Pokémon Peril: The Introduction

"When you're a kid and get your first bike, you want to go somewhere you've never been before. That's like Pokémon. Everybody shares the same experience, but everybody wants to take it someplace else. And you can do that."

--Satoshi Tajiri, creator of Pokémon

Pokémon.

You know you loved it at some point. Whether you played the games religiously, collected/played the Trading Card Game, watched the show, or stole your friend's handheld every now and then at school, just about every kid in the 90's got their hands on this game at some point. Even if you weren't a dedicated fan, it wasn't hard for anyone to see the effect it has had on popular culture and how collecting and battling creatures could be fun. For some, the games were nothing but a fad, and the allure to “catch 'em all” faded after the first and second generations. Despite this, there were many hardcore fans who felt that the games still had much to offer.

More than ten years later, Pokémon has shown its endurance as a franchise, and continues to gain new fans, currently holding 5 places in the top 20 best-selling console games of all time between the different and newer versions of the game. Unfortunately, fans of the original series have little to look forward to, and the franchise has become stagnant. It seems as if the company wishes to cater to its constantly renewable audience, and is always targeting the same initial age group of kids. Innovation in the games has become a joke, and the only real changes are more annoying than enjoyable improvement.

With that, I would like to introduce a 5-piece segment that focuses on the following elements of the series, including new elements that I feel have been taken in the wrong direction or unnecessarily added, old aspects that have allowed the games to maintain their success, and some suggestions on how Nintendo and The Pokémon Company can please fans.

These are some of the topics that will be covered:

• Graphic Styles/Movement
• Storylines
• Battle System
• Trading System/Global Trade Station (GTS)
• The Anime Series

It is my goal to relate to others that enthusiasts of the original series are still interested in seeing new ideas for future games. In addition, it is also my hope that some will see Pokémon from an adult point of view, rather than the stereotypical childish cash cow that Nintendo has outwardly embraced. We may only see new evolutions of Pokémon for now instead of steps towards evolution of the franchise, but there is always potential that fan outcry may have some effect.