Tag: Pokémon

Anonymous asks:

I really like the Sinnoh starters, how their typings countered each other and how they all have mythological influences behind them! It helps set the atmosphere of D/P/Pt and shows that a lot of thought really go into the starters. Do you think Game Freak should do more of that kind of thing?

The Sinnoh starters are definitely my favourite trio, and the way Game Freak chose to play with their type combinations is certainly part of that.  It’s nice to have a bit of variety mixed in with the Grass/Water/Fire standard, and the way Torterra can beat Infernape with Ground attacks, Infernape can beat Empoleon with Fighting attacks, and Empoleon can beat Torterra with Ice attacks gives it all a pleasing symmetry.  As long as we have to keep Grass/Water/Fire, I’m glad there’s some scope to play with it.

Continue reading “Anonymous asks:” →

Anonymous asks:

I noticed that Tyranitar’s the only pseudo-legendary to not be used by a final boss in its introductory games; any guesses as to why they didn’t give Lance one in GSC/HGSS? It’s reasonably draconic-looking (hey, they made Tyrantrum a Dragon!) and it’s quite powerful and God knows Lance could do without one of his blasted cheating Dragonite and get some variety in his team! Similarly, any thoughts as to why they didn’t give Steven a Magneton, a strong Steel Pokémon that was available in RSE/ORAS?

You know, I’ve never thought about it… I think there are several plausible reasons, though.  First, in most generations, there’s someone new who fills that role, whereas Lance was an established character already and Dragonite was firmly set as his signature Pokémon before Gold and Silver happened.  And this was only the second generation, so it’s not like this was already a rule or convention by that point; in Red and Blue the final final boss was the rival character, not the guy with the Dragonite.  And maybe the very fact that they didn’t give Lance a Tyranitar, in contrast to the way they’ve behaved more recently, says something about what they think Tyranitar is supposed to be – that is, maybe there’s something about him that strikes Game Freak as particularly not draconic, possibly because he’s basically a dinosaur and therefore needs to be a Rock-type (yes, you can compare Tyrantrum, but that’s fifteen years later, and I don’t know if I’d expect 100% consistency over such a long period on something as vague as what the Dragon type is; they may have different ideas about it now).  I also kinda think maybe they had in mind for Larvitar and its evolutions to be almost like a “secret” Pokémon – Larvitar doesn’t show up until the very end of the game, at Mount Silver, and neither it nor its evolutions are ever used by any trainer prior to that. Misdreavus is the same.  I think that’s part of a deliberate choice, meant to emphasise the remoteness of Mount Silver – there are Pokémon there that you won’t even have heard of during a playthrough of Gold or Silver, and Larvitar, Pupitar and Tyranitar are part of creating that aesthetic.

Continue reading “Anonymous asks:” →

Anonymous asks:

Trend is a bit too strong a word, but I’ve noticed in your reviews of new Pokemon, specifically version-exclusive Pokemon, you tend to prefer one over the other. Cf Cottonee/Petilil, Solosis/Gothita, Clauncher/Skrelp. Would you care to talk about the implications of version exclusivity at all? (I mean, beyond the natural selling point of forcing people either to make new friends or buy two versions of the same game.)

Well, I talked a little about this here, and honestly I tried to think of some point to it beyond driving more sales, but didn’t come up with anything.  In gameplay terms I think that particular aspect of the paired-game concept is obsolete, because version-exclusive Pokémon are among the smallest obstacles to finishing a Pokédex today.  So is there anything else to it?  I suppose it would be something if you could argue that the sets of version-exclusive Pokémon say something about the character of the games they appear on – like if you could say, for instance, that Ekans, Vileplume, Primeape, Arcanine, Scyther and Electabuzz somehow thematically “go with” Red/Fire/Charizard in a way that Sandslash, Victreebel, Persian, Ninetales, Pinsir and Magmar do not.  And I think maybe you can almost say that for the Ruby and Sapphire sets, but you really have to stretch some of them to make it fit.  Or perhaps you could conjecture that the different versions represent different seasons, or something along those lines, so that Red version represents the experience of a trainer who started a journey in winter rather than summer (that doesn’t work for generation V, of course, which actually has a season mechanic), or something else along those lines.  In the end I really don’t think there’s much you can draw out of it.