Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A Different Kind of Pokémon Game

I was discussing this with a few friends over the internet, but it probably deserves its own topic here. After all, the Pokémon video games have an impact on the card sets.

So far, the Pokémon games have been all the same at their core: Pick up your starter, catch more monsters, earn badges, stop an evil organization from taking over the world, defeat the Elite Four...pretty much end of game. Not much has changed, and it gets old after a while.

Mind, Nintendo has tried to make the villains a bit more villainous...but they still wind up failing epically. No, really; they tried to capture creatures described in ancient legends, overestimated themselves, and ultimately failed to catch said epic creatures. Thus, "epic fail."

They were on the right track, but given the fail and occasional need for questionable improvisation between versions (making a volcano erupt -> habitat for Water Pokémon?) , it still isn't that different. What they need is something new, preferably with more play value.



Or something old redone to the point of awesomeness.

What if the main antagonist of a Pokémon game wasn't an evil team, but a sentient Pokémon created by an evil team? Yes, I'm talking about Mewtwo, and yes, I think he would make a great antagonist for the next remake of Pokémon R/G.

The game would start out the same way it always has: You play as a rookie trainer in Pallet Town, battling trainers and clawing your way up to the Pokémon League. The first subtle differences would be random appearances of Mew - catchable in this game, just not at the first encounter - and hints of Mewtwo's creation coming from some of the Silph Co. scientists. Mewtwo, at a lower level (53?), would also appear in Giovanni's arsenal in his armored form. An insert of Blue/Gary scared shitless of Mewtwo like he was in the animé would also be sweet, but might mess with the game's continuity. Mewtwo could still fly out of the Gym after Giovanni's defeat.

Fast forward to post-Elite 4 game. A random "bounty trainer" with decently strong Pokémon around your level challenges you and briefly mentions "that monster" and "Pewter City" after his defeat. Revive a fossil in the lab; one of the scientists talks about the diaries in Cinnabar Mansion. Read them. Find a tattered page in an area that was formerly blocked off.

Several more scientists and bounty hunters later, it becomes obvious that something is up. The last few have had their Pokémon go crazy. You investigate the problem, listening to any trainer who might know ANYTHING about this...

...until you catch up to Mewtwo, who (as in the movie) has made himself a palace on New Island (if Nintendo can create 7 islands in FR/LG, they can do that). He has been expecting you, but you're a little too late. A wave (not an expert on this subject...) from a radio tower gives all Pokémon the urge to turn on their handlers, and his chamber is the only place where it isn't currently active. His armor gives him super strength; though only at Lv. 70, he's a lot tougher, and you cannot catch him yet. After defeating him and disarming the wave, he meditates on his loss in Cerulean Cave.

With his badass armor as a hold item.

Love it? Hate it? Think I should shut up? Lemme know!

1 comment:

  1. Hey,

    I was just searching through random blogs and found yours. The title caught my attention. It's a reference to "Yu-Gi-oh Abridged" right? I love watching that. I wish they would come out with more.

    I'm not the biggest anime fan. Actually, my roomate is a bigger one. But my top 3 favorite are pokemon, digimon, and yu-gi-oh, another reason your blog caught my attention. My dorm section whipped out our old-school pokemon cards and started battling again. I got so into it I'm tempted to get my own yu-gi-oh deck. Right now I'm just playing the game (I lost The Game) on Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. But anyway, I think that's cool (and kinda hot) to find a girl into pokemon, digimon and yu-gi-oh. Keep it real!

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