Pokemon: The Video Game! (Design your own.)

[Traab]

I was kind of curious. I think virtually everyone here has, if not played the pokemon games, at least knows about them and how they work. The vast majority are all of one type, roam the routes collecting pokemon, battling gym leaders, and fighting the "tournament" at the end. If you could design your own pokemon game, what style of game would it be and how would it work? I will start with a basic idea of my own.

MMOkemon! Basically, you play a new trainer just starting out, with a wide assortment of pokemon to choose from. Just as a basic idea, you can start with any of the starter pokemon from the earlier games, but you have to start in the region of that pokemon. Its played like a pet class in a normal mmo. You see a wild pokemon, you attack it with yours, and can either fight it till it faints, or try to capture it. The game would have a heavy duel focus between players, each "zone" would have quests, "Oh my goodness! A pack of wild squirtles are stealing all our sunglasses! Go stop them!" And to move on, you have to face and defeat the local gym leader. Obviously thats only the bare outline of a game, there would have to be stuff added in to make grouping up a thing that can happen for example, but its still a decent start.

So come on, lets hear your ideas people! Anyone want to make a survival horror pokemon game? I know there are those terrible pictures floating around that show scary versions of pokemon design. What other genres can you think of and how would it work?

[Seerow]

Ever since I was a kid playing R/B for the first time, I've wanted a pokemon game where you could say "Yes" when evil team tries to recruit you.

[Emperor Ing]

Pokemon the Real-Time Action RPG. Battles are in real-time using a system similar to...say, Dragonball Xenoverse to fight.

Though I completely understand why it won't happen. The resources needed to build the models for, texture, rig, and animate each of the 721 pokemon to be able to stand still, idle, attack, special attack, move, etc...it's a bit of an undertaking, to say nothing of the fact that they need to have stats that at least somewhat reflect the core games. Still, i'd like to see it.

[Traab]

Ever since I was a kid playing R/B for the first time, I've wanted a pokemon game where you could say "Yes" when evil team tries to recruit you.

Oh man, what about a oblivion/skyrim style pokemon game? Just a full open world game with a main storyline, but hundreds of hours of random stuff you can do as well. Side quests, maybe join the bad guys, things like that? I remember one of them you could join an assassins guild, and go through a whole long series of events. You could get recruited by team rocket/magma/whatever and start working to steal pokemon for whatever nefarious purpose they have.

[Rater202]

I've kind of had an idea for a "prototype meats Pokemon" game for a while-an M rated third person sandbox game where you are a unique but fully sapient "artificial legendary". Going on the popular fan theory that Dito came into being as a failed attempt to clone Mew-You're a failed attempt to improve on Mewtwo.

The end result is an almost formless slime.. At first.

The villainous Team(Neo Rocket? Gramps?) decides you're not a complete failure when they see you absorbing some blood from a common normal type(ratata?) and being reshaped to resemble it slightly-still gooey, but...

A nice interactive tutorial level or two shows you consuming a few commons, normals and bugs mostly, and getting their mechanics-you're IVs get better, slightly, if you consume one with better IV than you. Consuming a mon gives you it's moves(instead of keep for forget the rest, you've got a situation where you pick and choose four moves from a menu that expands as you consume mon that know those moves(and you can use TMs and HMs, if you find one), you can change which two types you count as at will(which alters your body structure accordingly-whater types might have fins for swimming, while rock types have a thick shell) like with the moves, chosen from a list that grows as you consume Pokemon with those types, etcetera, etcetera.

I imagine by the end of the tutorial, you'll have a default form that looks like a deranged combination of insect, mammal, and bird, that's also vaguely humanoid, because the tutorial ends with an accident giving you the opportunity to consume the head scientist of the project, giving you human level sapience and understanding.

The game has very little in the terms of storyline at this point, but once you escape into the wild, it's basically a twisted parody of the normal Pokemon games-gotta eat 'em all!

Certain locations are somewhat scripted, you're guaranteed to find high level, fully evolved specimens of certain species-think of them like "Dungeons"-The Boss is a Shiny Blastoise with good IVs and a great move pool(including some moves you can't get from eating the other mons) with squirtles and Warturtles as the minions in the dungeon, though you could occasionally find a lesser blastoise as random encounters.

Occasionally you'll consume a Trainer and thus gain some kind of human skill.

Eventually, once you've gotten a decent stock of moves and all of the types, you'll find yourself drawing attention to yourself in the form of bounties-Ace trainers with Powerful Pokemon out to get the bounty on your head, members of the villain team out to recapture you, other villainous teams out to get you, and even a few of the more... competitive trainers-the reed a hundred eggs and release them once the hatch till I get perfect IVs and the right nature guys, who want you on their team. Little do they know, they're just giving you more types, more moves, and better stats.

It all comes to a head when you encounter the original Mewtwo... You fight, you consume it, and consuming the most powerful psychic Pokemon drives you to... decide something-you're going to become the most powerful Pokemon-EVER!. You pull a Cell and start a tournament to bring powerful challengers to you for you to defeat and consume, and after that, you're still hungry for power, so you start scouring the skies and the seas and deep in the earth, seeking out Powerful Pokemon-all the forms of the Pseudo Legendaries, up to the least Legendaries like the birds, to higher Legendaries and so on-Zekrom and Reshiram willingly Recombine with Kyurem to become the original Dragon just to be strong enough to face you, until eventually you find yourself confronted by Arceus and do battle with him, he defeats you, but you get away, and find more pokemon to consume-the original Pokemon, Mew, perfect specimen from other species(such as any of those dungeon bosses you skipped, but also the rare and elusive carrfully bred Shiny Perfect IV mons, and the other Event Pokemon such as Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, and of course Victini-you clash with Arceus again and consume it!

You then conquer the world, with non able to oppose you

alternativly, there are two of you running around, and eventually when you develop sentience one turns good and one turns evil and you choose which one you play as-the good one gaining moves, types, and better stats by consuming blood or other vital fluids extracted non lethally. in this case the game ends with one consuming the other.

Of course, this game gets it's own continuity separate from the rest of the franchise, because this is world breaking stuff.

[Lord Raziere]

I myself would do something like:

Ditto Vs. The World
You play a Ditto. For some reason, you have to fight some sort of evil thats turning the world against itself, and your somehow immune to the corruption. Gameplay focuses on transforming into one pokemon or another to solve puzzles, fight and so on, having to choose a pokemon to creatively adapt to the situation- sure being an Onix is powerful, but that bridge is so rickety, that an Onix won't make it across, so you have to transform into something lighter. maybe at the end you find out that some Team has somehow corrupted Arceus and you get to transform into Arceus to BEAT Arceus!

Smeargle Vs. The World
Like above, but Smeargle instead has four slots for his moves, and while he can use Sketch to change it at any time, he obviously can't have more than four moves so whenever he uses Sketch he has to forget one of them.

Gallade's/Lucario's/Primeape's/Machamp's Wrath
Exactly what it says on the tin: play a badass fighting type whose young pre-evolved offspring has been kidnapped. lets say by Team Rocket or something. and basically you go around beating them up in a furious over-the-top badass manner culminating in incredibly awesome scenes of high-action fighting.

Lords of Pokemon
A RTS game where you play a Pokemon Trainer- only this is before the pokeball is invented, before the six pokemon limit was set, before many things. In this age, a single Pokemon Trainer commands armies of pokemon that they have earned the loyalty of, for in these days you don't catch pokemon, you use your charisma to convince hoards of pokemon to serve under you as your soldiers, exploring exactly why trainers in the modern day are restricted to six pokemon, and why the modern Pokemon world doesn't like war all that much...

[Kitten Champion]

So come on, lets hear your ideas people! Anyone want to make a survival horror pokemon game? I know there are those terrible pictures floating around that show scary versions of pokemon design. What other genres can you think of and how would it work?

Hmm.. that would be SMT: Devil Survivor for the most part.

Honestly, I haven't played a Pokemon since grade school. I tend to favour more story-driven games with greater characterization, none of the other game elements have to change specifically... but my version of Pokemon would pretty much look like Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

Though I would be tempted to do more of a school setting where you develop friendships and rivalries with a specific cast of characters while going on adventures.

Another option is a more sim-like experience of being a gym leader, like Harvest Moon in concept. You've inherited a Pokemon gym from some relatives, after being a trainer for a few years and losing in the league repeatedly. Despite your rosy memories of the gym from your time there during your childhood, you find the place in shambles and generally derided by the locals and challengers alike, What's more, just across town someone has built a new state-of-the-art gym, and that person happens to be your rival from your trainer days.

it's your job to revive the gym to its former glory, while making yourself a life in a new town. Winning battles would be your primary income, but you could do things like breeding and quests for the local townspeople to meet the expenses of the gym and gain esteem. Ultimately concluding with a duel between you and your rival with the rights to be the town's official gym on the line.

[Rater202]

Honestly, I haven't played a Pokemon since grade school. I tend to favour more story-driven games with greater characterization.

Rectify this-the games since Gen 3 on have had stronger stories and characters that are more indepth than the first two.

[Seerow]

Another option is a more sim-like experience of being a gym leader, like Harvest Moon in concept. You've inherited a Pokemon gym from some relatives, after being a trainer for a few years and losing in the league repeatedly. Despite your rosy memories of the gym from your time there during your childhood, you find the place in shambles and generally derided by the locals and challengers alike, What's more, just across town someone has built a new state-of-the-art gym, and that person happens to be your rival from your trainer days.

it's your job to revive the gym to its former glory, while making yourself a life in a new town. Winning battles would be your primary income, but you could do things like breeding and quests for the local townspeople to meet the expenses of the gym and gain esteem. Ultimately concluding with a duel between you and your rival with the rights to be the town's official gym on the line.

This actually sounds really cool. I'd play the heck out of that.

[Traab]

I myself would do something like:

Ditto Vs. The World
You play a Ditto. For some reason, you have to fight some sort of evil thats turning the world against itself, and your somehow immune to the corruption. Gameplay focuses on transforming into one pokemon or another to solve puzzles, fight and so on, having to choose a pokemon to creatively adapt to the situation- sure being an Onix is powerful, but that bridge is so rickety, that an Onix won't make it across, so you have to transform into something lighter. maybe at the end you find out that some Team has somehow corrupted Arceus and you get to transform into Arceus to BEAT Arceus!

Smeargle Vs. The World
Like above, but Smeargle instead has four slots for his moves, and while he can use Sketch to change it at any time, he obviously can't have more than four moves so whenever he uses Sketch he has to forget one of them.

Gallade's/Lucario's/Primeape's/Machamp's Wrath
Exactly what it says on the tin: play a badass fighting type whose young pre-evolved offspring has been kidnapped. lets say by Team Rocket or something. and basically you go around beating them up in a furious over-the-top badass manner culminating in incredibly awesome scenes of high-action fighting.

Lords of Pokemon
A RTS game where you play a Pokemon Trainer- only this is before the pokeball is invented, before the six pokemon limit was set, before many things. In this age, a single Pokemon Trainer commands armies of pokemon that they have earned the loyalty of, for in these days you don't catch pokemon, you use your charisma to convince hoards of pokemon to serve under you as your soldiers, exploring exactly why trainers in the modern day are restricted to six pokemon, and why the modern Pokemon world doesn't like war all that much...

1) I like that, a puzzle game. Maybe even a Myst type of puzzle game. One that requires a great deal of knowledge of the pokemon universe to solve the traps and puzzles and obstacles in your path. With some combat thrown in so it isnt all cerebral.

2) Really the same thing, just a different mechanic I guess.

3) Oh yeah, a nice Streets of Rage style fighting game where your Primeape or whatever other fighting type rampages through swarms of mooks going after the boss who has your kid. Definitely badass.

4) Pokemon Dynasty Warriors! Possibly a Suikoden style game. Either way, badass. In case you never played them, Suikoden is a series of games where you play a basic rpg game, but it has additional battle setups of army versus army, and you can recruit upwards of 100+ characters into your side. Lots of characters auto join you as the story moves on, some require special circumstances, and others are "holy crap one chance only to get it perfect or else you never get him to join", type of secret characters that generally requires a walkthrough to gain. I think everyone has heard of dynasty warriors, but if not, basically, you are a general of an ancient chinese army. You lead your troops against an enemy army and personally hack and slash your way through them to get victory. Its a lot of near mindless fun.

[Lord Raziere]

Ok, I have another one:

Pokemon Flight Fighters
You know those Star Wars Rogue Squadron games where you go on various missions in star fighters to fight Imperials? imagine that, but with various flying pokemon. Like, you get play of your choice like: Pidgeot, Skarmory, Charizard, Salamance, and so on, and you basically get to fly around controlling a flying type, blasting dudes with your ranged attacks, from things that are on eternal rapid fire (like say.....gust or air cutter) to things that require a little recharge time (Hyper Beam, Draco Meteor/Dragon Pulse) and you basically go around dealing with various aerial threats, probably including a lot of flying airships made by evil Team's.

Mewtwo Unleashed
An alternate timeline where you play as Mewtwo. In this timeline, Mewtwo decides to not do the whole cloning and destroy the world thing, instead you opt to run from Giovanni, thinking that trying to clone pokemon would only becoming just as bad as the scientists who made you, and you basically go through various levels being pursued by Team Rocket, trainers who want to catch you and other such threats while trying to discover what your purpose is and whether humans are really as bad as you think they are, while pulling off some of the most awesome psychic feats ever, until you find some sort of peace.

Poke-Civilization
You play as Arceus. Your goal? Create a world full of fantastic civilizations and such. Build towns, populate your world with any environment and pokemon species you want, create legendaries to manage things. However problems arise that you have to solve, from certain species of Pokemon intruding on others, to not enough food, to clashes between societies and so on, and you have to resolve it all somehow to keep your poke-civilization world intact.

[Traab]

Im trying to come up with a survival horror pokemon game, and all I can think of is mangling the canon, so lets try it.

In this game you are one of the few remaining trainers in the world. Pokemon have gone insane, they are horribly violent and murderous. It is blamed on one of the various poketerrorist groups. A plot of theirs either succeeded, or failed in a terrible manner. You cant even travel through viridian forest without being poisoned by weedles and cocooned to be eaten later. The very plants at your feet might turn out to be an oddish ready to leech the life from your body, or to put you to sleep so ratattas can eat you alive. Your role is an important one. You are a caravan guard to help trade survive between towns. Your pokemon are under your control, thankfully, (though how long is a matter of worry as the game progresses)

While escorting a caravan of merchants between towns, there is a massive attack of feral pokemon. You are unable to halt it and have to make your escape, leaving the caravan to die. Now you are well off the beaten track, stuck in the wild by yourself, with only your pokemon for protection. As you try to make your way to safety, you start stumbling across clues that the pokemon attack wasnt as random as you thought. Events take place that forces you to investigate, and as the story unfolds, you learn more about what caused the pokemon to become true monsters. It looks as if someone or something has taken control of the ferals and you are trying to get to the bottom of it. If you can figure out how this was done, maybe it can be reversed.

There is no "fainting" in this game. Your pokemon attacks WILL cause real physical harm. Razor leaf is a nasty attack, and fire blast is a horror show. There are no pokecenters, luckily you have learned how to use various plants and berrys to treat your pokemons injuries. There arent any formal duels anymore. Its you against however many feral pokemon decided to attack you this time. Strategy is a big thing, but its more trying to avoid being overwhelmed. You can capture the wild pokemon, but the pokeball only enforces control over them for so long. The more they fight, the faster they get out of control. You will find yourself passing through small villages where pokemon attacks have killed everyone, or most of the people there. Scavenge what you need, help any survivors, or not, its up to you and what you feel you can afford to do. And all the while, try to unravel the mystery behind what caused this outbreak.