What's Next For Pokemon?

[SeanP]

The Nintendo Switch's unique mix of handheld and home console lends itself to innovation across all of Nintendo's franchises, but Pokemon is likely to be the most effected. Game Freak, in the past, steered clear of developing "mainline" Pokemon entries on consoles, citing that the heart of Pokemon could only be conveyed on handheld devices. Because of this, Pokemon's home console iterations were spin-offs; games like Pokemon Colosseum and Stadium were popular in a niche crowd, but the games deviated too much from the originals to evoke the same kind of magic.

Now that Nintendo's handheld and console market is consolidated, will Game Freak make a more drastic change within the mainline Pokemon franchise? Talks of a Pokemon MMO have gone on forever, but what does this look like, logistically? Part of me thinks that Game Freak will continue to play it safe with the Switch title announced for 2018, but I can't help but see the potential now that Pokemon is going to be on more powerful hardware.

Would Game Freak ever fundamentally change Pokemon? Sun and Moon were significantly changed, but the game's central elements remained. I wonder if Pokemon's combat could be transferred into a more "real-time" system, like Final Fantasy XII and XIII. In my opinion, such a shift would be great for the single player side of Pokemon. The downside would be the effect this type of change would have on the competitive Pokemon community.

What do you envision for the 2018 Pokemon game on Switch?

 

[appleandcinnamon]

I think the real time system would be downright awful. Even battles in the manga and anime were turn based. I'd really like to see cuter pokemon -- the designs just got progressively uglier after Ruby. The newer Pokemon look more like Digimon than they do the first generation.

 

[lindbergh]

I wish that Pokemon would adopt the turn based system of Monster Seed from the original PlayStation. It is a grid based turn based strategy game. The master can summon monsters into the grid, make them go to different areas within the grid, and select different attacks and moves that would be performed. Multiple monsters could also be in the grid simultaneously. And in addition, monsters can die permanently. This would be nice little touches that could be incorporated in Pokemon games.

 

[konomi]

Aw, I don't want them to change Pokemon too much :sob: It's hard though, cause if they don't change them enough then they're repetitive and boring. But if they make them TOO different, then the games won't appeal to the same people. So they have to strike a good balance between the two. For me, even SunMoon was a little too different. It was still fun to play, but I didn't get into it as much as XY or even ORAS (I had never played Ruby or Sapphire, so ORAS was brand new to me). And I didn't even WANT to complete my Pokedex in SunMoon because even though I have all of the Pokemon in my Bank, once you transfer them to SunMoon, you can't transfer them back to the bank? So then I wouldn't be able to use them in my other games :/

 

[WildSpirit]

I honestly have no idea, but whatever it is... I'm sure it will be a very good thing and I'll definitely play it.

 

[giovanniiiii]

My idea is that after all of the changes and new generations of Pokemons, it could be interesting to be back on Pallet town as another character with another story. If the setting is in after 20 years, many changes can be applied in the Kanto region. It can be pretty nostalgic to play in the region with 3D graphics. I am not sure if they have done that yet but I am hoping too that they add more Pokemons that can achieve Mega Evolution!

 

[yaorice]

I feel like changing the gameplay of the main Pokemon games may be out of the question now--it's too much of a legend. The spinoffs like Mystery Dungeon and Pokemon Conquest and Pokken are fun in themselves, and I feel like those may continue to be produced with minimal repercussions (i.e. losing a VERY loyal fanbase).

If anything, I do agree that some more depth to the story may be interesting. I can see it being highly popular if they really try to develop the history of an older region, like Kanto or Johto. The real world has changed radically since the first few pokemons, it would be amazing to revisit those regions and see how buildings / whole towns have changed with time. I think that would really introduce a level of authenticity into the series--so far we have cute pokemon and a very traditional battle system, but for us to connect more I think a time skip version would be amazing. It could almost be seen as a sequel--maybe they could do those instead of the current carbon copy remakes, where they just spruce up some of the graphics.