Copyright © cJinL
Design by Dzignine
August 17, 2013

Pokemon: Old Gen vs. New Gen

I grew up with Pokemon, just like every other human being from my generation. At its peak, it was just about the biggest thing ever. Everybody with a Gameboy played the games, and everybody with hands and feet had a collection of Pokemon cards. It got so ridiculous that by the second year of the craze, my elementary school banned Pokemon cards from school property. Nowadays, most people look back with extremely fond memories of the early days of Pokemon. Then there are people like me, who never lost their childhood spirit and still play the games.

Now, as an adult Pokemon player, there's one thing that never ceases to bug me.
Whenever I mention the new games to someone who doesn't play them anymore, they almost never fail to respond with: "Oh the new games are terrible. Look at these new Pokemon, they look so stupid! The old stuff, now that was the good stuff. It'll never get better than the first gen."


This opinion is almost universal (among older fans); I've hardly ever met anyone who hasn't said something along those lines. But sure, people are allowed to have opinions, right? Well, I don't consider an opinion valid if it's formed under the influence of something powerful and mind-warping. If someone was discussing politics under the influence of alcohol, I wouldn't take them seriously. But these people, they're on something different. They're under the influence of something called Nostalgia

How else would they be able to know how bad the new games are without actually playing them. And trust me, this is almost always the case. I mention Platinum or Black & White, and they tell me they hate the new games. Then I ask them, "Have you played them?", to which they respond: "What the heck is Platinum?" Their rose-tinted glasses are causing them to reject whatever they aren't familiar with, which shouldn't be surprising considering it happens all the time in just about every aspect of life. 


Another thing that tells me they're under the influence of nostalgia is the simple fact that the new games are actually great. As games, they continued to improve and improve, adding dozens of new elements and polishing the Pokemon world overall. At this point, it's practically impossible to compare a game like Pokemon Platinum to the original Red & Blue. That would be like comparing a space shuttle to a steam-powered train. 

Don't get me wrong; I still love Red & Blue and I still have fun whenever I play them. But, as a gamer, I've got to admit that they have aged miserably. They're an absolute mess, to be honest. Fortunately, they've been remade into Fire Red and Leaf Green, and those games are amazing. 


Now then, the designs. Ask anyone, and they'll tell you that the newer generations of Pokemon are infinitely uglier than the first generation. This seems like a matter of taste, but it's (once again) a result of intense nostalgia. They'll cite examples like Vanilluxe (an ice cream Pokemon), but seriously, what about the first generation? What was Voltorb, a pokeball with eyes? What about that bundle of eggs we call Exeggcute? And don't even get me started on Jynx.

In truth, every generation has its share of good and bad designs. At the top of my head, I can actually think of better designs from the 4th and 5th generations; the first gen is a bit dull in my opinion. I absolutely guarantee you that if we were introduced to Pokemon through Pokemon Emerald and Red/Blue came later, we would all be complaining about how terrible the Red/Blue Pokemon are. That's just what nostalgia does to you.


People need to either embrace the new games or shut up about them completely. It's not proper to talk about something you have no clue about, after all. There are obviously people who have followed the games for years that don't like the newer generations, and that's fine. It's the people that have never even bothered with the new games that bug me. Face it guy; you're blinded by nostalgia. I know it hurts, but trust me, the things you loved from your childhood...aren't really that great.

6 comments:

  1. while i agree with you on the fact that you can't judge a game you haven't played, i also think that the pokemon franchise i'ts something that has'nt changed a lot from the blue/red days, i mean, there has been new features, like the night/day cycles and breeding on 2nd gen, running and natues on 3rd, attack split and worldwide trading on 4th, better storytelling on gen 5, and 3d models and mega evolutions on gen 6, the thing is, we've never seen the franchise experiment a big leap like other nintendo franchises, we're still stuck walking on a grid, gathering 8 badges and becoming champions, in other words, we're still playing a super refined remake of red and blue, and honestly , i'm tired of people dissing those old 8bit games, when they still play the new ones with the same rules only with better engines and options. about pokemon desings, i think it's a matter of taste. i like and dislike pokemon from all gens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed, that is a legitimate argument from people who still play the games. Though, it's not an opinion I share since I really don't think there's anything wrong with recycling a blueprint that isn't broken in any way. If you think it's stale, it's just a matter of playing something else. I feel like they would cause an even greater outrage if they tried to change anything that drastically. I still enjoy the games, and I appreciate the small additions and new visual styles they keep adding.

      Delete
    2. There are a few type of Pokémon fans...

      The Regular: "Oh, I like Pokémon in general. The first gen? Oh, that was a pioneering game, really liked it. Gen 5? Really liked it too, loved that bridge animation."

      The Genwunner: "I THINK GEN ONE IS TEH BEST AND EVERYONE ELSE SUCKS LOOK AT TWUBBIZH AND VANILIT THEY SUCK COS THEY BASED ON INANIMATE OBJECTS!!!!1!!ONE!! GAMEFREEK IZ RUNNING OUT OF IDEAZ1!!!!!1!ONE!!"

      The Reasoner: "Look, I appreciate that everyone has their opinion and their right to an opinion, but not liking any Pokémon after Gen 1 because they're... after Gen 1... is just insensitive. Pokémon isn't about new ideas for Pokémon, did *you* have 3D effects, double battles, triple battles or rotation battles in Pokémon Red?"

      The Exampler: "Klink, Trubbish, Patrat - Pokémon based on metal objects, domestic waste and mice. This is supposedly Gamefreak running out of ideas. I refer you to: Magnemite, Grimer, Rattata."

      The Nostalgic: "I like all the Pokémon generations, particularly fond of the recent generation due to the 3D effects and so on, but honestly, I prefer the first generation, as it was my childhood memory former and it holds many fond thoughts for me."

      The Genfiver: "YOU SUCK YOU GENWUNNER YOU THINK THAT ALL THE OTHER GENS SUCK COS THEY NOT GEN ONE!!!!1!1ONE!! YOU SUCK THERE ARE MORE THAN 151 POKEMANZ DONT HATE TRUBBISH AND VANILLITE YOUR ELECTRODE SUCKZ AND UR CHARISARDZ CRY AT STELHT ROK!!!!!!!111!!!1!!!111ONE!!!!ONE!!!!!!TWO!!!!11!!1!!!!!7!!"

      Delete
  2. Yo, just one statement. Farfetch'd, that you used as an example, is way more than just an animal. It had a personality and many more. Also Magikarp was more than just a fish. It's meant to be a hard to train pokemon with a payoff. None of the above match it. Of course that doesn't make generation one completely original but I just couldn't let my two babes get called "simply animals"

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would also like to point out that there's another factor that contributes to the "Nostalgia" thing: Many of us would not only play pokemon, but watch the cartoon. That made us know much more about the story and personality of each pokemon. I knew that if I trained one of those silly magikarps it would turn into an awesome Gyarados because I saw that in the series, and that gave meaning to the whole thing. Much more than looking up evolution charts online.
    I do think, though, that this is to their fault to some extent. They never really tried to convey much of the personality of the pokemon in the games themselves, except for really rare exceptions(The few pokemon that are part of the storyline). Most pokemon are never seen outside of battle except for in one or two NPC quotes. I think their formula has aged, especially in the narrative department, and this might be due to their ultra-fast development cycle.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You have definitely NO IDEA about how good 1st Generation designs are. Sometimes it seems it's so difficult to guess that the designs, seemingly simple, are radical synthesis of concepts and you just have to search a bit at Bulbapedia for many examples.

    Don't talk about nostalgy and shutting up mouths if you're the first one with no idea about what you are talking about.

    ReplyDelete