I understand that this has sort of turned into a bit of a Pokemon hate thread at this point, but I just wanted to give my ultimate explanation of why I continue to enjoy playing these games at the ripe old age of 21. After all, there has to be a reason I continue to be the caretaker of the Pokemon VG Megathread, right?
- Collection
Even the official slogan says it, you've gotta catch 'em all. Part of me just really enjoys collecting things, and it manifests very well in Pokemon. Earlier this year I even completed my National Pokedex, meaning that I had every obtainable Pokemon in my possession at one time or another, for the first time since I got my purple GameBoy Color and Pokemon Blue Version for Christmas when I was 5. Tracking down some of the more difficult-to-find Pokemon and getting help from even our little Pokemon community here was a lot of fun. I never thought obtaining such a silly little virtual certificate would make me feel so good. Not only are there all those Pokemon to collect, but if you've got the patience you can try to catch or breed shinies, rare palette swaps of existing Pokemon. While their color is the only difference and most people might not care, who doesn't love to have something a little special?
- Battling
This really goes without saying considering it's the core of the game, but the battles are a big part of why I love Pokemon. The general consensus on the "campaign" of course is that it's incredibly easy, and has become even easier over the years, but that's not necessarily the main attraction. Most of the fun comes after that (and that's not to say that the story isn't enjoyable, it's what you make of it) when you battle other players, or even some of the more difficult AI. The most recent installments have a facility called the
Battle Maison reachable in the post-game that offers various battle types with more competitive Pokemon and AI. Previous games had areas like the
Battle Frontier, which offered similar challenges. With a stream of players scrolling across the bottom screen of your 3DS in real-time, it's easy to just tap one and ask if they want to battle. Most people see Pokemon as a simple and childish game, and I won't deny that it's one of the simplest RPGs out there, but battling gets very psychological when playing against more experienced players. You have to constantly be thinking about what your opponent could do next, and how you can counter it. Should you burn your opponent to cripple their physical strength, or will they predict that? Are they holding an item or will the Pokemon change forms that will prevent it from working? Will they switch out to something that will either absorb the burn or not be crippled by it? Locking in your move and waiting for your opponent to make their decision gets the heart pumping. Yes, there is quite a bit of RNG involved, but it adds some uncertainty to things. You don't always know if you can take down your opponent in 3 hits or if the damage ranges will keep them barely alive. You don't always know if your attack will hit or not. You don't always know if that chance to paralyze your opponent will come up. That's just the risk you take, and it helps keep battling from becoming just a formula.
- Team Building
Here's where it gets good; There are 718 available Pokemon to choose from, not including
Mega Evolutions, and you only get 6 slots. While a lot of these are unevolved forms and probably not great decisions for "real" battles, that still leaves a considerable number of choices. Pokemon of almost every type combination, based on all sorts of animals, even
object Pokemon. You want a team of crazy science experiments? We've got that. How about all ghost-types? Go for it. Looking to be a bird enthusiast? Good luck picking only 6! What if you like cute little Pokemon and want to use them but don't want to get destroyed by powerful beasts? Good news my friend, there's a thing called Little Cup that you might want to look into!
But that's not all, because once you choose your Pokemon, you've also got to choose which abilities, natures, moves, and items you want them to have. A lot of Pokemon don't have a lot of flexibility here, but many suffer from something we like to call "4 moveslot syndrome", where they have so many great moves that it's almost impossible to pick just 4. You can look at popular sets people have already created, or create your own crazy ones. You'd be surprised how well you can do just by having moves nobody expects! Then after you've got everything all said and done, you get to test them out! Hop online, battle a few random people, or even some of your friends. If something doesn't work out, it's rarely difficult to make a change. Because this is the true "meat" of the series, this is where there's somewhat of a split in the fanbase, and a lot of people decide to just play Pokemon battle simulators. And that's okay! They're not any worse or better than anyone else for doing that, and that may even sound more interesting to you than playing the actual games. I
personally prefer the games themselves, but that's because breeding my Pokemon myself makes me feel more accomplished than just picking things from a list. Which brings us to the next point...
- Breeding
This isn't a very popular point, but it's something that I've discovered that I enjoy very much somewhat recently. Looking at the Pokemon I've bred but haven't even used against another player, I'm starting to suspect that I like breeding more than the actual battles.
I mean I REALLY like breeding. Look at all these guys. I've even bred my fair share of shinies, and that's mostly just tilting back and forth on the D-pad for a few weeks while watching someone livestream on twitch (shut up, I don't have a problem!). It gets even better when you've got a community of breeders all sharing their Pokemon with each other, because it takes a lot less time to breed what you want. Just ask if someone has a good "parent" to start with, and swap it for something else that they can use. One of the best parts is sending out your "good but not quite perfect" Pokemon out through a service called Wonder Trade (in which your Pokemon is traded with another random player) for a chance to get new Pokemon to breed from other people who are doing the same thing.
- Nostalgia
Yes, it's true. A lot of people will deny it, but I'm not afraid to say that part of the reason why I love Pokemon is nostalgia. Like I said above, I've been playing the games since I was 5 years old, and I was all about Pokemon growing up. Games, movies, toys, the anime, I loved that stuff. I've found that people who didn't grow up on Pokemon are a lot less likely to enjoy it because they don't have those fond memories, it's just another video game to them. Let me also say that if you want to start playing Pokemon, Red/Blue/Yellow (and especially Green) is probably not a great place to start. While they are indeed the first in the series and sometimes viewed as "the greatest and only games in the series" (we call these people "genwunners"), I don't recommend them for anything beyond a nostalgia trip or just to say you played them. Everyone will tell you something different when you ask which game to play first, but in my personal opinion it's best to start with either Emerald if you don't want to be too overwhelmed or SoulSilver/HeartGold (DS remakes of the original Silver and Gold versions on GBC) if you want something a little more "modern". X & Y are also really great at introducing new players to how the game works...but it's
very hand-holdy.
- Pre-release Hype
While it's something that happens with almost any game series, there's always a great deal of hype about upcoming Pokemon titles. Nintendo and Game Freak love to trickle out bits of information, especially to Japanese television shows and CoroCoro magazine, and it's always a blast to discuss it with other fans and speculate about any unclear details. Waking up and checking your favorite news site and seeing that some more information about the next Pokemon game was confirmed is a great feeling, and can put the spark back in your desire to play. Right now we're awaiting the release of OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire, 3DS remakes of Ruby and Sapphire on GBA, and new exciting things are happening a few times every month.
At the end of the day, as with many things, you either like it or you don't. You might think new Pokemon are bland, or uncreative, or even overdesigned. Maybe you think Pokemon as a whole is stupid, or just for kids, or that it shouldn't even exist. You have a right to those thoughts, and while I disagree with a lot of them, I don't think anything I can say can change how you feel. I'm not a very persuasive person, I'm just very passionate about the things I like (and to those of you saying in this thread earlier that Pokemon fans like
only Pokemon and talk about
only Pokemon I must disagree, I enjoy many many things). I can't
force you to like Pokemon, and I don't want to. I can believe that you could turn into a big fan and not find any of the things I've listed entertaining in the slightest, too. Maybe you just like to look at cool monsters or be the hero in a story about stopping silly criminals. Hell, you might even enjoy playing through the game alone more than battling other players. Give it another try if you like, keep your mind open, and if you truly can't find anything you like about it then that's perfectly fine.
