[29 / 4 / ?]
There's the idea here that gamefreak started to "screw up" Pokemon starting in gen 6 and that the DS era was the peak of Pokemon. Let's talk about why the shift in design and marketing actually occurred.
In the DS era (gen 4 and 5) the Pokemon franchise was legitimately dying. Pokemania had been dead for years at this point. No one cared about the show at that point. The movies were dead. Spin off Pokemon games sold like shit. Sales of the main games actually managed to DECLINE from gen 4 to 5 despite the massive sales of the DS. In this era 99% of sales were just parents buying the games for an easy Christmas present, no one else wanted it.
Nintendo recognized that change had to be made or soon the most valuable IP in the world would turn to ash. So they made some major changes. First of all, they started to focus the franchise a lot more on nostalgia. We started to get a much larger focus on Kanto. They even made a hit mobile game and a blockbuster movie focused primarily on Kanto nostalgia pandering. Eevee and Charizard started to take a much larger part in the franchise, often at the expense of promoting newer monsters. This decision has without a doubt been very successful. Nintendo also got rid of the save the world super serious stories, especially of gen 5, in favor of a simpler focus on cute and likeable friendly characters. The rude and obnoxious rivals were killed off in favor of more friends who felate you at every turn. You have to say this succeeded as well, given the popularity of many of the new characters. Nintendo also started to move away from concerns the hardcore community had, with the ultimate example in LGPE. This game has sold fantastically for a remake with zero budget.
I could go on but honestly my fingers are getting tired. The point is that Pokemon was dying in gen 4 and 5. Nintendo had to make changes and they worked.
In the DS era (gen 4 and 5) the Pokemon franchise was legitimately dying. Pokemania had been dead for years at this point. No one cared about the show at that point. The movies were dead. Spin off Pokemon games sold like shit. Sales of the main games actually managed to DECLINE from gen 4 to 5 despite the massive sales of the DS. In this era 99% of sales were just parents buying the games for an easy Christmas present, no one else wanted it.
Nintendo recognized that change had to be made or soon the most valuable IP in the world would turn to ash. So they made some major changes. First of all, they started to focus the franchise a lot more on nostalgia. We started to get a much larger focus on Kanto. They even made a hit mobile game and a blockbuster movie focused primarily on Kanto nostalgia pandering. Eevee and Charizard started to take a much larger part in the franchise, often at the expense of promoting newer monsters. This decision has without a doubt been very successful. Nintendo also got rid of the save the world super serious stories, especially of gen 5, in favor of a simpler focus on cute and likeable friendly characters. The rude and obnoxious rivals were killed off in favor of more friends who felate you at every turn. You have to say this succeeded as well, given the popularity of many of the new characters. Nintendo also started to move away from concerns the hardcore community had, with the ultimate example in LGPE. This game has sold fantastically for a remake with zero budget.
I could go on but honestly my fingers are getting tired. The point is that Pokemon was dying in gen 4 and 5. Nintendo had to make changes and they worked.
