Original Article by Michael Malespin
To the nice folks at the Pokemon Company:
For so many years, you guys have given millions of fans endless loads of fun and competition with the Pokemon franchise. Now that the 3DS has come out and the Wii U is coming out, you guys have a lot of work to do. Now you might be thinking, “why should we listen to some random person when we’ve been skyrocketing a franchise for years with constant A-ratings and millions of games sold?” I honestly will open this up by saying that I don’t care to take any credit for this and that this is merely a few ideas that I think would at least get you guys to think. I am merely a fan that has followed the franchise since it first came out and I just want to feed you guys a bit of ideas.
I am not going to mention just one game for you guys. I actually want to give you guys some ideas for multiple games for BOTH the Wii U and the 3DS. I am not going to talk just about adventure/battling games for I have other ideas that might take you guys to memory lane with a whole new idea that can make the many features of the Wii U stand out tremendously. Another thing to think about, none of the fans mind waiting for these games to come out so take your time on them. Ratings have not being doing so hot for the console games lately (except for PokePark Wii which was actually better than anticipated) so here are a couple of ways that can take Pokemon for the Wii U to the next level.
Let’s cut to the chase with the Wii U Pokemon Game. What I like to call “Pokemon Arena”.
The first Pokemon console game, as we all remember, was Pokemon Stadium, the very first game that allowed you to take your handheld Pokemon to the big screen and have them battle the likes of many trainers in 3-D. This got many trainers together to battle and even trade with each other due to the lack of Game Link Cables in case the cables broke. Heck, even for tournaments, the places used Pokemon Stadium to make the tournaments more epic with the Pokemon attacks in 3-D and amazing commentator. Pokemon Stadium 2 brought that same impact for the fans using their Pokemon from Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Pokemon Colosseum was a great decision to make a 3-D adventure to add to transferring trainers’ Pokemon from Ruby and Sapphire to this game to use them in 3-D and then XD did the same but both made it interesting by allowing one to obtain Pokemon that were unobtainable in the handhelds. Pokemon Battle Revolution introduced battling trainers around the world which revolutionized the way trainers saw each other as how strong or strategic they were. So if all this was achieved, what would be next for the next Wii U Pokemon console game?
Let’s review the Wii U system: much faster processer, much more data, WAY better Wi-fi system, and, one of the most important features of the Wii U: 10…80p…HD. Imagine all 649 Pokemon (with ALL forms; including Kyurem’s forms) in solid gold HD. If taken the time, the Pokemon’s fur, scales, EVERY shred of detail can be worked on to make the Pokemon look as real as every trainer wants them to be as well as their attacks and the landscapes. As well, the day and night cycle can happen in this game…even for wi-fi. Depending on who chose the stage, it will depend on what time of the day you will battle the opponent (using their respective time zones which can lead to nice events happening in the daylight or nighttime such as parades or majorly lit buildings/fireworks during the battles). Shaymin will be greatly affected by this but it can be automatic that when you’re battling in an arena (since it’s indoors and it’s lit up except for maybe an open dome one), it can be played like battling in broad daylight so more than half the stages can be played no matter what time of day with Sky Form Shaymin.
With more data, this Pokemon game can be a perfect combination of Pokemons Colosseum and XD, Pokemon Battle Revolution, and Pokemon Stadium. What if we make one final Pokemon 3-D adventure for the 1 player mode and then input a section that relates to Pokemon Battle Revolution with shreds of Pokemon Stadiums 1 and 2 all over it? It would be one giant, yet VERY replayable game for Wii U owners and Pokemon fans to enjoy. This is, in a way, to make a Pokemon game that needs no sequels to come out.
So let’s go with the adventure mode first. I’ll admit, I loved the idea and challenge of capturing shadow Pokemon and purifying them to finally obtain the Pokemon that were unobtainable in the handheld games. XD introduced obtaining a lot of Pokemon and getting them many special moves that weren’t obtained in the games at all either. So, since this adventure would be a step up from XD, this game can finally allow trainers with Black and White obtain Unova Pokemon and more with their Dream World abilities. It is an easy opportunity to release them all to release them in Dream World areas down the road. Pretty cool right? Let’s keep going!
Want to make this idea even more interesting? For the first time in Pokemon history, let’s make this split into 2 versions. That’s right, a console Pokemon game split into 2 separate versions that are the same game but with a couple of differences. Need names? Pokemon Arena: Light Version and Pokemon Arena: Dark Version. Each version will allow you to catch 100 Shadow Pokemon and ‘catch from the wild’ about 12 Pokemon from 3 areas (bringing back the wild Pokemon idea from Pokemon XD). With the Pokemon from the wild idea, there can even be 3 Pokemon trades in the games.
As for the story, Giovanni has a Team Rocket base in the expanded Orre region and Giovanni calls for his 7 assistants. After they appear, he thanks them for all their hard work and gives them all a Pokemon inside Pokeballs. After he summons them out to polish up on their shadowy work, he looks up smiling at the final Pokemon he was converting into a shadow Pokemon which will depend on the version (let’s say, in Light version, he looks at a shadow looking like Mewtwo and in Dark version, it’s a shadow looking like Giratina). Afterwards, the scene will shift to another part of the Orre region to the hero (boy or girl; beginning will allow you to choose) who is helping the professor with a bit of research when Team Rocket comes in to attack the lab.
The hero (or heroine) wants to help so he/she chooses a starter Pokemon (in Light, you get to choose from Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile while Dark allows you to choose from Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle; ALL with their Dream World abilities). The leader of the group has one shadow Pokemon (being, in this case, Patrat) but after a little while, the professor tosses a PokeBall and catches Patrat. After the members leave frustrated, the Professor explains how the shadowy aura altered the Pokemon’s emotions, attacks, and even their abilities and that, after purifying your starter, the professor noticed that the emotions and attacks went back to normal but the ability stayed the way it was at its corrupted state. Being the hero, your character agrees to help out the Shadow Pokemon and defeating the source. You get started with your starter, Patrat, and some Pokeballs and the adventure begins!
The list of Pokemon might be a bit of work but I have a list with levels, Dream World abilities, and a special attack(s) that appear when the Pokemon gets purified like in XD. This list includes the Pokemon that the 7 (technically 6 with these plans) assistants have by underlining them. The last assistant would end up being a Rocket Member that softened up during the time the player was foiling Team Rocket’s plan by stating that he wasn’t enjoying the plan much anymore. He had his prized Pokemon (Landorous) that he took the time to purify but didn’t think he deserved it. At the same time, he didn’t want to give it to just anyone. As stated in the list, if the player collected and purified every shadow Pokemon, they will obtain Landorous. The list also has the wild Pokemon and trades that can show up in the game.
The rest of the story is up to you guys. Reverse Mode can come back from XD as well as all of the shadow attacks from that same game as well as making up some new ones like some that attack everyone or benefit from Triples Battles that can be in the game and the Purification Machine can make a comeback as well. Most matches may have to be in doubles again to benefit from capturing Pokemon while attacking the other. Triples would make capturing some of them a bit tough but a cool and different way of doing so as well. Mt. Battle can make a comeback as well as throwing in a couple of in-game tournaments to add more to do in the adventure.
The second half of the game can be an interesting mix of Pokemon Stadium and Battle Revolution. From the Revolution side, you can bring back adding multiple passes, buying items and clothes with currency (ESPECIALLY items that haven’t been released in Black and White yet like stat-boosting berries), and DEFINITELY the wi-fi battling. Parts of Stadium can come back such as rental Pokemon (that can differ through Rounds 1-3 [like Unova rentals in round 1, Sinnoh and Hoenn rentals in round 2, etc] which can be registered as battle passes to be used online), battling in stadiums, a crazed and hyper commentator, Battle Now, and even minigames. Would Gym Leader Castle make a comeback? I can see why you might not want that concept to come back but it is a challenge. Maybe replace it with a harder version of the game’s Mt. Battle. Stadium mode can bring back Puny Cup (Little cup from Stadium 2), Poke Cup, Pika Cup, and Prime Cup while introducing a few others like one where your Pokemon are chosen at random or another where only powerhouses (Fully evolved Pokemon from levels 70-75) can compete.
A final matchup against a shadowy trainer toward the end of each round could add to the challenge. Battle now can be simple: Round 1 can preset 2 out of 4 teams with use of only babies, Round 2 can use middle teams, Round 3 can use fully evolved Pokemon, and then when you beat Round 3, Battle Now turns into legends.
I’m not 100% sure of what mini-games can work for this game but it sure would add a different spin in the game. Each game can utilize the Wii Remote and Wii U tablets to add a lot of fun into the multi-player for the game. Like in Stadiums 1 and 2, it’s a great way to take a break from all the battling. Even at one-player mode, players can face-off against the computer for practice.
As we all know, wi-fi for the Wii U is planned to be nearly 10 times better than what was on the original Wii. Because of this, there are many enhancements that can be done to the wi-fi for this game. First of all, what would be brought back? Pokemon Battle Revolution already did a pretty good job with Wi-fi having friend matches, using multiple passes, and having many different arenas/colosseums. Of course, we would have a set amount of brand new arenas/battle areas and maybe bring back 3 old ones. As we remember, Battle Revolution brought in singles and doubles so this game can add Triples but Wonder Launcher should be only for Friend Matches giving you certain and set amount of items to use during your matches. Rotation battles are still debatable whether it should be for random matchup or for friend matches only considering the possibility of singles matchup dropping in popularity since Rotation Battles are practically like singles only with free ‘switching’ by rotating.
This next concept that I’m about to bring up is something that can reduce the amount of…what a lot of us like to call ‘sore losers’ on wi-fi. A problem that has emerged for most trainers is the amount of trainers that disconnect just as they are about to lose. From experience, that happens far too frequently. When an opponent is going to lose and they just ‘happen’ to disconnect, that is obviously not coincidence. So how do we stop it? It’s simple. So you’re facing an opponent on wi-fi and you seem to have the upper hand. Your opponent wants to keep his/her win-loss record at a maximum of win so he/she disconnects.
One or both things can happen: #1. A computer can take over the team so the one who doesn’t disconnect can still finish the battle towards the end and then, #2, the disconnecting player now cannot enter this game’s wi-fi for 24 hours. It may seem unfair to a person with a poor wi-fi connection but since the Wii U’s wi-fi is much better, the only odds of that being accidental is the player not having a good enough internet connection or a bad router which are both completely easy to fix (or blackout which would be bad luck). With all this, the wi-fi will land at extraordinary levels of replayability.
Any other features in mind? How about a Pokemon Wi-fi Community Channel that actually posts players’ rankings over the wi-fi community? It would get trainers to battle at their best but only if you play ranked battles (which would have a set fair amount of rules). Otherwise, Free Random Wi-fi Battle can be like Battle Revolution in which there are no rules or restrictions but still some speculation if the legendary Pokemon were achieved correctly and that the stats aren’t WAY off from what they’re supposed to have at lv. 50 as well as none of the battles affecting your stats on wi-fi. That and maybe wi-fi tournaments that can earn you items and even Pokemon prizes out of Cherish Balls.
It would cost money to enter the tournaments thus continually earning this company money when tournaments are being held! It’s a great way to keep everyone from getting bored of playing online if they think they run into multiple boring trainers or too many disconnectors. Last feature in mind can be a spectator mode where players get to monitor other trainers online to check out some cool and interesting matches and place the game’s currency on the battles.
As for the battling itself, it’s extremely simple how it works. You have 3 kinds of controllers: The Wii Remote, the Wii U tablet, and of course, the 3DS. The tablet’s touch screen is the simplest of controllers launching every switch and attack command from the touch screen. The 3DS can be used as a controller as well just out of total convenience especially when the game is entirely transferred to the tablet while someone wants to watch something in the TV. When free battle is launched and the Wii remote is used, you can take what’s from Pokemon Stadiums 1 and 2 and select attacks and switches through the D-Pads, 1, and 2 buttons. Nice and easy way to make the multi-playing free battle mode less…predictable. As for the visuals, as long as the Pokemon, landscapes, and attacks are detailed in HD while exaggerating what some of the stronger attacks look like, this game’s visuals will give the fans everything they wanted.
A game like this would be incredible for the Wii U and would be so large and amazing, that there is no way a sequel for this game needs to come out. The list of the Pokemon will be at the end of the letter and, of course, this is only if you guys want to do this. Just did a bit of research and ended up with all this for an idea for the Wii U. Now, there is another idea for the Wii U that just will give people a great trip down memory lane.
To Be Continued..
