Game news How to create the ultimate Pokémon game? A memorable scenario, the return of old mechanics… We talk about it in our JV Debate

Game news How to create the ultimate Pokémon game? A memorable scenario, the return of old mechanics… We talk about it in our JV Debate

The Pokémon series has been around for almost 30 years and has more than a hundred titles in its entire history.. But it is also known for its latest opuses which are regularly criticized for their storyline, their technique or even their mechanics. But then, what should the episode that everyone agrees on look like? Charlan and Nakame give us their point of view.

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Breaking out of isolation

If the series benefited from the participation of third-party studios for the design of the remakes and secondary games of the license, it’s Game Freak who has always taken care of the main opuses of the seriesfrom Pokémon Red and Blue to the highly anticipated Pokémon Legends: ZA, scheduled for 2025. However, although the studio knows the license like the back of its hand, both its strengths and its weaknesses, the episodes follow one another and preserve or even bring back new problems.

To deal with this problem, one of the solutions would be to hire other studiosnot to develop spin-offs, but to support Game Freak on the biggest episodes. ILCA for example, developer of the very divisive Pokémon Sparkling Diamond and Sparkling Pearl (4th generation remake) had previously supported Square Enix during the development of Dragon Quest 11. It had also provided assistance to other studios such as Platinum Games on NieR Automata. The work of different developers on the same title is a very widespread practice, if not completely commonplace within the industry today. Therefore, Game Freak should perhaps learn to delegate, in order to improve the weak points of the license.

Melting pot

If each Pokémon opus maintains a common base of mechanics between its different episodes, each generation has tried to bring about renewal. Whether it is the Pokémon that follow the player, the different mounts or even the combat techniques specific to certain opuses, the license has never stopped wanting to innovate. Although some of them left their mark on players and were popular, they have completely disappeared, like the mega-evolution, present in Pokémon X and Y as well as Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The latter was replaced by Z abilities then by Gigamax and finally teracrystallization, mechanics which did not really convince the public.

Some of these mechanics could then come back to the forefront, in the same game, combined with a new style of gameplay, like the dynamic Pokémon capture of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The concentration of all these mechanics, in addition to bringing coherence to the universe, would help to exploit what the license has done best, continuing to explore these ideas for the greatest happiness of the players. There are many other aspects that could go into creating the perfect Pokémon experience, and to find out more about it, do not hesitate to consult our dedicated column at the top of the page.