Bringing Pokemon Gaming BACK to the Console

This is an article which I wrote for The Odyssey that I own all of the rights to. Original can be found here. (Though it has been slightly modified.)

For quite some time in my life, I have enjoyed quite a few of the Pokemon games. I started originally with a Gameboy Color playing Red and Blue. It grew to playing Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald versions on the Gameboy Advance SP along with Pokemon Stadium on the Nintendo 64. I remember wanting another console based Pokemon game. Low and behold, there came Pokemon Colosseum on Nintendo Gamecube (thoroughly underrated by the way). Ever since then I have been really wanting a console Pokemon game, but not just ANY game. It would have to be done in just the right way in order for not just myself to enjoy it, but a version that would do incredibly well and not seem like a bland corporate mechanism. So here are just a few ways in which a Pokemon console game would be perfect.

Skyrim-esque graphics

Anyone who has played Skyrim can attest to the ultra-realistic graphics of the game. Seeing Pokemon in this light as opposed to the more cartoon graphics that the TV show and previous games have had. It would be an amazing sight to see the evolutions of the starters like Blastoise, Charizard, and Venusaur or even legendary Pokemon like Rayquaza, Lugia, and Entei gracing our screens. However this might not be good for an arachnophobe like me seeing Spinarak and Ariados.

Horror Game vibes

Lavender Town in the Kanto Region was pretty eerie in terms of the overall concept. We dealt with multiple Gastlys and ultimately the ghost of Marowak. The optimal way to play through this level as well as the equivalent in other regions would be if we had the all around aura of Slenderman and the element of the jump scare. Imagine running into a Gastly or Duskull jumping out at you like

I think it would be pretty safe to say that we would jump out our seats just like Markiplier.

Levels such as that for the Ghost Pokemon would be suspenseful as well as a phenomenal gaming experience as well as properly serving to the varying nature of environments in Pokemon games.

Sneaking/Missions

Certain levels, such as dealing with Team Rocket and Team Magma/Aqua should call for you to stay out of sight. If a 10 year old is being tasked with trying to take down a terrorist organization, you should give it the Metal Gear Solid vibe in these situations. Having the members of Team Rocket/Aqua/Magma actively looking for you as opposed to standing in one place.

Trainer customization

Pokemon X and Y featured trainer customization, being able to essentially design their characters and give even more ownership of their experience. Maybe it won't be the degree of customization that the WWE 2K Games have, but virtually anything would be better than the generic trainers we have been given in virtually every other Pokemon game.

Post Story Mode

There should be more options in terms of what you want to do after the story mode is over. Something that I have always thought would be awesome would be if I could be a Gym Leader. Having this as an option for players would be an amazing feature. The player could pick the type of Pokemon they wanted to use, what their badge looks like, as well as Gym Customization itself. For players who do not want to go this route though, maybe they could join the nefarious Team Rocket or even join Team Magma or Team Aqua, or why not be able to make an organization of their own? Or if it's more your speed, why not become a Pokemon breeder? Just a thought.

DLC Packs

A fairly contentious aspect of gaming is the use of Season Passes and DLC; however, it could work pretty well with this game without seeming like a hassle or even generally a bad thing. The game could start off having the Kanto Region and then unlocking Johto, then unlocking Hoenn and having DLC expansions for Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos.

Online and Multiplayer

Part of this expands on point 5, but after the story mode is over, you could take your Gym online and battle players from all over the world as well as double battles, 2 vs. 2 battles with your friends, even going as far to have the Pokemon Contests or being able to trade Pokemon with other users.

I realize this game would take a super long time to make, but that is why in my mind Nintendo needs to start on this now.