Pokémon Sun and Moon launch in Holiday season this year, which happens to be the 20th anniversary year of the series. Six generations of Pokémon games have passed us, and another one is set to begin. This will mark the second full generation to be launched on the Nintendo 3DS, after Pokémon X and Y. What would you like to see in the new games? Red Bull Games has given us their version of the changes they’d like to see.
First up is character customisation, which was introduced in Pokémon X and Y, and Red Bull advocates even more customisation for our trainers. There’s also a call for greater diversity, which I can get behind.
Change the story because really, we’ve gone through six generations of Pokémon games following what is more or less the same story. Of course, this doesn’t affect the sales one bit, but would it really hurt to make things a bit more original for franchise veterans?
Accessible competitive play, for which Red Bull points to obtuse statistics like individual values, effort values and natures of Pokémon. More transparency here would even the competitive playing field.
Post-game content: I’ll be honest here, nobody is going to be able to replicate Gold/Silver’s feat of recreating the Kanto region in all its glory, complete with gyms and a battle with Red. But something a little more than the usual would still be welcome, right?
Co-op gameplay: It’s 2016 and several waves of co-op games have already passed us by, but Pokémon remains steadfastly committed to solo play. Who doesn’t want to hang out with their friends in the Pokémon world though, fighting side-by-side like in the anime?
A second save file, because seriously, again, this is 2016 and we still have only one save slot in the game. There really just isn’t a good reason not to have another save file in the game any more.
Storage anywhere: I hate to bring this out again, but it’s 2016, and we live in a world where a number of things the PC can do have been replicated by mobile devices. In the Pokémon world though, you can still only swap your Pokémon in and out in a PC. Surely the tech has advanced some in all these years?
A harder difficulty would make the game a lot more relevant to veteran players, but I’m concerned it might end up alienating Pokémon’s core audience: children. It’s something I’m divided on, but Red Bull sure thinks it’s a good idea.
Pokémon followers would be a swell idea, and would hearken back to the anime again, giving you your own equivalent of a Pikachu to follow you around. That would be a ton of work in the sprite-creation department, though, so I’m not sure if it’s an entirely feasible idea.
Finally, tying in the anime by including elements from the show would be a pretty neat trick, as would going to anime-only locations like the Orange Islands. But yeah, I wouldn’t really count on it.
What other features do you think should the Pokémon Sun and Moon games have? Let us know in the comments below.