Pokémon's Riskiest Game

Heya! What did you think of my analysis here? Anything I missed? Any differing interpretations? There are a lot of features I didn't really discuss because honestly these are just really big games. There is a ton to do, so I could see a lot of ways my reading could be complicated by taking them into account. If you have the means, please consider donating to my Patreon (link in description)! Current perks are early access, credits, Discord server, and regular updates. Future perks will include voting on topics and exclusive content (but yeah haven't gotten that far yet). Long-term I'm aiming to build a small community with the Patreon encouraging freeform analysis of media in a way that makes it more fun than traditional academic settings. Here are some discussion questions to get some more discussion about these games going! 1. I opted to not mention the specific, diegetic reason you can't catch Kyurem in the initial encounter: Ghetsis's staff has some sort of power to block PokeBalls. Does this cheapen the moment? I don't think it does; I think there just had to be some logical reason why you can't catch Kyurem but that the effect of not being able to catch it remains. But uhh idk I could see the opposite argument. Thoughts? 2. What's up with the Strange House? Such an odd but very cool non-sequitur. 3. I couldn't quite fit the extremely missable mechanic of N's Pokemon into the script, but I ended up using the Zorua you get from the ex-Plasma house. It was super satisfying to see N actually recognize it when you meet him in Victory Road. Does this add much to the story? 4. What is the dating sim side story all about? Both times I have played these games I just didn't quite get enough phone calls to progress the plot and ended up forgetting about it. Does it add anything to the meaning of these games? Why have it be so disconnected from all the other story elements?

Imagine if the game ended with N releasing his pokemon, and you're given the option to do the same. After the entire story you're presented with the chance to "free" them. But when / if you do, they choose to stay with you regardless of being released. They don't flee. That's some Nier Automata level stuff.

It’s honestly shocking that these games are seen as the “Low point” of Pokémon just because of sales, because to me, these are some of the best games in the franchise.

I wish Legends Arceus got an extra year or two of development. The breakneck speed of the franchise is killing it.

About the "oppression of pokéballs." In a 1997/98 official guide to the pokedex that only came in japan and that was later retconned by nintendo, it is revealed that the mechanism of pokéballs was invented by accident when a scientist, when trying to make a primeape loose it's anger by feeding him tranquilizers, discovered that these tranquilizers shrunk him so much that he could fit in his glasses's case. This accident led to the creation of pokéballs, wich according to this book that was written by gamefreak itself, are basically small chamber that constantly feed pokémon these tranquilizers so that they can stay their size and cannot oppose their trainers. If a pokémon acts mean, put it in it's pokéball. I know it's not what N was referencing but knowing that makes me see it in a completely different way.

The only other time pokeballs get criticised like this is in PLA, with both the diamond and pearl clan disagreeing and mocking the use of the new pokeball technology. All the wardens have deep connections with their Pokémon without pokeballs, so it’s like PLA is the turning point towards modern Pokémon. Everyone in jubilife village uses pokeballs, and Ingo is the only member of a clan to do so as well, which could show how deeply routed pokeball usage is to the modern person in Pokémon. Pokeballs seemed to be a way of shortcutting the fear people had with Pokémon, as everyone not in the Galaxy Team is terrified of wild Pokémon, giving control to people for the sake of societal progression. Could the ideals of N be wanting a return to this type of Pokémon relationship, which could be easier due to how the perception of Pokémon has changed, as well as the humans understanding?

I would KILL for a black and white remake from N’s POV. That would be so phenomenal

What surprised me is that Colress never showed up in X&Y, the concept of Mega Evolution feels extremely fitting with his idea of the bond between People and Pokémon brining out the full power/potential of Pokémon themselves

I just realized, the fairly shallow nature of the Pokemon games and their lore is what makes me so excited to hear/read ANYTHING that'd give it a bit more depth. Especially when people try to give the villain organizations more depth with super elaborate Romhacks and comics, so BW2 was like the holy grail of Pokemon content for me. Hell, it was crazier than most of those fanmade stories I've seen. Ghetsis: "Kyurem! Use KILL CHILD!"

Not just the pinnacle of 2D Pokémon, but of the franchise, and I really wish for Gamefreak to have this sort of ambition, time and resources to do another game like this

Another great detail is that Hugh's starters isn't even from Juniper, he says he raised it himself from an egg!

One thing I found out much later in life when playing the original black and white again was that you could see the brewing divide between Team Plasma members within the Plasma Palace. You hear people talking about that they may have gone too far but also people finally getting excited to rule rather than save.

I'll always be proud that Unova was always my favorite, even when everyone else hated the games. I loved Unova before it was cool.

This definitely makes me hope that the Gen 5 "remakes" are in fact a 3rd part of the story rather than a carbon copy. It would be amazing for Pokemon to change up the formula just to show the real growth of the Unova region.

Something that I love about Gen 5 is how they actually show what could be possible if Pokemon were befriended and not captured. Enter Pokemon Conquest. You don’t catch Pokemon. You link with them. You form a bond. It’s amazing how even the side games show that capturing mons in Pokeballs isn’t the only way for humans and Pokemon to become partners!

I would say that scarlet and violet are the riskiest games, because realeasing them in the state that they did requires some serious balls.

Looking for each other and being unable to find each other is genuinely sad But it surprises me that none of them had the idea to simply wait for the other where they met

On Colress: I always thought his thematic connections to N are fascinating. If in BW1 N was naive and extremely idealistic about the bond between Pokémon and people then BW2 Colress was almost his exact opposite. Unlike N who was raised with a worldview forced upon him Colress's role as a scientist requires him to evaluate all available pieces of evidence to find the absolute truth behind the nature of the Pokémon-human bond. Which was why he was willing to go to the extremes from joining Neo Team Plasma and abusing Kyurem to helping the protag in their journey, giving them access to Ghetsis, a 2nd Master Ball, disbanding Plasma etc. N is overly "sentimental" from his ability to talk with Pokémon allowing him to forge a bond with the BW1 protag and ultimately changing his world views, while Colress is overly committed to the scientific method (his true sense of morality & ethics kept distanced, though we do see hints of them in the USUM Rainbow Rocket episode.) He only changes his methods after the protag has proven to him the effectiveness of not-abusing their Pokémon. N is sincere and sympathetic, while Colress is very hard to read. There exists many interpretations on Colress's character - the three official ones (game Colress, BW anime Colress, and manga Colress) have wildly wildly different personalities. And how is it that for a supposedly brilliant inventor and scientist the Colress machine he gave us broke after a single use and that conveniently led to the Plasma Frigate? After Colress removed the Crustles he said "It's so frustrating! If only we could talk to Pokémon to bring out their true potential!" (That's N!) which makes me really wonder what would happen if they interact. Hopefully the Unova sequel will deliver along with the original dragon ofc, and I know I'm setting myself up for disappointment but hopefully it will just be a singular title with the original dragon as box legendary, representing unity for the Unova region.

Honestly, if they skip doing a gen 5 remake and just flat out make Black 3 and White 3 when the time comes, that would be incredible I'm not sure I can be as hopeful for that as you are, but the way they're advertising Scarlet and Violet is certainly leaving the door open

I think B/W exposed the sort of contradictory "doublethink" that goes into accepting Pokemon's stories as they are. It's not dogfighting because the Pokemon are sentient and can consent to this. But if they are sentient and can consent, then that gives you no right to imprison them in Pokeballs and treat them like animals. We know for a fact that many Pokemon have human-like or even greater intelligence yet they are treated all the same way. You can't have your cake and eat it too; Whether they are sentient or more animal-like it is wrong.