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10 Unpopular Opinions About Pokémon in 2017


Pokémon is a sensation, a commercial juggernaut spanning multiple generations of consoles, ensuring the success of Nintendo’s handheld platforms – including the 3DS. Pokémon Go alone has generated almost a billion in worldwide revenue, and Pokémon Sun & Moon have been tremendously successful since their release in back in November.

That said, the franchise has experienced its fair share of ups and downs, including charging subscriptions fees for access to online storage. Despite this, the series continues to be beloved by millions (and for good reason); it’s a charming series, but nothing is beyond reproach, least of all Pokémon, which hasn’t developed in any meaningful way in over two decades.

Pokémon Go – despite its popularity – wasn’t exactly a critical success. In fact, the game received some surprisingly low scores from major outlets, apparently failing to impress a good many people. Moreover, the series refuses to learn from its mistakes; mistakes, such as…

  1. The Countless Gimmicks...

    Considering how adamantly opposed Pokémon has been towards to concept of reinvention, it sure has indulged itself over the years in a number of unexplainable gimmicks. Pokémon Yellow was made to capitalise on the success of the anime, and Pokémon Go sold itself almost exclusively to nostalgia crowds.

    Remember the Pokéwalker? It came bundled with Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver, and recorded the amount of steps taken by players. It also gave players the option of transferring Pokémon to their handheld devices, which is as counterproductive as it sounds. After all, why would anyone choose to play a secondary device instead of their DS seeing as how both devices are equally portable?   

    Besides that, Game Freak have incorporated countless, equally pointless gimmicks over the years – the Pokéathlon Stadium for instance, which introduced a whole host of repetitive minigames, ready to play at your earliest inconvenience. Pokémon-Amie is another example, included in Pokémon X & Y, allowing players to develop and sustain personal relationships with their Pokémon – which mainly involves grooming and petting them. 

  2. Zero Challenge...

    Pokémon is incredibly simplistic. Combat is about who has the highest levelled Pokémon, not about who uses their Pokémon the most effectively, or the most strategically. As a result, the games can often feel quite shallow, and their simplicity negates any real sense of accomplishment.

    When was the last time a Gym leader really gave you any trouble? In fact, when was the last time you found yourself genuinely stumped by anything in a Pokémon game? The only thing really preventing you from bulldozing your way through the entire experience is the game itself, which is constantly inventing arbitrary roadblocks to halt your progression. The Gym leaders for instance, are never at their respective Gyms, almost like the game is contriving means to keep the player occupied without introducing any genuine challenge.

  3. No Depth, No Complexity...

    I’m sure playing the games online is immeasurably satisfying; that said, the solo experience leaves something to be desired. It isn’t exactly complex – the player engages a trainer in battle and taps one button continuously until that trainer gives them money. It’s constantly offensive – because defensive moves such as ‘leer’ are useless – and battles themselves are determined by whichever Pokémon has the highest level.

    Some strategy wouldn’t go amiss, because something desperately needs to be done about the battle system. It’s been tweaked constantly – most recently in Pokémon Sun & Moon – but never completely perfected. After all, there’s a reason players groan whenever they’re caught in the long grass: combat just isn’t dynamic enough to engage the player in any meaningful way. Sometimes, it downright boring, an utter chore.

  4. Starters Are Everything...

    There are several endearing myths about Pokémon, and the following is perhaps the single biggest misconception about the entire series: that you need a well-balanced, comprehensive team comprised of a variety of different Pokémon in order to succeed. Actually, the player can beat the entire game using only their starter, and doing so will make the games easier.

    Just keep levelling, and never switch to an alternate. Eventually, your chosen starter will outmatch anything the game can throw at you; you’ll absolutely demolish anything that dares cross your path, including every last one of those pesky Gym leaders.

    It’s that simple, and it requires very little effort; in fact, it’s quicker and easier than training an entire team. Just focus on one Pokémon, and use them for everything. With the help of a few dozen potions, this method will make short work of the elite four, and anyone else crazy enough to challenge you. It’s pretty much full proof, providing you choose either Bulbasaur or Squirtle, because Charmander gets KO’d at even the suggestion of water.

  5. Pokémon Go Was Disappointing...

    Pokémon Go isn’t much fun – despite what others have suggested – plagued with problems since its release, mostly technical. Worse still, the game received a major patch several months ago which removed certain features entirely. Besides that, persuading the game to actually work correctly continues to be a problem, randomly shutting down or freezing uncontrollably.

    However, besides these technical issues, the game is suffering from another problem: everyone’s stopped playing the thing already. Pokémon Go had an astronomically successful opening month – the game was downloaded ten million times in just under a week – but, regardless, has squandered its popularity ever since, dissipating in terms of public interest.

    Honestly, it was never very good – more a fad than anything – and is now pretty much dead, which is a massive shame considering its tremendous potential.

  6. Grinding, Grinding, Grinding...

    Grinding in video games is never an enjoyable experience, more an arbitrary chore included to falsify a sense of actual accomplishment, designed to prolong an otherwise shallow experience. Pokémon requires no strategy whatsoever, which is a shame. Instead, Pokémon is about numbers – more specifically, having larger numbers than your opponent – which means grinding constantly becomes a mandatory requirement.

    It’s practically the only way to really get ahead, because there aren’t enough trainers to challenge for the necessary experience points. Towards the end, the entire experience devolves into nothing but standing around in the wild, grinding against the same plethora of constantly respawning Pokémon, again, and again, and again, endlessly. Eventually, through sheer persistence, the player will make short work of the Elite Four, and pretty much anyone else.

  7. Too Many Legendaries...

    There are well over thirty legendary Pokémon. Now, I understand that ‘legendary’ doesn’t necessarily denote exclusivity, but a world consisting of 30+ ultimate lifeforms seems just a little overindulgent. Besides, does anyone really buy these games for the legendary Pokémon? They’re usually the least interesting aspect of the games, partly due to the fact that there are so many of them, devaluing their inclusion in the first place.

    Yet, every time a new generation is announced, a new batch of legendaries are unveiled, slapped over every piece of promotional material Nintendo can get their hands on. Personally, the starters have always been a bigger selling point; they’re usually featured more prominently in the story, and we spend the most time in their company. So, why exactly should we care about the legendaries? There are so many now, it’s not like they’re anything special.

  8. Pokémon Designs Are Getting Better...

    Pokémon has an intrinsic appeal, and it’s always been good at getting people excited, which is probably one of the reasons it’s done so well for itself over the years. In this respect, a new Pokémon game is like an event, which never fails to deliver exactly what is expected.

    There are some wonderfully original Pokémon designs – Charizard, Gengar, Blastoise – and some genuinely terrible ones as well. Exeggcute for instance, was a bunch of eggs, which evolved into Exeggutor – which was a strange pineapple monster with three heads and no arms. Since then, there have been some noticeably awful iterations – including Bunnelby, Binacle, and Klefki, the latter of which a pair of keys with eyes.

    Muk was always fairly terrible, as were Magnemite, Jynx, Mr. Mime and Voltorb. Polygon alone might be the single worst thing to ever come out of the series, and do you remember Seel? It was a just a regular seal, nothing special about it whatsoever.

  9. The Impossible Task...

    Sometimes, it can be difficult to walk away from something incomplete, with secrets left to uncover and promises yet to be fulfilled. Games are meant to be beaten, but Pokémon isn’t making it any easier for us. There are currently 802, divided across multiple generations.

    At this point, collecting each blade of grass from your back garden by hand would be easier than collecting every last Pokémon spread across every entry in the franchise. Besides, there are some only available through special events, or trading with other players – at this point, Mew can only be acquired by hacking the game, and others are basically impossible to find in roaming freely in the wild.

    For some, this isn’t a problem whatsoever; for others – who have a tendency to fixate over such things – not being able to actually beat these games is downright maddening, and inexcusable.

  10. Nothing Changes, Everything Stays The Same...

    Pokémon Sun & Moon have made great strides in evolving the formula in meaningful ways; however, these improvements – island challenges, ultra-beasts, z-moves and regional variants – aren’t nearly enough to rejuvenate this particular series, though they should be commended.

    For the most part, Pokémon is exactly the same game it was in 1996. It’s prettier – it comes with more bells and whistles – but it’s essentially the same thing, repackaged and rereleased. The combat has changed only marginally – and, though there have been a handful of bizarre gimmicks over the years to distract our attention – the series has never demonstrated a conscious desire to evolve or reimagine its core concept.

    It’s perfectly happy the way it is – and, given its continued success – that’s unlikely to change anytime soon, which is either a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. From mine, it’s bad.

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