Today marks the 25th Pokémon Day. Pokémon Red and Green first came out in Japan on the 27th of February, 1996. They came out in America – with Green changed to Blue for some reason – in 1998, which is when I started with the series.
As a side note, you would not believe the confusion changing that color caused. The main character in the game is canonically named Red. Since in Japan, the paired game is Pokémon Green, the rival character is named Green. The manga, which had the female protagonist that didn’t appear in the first generation games, thus named the female protagonist Blue. But then Pokémon Green became Pokémon Blue in America, so the rival’s name changed to Blue in America, meaning the manga female protagonist became Green. I’m not sure whether Green and Leaf, the female protagonist in Pokémon LeafGreen, are the same person – I don’t think so, meaning the Green that appears in the Let’s Go games is her own character, separate from Leaf. As a side note, manga Green/Blue is kind of terrifyingly insane, which mirrors what Green does in Let’s Go – after you defeat her, she throws Poké Balls at you and asks you if you want to become her Pokémon. Hot. …Anyway, I’m probably the biggest Pokémon nerd ever, but I’ve levied my fair number of critiques on my beloved franchise. Notably…they’ve released pretty much the same game like…let me count. 24 times by the end of Generation VI. R/B/Y, G/S/C, R/S/E, FR/LG, D/P/Pt, HG/SS, B/W, B2/W2, X/Y, OR/AS. Generation VII was the first time they really changed the formula, and it wasn’t a major change. I haven’t played Sw/Sh, but from what I know, it returned to the regular formula. Well, the 25th anniversary brought news both good and bad. The bad news, if you can call it that, is that Diamond and Pearl are getting remakes: Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. I don’t think these games need remakes, I didn’t think OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire are better than Emerald is, and see above for my opinion on releasing the same game multiple times, but a lot of people were looking forward to this, and hey, they could do worse than revisit Sinnoh. The good news? Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I’ve been clamoring for something like this. Instead of making a new generation where it’s the same formula but new creatures, do things with the gigantic amount of lore and worldbuilding you already have. Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes place in Sinnoh, long ago, and it’s an open-world RPG. You roam a wilderness. You see Pokémon in their natural habitat. You explore the lore of the region surrounding where the Original One lives – or at least the place he’s associated with. Arceus, being Pokémon God, probably doesn’t live anywhere. This game isn’t due for awhile, but man, I hope they get it right. After 25 years of the same thing – a great same thing, but the same thing – let’s go somewhere new. Praise the Original One. Praise the Trio Master of Creation. Praise the Trio Master of the Lakes. |
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February 2024
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