If you have been paying attention to pop culture over the past few years, you probably have heard of Pokémon. Pokémon is the most profitable multimedia franchise of all time, from its games to the TV show that adapts them. Today we ask the question: How have the Pokémon games “evolved” over the four decades of its existence?
Pokémon started with turn-based role-playing games: “Pokémon: Red /Blue /Yellow Version,” released for the Nintendo Game Boy in 1996, and has gotten multiple new titles since then. Pokémon games are simple: You play as a Pokémon trainer with the goal of becoming the champion of the Pokémon League. This involves going to all of the Pokémon gyms, facilities where a specialized Pokémon trainer or gym leader resides. Once beating the gym leader, the player obtains a gym badge. Once obtaining all of the badges, you can challenge the champion to win the game.
The first Pokémon games set the bar for a formula that many of their sequels would follow. For example, the titular “Pokémon” refers to a shortened term for “pocket monsters,” referencing how the player character catches Pokémon by putting them in Poké-balls, a pocketable capsule that the Pokémon then calls home. These caught Pokémon can be used to do Pokémon battles, or 1v1/2v2 fights where the player would face against either other trainers or wild Pokémon. The capturing and battling with Pokémon would continue to be a trend as the games progressed.
Another trend started here is the concept of “types.” A type is an attribute a Pokémon has, usually correlating to an element of nature (Fire, Water, Grass, and so on) or a real/mythological creature (Bug, Dragon, Fairy). These types categorize what element a Pokémon specializes in and what element the Pokémon is weak to. These types also define the “moves” a Pokémon can do. A “move” can be an attack, buff, or debuff. Attack moves harm the opponent Pokémon, buff moves aid your own Pokémon, and debuff moves negatively affect opposing Pokémon. Pokémon battles are affected by these types through the strengths and weaknesses that they create… For example, a Fire-type Pokémon is strong against Ice or Grass, but is weak against Water- and Rock-type Pokémon. Some Pokémon even have “signature moves.” A signature move is a move that only one specific Pokémon can learn and use.
Pokémon games usually come in groups of 2 called “Generations.” The 2 or more games in a Generation are usually the exact same with slight deviations. For example, Generation 7 has 4 separate games, Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon. The differences between them are that the Moon games have a reversed day/night cycle, and the Ultra games have more content and are classified as the “definitive editions” for the generation. As the Generations went on, new games would add new features. Several Generations added new Pokémon types: Generation 2, Gold and Silver, added dark and steel types, and Generation 6, X and Y, added the Fairy type.
Every generation after 1 also added a myriad of new pokémon: about 100 new ones per region, with the exception of Gen 5 adding 156. Another change that happened in between Generations involved the art style and visuals of the games, as well as their depth. Generations 1 and 2 were limited in capacity because they were on the original GameBoy. The next few generations were able to expand on the formula given the GameBoy Advance and DS’ better capabilities when it came to the hardware. Because of this, many Pokémon fans say that Generations 3 through 5 were the golden age of Pokémon. Generation 6 was the first one to make the games 100% 3D, removing the classic pixel art of the previous games almost entirely. This caused a major debate in the community, with fans who favored the older, 2D designs clashing with the fans who wanted to see Pokémon be brought to the modern age. Today, this debate is still a hot topic, with many fans arguing their side as new games come out.
Every generation has its own “region.” For example, Generations 1-4 take place in the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh regions, modeled after prefectures in Japan. Generation 5 took place in the Unova region, and was inspired by New York City or Generation 9 taking place in the Paldea region, which is based off of Spain. From Generation 6 onward, every Pokémon game had some type of gimmick. Gen 6’s France-inspired “Kalos” region started the trend of the ever-popular “Mega Evolution.” The gimmicks of Generations 6-9 all have a similar trait of boosting the power of your Pokémon for a short period of time, at the cost of only being able to do so once per battle. The one exception of this rule is Generation 7’s “Z-Moves”. Z-moves are one time use moves that do exaggerated versions of their non-Z counterparts, like healing more health or doing more damage.
In conclusion, the Pokémon franchise has changed drastically over the years. Whether it comes to setting, gameplay, or even the pokémon that you meet. However, the simplistic, yet satisfying core gameplay hasn’t gone anywhere.
