Gotta Catch ‘Em All: Pokémon Overkill

The problem with Pokémon today, at least for people like me, is that there are just way too many of them. The original games were well balanced, and each Pokémon stood out. Mastering the game was a manageable feat. But after taking a spin on the new versions, it looks like those good ol’ days won’t be coming back.

The new iterations of the game now have a total of 493 Pokémon, more than three times the original 150 (and 1). And with each new version, more and more Pokémon get piled on. At some point it will become too much, even for real Pokémon masters. Meanwhile, it becomes really difficult for new players to learn about them all; they’d be overwhelmed by the numbers. The first two games–Pokémon Red and Blue–were awesome, in part because you could remember the names of all the Pokémon and knew their strengths, weaknesses, attacks, etc. From there, you could formulate strategies based on what each Pokémon was capable of. Plus, it only took about three minutes to sing the whole roster, including the chorus.

I’ve played all the games in the first generation and Gold in the second generation. After taking a long break from the game, I came back to LeafGreen just out of nostalgia, since Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen are simply remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue respectively. So when Pokémon Diamond came out for the DS to much fanfare, I had to try it.

Ohhh, if I only knew what I was getting myself into! I knew next to nothing about any of the new Pokémon. And whenever I KOed an opponent’s Pokémon, I didn’t know any of the next ones coming out. I could never counter them effectively. I’d be owning this guy with one Pokémon, when all of a sudden I’d lose because I didn’t know about some random Pokémon that the game’s makers pulled out of their ass.

Which brings me to my next point. Some Pokémon are just downright ugly. Hippopotas? What is this thing supposed to be? Is it a hippo? It couldn’t be, because hippos are cool and this isn’t. The original Pokémon (usually) looked cool and unique, and filled their own particular niche. With so many Pokémon, a lot simply seem redundant, and like I said, the conception and design of many just seems lazy.

Unfortunately for us old school fans, Pokémon is Nintendo’s second-best selling video game franchise. Which basically means Nintendo will stick to the formula, regardless of how played out it gets. But we can at least take solace in the fact that Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen are the way to go for old Pokémon fans to get back into the series. Old school gameplay coupled with bug fixes and upgraded graphics make this entry full of win.