Idea #10: How To Give Greater Challenges

I'm going to show you all the possible options you've given us in the Pokemon games.  Granted, some things have changed from generation to generation, but really, this menu hasn't changed drastically:

Do you see something missing that would be present in other games?

I do.

Or rather, I don't...I don't see...I see what's not...

There's something missing, okay? It's a difficulty setting.  How would this work, though? You've designed a game wherein the difficulty gradually increases as the player progresses linearly through the storyline.  How can you truly make something harder in a turn-based RPG if the world itself is already designed to up the ante whenever the player gets to a new area?

Does this strike you as familiar at all:

Many people will see this and know exactly what I'm about to propose; since so many players already implicate the set of rules used in these comics, why not have a Nuzlocke setting in the options menu? It would be very easy to do.  All you have to do is lock the Poke Balls after the first encounter in a new area, force an entry into the nicknaming screen, lock the player out from trading, and delete the Pokemon's data if it faints in battle.  That way, you could create a whole new division of the competitive circuit: the hardcore players.  Think about it: tournaments held wherein losers actually lose their Pokemon.  The stakes have never been higher! Speaking of "higher"...

Hire me, Sugimori!

See? I also do homonym wordplay.  I'm a valuable asset.

Dear Ken Again,

So...I understand that you are the artistic director and really, your job is to come up with new Pokemon for the newer generation of games, and while I do have plenty of ideas on what to do for new Pokemon, I acknowledge the fact that in the past few entries, I haven't exactly been giving you ideas in that field.  Really, most of my ideas should be going to Junichi Masuda, since he's the game director; however, "Hire Me, Masuda" doesn't rhyme, so just be prepared to take a lot more of ideas that don't necessarily have to do with the design of future Pokemon.

I mean, you have to be in contact with Masuda, right? Just put in the good word for me, get him onboard with the idea of my employment, then...

Hire me, Sugimori!

Sincerely,

Kevin Little

P.S. - Shit's been busy, what with the tabletop and all, so don't expect me to just shell out these ideas regularly.  I'm occupied, these posts don't get as many page views, and these are marketable concepts for you to possibly steal, so deal with it.

Idea #9: Where To Go With Teams

Let's do a little retrospective, shall we?

Generation-I: Team Rocket

Ideology: "Steal Pokemon for profit! Exploit Pokemon for profit! All Pokemon exist for the glory of Team Rocket!"

Modus Operandi:

- steal strong/rare Pokemon from unsuspecting trainers
- steal valuable Pokemon-related technology
- exploit Pokemon for profit

Not bad.  Not bad at all.  You've got a criminal organization that is success-oriented, financially-driven, and, above all else, cruel.  Everything you need for good antagonists.

Granted, in Generation-II, you really weakened them intellectually by having them perform some punk-level nonsense, but in the end, they were still driven towards that former glory.

Generation-III: Team Aqua/Team Magma

Ideology: "All glory for the sea/land! We must awaken Kyogre/Groudon and capture it!"

Modus Operandi:

- use a meteorite to influence a volcano towards land/sea expansion

- steal a submarine to locate Kyogre/Groudon

Well...this is different.  So, it's two criminal organizations focused...on terraforming? Granted, if they're a little cult-like, that would work, but since Nintendo is so adamant about censoring anything remotely religious when their stuff gets translated into English, they lose so much potential.

Generation-IV: Team Galactic

Ideology: "The universe is terrible and we want to rebuild it from the ground up!"

Modus Operandi:

- harass Pokemon researchers for their work

- siphon energy from neighboring sources of public energy

- summon creation-mythos Pokemon to destroy the universe

Wa--what WOAH! That was a pretty big jump there! How about we slow our roll for a second? Yeah, okay, you want to destroy the universe and rebuild it.  That's super.  Does anybody else find that to be really boring? I mean...there's a LOT at risk here if your supposed plan doesn't pan out.  Let's say you successfully destroy the universe.  What guarantee do you have that it's going to come back? And if it does, what chance do you really think there is of you actually being better off than you were prior to thing Poke-pocalypse? I just think that this was kind of a cop-out.

Generation-V: Team Plasma

(as per Black/White)

(as per Black 2/White 2)

Ideology: "Separate worlds for Pokemon and people!"

Modus Operandi:

- "liberate" Pokemon from their trainers

- steal artifacts from museums

- spread anti-Pokemon training propaganda

This is really a weak premise, especially because of the hypocrisy rampant in the concept.  We shouldn't be training Pokemon.  Alright, how are you going to stop us? By getting into Pokemon battles with us? Plasma calling the kettle black.  And there was a really great correlation between Team Plasma and radical animal rights activists that could have been really great to flush out...but in the end, y'all just took the easy way out and said "Oh, but the Pokemon LOVE to battle! Can't you see?"

Here's my question, and try not to crucify me here:

Why are there still teams? Can't we accomplish the same vibe of an antagonist presence with something different?

Maybe the Silph Co. starts going under because of the Devon Corp. success and resorts to creating unethical devices that sell really well but are terrible for Pokemon...like Pokemon steroids or something.  Not vitamins like Protein or Carbos, but like stat-boosting and level-increasing drugs that make your Pokemon super-strong for a short time but makes their lifespans much shorter.

What if there was a radical union of laborers or something like that whose main message was that you could create so many more jobs if we got rid of the Pokemon involved in our day-to-day work? No more Voltorb-reliant energy, or no more Bellossoms fertilizing our crop fields; get rid of the Pokemon and increase human employment.  There could be a whole thing about how Pokemon training is actually terrible for the economy--

Can we just stop for a minute to realistically think about what our lives would be like if our economy worked the way it does in the Pokemon world? We'd be poverty-stricken! Dear lord, the entire economy functions on gambling and creating tools for gamblers to gamble more!

The point is we don't need a "team" per se, especially since we can't really ever relate to them on a personal or ideological level, but what if we could create an antagonist entity that actual made valid points? What if there was an enemy would could theoretically understand, possibly even sympathize with, and force us to rethink our core values? That would be a really effective use of your creativity...figure out a bad guy that is only bad because of the player's viewpoint.  I mean, I understand this is a children's game, but come on, you don't need to hit them on the head with the simplicity of the Team trope.  "We don't like Pokemon!" "YOU ARE THE BAD GUYS! BOOOOO!" If Disney can make jokes that the children in the audience can get, as well as jokes meant to go over the children's heads and entertain the parents who had to drag their kids to the movies, you can come up with a villainous organization that is unique and can appeal to your older demographic.

I'm of your older demographic.  Do you want more ideas on how to appeal to me?

Hire me, Sugimori!

Idea #8: How To Change-Up Battles

This one is a freebie for you, Ken.  Some of my ideas are too simple to withhold details, so as a measure of good faith, I'll occasionally just throw you a bone.  Like now:

Do you remember some of the first art you released for Generation-I? In particular, this image:

This is really dynamic, Ken...but you've entirely ignored it.

You have team battles where two trainers face another two trainers, each release one Pokemon apiece, and when a trainer's Pokemon loses three times, that trainer is out of the battle.

You have double-battles where two trainers each release two Pokemon at a time and you can strategize to either team up on one Pokemon, divide and conquer, or countless other strategies.

Where is our Triple Threat Match?

Now, I don't mean to say that you treat it like the professional wrestling Triple Threat Match, but a three-way match would be hyper tense! Let's look at the above image: Red's got his Bulbasaur out, so Green's Squirtle is in serious trouble, but no more than Bulbasaur is against Blue's Charmander.  This adds a whole new level to the game: three players can play simultaneously, and they seriously have to consider all possible type choices because depending on who picks what, someone is going to be at a serious disadvantage.  It's a 2-on-1 match for everyone involved, and temporary alliances only go as long as an exploitable weakness is out on the field.  Crazy three-way match-ups could include:

Typhlosion - Feraligatr - Meganium

Alakazam - Zoroark - Heracross

Donphan - Gyarados - Electivire

Steelix - Charizard - Cloyster

High-tension everywhere! It would be ridiculously challenging and it would always keep players coming back for more!

There's a free one.  You're welcome.  Pay back the favor.

Hire me, Sugimori!

Idea #7: Where To Branch Evolutions

So, we're all familiar with Eevee and how the thing can turn into pretty much anything under the sun because that's it was gimmick, but I want to draw your attention to other variant evolutions because that is a really cool concept.  It forces the player to make a choice at a certain point or it makes the player really examine his/her Pokemon closely to make sure that the Pokemon he/she eventually wants is the one that evolves.  Let's see a few examples, shall we?

This was one of the first ones we heard about when Generation-II hit the stores.  Oddish levels up and evolves into Gloom, but Gloom will not evolve unless exposed to either the Leaf Stone or the Sun Stone.  It's similar to Generation-I Eevee in the sense that it is entirely reliant on the use of an evolution stone, but Gloom will either keep or drop its secondary Poison type based on the choice made by the trainer.  That's a pretty big choice to make, considering the weaknesses and strengths of having a dual-type versus a single-type Pokemon, and it really comes down to preference and strategy of the trainer.  Here's another:

This evolution tree has a lot of similarities to the Oddish tree, but there's one big difference: it is more reliant on convenience.  Poliwag evolves into Poliwhirl by leveling up, then into Poliwrath when exposed to the Water Stone.  However, if Poliwhirl is holding the King's Rock and is traded to another player, it becomes Politoed and does not take on the secondary Fighting-type.  Now, here are the things to consider:

- Is the player patient enough to find the Water Stone/King's Rock when he/she has the other item already?

- Has the player already used one of the evolution items on another Pokemon, or is saving the one for something else?

- Does the player have the ability to trade with a friend?

It's factor like these that really make the player consider his/her choices very carefully and much further in advance than the Vileplume/Bellossom issue.

This one I especially like, since it doesn't so much boil down to one choice, as much as it boils down to a series of choices.  Depending on the equality or inequality of Tyrogue's Attack and Defense stats, he either evolves into Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, or Hitmontop.  There are really only three ways to ensure that you get the Pokemon you want out of this deal: either load Tyrogue up with the appropriate vitamins before he hits level 20, EV train him very carefully, or keep pressing B when he tries to evolve and hope the stats eventually level out the way you want.  There is a lot of effort needed in raising a Tyrogue, and that's what makes that Pokemon so interesting.

Wurmple is a very weird situation, since the player really has no control over the Pokemon Wurmple evolves into unless the trainer keeps catching Wurmples and goes through trial and error.  There's a sort of randomness to it that both relieves the player of responsibility while simultaneously creating suspense and tension as it gets closer to its evolution level.

Now, here's my question: why don't you do this more often with Pokemon? I mean, instead of just creating new ones that are completely independent, it would be fun and engaging to create more branches, especially in Pokemon the players may not expect to have these options...

...like old starter Pokemon.

Heresy, I know, but think about it for a second:

These are the Galapagos Islands.  When we think of weird evolutionary traits in the animal kingdom of our world, we think of the Galapagos Islands.  Why don't you create a place in the Pokemon world the works similarly to the Galapagos? You already have the mechanics and coding in the game when you developed the means for Eevee to evolve into Glaceon and Leafeon, so why not make certain Pokemon evolve into previously unknown forms because they were isolated in an island ecosystem?

And it's really easy to come up with ideas, too, especially for the starter Pokemon.  When they get to their third stage, just tweak the secondary types.  Maybe Charmeleon evolves into a pure Fire-type Pokemon without wings like Charizard, or maybe gets even bigger wings and more draconic features to become a Fire/Dragon Pokemon.  If Lance is going to pass off Charizard, Gyarados, and Aerodactyl as "dragons", maybe we can put some validity into that charade.

I know you've been favoring Fire/Fighting with the newer Fire-type starters, but I think players would be even more drawn into that crucial pick-your-starter dilemma if they knew the choice wasn't just between three final forms, but six, or maybe even nine.  Who knows, we could go crazy with it!

Of course, you'd need to really find good alternative type combinations for the starters' final forms, and that's where I could come in.

Hire me, Sugimori!

Idea #6: What To Do With Eevee

Eevee...

God, where do I begin with this one? Eevee was such an integral part of Generation-I.  It was the third of your four what-should-I-do choices of that generation (the first being what starter to pick, the second being which fossil to choose, and the final being which Hitmon___ to take) and it told volumes about the kind of person that player was.

Now, we've gone from just those three "eeveelutions" to this:

You've got a _____eon for every Special Attack type, excluding Dragon, but there are rumors going around that you're planning on including a Dragon-type eeveelution.

I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but let it go.  Don't give Eeevee any more forms.  I know you have a lot of possibilities, but sometimes it's best to quit while you're ahead.  If you don't stop now, you could end up with this:

I know these possibilities have crossed your mind at some point, but it's a bad idea to go down this road.  Before you start drawing up concept art, ask yourself: do you really need an Eevee that...

...evolves with a Moon Stone?
...evolves with a Sun Stone?
...evolves with a Dawn Stone?
...evolves with a Dusk Stone?
...evolves with a Shiny Stone?
...is a Ghost-type?
...is a Bug-type?
...is a Fighting-type?
...is a Rock-type?
...is a Ground-type?
...is a Steel-type?
...is Flying-type?
...is a Dragon-type?

You haven't even given Eevee the chance to let it evolve from just straight-up leveling! Now, that would be interesting.  Say Eevee will automatically evolve into something at level 30, regardless of friendship or what item it's holding.  That will put some serious pressure on trainers to gain the friendship of their Eevee very quickly if they want an Espeon or an Umbreon.  Likewise, it would be interesting the other way around.  What if this Pokemon was awesome, so you kept your Eevee in your party all the time and grind the hell out of it to get it to that high level.  However, in having it spend too much time with you, it could accidentally evolve into an Umbreon or an Espeon, so you now have to deliberately distance yourself from your Eevee so that it will evolve the way you want.

The more evolutions you give it, the more you cheapen Eevee.  You already cheapened it by making it a Game Corner prize in Generation-II...don't give people an excuse to just catch Eevees for their evolutions.  Put some punch into regular, good 'ole Eevee first and the fans will love you for it.

You like that idea, don't you? You see, not all of my ideas are "put this in the game".  Some of them are "don't put this in the game."  I go both ways.

That sounded weird...

...hire me, Sugimori?

Idea #5 - Which Pokemon Deserve Evolutions

An easy way for you to make your new-Pokemon-quota is make Pokemon that already exist evolve past the point they usually did, which is a very valid form of Pokemon generation and it's often great to see Pokemon we love grow into something new and spectacular.  The question, though, is why you felt certain ones deserved an addition form and certain ones didn't.  Let's take a look, shall we?

Okay, I understand that Tangela wasn't incredibly popular, since they were hard to find and not worth training because of their lower stats when compared to other Grass-types...but Tangrowth doesn't really add anything to the table design-wise.  It just looks like he hadn't gotten his hair cut in a long time.

Togetic was fine where he was.  Togekiss doesn't do anything but pander to that select few players that only catch the "cute" Pokemon.  Certain Pokemon that evolve through friendship are certainly worth the effort, like Crobat, but Togetic wasn't worth the hassle Togepi put most of us through, and it looks like this is also just some form of compensation for our trouble.

This is not necessary.  This is...this is not necessary! Why is this? Why does this exist? It saddens me that Porygon became a three-form Pokemon when there are so many other Pokemon out there that would have fantastic additional forms.  Let me list them for you, in alphabetical order:

1.  Absol
2.  Aerodactyl
3.  Audino
4.  Castform
5.  Chatot
6.  Dewgong
7.  Donphan
8.  Dunsparce
9.  Emolga
10.  Farfetch'd
11.  Fearow
12.  Floatzel
13.  Forretress
14.  Grumpig
15.  Heracross
16.  Houndoom
17.  Hypno
18.  Jynx
19.  Kecleon
20.  Lapras
21.  Miltank
22.  Minun
23.  Mr. Mime
24.  Pachirisu
25.  Parasect
26.  Persian
27.  Pinsir
28.  Plusle
29.  Primeape
30.  Quagsire
31.  Qwilfish
32.  Raticate
33.  Sableye
34.  Sandslash
35.  Seaking
36.  Shuckle
37.  Skarmory
38.  Smeargle
39.  Spinda
40.  Stantler
41.  Sudowoodo
42.  Sunflora
43.  Swellow
44.  Tauros
45.  Torkoal
46.  Wobbuffet

Now, if you evolved each of these Pokemon and gave us one new Pokemon from one of the unused type combinations I had listed previously, you would have 78 new Pokemon.  Of course, you could always evolve these Pokemon here into something of a new type combination, but that will be up for discussion after you hear my ideas of what the possible evolutions for these Pokemon could be.  I'd love to tell you now, but you'd have to do me a favor first...

Hire me, Sugimori!