Raburesu
Technology is incredible!
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- Seen Jun 11, 2023
After many long years of waiting, Pokémon Crystal – the final 8-bit hit – arrives on Nintendo eShop today. While this is exciting, its re-release is poisoned by its owners' avarice, and poor timing.
Generation VII hasn't been stellar. At its surprising inception, it denied Pokémon Z its existence. Regardless of how you feel about generational tradition and enhanced third versions, folks who enjoyed X and Y but were frustrated with their shortcomings saw much potential for a third game in Kalos, and that was wasted when Generation VII was announced instead. While I think moving towards making the game right the first time is a step in the right direction, it's unfortunate to observe Game Freak prove with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon that they haven't even lifted their feet off the ground.
X and Y were transparently incomplete products; they presented a uniquely irritating scenario, yet one regrettably common for Pokémon players – we had to buy and play the games to be unsatisfied, then begrudgingly accept the fact that, let's face it, we would pay again for what we wanted in the first place, only to be denied the opportunity. It's sort of like if you accidentally got pregnant, then came to terms with it –and even got excited– just before you miscarried.
Ultimately, Pokémon's 20th anniversary celebrations with an endgame of shiny new celebratory games ceased our mourning of what could have been. But unlike Zelda's Skyward Sword and its self-referential script for their 25th anniversary, Sun and Moon don't really feel like they're celebrating anything, which is… sort of awkward. They were the destination of the commemorative hype train, after all, one of the strongest and most successful ad campaigns in series' history. Even I got excited – a Legendary distribution every month, special TCG boxes, emotional videos all over the internet, even a commercial at the Super Bowl! #Pokemon20 and #TrainOn were the hashtags of 2016, as far as I'm concerned. Thriving in everyone's passion, fans came together to keep each other involved, excited and talking about Pokémon all year. It was an inspiring time to be a fan.
Then, on November 18, 2016, Pokémon Sun and Moon were released, and they were shocking failures and Pokémon died forever.
...Just kidding.
But they weren't great, guys. Come on. It's like, "Let go of my hand, Game Freak!" Y'know…? They were linear to the point of misery, with some story concepts ending up being empty promises. HMs are gone and the games are still garbage. That's bad.
The following year, on June 6, 2017, an announcement video revealed Pokkén Tournament DX…--
…Okay, hold on…
WHAT?! I JUST BOUGHT THE WII U VERSION LAST MARCH ON RELEASE DAY AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO PORT IT TO A CONSOLE I CAN'T AFFORD TO BUY, ADD NEW CHARACTERS THAT WON'T BE COMING TO THE WII U VERSION, AND THEN STOP SUPPORTING THE ORIGINAL CONSOLE RELEASE?!
I remain inconsolably livid over this, and please don't bring it up to me in conversation. I understand that the Wii U sold poorly and the Switch is a big hit. Please, I ask you to stop formulating any response to my anger. I simply wanted to be heard.
Okay. So, that video also announced Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, which would come a year after Sun and Moon. If you ask me, the proximity between these releases was a catalyst for franchise fatigue… Y'know, dependent on whether or not these were going to be sequels or paired third versions…
But they were the latter, and they failed, and Pokémon languished and died!
…Sorry... Obviously, that didn't happen…
Not only were the Ultras too close to their predecessors, the footage shown made zero attempts to communicate to us what these games really were, and anecdotally, I was upset to eventually discover much later (unacceptable!) that they wouldn't be to Sun and Moon what Black 2 and White 2 were for Generation V. After all, the story in Sun and Moon wasn't exceptional, but I was invested enough to care about the fates of at least Lillie, Lusamine and Gladion.
Because of their ambiguity, UltraSun and UltraMoon were overshadowed by the video's third announcement: Pokémon Gold and Silver, games which had originally released 18 years prior, would re-release on Nintendo's eShop on September 22, 2017.
Crystal's absence instantly sparked discussion within the community.
"Why only Gold and Silver? Where is Crystal? Is Crystal never coming? Where is Crystal?! Also, Sinnoh remake WHERE? WE EXIST TO BE PANDERED TO!"
Well, here it is. Four months after the re-release of Gold and Silver, Crystal makes its return.
…And I just feel betrayed.
Recap:
I, like many fans, settled for Gold and Silver, knowing I would buy Crystal when it came out. Generation II on 3DS was exciting and I wanted it ASAP. Had they released all three games at once as they did with Red, Blue and Yellow, I would have only purchased Crystal. It's completely normal for anyone to assume Crystal wouldn't release for many months, or even a year.
The amount of time separating the availability of these games sends a clear message, and my response is just as negative. Would Crystal's inclusion have affected Gold and Silver's sales? Maybe. Likely, even. These aren't new games, after all - fans have had almost two decades to discover Crystal is the generally superior experience.
*sigh*
Let's end on a good note...
Thanks for the Celebi event!
Generation VII hasn't been stellar. At its surprising inception, it denied Pokémon Z its existence. Regardless of how you feel about generational tradition and enhanced third versions, folks who enjoyed X and Y but were frustrated with their shortcomings saw much potential for a third game in Kalos, and that was wasted when Generation VII was announced instead. While I think moving towards making the game right the first time is a step in the right direction, it's unfortunate to observe Game Freak prove with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon that they haven't even lifted their feet off the ground.
X and Y were transparently incomplete products; they presented a uniquely irritating scenario, yet one regrettably common for Pokémon players – we had to buy and play the games to be unsatisfied, then begrudgingly accept the fact that, let's face it, we would pay again for what we wanted in the first place, only to be denied the opportunity. It's sort of like if you accidentally got pregnant, then came to terms with it –and even got excited– just before you miscarried.
Ultimately, Pokémon's 20th anniversary celebrations with an endgame of shiny new celebratory games ceased our mourning of what could have been. But unlike Zelda's Skyward Sword and its self-referential script for their 25th anniversary, Sun and Moon don't really feel like they're celebrating anything, which is… sort of awkward. They were the destination of the commemorative hype train, after all, one of the strongest and most successful ad campaigns in series' history. Even I got excited – a Legendary distribution every month, special TCG boxes, emotional videos all over the internet, even a commercial at the Super Bowl! #Pokemon20 and #TrainOn were the hashtags of 2016, as far as I'm concerned. Thriving in everyone's passion, fans came together to keep each other involved, excited and talking about Pokémon all year. It was an inspiring time to be a fan.
Then, on November 18, 2016, Pokémon Sun and Moon were released, and they were shocking failures and Pokémon died forever.
...Just kidding.
But they weren't great, guys. Come on. It's like, "Let go of my hand, Game Freak!" Y'know…? They were linear to the point of misery, with some story concepts ending up being empty promises. HMs are gone and the games are still garbage. That's bad.
The following year, on June 6, 2017, an announcement video revealed Pokkén Tournament DX…--
…Okay, hold on…
WHAT?! I JUST BOUGHT THE WII U VERSION LAST MARCH ON RELEASE DAY AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO PORT IT TO A CONSOLE I CAN'T AFFORD TO BUY, ADD NEW CHARACTERS THAT WON'T BE COMING TO THE WII U VERSION, AND THEN STOP SUPPORTING THE ORIGINAL CONSOLE RELEASE?!
I remain inconsolably livid over this, and please don't bring it up to me in conversation. I understand that the Wii U sold poorly and the Switch is a big hit. Please, I ask you to stop formulating any response to my anger. I simply wanted to be heard.
Okay. So, that video also announced Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, which would come a year after Sun and Moon. If you ask me, the proximity between these releases was a catalyst for franchise fatigue… Y'know, dependent on whether or not these were going to be sequels or paired third versions…
But they were the latter, and they failed, and Pokémon languished and died!
…Sorry... Obviously, that didn't happen…
Not only were the Ultras too close to their predecessors, the footage shown made zero attempts to communicate to us what these games really were, and anecdotally, I was upset to eventually discover much later (unacceptable!) that they wouldn't be to Sun and Moon what Black 2 and White 2 were for Generation V. After all, the story in Sun and Moon wasn't exceptional, but I was invested enough to care about the fates of at least Lillie, Lusamine and Gladion.
Because of their ambiguity, UltraSun and UltraMoon were overshadowed by the video's third announcement: Pokémon Gold and Silver, games which had originally released 18 years prior, would re-release on Nintendo's eShop on September 22, 2017.
Crystal's absence instantly sparked discussion within the community.
"Why only Gold and Silver? Where is Crystal? Is Crystal never coming? Where is Crystal?! Also, Sinnoh remake WHERE? WE EXIST TO BE PANDERED TO!"
Well, here it is. Four months after the re-release of Gold and Silver, Crystal makes its return.
…And I just feel betrayed.
Recap:
- Sun and Moon are unfortunately bad after impossible heaps of hype
- The Pokkén thing we aren't talking about
- Second pair of Generation VII main-series games turn out to be half-baked retellings instead of sequels, meaning they audaciously expect me to play Sun and Moon a second time after just one year…
I, like many fans, settled for Gold and Silver, knowing I would buy Crystal when it came out. Generation II on 3DS was exciting and I wanted it ASAP. Had they released all three games at once as they did with Red, Blue and Yellow, I would have only purchased Crystal. It's completely normal for anyone to assume Crystal wouldn't release for many months, or even a year.
The amount of time separating the availability of these games sends a clear message, and my response is just as negative. Would Crystal's inclusion have affected Gold and Silver's sales? Maybe. Likely, even. These aren't new games, after all - fans have had almost two decades to discover Crystal is the generally superior experience.
*sigh*
Let's end on a good note...
Thanks for the Celebi event!