Episode 72: Pokémon Review

Topic: Pokémon Review

Mom returns with tales of her journey in the world of pokemon.  She have thoughts, Ideas, and our discussion was actually very interesting in the respects of Video Game ideas and philosophy of those that make the game, and where they come from.  It's actually pretty interesting, as we've been doing this for over 70 weeks now, mom is getting quite comfortable and skilled at trying to understand the culture of the people who created the game, which is awesome.  Plus our usual divergence in to Animal Crossing as well.

 

Homework Review

 

Spinoff Pokemon Games

Pokemon Stadium Series

• Console: Nintendo 64
• Developed by Nintendo as a response to the popularity of the Pokemon Games, these were the only way to see the Pokemon on the Big Screen.  The game was bundled with the Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak, an add-on for the N64 so that you could transfer your Pokemon from the gameboy games to the N64 and use them in the game.  The original intent was for tournaments, so that those watching had something to watch and see during the event, instead of the blocky, pixilated version of the game.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Series

• Console: Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch
• Based on Mystery Dungeon Mechanics (When Dungeons or Zones are randomly Generated), this game found you the player transforming in to a Pokemon, based off a personality test, and visiting various dungeons to complete the game.  Along the way, you can collect other pokemon to follow you and assist in the dungeons.  Unlike other Pokemon games, the battles are simple, as you navigate through the dungeon and happen upon other enemy pokemon.  Several games have come out over the years, with more light hearted affair and pokemon talking to each other.  There also tends to be a lack of any humans around, so pokemon appear in a more natural setting, with many civilized trappings.

Pokemon Ranger Series

• Console: Nintendo DS
• Attempting to take advantage of the Nintendo DS’s bottom Touch Screen, this version of the game sees you capturing pokemon for a short period of time and using them on missions.  The big change is that instead of the RPG mechanics of the main game, you use the stylus to draw circles around pokemon in order to capture it temporarily.  Pokemon captured temporarily can then be used to assist with your mission or help with capturing pokemon.  An example is a water pokemon may slow or immobilize the enemy pokemon you’re trying to capture with the stylus.  

Pokemon Rumble Series

• Console: Nintendo 3DS, Wii U
• Like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, you travel through various procedurally generated dungeons and fight other pokemon.  The main difference being the real-time melee mechanics, which act out in real time, meaning you have to run up to attack them, but also dodge their attacks too.  

Pokemon Snap

• Console: Nintendo 64, Wii / Wii U Virtual Console
• A less beloved, but still cult popular, game in the Pokemon Series.  This one is an on-rail (Meaning you follow a set path as laid out by the game) sees you going through various areas and taking pictures of pokemon.  The goal is to take pictures of Pokemon, with points awarded for the quality of the picture taken; this can be due to multiple pokemon, different pokemon in same picture, rare or evolved pokemon, or the actions the pokemon are doing in the picture. The pokemon are all in their natural environment, but with Pokemon Bait launched in certain parts of the area, you can trigger events to get more pokemon to show up, different pokemon to appear, or trigger a short event that makes for a better picture.

Pokemon Puzzle Games

• Console: Gameboy Color, Nintendo 64, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch
• These are various games based off puzzle mechanics.  Usually, these are re-skins (Reusing other games mechanics, worlds, models, etc, from games in order make new material) of other existing game series. 
• Puzzle Challenge & Puzzle League – Reskin of Panel de Pon / Puzzle League
• Pokemon Shuffle – Reskin of Puzzle & Dragon / Bejeweled Mechanics
• Pokemon Café Mix – Reskin of Disney’s Tsum Tsum Mechanics

Hey You, Pikachu

• Console: Nintendo 64
• A unique game where you follow your Pikachu around and talk to it.  Utilizing the N64 Voice Recognition Unit, an add-on included with the game, you can talk to Pikachu and direct it around to do stuff for you.  Talking to Pikachu directly allows you to build trust and score, which can unlock additional skills for Pikachu.  It’s unique in that its Add-on is only used for the one game, and also doesn’t work well with adult and teenager voices.  While the gameplay is simple, it was launched right in the middle of the initial pokemon craze to take advantage of it.

Super Smash Bros

• Console: Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii / Wii U, Switch
• While not a Pokemon game in of itself, pokemon have been represented in every Smash Bros game, and often favorite.  Initial Super Smash Bros saw series mascot Pikachu to the roster from day one, and is often a favorite amongst other player, along with Jigglypuff as an unlock.  Later series would add additional pokemon, including Pichu, Mewtwo, Charizard, Lucario, Greninja, & Incineroar.  In Super Smash Bros Braw, we saw the introduction of the Pokemon Trainer, which could switch out between Charizard, Ivysaur, and Squirtle to allow varied gameplay in one character.  Outside of the various stages in the game being pokemon themed, there are also Pokeballs, which contain any number of pokemon that can be summoned on to the stage and aid the thrower by causing damage, debuffs, or chaos during the match.

Pokemon Anime

Largely credited for opening up the Western Audience to Anime, Pokemon has been a staple of TV for the last 23 years.  Pokemon’s Cartoon/Anime follows the adventures of Ash Ketchum(As in Catch them All, the series’s tag line), also simply known as Satoshi in Japanese, as he ventures around the world to become a Pokemon Master.  The show follows the basic plot of the games, with side stories and adventures to flesh out the world and character, intended to be the common adventure of a Pokemon Trainer and his friends.  The show’s art style has largely unchanged from 1997 till 2016, when the Anime had a change in art style.  

There have been a few spin off series that are Pokemon Anime, but don’t follow the events of Ash.

Pokemon Chronicles – Following trainers for the Johto League, similar to the Gold and Silver character designs.  The game follows their exploits, but takes place in the same world and time around Ash and his journeys.

Pokemon Origins – A more faithful retelling of the Pokemon Red and Blue series of games.  It was a mini-series released just before X & Y’s release.  While initially limited to Japan, they were eventually released on to the Pokemon Youtube Channel for free.

Pokemon Generations – A pokemon series initially released on Pokemon’s Youtube Channel.  The series follows the first six generations of pokemon and Largely focus on side stories of various pokemon character that have been seen through the games, including trainers, Gym Leaders, and other random characters.  

Pokemon Twilight Wings – A mini-series released on to Youtube, the series follows events of Sword and Shield, and only finished production in August due to Covid-19 delaying the production of the final episode.

Like any long running series, Pokemon has had some episodes removed or heavily edited due to Controversies regarding the material or elements of them.

“Cyber Soldier Porygon” – Likely the most famous example came early in Pokemon’s broadcast.  The episode featured Ash and Pikachu being digitized and entering a computer to aid Porygon, a digital Pokemon.  During the episode, Pikachu’s Thunderbolt Attack causes a mix of Blue and Red flashing effects in rapid succession, causing a strobe effect for roughly 5-7 seconds.  This resulted in some viewers experiencing Blurred Vision, headaches, dizziness, and nausea, with some viewers experiencing Blindness, Seizures, convulsions, and losing consciousness.  While 685 viewers were reported to have been hospitalized, it’s presumed that over 12000 child may have been affected by the episode.

After the episode, Pokemon took a 4 month Hiatus.  After the Hiatus, other episodes were edited to remove strobe effects, along with the Opening sequence being edited and changed.  The episode has never been seen outside of the original broadcast and was removed by Nintendo.  In the west, the episode was mocked and used as satire for Japanese Anime in other western animation, particular Simpsons and South Park.

Jynx – Jynx is an ice-pokemon, but upon release in America, it was criticized for promotion of Black Face.  While the notion of Black Face was Foreign to Japan, who doesn’t have a large foreign population in Japan (only 3-4% of the population in Japan is Non-Japanese), Jynx was later changed to have a Purple colored Face instead.  This was what led to the exclusion of the episode “The Ice Cave!” which heavily included Jynx before the edit.

Several Episodes have been removed due to illusions to Earthquakes or Destruction, namely episodes in Japan, as the episodes original Airing date was halted due to Earthquakes or Tsunami’s in Japan.  Similarly in the West, two episodes were pulled temporarily pulled after the 9/11 Attacks during the initial broadcast: one featured the destruction of a city and another due to the title “The Tower of Terror”.  Both episodes were eventually rebroadcast.

Some Episodes were only skipped in America.  This included “Beauty and the Beach” where the characters participate in a Swimsuit competition, but features James of team Rocket sporting inflatable breasts.  The Episode was initially skipped due to the previous content and concerns over over-sexualization, but later re-edited and rebroadcast as a ‘Lost Episode’.  Another episode, “The Legend of Dartini” would have seen Ash and company looking for the rare Dartini Pokemon and visiting the Safari Zone, however was skipped due to the frequent use and appearance firearms in the anime.  The episode leads to an error in the show, where Ash had captured 30 Tauros Pokemon, which see use later in the series.  

Much like other long running Anime Series, Pokemon has movies, 24 theatrical released movies over the last 23 years.  Pokemon itself in Japan releases a Movie every year, which often tells side stories for Ash and company which don’t get referenced or reflected in the mainline anime.  It’s also amongst the only times in which major Legendary Pokemon get seen, as they are rarely referenced or seen in the main Anime.  A handful of the POkemon Movies saw a release in the West, namely during the first and second generation, with later movies not seeing a Domestic Box Office release, but released to Video Instead.

While Japan has had one new Pokemon movie every year, the west released Detective Pikachu, which is amongst the highest grossing films in 2019 and second highest grossing videogame film of all time.