Rumor season is almost over, folks. In the past few days, a certain rumor has thrust itself to the forefront of all rumordom, and a lot of people are worried about what it means for the upcoming Pokémon game.
It’s still just a rumor! First and foremost. Nintendo has in the past snapped up internet domains that has caused widespread speculation, for example Pokémon Stars and Nintendo Fusion. So until we get official confirmation, don’t go writing off the most anticipated Switch title just yet.
Granted, there have been various sources, such as the Ubisoft guy, Pixelpar, Emily Rogers and even Masuda himself that seem to be laying the hints on thick if not outright stating them as fact. One has only to take a scroll through their Twitter feeds to see Pikachu and Eevee almost everywhere.
So lets say they are real, what then? Let’s take a look at the original rumor that surfaced on April 1st that obviously nobody took seriously until now:
Yellow remakes for Switch
Reboots, rather. But anyway, a lot of people were excited about Kanto remakes. A lot of people weren’t, unless it was a drastically different version than what they had experienced 4 times already. Unfortunately it’s not a futuristic, apocalyptic Kanto 100 years later (I guess that would have been a little too edgy anyway) but it certainly will be very different to what we have experienced in the past.
Two versions, Pikachu and Eevee
OK, this is definitely unusual and was a red flag in most cases. Not really, though, since Pikachu has already been a version mascot. Eevee is hugely popular, and was Blue’s starter in Yellow, so it makes sense to have Eevee there too. Not that the names really matter, anyway, especially if naming conventions are out the window now, I don’t see that as a bad thing. It’s just a bit unusual. They could have been named absolutely anything, personally I prefer it to some of the fan suggestions like Plus and Minus, Infra Red and Ultra Violet and so forth.
Red and Blue play a role in the story, you and your rival are new trainers
This is where it gets interesting – we are now in futuristic Kanto, where Red and Blue are probably all grown up. Are they gym leaders? is Red still the league champion? Are they still rivals, or are they now friends? Is Oak still running the lab, or did Blue step in at some point and follow in his footsteps? There are many, many possibilities as to how this could unfold. Personally, I can’t wait to see where this goes, and this has gotten me hoping that there is truth to this despite the fact that I would have preferred a new region.
Just to add another point on this, I think we will get a much more satisfying story this way since we are already familiar with Kanto so they can spend more time expanding and developing the region rather than introducing us to a completely new one like, say, Kalos and Alola.
Following Pokémon return
This. We’ve been wanting this for a long time now. Not much else to say here.
HMs still replaced with Pokeride from Alola
This should also be a very much welcome move. We aren’t going back to the old HM system, friends! Hopefully we won’t have to wear ridiculous outfits, but hey, awesome!
Online has a hub for players
It will be interesting to see what form this takes exactly, I’m sure we can all agree that it’s probably a good idea. A place you can go to trade and battle, maybe a bit of exploration in the form of an island or something. Who knows? Can’t say much about this either.
Pokémon Go Integration
So here’s where things get a little dicey. Unless you think of Pokémon Go as a pokewalker of sorts, everyone loved the Pokewalker. Right? If we can get items and maybe even transfer Mons between Go and the game then that’s a helluva lot better than the forgettable online service they had for X/Y and ORAS where you played silly flash games to get prizes and Pokemiles.
Catching Pokémon works like in Go
This is probably the most divisive of the lot. But pay attention, it says catching and not battling. So, my take on this is that instead of just selecting a Pokeball we will now have the option of actually throwing it, a good throw making a capture more likely. No more spamming balls when you encounter something you want that is so underleveled that any of your party can oneshot it. Perhaps the mechanic won’t be mandatory, and you will be able to simply rely on the arbitrary % you get from you pokeballs by autothrowing. Sounds good to me, in fact it’s something I’m kinda excited about if my theory is correct.
Rewards in game and in Go for linking the two together
In other words, you don’t have to, but you can get some rewards if you do. I don’t think it’ll be enforced, except you might encounter an NPC who says “I got some cool stuff after connecting to Pokémon Go!” or something like that,
New accessory that can be used with Go and the games
Not sure what this could be, maybe Pokewalker 2.o or an improved version of Pokémon Go Plus
Announcement soon, releasing this year
And I await the announcement with baited breath. If you’re still unhappy, then atleast you won’t have to wait til 2019 for a game you think will suck.
I don’t see anything to be worried about if the rumor proves to be true, I guess we’ll find out in the coming weeks if there’s any truth to this at all. This will be the last I write on the topic until we get official word.
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