>>43943661You see, GF wanted to encourage communication between players. The process of filling a pokedex, as well as the ability to test your team against other players were mechanics inteded to develop the main passive marketing force of these games: Verbal communication.
Players NEEDED to talk to each other to get the most of their games. And the more they talked, the more probable other kids would hear that conversation. The more the other kids heard about the first children having fun on a game they didnt have, the more they would beg to their parents to get the game for them.
As more people got the game, more people would trade and battle, generating more conversations about the game and a bigger circle of children who were "able" to talk about it. At this point, it's just a snowball effect. Kids without the game would feel pressured to buy it so they could play with their friends, otherwise they would be isolated. That was the pokemania, and one of the smartest fucking strategies to popularize a media I've ever seen in my life.
The trade evolutions, version exclusives and link cable battling were all Game mechanics created to make the players popularize the game without them doing anything, and the fucking world fell for it.
