Opinion: Hey, Nintendo! Why no Pokemon MMO?

Posted May 5, 2011 by Mark Ankucic.

You know what? When I was last playing Pokémon White, after I’d shuffled along one pixel and encountered yet another Lillipup, I thought ”How awesome would it be if I could just see these Pokémon, so I could avoid them?’ Then I thought ‘How amazing would it be if instead of crude animations, or my Pokémon just… wiggling, I could actually see their attacks?’ Then I thought ‘Wouldn’t it be fantastic if – instead of having to actually do any kind of organising – there was some way I could always be playing with other people?’

And then it dawned on me. I’d imagined a Pokémon MMO. I know I’m neither the first person to have thought of it, nor the last, which begs the question: where is the Pokémon MMO? The visuals and setting, modes of play and social aspects of the Pokémon universe would seem to make it a perfect fit. And yet Nintendo seem hell bent on refusing to give the concept a chance.

By the time I got the bike in Pokémon White I was already bored with the way things looked, and being stuck in such a familiar environment didn’t help. Grass, town, wall, bush, more grass, cave, tall grass, town.  Yes, technically the game threw me a change of setting, but I’d have appreciated it more had every patch of grass, town and cave not looked like the one before it. Sure, they changed colours slightly, but is a palette swap really a difference? Not for me it wasn’t, which is why – upon getting stuck in a cave after the fifth gym – I had to put my DS down for a break.

My main problem is now that I’ve imagined the Pokémon MMOG, I can’t settle for anything less. Imagine running through the grass to find Pokémon, but lush, green grass that’s up to my character’s waist, with a light breeze playing through the trees where a hive of Beedrills is buzzing away. Pokémon draws from the real world for inspiration more than some people seem to think, even if it’s got some rather twisted ideas about what to do with it. So why not exploit this? With a more believable backdrop you wouldn’t even notice so much if the developers were essentially still copying and pasting.

Adopting a style of play more suited to a typical MMOG could also prove to be interesting. Which Pokemon often isn’t, to outsiders. I mean, we all know it’s a (potentially very annoying) game of rock, paper, scissors, right? Easy when you know how, but sometimes the tactical challenge feels akin to a blind dog playing chess, where the dog is only allowed to move pieces with his tail. If one or two attacks don’t take out your enemy, then you’re doing something wrong – but what?

Heresy, I hear you screaming! But wait: I can cite precedent. If any of you recall (you probably won’t – to be honest,  I’m not sure how I have) in the first season of Pokémon there was a Sandshrew, a ground-type, who was supposed to be weak against water-type but after some aggressive training was far less prone to water-based aggressors. Obviously it was just a narrative device to teach kids you can do anything if you try, but why not bring this into the game?

Imagine if you had direct control over a Pokémon you’ve summoned. If you were faster than your opponent, for example, with enough skill you ought to be able to dodge its attacks. Stay alive for long enough and you get more chance to wear your enemy down, even if it’s stronger or more resilient. And to get this kind of capability a person would need to train. Think about it – if each Pokémon had a WRPG-style development system people would go nuts for it. Don’t get me wrong! I suspect players that put excessive amounts of time and planning into their avatars should be psychologically tested to make sure they’re not a closet serial killer – but there’s a reason Oblivion and Dragon Age did so well.

And last, but definitely not least, there’s the social aspect. Remember, the whole point of Pokémon is for trainers to battle each other. The Pokémon universe is based around youngsters going out into the world to have life experiences and make friends. How would an MMO, a place where people have to play online with other people, not be a fantastic environment for this? All of which begs the question, why hasn’t Nintendo graced us with this particular gaming golden egg?

Well, there’s always the negative connotations to MMOGs. If it wasn’t for a few deeply unpleasant human beings who have done some unforgivable things (you know the stories I’m referring to, and I’m not going to repeat them), then maybe the stigma wouldn’t be quite so bad… but it’s fairly bad, at least from any parent’s point of view. Given Nintendo have been the face of family gaming for years now, to introduce an MMOG, a step into a (relatively) hardcore market, might do their reputation quite some damage.

On that note, the franchise is aimed at children and (tacitly) those who were kids growing up in the nineties. These demographics are pretty much incompatible. Yes, both will undoubtedly possess awful spelling and grammar, but only one of them will call everyone else in earshot ‘faggot’, then proceed to brag about how that guy, that loser over there, they know his mother. In the biblical sense. Children are cruel, eh?

And Nintendo fears change when it’s not strictly on their terms. If corporations could go speed dating, Nintendo would be washing its hands after every time the bell rang… and remember, given their millions of copies sold, a solid belief that ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it’ does seem to be paying off. Which, as a business, is the smart thing to do. A shame, though. From a consumer’s point of view it’s kind of boring.

Either way, the lack of a Pokémon MMO has left me with the bitter taste of regret. I couldn’t stand World of Warcraft. I quickly got bored of Guild Wars, but my inner Pokéfan assures me I would’ve sunk at least half my daily life into such a game.

Ah, well. Maybe it was for the best.