>>45788082There was no friendship stat in Red, Green, or Blue. It existed for Yellow, but only for Pikachu because it's based on the anime. It was implemented in Gen II onward, but outside of a handful of Pokémon using it to evolve, the power of Return/Frustration, and the odd ribbon or item reward, it wasn't something that had any real impact on the gameplay.
Then Gen VI happened and Affection was added through Pokémon-Amie, and it actually did break the game by giving you free criticals, experience boosts, dodges, status healing, and endures. But at the very least you didn't have to use it. And then the Switch games happened and Friendship started functioning with Affection's benefits meaning you would naturally accumulate all these broken abilities. Pokémon is now definitely a game about friendship with Pokémon when it certainly didn't start that way.
Ash and Pikachu serve as the defining imagery of Pokémon for a lot of people, but it doesn't for me. I understood from an early age that the games were their own entity and that the anime had an entirely different focus. The games were not made with bonding and friendship as the core focus or they would have built that in as a gameplay mechanic from the start and not in reaction to the anime. That's why a Pokémon being rare or appearing late in the game or post-game is not bad game design, because the games weren't designed around having your favorite virtual bros. It was about searching for, training up, and battling monsters that fit in your pocket to be the best.
