So, it’s been nearly a year since my last full Tomodachi Life update–not due to lack of playing, of course, but just due to wanting to accomplish more big goals before I did a big picture overview and well, I finally managed to finish nearly all of my goals! While I didn’t have as much fun yesterday as I’d have liked, I got a lot of Tomodachi Life StreetPasses along with getting lucky with the final food I need and thus, four goals were completed.
As expected, this year has mostly just been unlocking the rest of the DLC colors rather than new DLC outfits:
I’m guessing this will also be the last year we get any kind of new DLC if they even continue to loop the rest of the outfits.
A few new couples finally got married:
I really wish I could do more to get these to happen along with keeping them together. So many couples break up while I’m not playing and it’s so depressing.
This gets picture heavy though so, if you’d like to continue…
So, as many people probably know, Nintendo NYC, previously the Nintendo World Store, reopened yesterday after a month of renovations. They’re doing an event for the reopening this weekend and I made sure to go yesterday for the first day or it which… may have not been in my best interests.
The store itself looks great. Despite being the same squarefoot, they managed to make it look a lot roomier and with so many things on wheels, I’m guessing it will be easier to move things around. I feel like how things are organized now will make it easier to find stuff as well.
While Press and People with young kids were allowed in at 9AM (to cupcakes and hot drinks while everyone outside was freezing–I feel especially bad for people in the front who had to watch food when many of them were starving due to having been there from as early as Thursday morning), everyone else had to wait until noon at the earliest. Despite that, I tried to take some nice photos from outside:
The Golden Mario at the corner of the entrances–I wonder if it will be a permanent addition or be switched out from time to time for events. I feel like a lot of choices in the store were made for easy switching though.
The familiar screens are still along the front wall and look nice:
And the backs of the various demo stations on the first floor:
Also, these were the press-cupcakes which a few people first got excited for thinking they were for everyone, but ended up just being for press:
Now, before we get into interior pictures, I want to talk more about the opening event itself. We ended up getting there between 7AM and 8AM and were right around the corner. When the line was condensed a bit about 11:30AM, we ended up being about 80% down the first block. We’ve been down that far before for the Black & White 2 event. It took 30-40 minutes tops that day and everyone on the line was given a scarf while we waited.
This time? It took us over 3 hours to get in. People were barely being let in, the lines itself took roughly 40 minutes (and there weren’t even that many people–I’m not sure what the delay was), the autograph wristbands were gone nearly instantly. The Splatoon Posters and Lanyards were gone shortly after we went in. The line was all the way around the block and over to the next. There were at least several hundred people on line. The frustrating part is a lot of this could’ve been subsided if things were more prepared (and there really were way too few Splatoon posters and Lanyards–rather than making it a three day thing, it may have been better to have all three posters for people to pick from). The special shirts were only available in Small hours after we left and have since sold out earlier today.
Fates Special Editions also were gone shortly after we got there, though, we already had a copy preordered so we didn’t need to pick one up there. So many people came just for Fates, the autograph signing, and/or the Splatoon Poster and actually -mentioning when these things sold out- probably would have helped a lot with the disappointment some fans felt. Not to mention the running out of the Splatoon Posters and Lanyards were really silly and besides the fact that there should have been much more of them, it would’ve been a lot better to actually hand those out to everyone who was waiting in line. It would’ve given people something to be excited about rather than freezing and hoping there could be something by the time they got into the store.
Back to the interior, I want to show one of my favorite aspects of the redesign which is the giant flagpole in the center of the staircase with Mario at the top:
(photo from NintendoNYC’s own website as we were unable to get a picture with all the crowds)
I do feel the event was poorly done and makes me worried for next weeks. There just needs to be better crowd control. Like I said, the overall design is great. My only mixed feeling is with the big screen as I feel that could’ve been put into other things rather than just one big gameplay screen–but it’s probably a good way for people to try out upcoming games.
As a note, they ended up giving out some Fire Emblem: Fates posters after running out of Lanyards and Splatoon posters (Though, I don’t believe too many as I believe they were supposed to be for those picking up the game). Besides the two shirts and retrospective coins, we got a few other things as well:
With that out of the way, onto some of our own interior & display pictures!
So, I wasn’t planning on doing a Happy Home Designer house today, but thanks to Sami-Spoon, I got to get the rest of the 7-11 items through Luna’s card today :D So the least I could do was make her a nice house too.
So, as many of you may recall, I’m looking forward to Miitomo a lot! While I’m not a huge fan of social games (Hate touch screens and just find cellphones kind of annoying in the first place along with many being rather cheaply made or super money hungry when they don’t need to be), I still have a few I play from time to time.
The reason I’m excited about Miitomo though is I just really enjoy answering questions. I always loved taking tests while I was in school and taking online personality quizzes as I just thought they were fun ways to learn things. Sometimes you just don’t really think about how you feel about something until you’re asked. And as a fairly shy person, sometimes answering said question can help a lot with things.
I will most likely be trying to make my same Mii from StreetPass and Tomodachi Life unless there are new options:
The website does mention setting personality as well so I am wondering if it will be the same ones from TL or give you a few more options (which would be nice as for some reason my Mii tended to hate poofy dresses due to her personality and I love poofy dresses :( )
I still think more ponytail hairstyles would be nice (Right now there’s only a low ponytail or a high ponytail and the latter doesn’t even have a no bangs option). I just really want ponytail versions of these hairstyles/long ponytails (so maybe they won’t completely disappear in a hat):
I mean, even a longer version of the existing ponytails would be great:
(please ignore how badly drawn this example is)
But I mean, there are longer pigtails than ponytails too. Curly/long/wavy side ponytails or pigtails always seem to make it, but regular ponytails are constantly forgotten and it drives me crazy. Going back to Miitomo, while it does seem like a lot of clothing from Tomodachi Life will be in the game, it looks like there will be new clothing items as well:
I do not see a color option, but I would think that would make an appearance considering… Items are bought with Miitomo Coins which can be earned just from playing or bought for real life currency. I am hoping that will be the extent of real life purchases and it won’t become a gachapon limited item fest like most other Social Dress-up games.
One of the things the website mentions though is the ability to Mix and Match outfits–I am wondering if it’ll be the same as Tomodachi Life’s (where you can mix the main outfit and a hat/accessory–such as my Mii wearing the Versailles Dress with the Princess Tiara) or if it’ll be much more expanded with each outfit giving you parts such as various shoes to choose from and jackets you can remove and matching a different top with a different skirt and etc. Considering the various icons in the image above (Which look like Outfit Sets, Tops, and then One-pieces), it may actually be the more expanded–I am curious though if the Outfit Sets are literally stuck as outfit sets or are deals if you buy all the items together (which would be much nicer as I’d hate to buy an outfit set just for like… the shoes or top. Or have to skip out on something I really like due to it being stuck to that outfit set).
Moving along, we have Miifotos which are similar to the various Amiibo Card functions. Not to mention Tomodachi Life had them as well:
And other social games do too, such as Pokemini:
Though, while Pokemini has the option to take a picture while moving your character around, it seems Miitomo will just be focusing on the inserting your Mii into photos after which Pokemini also has:
That said, it looks like Miitomo will give more options and be easier to control your Mii’s position:
Plus, the pictures honestly look like they will come out much better rather than the quality nosediving after you put the character in.
Of course, you can find out more about Miitomo by going to its website which is also where you can find the Pre-Registration Link! Even if you may not be interested in Miitomo or have a phone that may run it, I’d recommend pre-registering if you’re at least interested in Nintendo’s Club Nintendo replacement–My Nintendo. You can already sign up for your account now and link it to your NNID. But yes, as for why my recommendation, well:
You get Platinum Points for it! While I recall it being said you’d get 100 points in the past, it doesn’t seem to specify here so I’m not sure if that has changed. What points will be used for just yet hasn’t been fully said (Discounts, special items, etc.), but it doesn’t hurt to save up just incase, right? For now, I’m just hoping for more special physical items that Club Nintendo showed (and maybe actually making them appear in each region? Japan got so many amazing things and PAL regions did too like the Captain Toad Lamp T__T) as I feel like all the digital stuff was part of the downfall in the first place.
But yes, Miitomo and My Nintendo will be launching next month and I am super excited for them <3
Finally, for those who have been really wanting a Tomodachi Life update, I'm REALLY close to getting the last couple of items so if all goes well, except several fun newsflash videos and a big entry filled with photos to close off my gameplay of the game :) It's a really fun game and if I ever manage to also get all the couples married that I wanted to with nobody divorcing before I can say anything, I'll be sure to mention that :P But that seems to be even harder than item acquiring, sadly.
Originally, I wasn’t planning to talk about any of the recent news beyond some tweets on Twitter, but despite that, I just keep thinking more and more about it in my head and can’t help but want to say some things. I was up when a lot of the news was just leaking and I will admit, it got me hyped up. While Magiana isn’t one of my top favorite Pokemon designs, I do still like its design a lot (Afterall, it looks like a Princess).
(Photo credit to Serebii)
That said, the resemblance to Diancie (just with Carbink ears) jumps out to me immediately:
Along with some things from the Klink line.
And it really brings up a lot of the “Could it be a form change?” questions. On one hand, I do feel forms have showed up a lot lately (I mean, between mega evolutions and Zygarde). It could even be another fusion thing like Kyurem. In general, I would prefer a new Pokemon just due to being tired of seeing all of these. I do feel the similarities are more of a coincidence though (Afterall, they say it was “made by human hands”–maybe the person found inspiration in other Pokemon) depending on how it was created, I wonder how it was officially considered a Pokemon.
Of course, Magiana isn’t the first that was created largely due to humans. Ignoring ones that seem accidental (Such as Grimer or Voltorb), there was Mewtwo (made from Mew’s DNA) and Castform (though, specifically how the Scientists made it is unknown). Golett and Golurk were probably the closest to Magiana due to being made by people and also being robots. While the movie largely seems to hint there is only one Magiana at the moment, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s legendary of course. Both Lucario and Zoroark had big purposes in movies despite being normal Pokemon. But with how Magiana is, it makes me wonder if it could be a Pokemon you actually have to make by bringing the “materials” to a scientist. Could the next region possibly have a Steampunk element? While I still would prefer to see more done with our current regions (And Pokemon being shown in the movie both for new regions or expanded for current regions has happened previously), for some reason I still feel Magiana is leaning towards a new region and I do feel a new region coming out or being announced would be more exciting for the 20th anniversary barring a game that works similar to Detective Pikachu (As in being fully 3D and seeing Pokemon interact with the world around you) with online and local multiplayer where you can travel along with your friends to various regions.
It could even tie in to the Strange Souvenir from X/Y as Protector has been thrown around quite a bit–Magiana is somehow important to Volcanion, Golett and Golurk were made for protection, and the Strange Souvenir is of a protector “somewhere far from Kalos”.
Of course, I’m just thinking out loud. At the very least, it’s just getting me more excited for any future Pokemon announcements this year.
Edit: Magiana is officially being localized here as Magearna and we got some Higher Quality pictures too!:
Very surprised that Pokemon.com has already acknowledged it, but happy to see it. I hope maybe we can even start getting Worldwide everything when it comes to Pokemon.
Even if I’m over 3 weeks early :P It’s at least the right month! If you’re subscribed to me on Youtube, you’ll probably already know about this video, but if not…
I worked really hard on it and will be including some fun extras at the end of the post :) But I wanted to have a fun thing about Pokemon over here too and was debating on what when I stumbled upon this on Tumblr which I felt would be perfect :D
I’m notoriously bad at keeping up with daily things so I’ll just be doing all 27 days in one go, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!!
What is your earliest Pokémon memory? Describe whatever comes to mind, and go into detail about your first initial feelings regarding it.
I actually have three coming to mind off the top of my head:
1. Picking Charmander instead of Squirtle by mistake when starting. I was kind of frustrated, but ended up really liking Charizard.
2. Completing my Pokedex! The last Pokemon I needed was Taurus and I was so excited when I received a certificate.
3. When my cousin and I first spotted the TCG Decks and booster packs in store. I ended up getting a tin and binder and putting one of each card in the binder and tossing the extras in the tin.
Talk about your current favorite Pokémon game. Maybe the one that has the most hours clocked in on it… and why it’s significant to you.
Hmm. This is actually really hard! I really love all Pokemon games and it’s hard for me to really pick one out… I would say if I had to pick a favorite, it’d probably be a tie between Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. The former as it’s really cool to be able to explore the Pokemon World and unlock new areas in a more passive way and the latter as I loved the story and characters so much.
Describe your Pokémon gameplay. How do you play the Pokémon games? How do you choose your Pokémon team? Have you ever done a nuzlocke? Do you play through it quickly? Do you use EXP Share or train your team? Do you nickname your Pokémon, etc.
My main focus is always completing the Pokedex. While I sometimes transfer Pokemon right away, other times I will catch everything I can and then transfer Pokemon over. When it comes to my team, I generally try to decide my team of 6 based on what I can catch in that region without trading. I then usually keep that party for all games of the same generation. The ORAS remakes are the first time I didn’t do that, instead going with some of my favorites from various games, as I really wanted to use a Mega Audino.
I think for the next game, I will probably do a mix of my parties from both or my top 6 favorite Pokemon, if possible.
I generally use experience shares–I don’t really like battling so the less I can battle, the better. As for nicknames, it varies a lot. For the longest time I didn’t, but I have been more recently.
Music can be powerful, but Pokémon music can be even more powerful! Let’s take this day to let our followers know what your favorite Pokémon tunes are. It could be from the anime, the games, and/or the movies. Maybe even include links in this post!
Not to create “gen wars” but out of the 6 current regions, please rank your regions from most favorite to least favorite. Why is that region your #1?
1. Kanto
2. Johto
3. Kalos
4. Unova
5. Sinnoh
6. Hoenn
Kanto is really #1 purely for nostalgic reasons. I don’t really have favorite regions so much as favorite towns.
Legendary day! What are your top 3 Legendary Pokémon designs and concepts? And ultimately, which one is your favorite legendary? Why?
1. Articuno
2. Kyogre
3. Probably Latias, Jirachi, Celebi, Regice, Mew, or Meloetta.
I don’t know if I could decide between Articuno and Kyogre for my favorite legendary.
Let’s talk about Pokémon types. What is your favorite type? Top 5 Pokémon from that typing? What is that one type of Pokémon you can’t stand (least favorite) and why?
I really love both Water and Fairy types so I’ll give 5 for each.
Fairy:
Mega Audino
Slurpuff
Diancie
Togepi/Togetic
Cleffa
Water:
Piplup
Vaporeon
Marill
Horsea
Corsola
There isn’t a type I can’t stand, to be honest, but for least favorite… it’s probably be Poison, Fighting, Dark, Bug, Ghost, or Electric. I don’t really have a least favorite Pokemon though so I can’t really pick one out from those. As for why I dislike the types, they’re just not typings I enjoy and find I like less things from them.
You’ve automatically been transported to the Kanto region on this day! Talk about what city/town you’d live in Kanto, and what are some of the first things you’d do in the Kanto region?
Probably Cerulean City. It’s near the water and is my favorite sounding town. I think I’d just enjoy exploring and catching Pokemon.
What is one NEW Pokémon type you’d like to see in the future? Describe a Fakemon of that type you’d also create for the future to include into the World of Pokémon. (Feel free to draw it, as well!)
Honestly, I’m pretty content with what we have right now and don’t feel the need to even see anymore Pokemon. If I had to pick something, it’d be a smaller, pinker, version of Mega Audino that was water/fairy. And be a Baby Audino.
What was your FIRST ever starter Pokémon? Why did you choose that one? Do you still have them? Which region do you think has the best starter Pokémon, and what is your overall favorite starter?
Charmander! It was an accident. I still have them! I think Johto does as it’s the only region where I like all three at the same level. Piplup is probably my favorite overall starter (with Charmander pretty close to it).
Boost your ego as a Pokémon Trainer day! Take this day to name (and maybe post pics?) of all shiny Pokémon you’ve ever caught. Talk about the most difficult shiny you had trouble finding. Also, what Pokémon did you first raise to lvl. 100? How many Pokémon have you raised to lvl. 100? What’s the closest you’ve come to completing your Pokédex?
I’ve only found one shiny–it was a shiny female Meditite and I accidentally traded it so :( The rest have all been gifts.
My first level 100 Pokemon was probably my Charizard in Pokemon Blue. I’ve always leveled my entire party to 100 in each game so 60 or so. I’ve completed my Pokedex in every game I’ve played.
What is your saddest Pokémon moment and memory? Did it make you cry? It could be something that happened in real life, or something about games, anime, and storyline.
Probably when my cousin erased my Blue copy. That still makes me super sad. At least I got my Pokemon off it already, but it was my first game so :/ Also, when Misty left. She was written out poorly and alot of character development for the show has pretty much ended due to how they keep switching off. They either should have had Ash stop after Johto and switched everyone or had them all keep going. Also, every Pokemon Mystery Dungeon makes me cry at some point.
Happy Eeveelution Day! Eevee is “#133” and Eevee is a huge part of the Pokémon World. Please rank the Eeveelutions (including Eevee) from your most favorite to least favorite! What new Eevee typing are you hoping for next? Give a name to that future Eeveelution, too!
Honestly, I would have hoped for fairy, but they made Sylveon who I personally found kind of a let-down. Maybe Rock as Crystleon?
Who is your favorite Pokémon Ship? It could be from the games, manga, or anime! If you don’t ship… here’s another – if your partner had to propose to you using the tools of Pokémon, how would you want to be proposed to?
Pokeshipping! Ash & Misty forever.
Hmm… that’s hard. Possibly a heart shard in a loveball?
Merchandise Day! Post pics of your Pokémon merchandise… how much do you own? What is your most prized Pokémon merch? What’s the story behind it? If you don’t have any, what Pokémon merchandise would you most want?
I have various pieces of merchandise (including some very old Pikachu plush and the entire first series of TCG cards), but my big thing now is collecting Mega Audino stuff. I just really want an official Mega Audino plush.
Villain day. You’ve been captured by a Pokémon villain team; they will force you to join their squad. When you awake, which villainous team are you hoping is staring down at you? Rocket, Magma, Aqua, Galactic, Plasma, or Flare? Why? Also, Prepare for Trouble! Who is your favorite Team Rocket Trio member? Jessie, James, or Meowth? Why are they your favorite?
Probably Team Aqua. I feel like they meant for the least amount of problems and are doing better now after Alpha Sapphire. As for Team Rocket… I really do like all three, but I guess I’d pick James because he can be a gentleman and gets new Pokemon by being a good friend.
If you could go back and live one specific Pokémon-related memory… which moment would go back to and why?
Probably completing my Pokemon Blue Pokedex again so maybe I could not get my game erased this time. Though, maybe the 10th Anniversary at Bryant Park–I loved seeing the park filled with all kinds of Pokemon.
Pokémon Anime Day! “The Lost Lapras” aired February 18th in Japan 17 years ago! Talk about your favorite Pokémon anime series, and why it’s your favorite. Also tell us about your overall favorite Pokémon episode!
I really loved Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto honestly. As for favorite Pokemon episode, I’m not sure if I have one! I will give a shout out to episode 3 of Pokemon XY&Z though for all the awesome Mega Audino-ness though.
Creepy Day! The Pokémon World offers many spooky aspects. What is the creepiest Pokémon you can think of? Have you ever had a creepy Pokémon experience in real life or playing the games? What is your favorite creepy Pokémon landmark throughout the regions? (Pokémon Tower, Lavender Town, Kanto | Mt. Pyre, Hoenn | Old Chateau, Sinnoh and Hallowed Tower, Sinnoh | Celestial Tower, Unova | Scary House, Kalos and Lost Hotel, Kalos)
Honestly, most of the ghost Pokemon are creepy if you look at their Pokedex entries :( I have not had a creepy experience and I hope I never will and I honestly dislike all of them. Horror stuff is not my cup of tea.
Talk about one of the most difficult moments in the Pokémon games for you. It could be getting through a landmark, a certain gym leader, or a certain part of the plotline. Name as many as you like!
Pokemon Blue. Charmander as my starter. Beating Brock and Misty. I did so much grinding and I pulled it off with a Caterpie who was barely hanging on after all my other Pokemon were knocked out. In general, battling and grinding is pretty difficult for me in all Pokemon games as I’m not a big fan of battling.
Mega Pokémon! What is your opinion on them? What are some of your current favorite Mega Pokémon and name 5 Pokémon you hope to see have a mega evolution in the future.
Megas infuriate me because they make no sense. We already had form changing items, attacks, abilities… Things that can change type… There was no reason for Mega Evolution to be so convoluted other than for a cheap new mechanic and some secretive of “oh, who might mega evolve?!?!?!” in battles. It would have been better if they permanently changed, but type changes or stat differences would only apply if a power-up button was hit (instead of a full Mega evolve thing).
It’s especially frustrating as the whole thing on how Mega Evolution is triggered is due to your bond with that Pokemon and yet you can’t play with them in Pokemon Amie–the minigame that was made specifically for bonding. And then the Anime shorts which have Pokemon just running around already Mega evolved–no trainer needed. It makes no sense, constantly contradicts itself, and just was unneeded IMO. Some of the Pokemon receiving Mega Evolutions could have literally just been given a normal evolution.
But yes, part of my frustration is Mega Audino is my favorite mega evolution and I wish I could just keep it like that.
I wouldn’t wish a mega evolution on any Pokemon.
Now you’ve been transported to the Hoenn region! What trainer class are you (gym leader, elite four, bug catcher, breeder, etc.) and what city do you live in? What do you spend your day doing in this region? If you don’t want to do Hoenn, you can do any other region.
I’ve actually stuck between Petalburg, Slateport, Lilycove, Verdanturf, and Sootopolis… Kind of leaning towards Sootopolis because of the lovely view of the sky and all the water and waterfalls. As usual, just catching Pokemon and enjoying the scene. For fun though, I’ll do the other regions too for where:
Johto: Olivine
Sinnoh: Canalave or Celestic
Unova: Castelia City
Kalos: Couriway
Pokémon are now real. Who is your main Pokémon partner that travels beside you outside its pokéball? Out of all 700+ Pokémon, who are the other 5 that travel in your party with you on your Pokémon journey?
Main Partner: Mega Audino!
As for the other 5… I’d have to think about it. But possibly Slurpuff, Dragonair, Frillish, Diancie, and Togetic.
Talk about what Pokémon means to you personally. Elaborate on a few personal stories for your followers about Pokémon’s meaning to yourself.
It’s just always been special to me and something I’ve always enjoyed. I love Pokemon a lot and I love the idea of making these friends and getting to go on a journey all over the world with them.
Looking to the future! With Gen 7 quickly approaching the Pokémon horizon, what do you hope to see Gamefreak add or change to the Pokémon main-game series?
Permanent customization and multiple regions and bringing back a lot of features they keep removing. I want to see them really expand on and use what they’ve created over just adding new things.
Honestly, how long do you think you’ll play and like Pokémon? Talk about Pokémon and your future with it.
I don’t think there will ever be a time I don’t like Pokemon. As long as they still keep coming out, I’ll still be getting them.
Happy #PokémonDay! Celebrate this day by playing Pokémon, listening to its music, and looking forward and backwards on your own personal Pokémon journey. Talk about some of the highlights of your Pokémon career and what you hope to accomplish in the future.
I hope I can catch all the Pokemon in Pokemon GO and continue completing my Pokedex every step of the way :)
One of the things I was recently asked about on Ask.fm was my favorite thing about each Pokemon Generation (or at least, I assume that was what they were referring to by “gen”) so if you want the quick version of this post, you can just hop over there to read :P But I’ll be taking those and also expanding on all features I really enjoyed. Afterall, it IS Pokemon’s 20th Anniversary this year and while I have some stuff planned, I felt inspired to expand upon the question :) This will only focus on the mainstream Pokemon games so things like the gyms and how awesome Phenac City is from Orre will not be referenced beyond this sentence. I’m also going to skip things like bigger bags, more Pokemon, and more PC boxes as those were things expanded on in each generation and always for the better. Similarly, I do like seasons and time of day, but don’t have much to talk about with those so just consider those included!
Generation 1
Honestly, there isn’t too much to say here :P This is what started Pokemon so I guess I can talk about what first interested me about the game? I’ve never been a big fan of battling (though, I did like the badges) so it was always all about catching them all and completing the pokedex. I started with Pokemon Blue and even then, my cousin and I worked together to finish our Pokedex.
While I didn’t stick with Pokemon cards beyond this time (I was even in a Pokemon League at my local Toys R Us and completed my booklet and everything), I still kept up with the games (and still collect random cards and merchandise to this day).
Also, Yellow brought us Pokemon that follow us and I’m sad this has only been brought back twice. I’ll talk about this more in Gen 4 though.
Generation 2
Despite the fact that Gold, Silver, Crystal, and their remakes are the only ones to do this, the fact that we got to travel more than one region was just one of the coolest things to me and it genuinely pains me how this (and many other features I will be talking about) never gets carried over beyond this set of games. It’s probably the main reason I’ve always wanted to see a Pokemon MMO where you can have your own travel group and go through every region similar to what the Anime does. We’ve seen all kinds of transport in the games and there’s really isn’t a good reason for why this has yet to happen. No matter how unlikely it is, a game where we can travel to every region is something I’ll always be hoping for.
Generation 2 also brought in several new Pokeballs including one of my favorites–the Love Ball.
While I don’t care too much for shiny Pokemon (shiny hunting, most shiny colorizations, the idea that it being “rarer” makes it better), Gen 2 did bring into existence my favorite shiny Pokemon:
Shiny Celebi is essentially all my favorite colors and is one of the few (if not the only) Pokemon where I greatly prefer its shiny colors over its normal ones (though, they are still nice).
And of course, Crystal finally let us play as a female character. Crystal is actually the only main Pokemon game I’ve never played, but it’s nice getting to play as my gender so definitely a nice addition :P
Finally, while I didn’t use it too much… I loved mail and all the different types and enjoyed keeping one of each just to look at.
Generation 3
Secret Bases were just the greatest thing to me. I love customization of any kind so being able to have these bases that we could decorate was just amazing to me. I had so much fun setting it up and despite some item limitations, I was just excited to set up a base. You can even check my secret base in Alpha Sapphire.
I also really liked contests. While I had mixed feelings on the system (I wish battle moves and contest moves were separated/you could have two move sets along with mixed feelings on contest stats–thankfully this was fixed in Generation 6), I liked having more things to do besides just battling and really enjoyed the introduction of ribbons–even if I wish there weren’t ribbons for events outside the game.
Generation 3 also introduced my other favorite Pokeball…
The Dive Ball!
Generation 4
Generation 4 is kind of a hard one as it didn’t really bring anything super new that I was super excited about so much as enhanced some things previously. The Contest expansions were especially great as they really gave you a lot more to work with as costumes were quite a bit of fun to play around with.
Unfortunately, while it improved Contests, it was a bit of a let down with their secret bases with a smaller item limit (despite having a ridiculous amount of room if you got enough flags) and most bases looking rather similar. Even though I enjoyed the digging part of the Underground, I often ended up losing everything and would have preferred a more… relaxing minigame than a “better be careful and find what you need fast or lose everything” approach.
Finally, with Heart Gold & Soul Silver’s remakes, we received Pokemon following us again which was great and I’m sad they once again removed it. We also received the cool photospots with all of our Pokemon. I’ll talk more about Photos in Gen 6.
And while I didn’t personally care for the Pokéathlon (Nature having a large part in it and the weird controls), I did find the special rooms neat and would like more things like that… though, preferably without the highscore based ones.
I also found Seals & Capsules pretty fun, though, annoying to have to switch off from time to time.
Generation 5
So, to start, I really liked Pokemon Musicals. Having it so stats and attacks weren’t part of it meant that you can have a Pokemon participate regardless of what attacks you gave them and what nature they may have. It was all about props which you earned and so you could dress up and try and get attention and it was just a fun mode. I wished it had some kind of award for your Pokemon (like ribbons or medals or a special entrance animation), but it was still cute.
Similarly, Black 2 and White 2 brought in Pokestar Studios which is probably my favorite of the “extra” things as each scenario was kind of a puzzle and then your Pokemon even gets a special animation when thrown into battle for completing films. I do wish that if it does return though, remove the random factor if you do the right thing. The amount of times I had to redo a few due to an accuracy issue or accidentally getting a crit was kind of awful and some things really needed to be scripted for it.
Going to some of the other extra stuff, we have the C-Gear which while I had mixed feelings on the function, I loved all the different customization options for it. I’m glad we had various bottom battle images in Generation 6 too, but I wish we would continue to get more.
There was also Join Avenue which was a fun Wireless feature and I loved making my Avenue bigger and getting one of each building and answering all kinds of new questions.
Generation 5 also brought in TMs having infinite use like HMs which was super amazing and helpful. I’m glad this is a feature they didn’t decide to remove after the generation ended.
I also want to give a big shout out to the Link system with special cutscenes referencing your trials in the first set of Black and White games. Plus getting the Prop case! It was just a really nice treat and made some things a bit quicker considering you already did them. I genuinely would like more “sequel” games expanding on the story versus a third game that just adds something at the end.
Finally, there was the Dream World and while I honestly have mixed feelings about it (Being able to only bring one Pokemon at a time, all the berry farming, so many items exclusive to Japan…), I did like the Dream Forest and Dream Balls. I also liked the house you got to decorate (with no item limit!), but would have preferred to be able to see it ingame over just online. The time limit made it super frustrating to try and check everyday though.
Generation 6
The current generation! Now, to start off, we have two very important things Generation 6 introduced. Character customization (which was then not in the Gen 3 remakes :| I really hope it’ll be in all “new” games at least):
This was so nice to have. I’ve wanted it in a main game since it was shown in Pokemon Battle Revolution:
One of the things I hope they do when Customization returns is more color variations of items. I still don’t understand why there were no white tights–only knee-highs or shorter. And many tops really could have used more colors. I also really liked the PR videos and would love for them to be longer and to be able to do more with them:
I mean, seriously, they are so much bigger in the Anime and while I understand they can’t do as much in the game (as there are only so many resources), I do wish we could have done at least a bit more.
But yes, continuing on to the second addition… the Gen 3 remakes brought the best Pokemon ever: Mega Audino is so awesome. ;~; It even has the best Mega Stone:
Going onto some of the other Gen 6 features… I liked riding Pokemon. While I had mixed feelings on some of the areas with battle (especially as they were quite slow moving and not the best to control), riding Skiddo was A LOT of fun as was riding around on Latias and Latios. I’d love to be able to ride around on other Pokemon like that in future games. And considering your mom is a Rhyhorn racer, those Rhyhorn should have been able to go much faster.
We also received Pokemon Amie which I really liked, even if it makes Mega Evolution a bit contradictory (After all, Pokemon Amie is all about bonding and Mega Evolution is partially through a bond with your Pokemon so the fact that they even change back and that you can’t play with a Mega Evolved Pokemon in Pokemon Amie is silly). I’m glad Pokemon Amie seems to be sticking around and hope it continues to do so. I do wish it was easier to earn the items to decorate your area for Pokemon Amie though. The randomness of it is kind of a pain and having to earn items all over again in the Gen 3 remakes was very frustrating.
The new Fairy type is great and is the first new type I’ve really liked. Fairy and Water are now my two favorite types (with Normal not far behind).
That said, Gen 6 removed a lot of great features from previous games and I hope a lot of them find some way to do it. I mean, bringing the Anime back up again, Kalos doesn’t have much of an “optional” thing to do with your Pokemon like the past ones have (Contests, Musicals) and thus the Anime created Pokemon Showcase which is like a combination of many different side things and more. It’s something that I think could be a lot of fun if put in the game in some form.
Of course, this is about what features I DO really like in the games so going back to that topic… the photos! I really love how much you could do with these and all the photo spots. I wish you could still take photos with your Pokemon and/or other people though rather than just yourself.
Similarly, you could take photos with Contests in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, but it would have been cool to be able to take one of you and your Pokemon after they won. One of the nice improvements with contests in this generation were that there was no limit on Pokepuffs so you could easily get all stats maxed out and even win that way letting you have more leeway on your attacks.
Secret Bases also received a great update with so many expansions upon the original layouts. That said, the item limit was rather small considering how much room they gave us with some of base selections. And both that item limit restriction and the loss of trainer customization felt a lot bigger with the encouragement of hiring our friends (which took up an extra item slot per friend) as “trainers” in the Gym or even just to use for their abilities when there was a chance at least some of them would look the same.
But yes, that’s a list of my favorite things from each generation and why! I just hope maybe they’ll start keeping all their good features rather than making them exclusive per generation as it’s just kind of disappointing after a while to really love a feature and then see it gone by the next. Whatever game comes next, whether it be Gen 7 or part of the X/Y series, I just am going to hope for the best.
