Hey Malstrom. As you might have noticed, a new Pokemon game is launching this week.
And it is incredible timing because as we all know Nintendo is acting like a spoiled child right now, reverting back to being 3D obsessed following its success with the Wii and DS. Regarding that, hopefully the 3DS’ failure will cause Nintendo to make a real console again, but that’s not what the email’s for.
I know you don’t focus on Pokemon for personal reasons (you missed the phenomenon due to being too old originally, I think you mentioned), but I just thought that what was going on right now was too special and incredible not to mention, because they’re the only ones who are getting it right. Let us just give them the appropriate respect by mentioning them parallel to criticizing Nintendo.
And I am not talking about what made the original successful. Nintendo could do that. Other companies could do that. But none of those companies managed to not lose this success. That’s what is amazing and must be said out loud.
Every time, and EVERY time, a new Pokemon game is released, I witness it again and again. Suddenly hundreds of new people pop out of nowhere, saying, “hey I never played Pokemon before, but these new games look kinda cool” or “I played the first two games but never played the third and fourth, and I’m buying the remakes of the second game”. Just yesterday someone told me, “I played the originals with all my friends, but high school prevented me from continuing. Now I’m buying both versions to play with my son, for the first time since then”…. “I have never played Pokemon before. Do you know which version I should get?”
I was so mystified by how easily Game Freak did what not a SINGLE OTHER game company, and especially Nintendo, could not do. Plenty of people would probably respond to this saying “hurr durr, they just rehash the games with laziness, that’s how it works.” But that’s bullshit and we all know it. If you could become a millionaire with laziness, I assure you Nintendo would jump on the chance. The recent Iwata Asks for Pokemon proves that there is a very good understanding of how to retain success inside Game Freak.
If you haven’t already, I suggest you try and read that Iwata Asks interview. They got so many things right, where they could have easily gotten them wrong, and no one realizes this on the outside. I’m shocked at how many people continue to think it’s just laziness that makes Pokemon draw in old and new players again and again every time. The CONTENT is different in every game. It’s always different.
It is exactly what Mario and Zelda would enjoy if they would release better games in their respective series. Nintendo just needs to see what the fans of Pokemon say, replace their words with Zelda, and cry themselves to sleep thinking about what they are missing.
You make a great point that everyone overlooks the continued Pokemon success that has been going on for… how long? A decade and a half?