love most in the world
The Magikarp I love, I dedicate this love song to you!


1. The first noticeable change is the pace. The song is sung much faster in English so there's more words than in the original Japanese version. If you try to follow along comparing the lyrics to one another you'll find the English version has extra lines.
2. The "twist" is revealed early and used as a recurring theme. The original Japanese version never let on the singer loved Magikarp, always focusing on the negative until the very end when the song turns around to be praising Magikarp. The English version does it at the end of each segment. Not sure if this if I like this or not. On one hand they aren't pretending you didn't read the title (though the first English title does just say "The Magikarp Song" so if they kept it like that they could have hid the twist) and how the kid doesn't mind the flaws. On the other hand it does make the last segment feel weaker where, in the original Japanese version, after all the negatives the kid still says he loves Magikarp despite it.
3. During the "Jumping/Splashing" segment, the original ended with the words "No. 1 The Jumpion" in English. Yet in the English version they replaced it with the first segments "No. 1 The Weakest". Why? I think we all get "Jumpion" is a combination of jump + champion so its not an Engrish problem.
4. In the "Fishing" segment the changed lyrics messes with some of the imagery. First, when talking about it being in all bodies of water, it shows them being covered in a dirt cloud. The original version mentions this by saying it can be found in a dirty puddle (which is more of a joke statement, being mentioned last after "river" and "sea"). However the English version just says "puddle", and it's between "river" and "sea" making it sound more like a fact you can find Magikarp in a puddle. Also at the end, the original has the kid asking if you should catch and eat it, making the Magikarp panic. But the English version says the kid would never eat it, yet the Magikarp still panics. With a year to work on this plus more words they can use I'm surprised they didn't notice that.
5. Finally in the "Shiny/Evolution" segment, they changed the Magikarp salesman sign form using the yen sign to the Pokedollar sign. No problem there, just a nice attention to detail, though oddly in the English version the outlines of the drawing is more visible and it less blurry.


Still waiting for:
Machoke Movers (would also be neat if they translated the Machamp/Kairiky Gym website)
Mimikyu Song (surprised this doesn't have an official English version yet, though we got a batch of fan covers)

Oh, but we're not done! There's also a "new" video (actually it was released on the 8th) on the Japanese Youtube. It's a short video of Eevee walking through a forest and seeing the other Eeveelutions:


It's nothing major, just cute... and marketable. Though for use on the west side of the globe, mostly cute.
 
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Something that I really like about Pokemon is that with each passing generation, the usability of each and every Pokemon is improving. Whether it be due to updated movepool, new battle mechanics, or improved stats, nearly every Pokemon has something new it can do, making them more fun to use in battle.

NOTE: I'm not talking about competitive usability, as I feel the overall balance is actually worsening, but rather general usability. Something like Ariados is significantly better now than it was in inception, despite still being rather terrible relative to other Pokemon.
 
Something that I really like about Pokemon is that with each passing generation, the usability of each and every Pokemon is improving. Whether it be due to updated movepool, new battle mechanics, or improved stats, nearly every Pokemon has something new it can do, making them more fun to use in battle.

NOTE: I'm not talking about competitive usability, as I feel the overall balance is actually worsening, but rather general usability. Something like Ariados is significantly better now than it was in inception, despite still being rather terrible relative to other Pokemon.
This so much, it's actually viable somewhat to use these Pokemon in game. Old Pokemon which were hard to use like Corsola, Ariados, Masquerain etc can now atleast be used on an ingame run to moderate success (I did a Mono Bug run of SuMo and Ariados was MVP). Inevitably competitive will lose its balance over time but it's nice to be able to see Pokemon we thought Game Freak had forgotten about given some kind of buff to, at the very least, make them usable in game.
 

Pikachu315111

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As you all may already know, there's a new Pokemon mobile game: Magikarp Jump (which explains why they just translated the Magikarp song recently).

I love how they made a game where you can now do what every trainer wants to do with most Magikarp they get, kill it horribly... but make you feel horrible and actively avoiding it happening. :P Good job GF, you marvelous troll you.

I also like how they have different pattern and colored Magikarps. That's a very nice detail and wish they could add it to the main games somehow (for most Pokemon I mean. I mean we have Spinda so probably wouldn't be too difficult to do it with Magikarp, though curious how that would change Gyarados's appearance).
 

TMan87

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One of the little things that left a great impression on me was in HGSS.

So, as a kid (I was like 8 or so) I played Pokémon Gold. Fast forward years later, I had finished Diamond and caught wind of Gen II remakes. Obviously I was like "Ooooh, I really want to go back to Johto!" and eventually got the game.
Playing it, I felt like traveling to the past, moreso because my Gold cartridge had died long ago. Exploring Johto and Kanto again, crying against Whitney's Miltank again (alright maybe this one is not a fond memory), having a bunch of new Pokémon at my side, etc., etc.

The icing on the cake, though, was this Key Item of which I don't know the English name (Lecteur GB in French, if that helps anyone). I can't even remember how I got it, but I remember reading the description saying that it would bring back the sounds of a lost era or something, and activated it, thinking "sounds good to me!".

The wave of sheer nostalgia that hit me almost made me cry.
I'll always remember the day I could travel through Johto with the sounds of the original GB game, and its awesomeness. I really hope they bring this back for any Sinnoh remake, I wanna hear Route 209 all over again on my 3DS.
 
Playing it, I felt like traveling to the past, moreso because my Gold cartridge had died long ago.

I'll always remember the day I could travel through Johto with the sounds of the original GB game, and its awesomeness. I really hope they bring this back for any Sinnoh remake, I wanna hear Route 209 all over again on my 3DS.
Yeah, it sucks that most GBA Games run on an internal battery that can't be recharged or changed without ruining your save data. At least DS and 3DS Carts run on flash so they're unlimited...

Oh wait flash carts are like SD cards an so have a limited lifespan somewhere near 100,000 save cycles... uh-oh.... so they'll last about 30-40 years before they fade into oblivion... (assuming that they're actively used)

And you need to restore their memory by overwriting it at least every 5-10 years, otherwise there's a good chance your data will corrupt as it lost the ability to recover chunks of data...

....

Whelp life is meaningless, our impact on our environment and the world around us is fleeting, so enjoy the time you have with your Pokemon friends now and cherish every moment beacuse eventually, like everything, it will fade into the great void beyond.

Whelp that was fun, can someone send me some cute puppy photos to cheer me back up? :P
 
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