Pokémon

So, they've confirmed that a fifth generation of Pokémon games are on the way, and have posted pictures of the first Pokémon from Gen V:



That's Zorua on the left, which evolves to Zoroark on the right.

First of all, I think that's pretty badass. On February 7th, they showed a silhouette of Zoroark (I love this name, by the way- it's right on par with some of the genius names they usually have. More on this in a sec.) and I managed to accurately predict that it would be a Fox and that it would be Dark type.
Which is where the name comes from. "Zorro" is Spanish for fox, and the "ark" at the end of his name likely comes from the word "Dark." Thus, he's a dark fox. Fairly creative, I'm impressed. Although, the creators of Pokémon don't get nearly as much credit as they deserve.


Which brings me to my next point: the social stigma of teenagers (and older) playing Pokémon games, when they're clearly marketed to kids. I don't know how many times I've gotten a "Aren't you a bit old to play Pokémon?" or "Yeah, I played Pokémon when I was a kid, but I play games for my age group now. I've grown up." comment from someone, and I find it amazing how incredibly stupid these comments are.

As a comparison, I'll use Disney.


As you can see, pretty much anything you can say about Disney applies to Pokémon.

I mean, the Pokémon games have the exterior of friendship and love, but if you look past that godawful message and ignore the stupid (lack of a) plot, Pokémon is one of the most extensive and in-depth competitive RPGs in existence.

I link you to sites such as Smogon, The Libelldra Forge, and Shoddy Battle as examples of how large the competitive Pokémon community is. The mechanics of the games are extremely complex and the metagame is constantly changing. It's a game of prediction and skill, kind of like chess but more difficult. Like Disney, if you look past the kiddy façade, there is a ton of stuff made just for older gamers.

And then you have the purists, who believe that the designs for the newer Pokémon are getting more and more lazy and uninspired. I can't help but to disagree there as well- the original 151 have more lazy, lackluster, and uninspired Pokémon than any other generation. I'll give you a sample of a debate I was in earlier today:

In each newer generation of pokemon, the pokemon are always lamer and less-creative than the previous generation. so i'm kind of scared to see what they come up with this time considering they started to make pokemon out of inanimate objects in the 4th generation.

To which I replied

That simply isn't true.

For one, they've had Pokemon based off of inanimate objects in 1st Gen (Voltorb, Electrode, Magnemite, Magneton, Grimer, Muk, Porygon) and the first gen was extremely uninspired and lazy (Seel/Dewgong and Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff are some of the most uninspired Pokemon I've seen; Diglett -> Dugtrio is lazy, along with Magnemite -> Magneton, Grimer -> Muk, Voltorb -> Electrode, Poliwag -> Poliwhirl -> Poliwrath are all examples of laziness in designing evolutions for the original Pokemon.)

Also, the simplistic nature of the first gen is something that simply doesn't exist in a natural setting- the newer Pokemon are much more detailed and defined.... See more

And that's just in the first gen. There are good and bad Pokemon in each Gen, but if you look at it objectively, you have to see that the first gen was the worst. Each subsequent game improves the gameplay mechanics and the concepts. Take off the nostalgia goggles.

And lastly, the Pokemon they've revealed for Gen V so far are extremely badass: http://www.serebii.net/generation5/

If you're going to make a point (Newer pokemon are inferior to older Pokemon) at least cite some examples. :3

(If you'd like some examples as to the aesthetics of the Pokémon in each generation, you can look here for the sprites of all 493 Pokemon, divided by generation)

Arguing Pokémon like it's srs bsns. Awwww yeah.

I really don't know where I'm going with this. I guess TL;DR is that if something is fun when you're a kid, don't limit yourself by societal standards. There's no reason you're ever "too old" for something that you love, and if other people tell you that you are, they're idiots. You can never be too old for fun.

And that's why I still play Pokémon.


-David