>>39670389GO wasn't what started the fire, but it sure did pour a bunch of gasoline and kindling on it. They were bringing up mobile games as excuses at least as far back as ORAS in 2014, and I'm sure that mindset was present in part of X and Y. The 3DS came out in 2011, but investors and consumers were making numerous comparisons to smartphones in the first few years of its life. B2W2 was the swansong of both the DS and the franchise, while Gen VI feels like it was struggling to get its footing. There are signs of promise throughout, but it's all undermined by rushed releases, which I assume was more of a decision from TPC and maybe even Nintendo than it was Game Freak. X and Y should have had another year on the pot, like Gen V and IV before it. ORAS had a year of pre-production and a year of actual development, but one more year could have worked wonders. Instead of
2012: B2W2
2013: Gen VI
2014: Remakes (Gen III)
2015:
2016: Gen VII
2017: Third version
2018: Remakes (Gen I)
2019: Gen VIII
It should have been
2012: B2W2
2013:
2014: Gen VI
2015:
2016: Third version
2017: Remakes (Gen III)
2018: Gen VII (Switch)
2019:
2020: Third version
2021: Remakes (Gen IV)
2022: Gen VIII
Forgoing remakes and a third version for a sequel like with B2W2 is also an option.
