Quoted By:
The whole thing feels like a huge missed opportunity.
It could have been a true reboot of the series, totally disconnected from the main portable line.
The series' roots are in a fucking Gameboy game, a system weaker than an NES, and everything since then has just built on that foundation.
Nintendo/GF could have taken this opportunity to reboot Pokemon as a console series, taking the same concept and reimagining it with some actual processing power behind it. Not only would it provide an opportunity to rectify some ancient logical questions (such as the Nidoran gender issue), but it also would have provided an opportunity to bridge the gap between story and gameplay, for example changing Slowpoke's evolution to actually incorporate a Shellder and merge the two. And forgive me for getting a little too GENWUNNER, but it would be the perfect time to give Charizard and Gyarados the Dragon-typing they should have had from the beginning, as well as giving Blastoise a Steel-typing.
When I first played Pokemon in 1998 I was disappointed by the limited graphics, and in particular by the random nature of wild Pokemon attacks. To me it was Pokemon Snap that better realized the vision of Pokemon in the wild, of having to actually find these things in their habitats. Now there is the opportunity to have those kind of encounters, putting aside the RNG in favor of some actual strategy, but instead of creating a more visceral version of the original experience they're instead watering it down by removing the battle element. How ridiculous is that?
