Pokémon is my favorite game ever, and yet half of the world seems to incredibly hate it. Hate it like they’re part of the Anti-Pokémon gang. But really, if you look past all of the merchandising, the crappy TV show and the mediocre trading cards, you’ll get to the true beauty of Pokémon, the RPG that I know and love!
Ever since I played Pokémon on the Game Boy Color, I’ve been hoping for a 3D version. Nintendo released Pokémon Snap, which was really short, and merely a filler game. I mean, come on, if you want to make a Pokémon game, make it a POKEMON GAME, not a game that just happens to have Pokémon in it. Then Nintendo releases Pokémon Stadium, which was simply an extension of the Pokémon Game Boy games. All you did was battle your Pokémon in full 3D arenas surrounded by vivid imagery, and while that wasn’t so bad, it was still missing that thing I was looking for: MY 3D POKEMON RPG!
Now, about two weeks ago, I was given this advertisement:
If only this were true...
Although the photo has been dubbed fake because it has an E rating on it already (the ESRB won’t rate a game until the last 1 or 2 months before the game is going to be released) it got me thinking about a Pokémon online game. There have been rumors circulating the Internet about some huge secret project Nintendo has up their sleeves, and this may just be it. An online Pokémon game would be the greatest thing that could possibly happen to Nintendo… for several reasons.
First, Pokémon is very popular in Japan, and coincidentally GameCube isn’t as popular. If Nintendo would release a Pokemon 3D RPG, or in this case a Pokémon online game, it would gain a lot of attention for the GameCube and help Nintendo regain lost ground against Sony. Not only that, but because some analysts claim that all Nintendo has to back them up against Microsoft is Pokémon, why doesn’t Nintendo give them what they want -- but make it something totally unexpected. “You want Pokémon? HERE’S YOUR POKEMON! HAR HAR HAR!”
Second, it would respark the Pokémon franchise to everyone in the world, including the U.S. Some people feel that the latest Pokémon Game Boy games were nothing more than rehashes of the previous versions. As much as I hate it, it’s true. The only difference between their thoughts and mine are that I actually liked the fact they were rehashes. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Anyway, people are starting to lose interest in Pokémon because Nintendo is milking the hell out of the franchise with all of the Pokémon Trading Cards (including the new cards that can be used with the E Reader), the Pokémon TV series, and the numerous movies. People are sick of Pokémon. But what if Nintendo released something that was both Pokémon AND awesome? Online is truly the future of gaming, and Pokémon would be a perfect example of how to do it. In my view, online is all about getting together with people across the country and competing in something that they all enjoy doing, whether it be playing football or battling Pokémon.
This is what Nintendo should do with the game to make it really awesome. Nintendo will release the Game Boy Advance games Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire as planned. Around a year later, they can release the 3D Pokémon RPG, or at least an online Pokémon Stadium. Nintendo can allow some connectivity between the GameCube and GBA games, such as trading Pokémon from your Ruby game to another person in the world for other Pokémon in Sapphire. One thing you would have to be aware of is hackers that are really sending you a virus instead of a Pokémon. Hackers would have a field day with sending viruses through an online Pokémon game, because children would be the general audience and being naďve they would accept the trade without knowing what’s going on. The GBA should be used in battling as well. Instead of holding the GCN controller, you can have the GBA in your hands and it would display your Pokémon, attacks of your current Pokemon, the stats of your Pokémon and the opponent’s Pokémon, as well as moves in effect such as Reflect or Perish Song. I know it seems a lot and almost impossible for Nintendo to accomplish, but they can make some huge bucks off of it.
But now, what if it was a Pokémon 3D MMORPG? I think that there should also be a good one-player mode to play if some people can’t get the online features, unlike, for instance, Phantasy Star Online. However, with the Internet features activated, you would still go around the overworld, but instead of regular CPU trainers, you would run into actual people and battle them if you wish. Of course, you can have the option of finding and battling a person in a more organized manner rather than trying to find a particular person in such a large world with chat rooms or “battle servers.” What I think would be the coolest thing is online tournaments! Oh man, you have no idea how much I would love to compete in something like that, and I wouldn’t even care if I lost. If you won, you could receive a rare or exclusive Pokémon that is hard or impossible to catch in the regular game. I think if you were really good enough you could run your own gym and have challengers compete against you to earn your badge. Mine would be the Expert Badge!
All in all, there are two big problems with all of this and those are the two words: WHAT IF. None of this is set in stone. Hell, Nintendo may never release a Pokémon Online game, which would be a damn shame. What I’m saying with all this is how it should be done, why I think it would be the greatest thing ever on the GameCube, and why I think that a Pokémon online game would show the world what online gaming is all about.
Marcus Bonilla
