The Pokemon series is Nintendo’s most important franchise, probably. Because while no other franchise Nintendo owns sells systems as much as Pokemon does, Pokemon also carries the entire handheld market on its shoulders. Recently, though, Pokemon was in great danger of loosing its relevance, its fun, its appeal. Developers Game Freak rose to the occasion magnificently, and they gave us Pokemon Black/White- the best Pokemon games ever (some might still say Gold and Silver are the best ones). Everything about Black/White was perfect- the addictive, deep, fast-paced gameplay, the wonderful characters, amazing production values and, for the first time in a Pokemon game, a significant story that actually mattered to the experience and cutscenes.
However, there still were a lot of things we wanted Pokemon Black/White to do which they did not. We still feel there is a lot of room for improvement. Listed below are seven things we want to see in the next Pokemon game. Enjoy the article, tell us what you thought of it, and what you want to see in the next Pokemon game via your comments below!
Larger focus on story
Pokemon games have never, ever been about the story. Yes, each Pokemon game has a little bit of a story, but they’re nothing more than formalities, and it shows that the developers don’t think they’re important. Yes, Black/White had larger focus on story, and actually had a good story, not just by Pokemon standards, but the Pokemon universe is capable of so much more. With so many criminal organizations, such a rich universe, and so many frigging Pokemon, even the most mediocre writers can come up with good stories, and Game Freak are no mediocre developers. We’re hoping Black/White was just a test run, and that we’ll get the real thing in the next Pokemon game.
Multiple regions
Ah, how well we all Pokemon fanatics remember the first step we took into Kanto in Pokemon Gold/Silver. It was bliss, to walk into a region we know so well, beat the gym leaders all over again and then the protagonist from Pokemon Red/Blue, i.e ourselves. It was what made G/S/C the perfect game- two regions, 251 Pokemon and two full fledged quests. We want Pokemon Generation 6 to go back to what made Generation 2 so special. We want 2, or more than that if possible, regions in the game, preferably Johto, Hoenn or Unova- yes, we don’t want something like the Sevii Islands, or the Battle Frontier. We want a full fledged region to explore again. Come on Game Freak, that much you can do, hopefully.
Improved battles
One major complaint everybody has had with Pokemon games for a long time now is how static the battles are, how sucky the battle screens are and how they kind of bring down the quality of the game. We want Pokemon 6 to have proper battle screens, with Pokemon properly attacking each other with full animations, not just twitches or jerks, and if we cannot have battles in real time environments, we’d at least like properly built battle backgrounds. For five generations, we have had virtually the same battle system, and it’s about time Game Freak did something about it, because they’re starting to look dated now.
