Feel free to skip “Opinion Articles” if you’re just here for news on Gen IV, otherwise I do occasionally interject posts chalk full of my own opinions here on PJN. Just a disclaimer.
Since Pokemon’s conception I’ve been fairly enamored with Brock’s concept of being a “Pokemon Breeder”. Even though originally in the main series of games you couldn’t even breed pokemon from Generation II onwards you could loosely call yourself a ‘breeder’ if you were constantly hatching eggs for different moves, stats, etc. That’s based on the technical definition though. What we have not seen yet is a game in which you can really “raise” Pokemon and that’s a shame. Nintendo has already successfully created a line of Nintendogs (with more on the way now for the 3DS), but we have yet to see a TRUE virtual pet game in the Pokemon series… a series which is completely devoted to “raising” monsters. Pocket Pikachu and its successor were not even virtual pets so much as pedometers really. Even Tamagotchis had more interaction and more of a “raising” element than those half-hearted toys. Its frustrating to see such great potential go untapped.
That being said, maybe there isn’t a market in Pokemon virtual pet games. I find that hard to believe after the success of other games in the genre though. While playing through Shadows of Almia I saw that there is the PokeFarm (or whatever they call it) where you can switch your partner, but it would’ve been a lot more fun if they could’ve just included some way to interact and play with your pokemon there. Didn’t care for the sprites in that game as much as the main series though and the best option would probably be a 3D game.
I don’t even know why I’m ranting on this 🙁 Sorry guys. I just REALLY want a virtual pet Pokemon game. Pets are awesome :3
<3 pokejungle
ps- if you have nothing to say about the game idea, I’d like to hear what kind of IRL pets you guys have, if any~ I have two rats. Luv’ em.