Game delays can lead to better quality, as shown by the potential in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. A fan’s hands-on approach to creating an HD-2D Pokemon game shows unique insight and dedication. I strongly believe that video games should be developed by their developers.
Unbelievable, I know. So many fans shout their rabid ideas at unsuspecting social media admins, and they’re mostly terrible. “Just port it to Unreal Engine 5!” “Just fix the servers!” “Just make a good anti-cheat!” “Just make it good!” Sure.
However, I’m going to go against all of my long-held beliefs for this article, because the Pokemon series is in a dire state. As the franchise trundles along based on sales of plushies, t-shirts, and Pokemon Go currency, the scope of the main series games are increasing while the developers don’t have the time to realize the grand ideas. For once, things could be helped by actually listening to fans.
My main issue with fans spewing virulent ideas at game devs is, as mentioned earlier, because they have no experience making games. I’ve only ever made Twine-based branching narratives myself, so I’m also not going to tell Game Freak how to make an RPG. However, at the moment, most Pokemon fans are just telling the developer to slow down.
The quote commonly misattributed to Shigeru Miyamoto, “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad,” springs to mind. Pokemon can no longer afford to delay games. They have to tie into anime arcs, plushie manufacturing orders, t-shirt printing processes, and TCG sets.
Everything has to be released at precisely the right time, otherwise the TCG might accidentally reveal a new Pokemon months before its first video game appearance. It’s all about brand consolidation and scheduled marketing pushes, and it’s very nearly killed the Pokemon games. This quote was actually from Siobhan Beeman, project director at Origin from 1989 to 1992.
Her phrasing was, “A game’s only late until it ships, but it sucks forever.”
I often think about the Pokemon game we’d get if Game Freak worked on it for as long as Nintendo did Breath of the Wild. I wouldn’t necessarily want Zelda-but-Pokemon, but I’d love a game in the series that dared to break new ground in some way, whether through an innovative environment like Zelda, fresh mechanics, or a graphical revolution like Octopath Traveler. Many older players like myself want to return to the 2D Pokemon games of times gone by.
But The Pokemon Company wants every game to appeal to a new audience, to be approachable no matter the age of the player. The latest iteration of this idea has come from YouTuber Shenme, and he’s gone a lot further than most others. When I wrote about an HD-2D Pokemon game, I commissioned our Photo Editor James Troughton to come up with a mock-up of what it might look like.
Shenme goes a step further, and has developed a fully playable version of Black & White with his own HD-2D take on it. It looks excellent, especially considering he’s one bloke learning on the job, but his hands-on approach makes me respect his take so much more. This is a man who has actually tried to make it himself, not some keyboard warrior with a wild idea that any developer knows will never work.
Shenme’s commitment to making his own Black & White HD-2D remake gives him experience that few others in the world have, if anyone. And it lends credence to his opinion, as he’s tried to do it himself. He knows what works and what doesn’t.
He knows how effective the lighting and camera angles will be when converted from Octopath to Pokemon. He gets it. Game development is increasingly risk-averse in this day and age, so I can’t see Game Freak ever taking a step away to listen to its fans, even those who go to all the effort of creating a slice of a potential remake themselves.
Gen 5 is next in line on Pokemon’s remake conveyor belt. I hope it isn’t as rote and derivative as Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.
