Is Pokemon only good because of nostalgia?

Yet again, I am re-opening an old wound. One month ago today I asked you "Is Pokemon a bad franchise?". Now, I ask you a similar question: "Is Pokemon only good because we're nostalgic over it?". Are we masking the gaping flaws the series has because we grew up with it, and if we didn't grow up with it would we see it for as bad as it actually is?

Is nostalgia the only thing keeping us playing, and are we all just nostalgia blind and blocking out the flaws because we are just projecting our childhoods onto every new entry?

I will not be weighing in on this topic. So, do you think Pokemon is only good because of our nostalgia?

No, I genuinely love the whole concept of befriending creatures with magical powers. Sure, the franchise isn't perfect, however, I think it's more than purely nostalgia that's keeping me a fan. Pokémon itself is a franchise that has expanded rapidly, and therefore has such a wide array of fans from all walks of life. There are as many young children who are fans as there are millennials who grew up with the very first games. Therefore, to claim that Pokémon is simply good because of nostalgia is incorrect, in my opinion because the franchise has continued to re-invent itself for younger generations.

Of course, you could pick apart all of the things the franchise does wrong, such as rushing the SwSh games for one thing, but you can not deny all that they get right.

part of it is nostalgia. i think pokemon has sentimental value to a lot of older players, but to say those older players are the reason that pokemon survives today (which is basically what this question is getting at)....eh, i'd be wary of any claims of that nature.

i think mysticalninetales has the right idea, here, for as flawed as the main series games may possible be, the foundation of pokemon will always attract people, both old and new. older players will continue to do what they've always done in past pokemon games whether it be shiny hunt, battle or trading, and newer players to the franchise can focus on the exploration, getting to know all the pokemon, the characters, things like that. pokemon also thrives on interaction with other players and that's pretty much been the bread and butter of the franchise since the beginning. how that's achieved can be criticised and critiqued, but that's been the main focus, nonetheless, and it's been working to this very day.

On the contrary, I think it's nostalgia what is ruining Pokémon. Or more like the need some fans have for it to be appealed to them, and I think Gen 5 and Gen 6 are a good example for it.

BW and B2W2 are best known as the best main series Pokémon games ever for many people and for some good reasons there are. They are also known for both being comercial failures (B2W2 in part because ppl don't know the difference between a sequel and a third version). That... doesn't add up at all, right? BW was a totally new experience to put it that way, all of the Pokémon here were totally new, not even Pikachu on sight as weird as it may sound. It was the first time GF focused more in the story than usual. Of course, Pokeboomers wanted Mr. Lizard in their teams, but instead got "le ugly ice cream and trash pokemon lmao" and began saying shit like "Pokémon stopped being good after Gen 3" and whatever stuff I believe everyone has read at least once, which obviously ended with the games having poor sales.

After that came XY, which are often criticized as the worst Pokémon games along with USUM and SwSh, but they somehow sold better than Gen 5 games and the reason is simple: When XY was released, people didn't see how bad the story was, they saw the fact that you could choose a Kanto starter and that Lucario (or their favorite generic Pokémon) could mega evolve. That concluded with XY being the second most sold 3DS game until 2018 even if Kalos is only remembered now because of the anime.

So no, nostalgia is not what makes Pokémon good. It is only part of what makes Pokémon as successful as it is, and TPC knows how to exploit that well.

What makes Pokémon good is that even if they are afraid of going away from the main Pokémon formula, they are still able to innovate in some way. I'm talking about things like the stadiums, the trainer cards and the Wild Area in SwSh (not Dynamax, fuck that shit. I don't like how these gimmicks were introduced since XY). That shows that they can still do their thing correctly and that the only reason the games aren't as good as they could have been is because TPC likes Christmas too much to think about delaying their games.

P.S. Fuck Charizard and Greedent

I'm sick of all these 'is the franchise only good becuase..' or 'this franchise isn't good anymore' threads.

Addendum:
Looking at people who didn't grow up with Pokemon or who didn't play it as a kid, they either can't get into it or outright hate it.

Discuss.

Child Amnesiac said:

Addendum:
Looking at people who didn't grow up with Pokemon or who didn't play it as a kid, they either can't get into it or outright hate it.

Discuss.

Click to expand...

Pokémon GO would like a word

The main series.

A lot of Go players who didn't grow up with it don't like or can't get into the main series and only play go.

I would think that a lot of non-fans or people who dislike the series only played Go because it was trendy.

"Everybody was doing it, I just wanted to be popular."- Bender

No. Pokemon isn't only good for nostalgia. I got into Pokemon early pre-gen 4 (in the United States), and I most certainly don't think Pokemon is only good because of nostalgia. That's not what keeps me playing at all, if I'm speaking for myself. I like Pokemon, and I like seeing what's next for the franchise. It has absolutely nothing to do with me growing up w/it at all. I just still genuinely like it.

Pokémon was possibly the idea with the greatest potential in video game history. Collectible monsters that you can grow, evolve, breed, trade, and fight with? And there's hundreds of them? The world could've been their oyster, had they managed Pokémania wisely.
It's just Game Freak's incompetence that's holding the franchise back.
Just imagine if they had come up with, say, an open-world MMO in the mid-2000s. It would've eaten WoW for breakfast.

Hmm I would have to disagree mostly, I'm currently playing through every generation in this whole lockdown and really enjoying it! I think my love for the series stems mainly from nostalgia (as I'm a slightly older player), but I don't think that's any reason to say objectively it's only good because of that. Like Ninetails said, the whole concept of the series is what's attracted a lot of people!