First off, it should be noted this isn’t a review of the game, just commentary from someone who’s been playing it.
One of the problems Nintendo has had with past games is complying with the wishes of their target audience (the tween gamers) and their dedicated core base (ages 16-26) so that the game is enjoyable for anyone who picks it up.
As the games progressed, the need for new Pokemon was apparent, and thus Black and White were created.
The new Pokemon were exciting, but they didn’t come packed with the pizazz the older generation of Pokemon did. At least, they didn’t for my generation of Pokemon trainers and masters.
It’s not that the games weren’t enjoyable, they just weren’t what I had grown up with. Still, I stuck them out, defeated gym leaders one by one, built up my collection, and become the very best that no one ever was.
Still, even with the newer titles, I found myself picking up a pack of batteries and rebooting my old GameBoy to play with the Pokemon I knew and loved, within the Kanto region I felt safe and secure in.
With Black and White 2, I felt the same push and pull. I willed myself into thinking it was going to be the same as when I was a kid, and pulled myself away from it once I had completed the game.
I tried convincing myself this was just a part of getting older, and this was the difficulty most adults have to face when they try to cling to relics of their childhood. The world has moved on from them, and now, you must too.
Then they announced Pokemon X and Y. It was a whole new region, with different Pokemon, and although sounding similar to what Nintendo had tried to do with Black and White, there was one aspect I nearly fainted with joy over.
The original 151 Pokemon would be available for players to catch and train.
And the reaction to the ability was exactly what most had expected. People were ecstatic.
Since the announcement was made, the hype has only continued to build. People talked about any news or rumors about how the original Pokemon were going to be mixed into the giant gene pool of pocket monsters that had been created over the years.
Was it going to be a second world? Would you have to complete the game once in order to pick the original starters? Would they be less powerful?
It was a mixture of excitement and fear. What we had asked for was about to be made a reality, and for many, that was terrifying.
Being able to conceive of the idea and boast about how great it would be was one thing, but with Nintendo finally making that a reality, we had to face the reality that the end result could be completely disastrous as opposed to god like.
The hype -and sweat filled, nightmare consumed nights- continued until the game was finally released at midnight Saturday on the Nintendo e-store.
With a deep breath and excited, trembling hands, I dove into the game that would hopefully transport me back to my childhood while keeping the future of the franchise vividly clear.
And it did exactly that. Again, this isn’t a review so I won’t talk about gameplay, design, or the story, but I will talk about something the game accomplished.
It made me realize, and from responses all over Twitter, it made other people realize, we didn’t have to remain in our past to find happiness while playing. Instead, we could combine the best of both worlds and have a completely immersive experience.
I haven’t completed the whole game yet, but I can say it’s the first time in years that I have been unable to pay attention to most other activities throughout my day because I want to spend my entire time in the new Kalos region.
Video games are a funny thing when you’re an adult. They’re a link to the past and, in today’s age of games, a true art form (but we won’t get into that debate here). But there’s still that need to defend why you play them, or spend $60 on a new title when you could be spending it on important things like, I don’t know, food.
With Pokemon, that reason to explain why doesn’t exist because people, to some extent, get Pokemon. It was either a large part of your child’s life, or a large part of your life, and the nostalgia value alone is reason enough to invest hours into a game.
With X and Y, it feels like an investment, something I can’t say about many new games. I know I’ll be playing this for quite some time (until the newest version comes out), and for the first time since I started playing the new generations of Pokemon games, I don’t feel that need to pull away and return to the comforts of Kanto.
Happy Pokemon day!
Source:
http://blogs.canoe.ca/buttonmashers/general/pokemon-xy-reinvents-and-rekindles/
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