[INDEX PAGE]

Previous rants:

Brutal Legend's publishing issues
Activision/Robert A. Kotick
Guitar Hero/Rock Band (Part 4)
The Sims
EA Sports
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A decade ago, Pokémon became a huge success outside Japan, even though the franchise was established in 1996 over there. The popularity of Pokémon was crazy at the end of the 1990s where the video games, card game, show and toys were everywhere. Sure, the popularity is no longer as its peak but Pokémon still has a strong fanbase which some find rather surprising. Not as surprising as Digimon still lasting, though but that's another story.

It's been 10 years since I became a fan of Pokémon and I have to admit, I never thought I'd still consider myself as a fan of the franchise for a whole decade as I thought I'd lose interest in Pokémon well before then. I was wrong and the main reason why I still declare myself as a fan is because of the main titles. I'll still want to play these games every now and again. However, when looking at the whole franchise today, it's not as good as it used to be.

First off, there are too many Pokémon. This is one of the most common complaints Pokémon receives and I was actually disagreeing with those thoughts up until Generation IV. The second generation was a nice addition to the series with more great Pokémon to choose from, even though this was when they introduced baby Pokémon. The third generation introduced yet more great Pokémon.

While Tyrogue and Togepi were reasonable baby Pokémon, I have wondered why they had to make baby forms of Clefairy, Jigglypuff and Pikachu, even if he's the most well known Pokémon. Were they to have a 'cuter' form of Pokémon that already had a cute appearance? o_O Infact, most of the baby Pokémon were made to have a cuter appearance and to be honest, they're rather pointless considering the original forms were already designed to look cute. The strongest exceptions are Togepi and Riolu who weren't baby versions of Pokémon from previous generations.

The second generation was also when they started to make evolved forms of Pokémon from previous generations and these were reasonable additions, most especially Scizor and Steelix. Amazingly, the third generation didn't have any of these kind of Pokémon and were mostly original. However, the fourth generation was when they took the piss. TWENTY-ONE Pokémon were based on older ones and they were really lazy with designing Pokémon. Some of them I did use for the heck of it in Pearl but when you think about it, it's like Game Freak felt Rhydon and Electabuzz weren't powerful enough and an additional form was necessary. Only a few offered different elements from the other Pokémon in the Evolution chain.

The main reason they were made was to have higher base stats for more powerful Pokémon but if they had to make strong Pokémon, they should have focused more on making brand new Pokémon and not basing most on older Pokémon. It only made me think they were starting to run out of ideas, especially when they went and made the 'god' Pokémon. It's reasons like this why with the exception of 7 more Pokémon to make it 500, there should never be a fifth generation. They seem to have covered most ideas already and anymore will be overdoing it but of course, it's going to happen sometime.

The games themselves are really enjoyable. Of course, they use the same formula but I love them nonetheless, although D/P/Pt are the weakest out of the lot. I actually like R/B/Y, G/S/C and R/S/E equally. The first games for nostalgia sake, the second for how much fun you can have with both Johto and Kanto regions and the third games were yet more fun, even though they didn't have two regions to explore like G/S/C did. However, HeartGold/SoulSilver are most likely the last Pokémon games I'll care about as none of the spin-offs interest me and the fifth generation thoughts as stated already. The only exception would be a huge 3D RPG which is what they need to make eventually.

What has really annoyed me the most about these games are Event Pokémon. The ones where you have to attend a Nintendo event in order to obtain the item that allows you to encounter the Pokémon or even get it right away. They've always had Pokémon that you could only obtain via Nintendo events, even though it was later found out that Mew was actually obtainable via glitch. Can't say the same thing for other Event Pokémon, though.

Event-exclusive Pokémon is a horrible idea. Sure, it's a nice bonus for those who are able to attend the events but what about those who aren't able to go to them at all? I mean, the main target audience is kids and it's not easy for a 10 year old to reach their nearest event, especially when their parents might not go all the way to one just so they can have another Pokémon added to their game cartridge. It's even worse when the closest event could be MILES away and if you live in my area, you'll know how tough it is to get to the nearest Nintendo Event.

This only encouraged Gameshark and that's the last thing Game Freak should be doing, especially after all the bad stories on save corruptions and MissingNo. Otherwise, what's the point of the "Gotta Catch 'em All" phrase? One of the two main aspects of Pokémon is to collect all different species and battle to become "the best" but the former has lost so much meaning from all these Event Pokémon as well as how many you need in order to complete your National Dex.

That's all for Pokémon itself and the video games. There's still two more sections to tackle which I shall go over on the next part. Yes, these are the anime show and the card game. Be here on Thursday which is the actual day that marks 10 years of myself being a Pokémon fan.