Greenlit: What makes old fans return to the games?

Oh boy it's been a while, let's do this!

A friend of mine (who was a huge fan of the core series) had stopped playing the games eight years back. A week back he had started playing the games again.
One of the main reasons was nostalgia and a breath of fresh air because he hadn't been in touch with the franchise and enjoyed the new mechanics....which was something I did not expect. This meant being completely out of touch with the happenings in the franchise.

This made me ponder about what various reasons do people have to come back and what makes them stay. So I thought of an article that would cover the top reasons why people come back to the games, enjoy them, what keeps them glued after coming back.
I've made a thread in r/pokemon too, so maybe if we get enough useful input, we could probably make a list out of this.

Edit: A similar thread in r/truepokemon
And one in Gaming central too


Thoughts?

I like the idea - could be neat getting such perspectives and compiling them in an article. +1

Devil's advocate - would you cover any negative experiences people had upon returning to the game from a long hiatus? I think of the youtuber Arlo who returned to SwSh after a few gens and wasn't really impressed (although dlc later helped), while he seemed very happy with New Pokemon Snap. It might be interesting, if the content is there, to look at it from both ways.

I suggest also making a thread on the forums here and see if there's any useful or interesting feedback from our own userbase.

bobandbill said:

I like the idea - could be neat getting such perspectives and compiling them in an article. +1

Devil's advocate - would you cover any negative experiences people had upon returning to the game from a long hiatus? I think of the youtuber Arlo who returned to SwSh after a few gens and wasn't really impressed (although dlc later helped), while he seemed very happy with New Pokemon Snap. It might be interesting, if the content is there, to look at it from both ways.

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Of course, it might not be only positive experiences upon returning. Some responses in r/pokemon show that.
As for more threads, I've made a similar one in r/truepokemon and also one in gaming central (both links in the original post in this thread)

As long as both sides of the 'debate' are covered - i.e. positive and negative experiences - then I'll give this a +1. It's an interesting idea, one that's always discussed in length and I'm intrigued mostly how you'll be able to summarise this.

If needed, I also have rekindled my love for the series as it were recently, after not bothering with them for several years, so if you need any further words just shout!

Rabinov said:

As long as both sides of the 'debate' are covered - i.e. positive and negative experiences - then I'll give this a +1. It's an interesting idea, one that's always discussed in length and I'm intrigued mostly how you'll be able to summarise this.

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Definitely.
Got more input from our own members and also some folks had a lot to say at r/truepokemon

This will be a nice mix

I honestly have never given up on the series, but never ever recall playing Black/White 2 at all. I also said I stopped watching the anime around the end of Diamond and Pearl as I lost cable shortly after in my bedroom.

Old fans usually return when the things they used to enjoy return in a new style. That's why remakes usually are a success. The fans usually leave when something they think is great are taken out

I've had a few periods where I've not been as interested in playing the games and it's normally just because my attention has shifted to other things. Deep down I'm still a fan of the series and end up returning. Normally there's no particular reason.

I stopped playing after pokemon X. I was tired of the same cliches of the series and ORAS didn't convince me because it wouldn't have had the same story of emerald, which was very improved and more complete imo (that's y i skipped BDSP as well). When gen 7 came out I was really happy to see new things in the series and this convinced me to get back playing Pokemon. I played UM and it was my least favorite pokemon experience. But i was still really into pokemon games, so i kept playing. I think that remakes help with that but i also feel that the most powerful formula for taking old players' attention back to modern games is the Let's GO formula. Different style graphics, reboot which isn't the same thing as a remake but still is innovative, the pokemon GO kind of gameplay and so on. Let's GO was created for those people and indeed these people are the ones who enjoyed Let's GO games the most.

Honestly for me, nostalgia. I loved Pokemon growing up and even into my 20's, but recently I've just stopped playing them. Then I got a Switch for Animal Crossing and bought Let's Go! Eevee on a whim and it just sucked me straight back into the universe! I unfortunately dropped and broke my Switch a year or so ago cause lol, clumsy, but I've been meaning to get one again to experience BDSP and of course play Legends, which looks amazing.

EDIT: I realise I wasn't meant to reply in here, possibly. Am sorry D:

Pandemics and lockdowns are a great way to randomly fall back into a pokemon obsession lol

I find myself returning to the early games as I learn new and exciting things over time. I never forgot about them but sometimes once you've burned through every corner of a game its time to put it on the shelf. Take the Gen 1 Pokémon games for instance. Loved it as a kid. Got back into a few years later once I met a friend I could trade with. Got into the Gen 3 versions of the classics because of the new mechanics and areas, I struggled getting into the newer Pokémon from Gold, Silver, and beyond. Every few years I crave that nostalgia. A few years ago yet I found out about the Mew glitch which basically allowed you to capture every Pokémon in the Gen 1 game without trading and without using a cheat system. Thus I was thrusted once more into the newer versions so on and so forth.

Nostalgia plays a role in returning to the franchise, but, in my opinion, what made me return to pokemon was thinking how I could play the game differently. Use different pokemon, teams, and move pools. Rom hacks also play a huge role for returning players because there are so many that feel like new mainline releases or vast improvements. Pokemon Fire Red Omega was what got me back into the game, and then later I tried Crystal Clear and Renegade Platinum. Now I'm playing through Blazed Glazed and Gaia.

I usually return to old games for the nostalgia and reminder of how fun it was to be a kid! I loved finding new pokemon cards to add to a collection and traded them at school

Hi I'm new here. Does anyone know how can I download Pokemon Infinite Fusions??? Please I need some help.

Rf09 said:

Hi I'm new here. Does anyone know how can I download Pokemon Infinite Fusions??? Please I need some help.

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Wrong forum section - you'll want to check this thread out: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=347883 Instructions are in the first post, and if you have trouble with those then you can ask for help in that thread/their Discord.

I don't let nostalgia blind me to the flaws of modern day pokemon anymore, and I come back anyways. sometimes I buy a new gen on launch, sometimes it passes my mind 10 months after release, but I've never fully skipped a generation since I started.

I think the core gameplay and setting of pokemon is near-perfect game design. there's some serious credit owed to the developers of gens 1 & 2. that formula was so strong that its entertainment persists through an almost 30 year timespan of releases with little innovation. these days pokemon is like riding a carousel you love while the building deteriorates around it. the paint is chipping, the floor is dirty, the music is warped.... but it's still the same fun time, somehow.

I quit for like two years, and then came back because honestly, I just missed the thrill in it.
Now there's this nostalgic feeling accompanying the usual thrill LOL

I think Ultra Sun/Moon kinda killed off my interest in playing the series when it came out. Due to the naming convention I expected it to be a sequel to Sun/Moon kinda like BW2 was, my disappointment was immeasurable when I booted up the game for the first time and I realised it was basically just gen 7's Emerald. I think at that time I was maturing out of really enjoying Pokemon as I was about to enter high school so I just stopped playing the games for a few years. I still liked the series, but I wasnt as into it as I was before.
I didnt really pick up the series again until the pandemic hit and I decided to play Black for nostalgias sake, then SoulSilver, then Black 2, and then all the Mystery Dungeon games. I'm about to start a new Platinum or Emerald paythrough after I try to 100% an NSMB romhack too.

I havent actually played any of the new games, but I'd be receptive to it whenever I decide to get a Switch. I'd probably even give Ultra Moon a try again if it werent for the fact that my 3DS's circle pad has unimaginably bad drift (i was lucky GTI and PSMD still let you use the d-pad for everything lol)

Idk, nostalgia?