A Year in the Jungle: 2016 Revisited

by

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Some of you may recognize that as a quote from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (1859), but I could think of nothing more apt to describe 2016. For the Pokémon community it was certainly a standout year and perhaps the best we could have hoped for in honor of the series’ 20th anniversary. The rest of the world fared much worse however, and it is hard to overlook the political changes that have no doubt touched many fans across the world.

Pokémon Go

Many doubted that a mobile Pokémon experience, featuring augmented reality no less, could capture the feel of the series and deliver something worth playing—myself included—but the end result was something that would make 2016 the year Pokémon made its comeback.

While not the most avid player myself, there was something definitely surreal about seeing the creatures pop up around me and also made exercise a little more fun. The same ‘Gotta Catch ’em All’ philosophy from the handheld games carried over to the real world and the game was hard to put down if you saw a rare Pokémon lurking nearby.

Hopefully it will find continued success in the next year and keep Pokémon firmly in the spotlight. Can’t hurt to grow the fandom, right?

Pokémon Sun & Moon

Phew. Now we know what it must feel like for a mother to wait 9 months just to see what her baby is going to look like. We were teased mercilessly by PR with new screenshots and trailers, just to know that there were still months away from having the game in our hands.

And how did it do once it was in our hands? Pretty damn well I’d say. Perhaps the thing I enjoyed the most was that Alola feels like the first region to be alive. The Pokémon introduced weren’t too bad either, with Ultra Beasts providing an interesting new angle.

What wasn’t the best? Z-moves. Not a fan, sorry. Especially painful after Mega Evolutions were shelved after just one generation. If I were to run for president, I’d definitely base my campaign on “A Mega Evolution for All”.

PokéJungle

This year was a good one for the site. Another good year; most new generation years are. We hit 20,000 Twitter followers in February of this year and now we end at 32,000. I thank each and every one of you that puts up with me.

I’ll also take a moment to be perfectly honest: running this website is not always easy. In many ways this year was one of my most stressful. I greatly admire people like Serebii, because they can effortlessly (or at least give the appearance of effortlessness) update their site and continue to document every nook and cranny of each Pokémon game that has been released.

I can’t, it is not my specialty. My talents lie in getting people excited for what’s next; what’s here is already dead and gone. Some of you may have noticed that the site posts decreased dramatically in the next month and I suppose I will be honest about why. For some reason I always have spikes in my depression after new games are released. I think it has to do with the emotional investment I put into news coverage pre-launch and then the emptiness of post launch.

Hope to be running again in full speed for 2017. Love you all. PJ.

Supporters

Nick F

Smearg

Foil Island

Conglome NERD

alcremie sundae

Radiant Blutle

Zachery

Dragoniteo

Austin John Plays

Help support our work by becoming a Patron on Patreon! Swadloon Platoon members and above will be added to our site supporters list!

1,431 thoughts on “A Year in the Jungle: 2016 Revisited”

  1. Ugh…so I started hunting for Pikipek just to see if I could get something out of it within a reasonable amount of time, but my Smeargle ate the Leppa berry it had and for some reason Recycle won’t work. So now I don’t have the eternal PP I had planned on and only have what I have from the team I brought. Luckily I can still go on for a while as I have a full team, but still sucks….I wonder why Recycle won’t let me get the berry back…..

    Reply

  3. 2016 was a very unusual year. At the beginning some of us were still convinced that Pokémon Z was next, rather than a 7th generation. Then Magearna came along and everything changed. I think the hype buildup for Sun and Moon was handled in a fantastic way, Pokémon GO was a cultural phenomenon when they needed it most, Pokémon RBY were finally released on the virtual console, and all of those Mythical events were genius. I don’t think we’ll ever see a game’s anniversary treated so well in our lifetimes. In my personal life, I spent much of 2016 questioning the role of technology in my life, and whether it would be best to completely cast it away, but after experimentation within myself I have found that technology will always play some role in my life. I will go through 2017 with this mindset. 2016 was also the year that I met someone in my own life who has changed the way I look at myself and others. I’d say it’s the first time in my life that I’ve deeply cared about a person, outside of myself and close family. I feel blessed to have experienced that feeling at all. Since there isn’t really more to say on that subject, good riddance 2016, and I hope 2017 has many more surprises.

    Reply

  8. So the main villain of my region would be the team leader (of course), but with a different twist:

    Instead of knowing the villain’s identity, my team leader would always wear a helmut to conceal themselves. The identity would not be known until the very last part of the game.

    As for their appearance:

    The helmut would be similar to this:
    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/38/6e/b6/386eb61b985bd8ae795feef8472531e9.jpg
    It would be mainly black, but there will be a green visor with red eyes blaring out of the visor.

    Along with the helmut, as for their overall outfit, they usually wear a mechanical-looking black suit that is underneath a slightly rugged, but overall tattered cloak to conceal their body.

    Reply

  11. Bah, bah to all this
    This coming of closure is nothing more than an excuse for stupids to drink and make empty promises
    This year sucked and the next one will most likely suck even harder
    I sit here alone watching my dogs while my family is out partying, nothing but Minecraft, Hulu and a Cobb Salad….
    Happy $&@#ing New Year…

    Earthen Out
    P.S
    Food porn
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d09be79806fcf202f27f1d6fff31c53b347f1e6022eb91e00b6700d8b853e38.jpg

    Reply

  14. I must say this for my fellow Junglers left

    Thank you! Thank you! I have loved this part of the year with you guys, even if this year sucked a*s with many deaths, the Election, and literally about a quarter of my family getting sick or worse in their illness, but in all fairness other than this I loved this year and hope for another one next year! I love you all see you next year! (As in about 5ish hours but won’t be back till morning)

    Happy Mew Year!
    Goodbye year 20 hello Year 21!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15dde4e6b4932809136fa5939ae7e1d18b9a69c8ff1aabee6c745ac63745e94d.jpg

    Reply

  15. I love PSI Kirby’s obvious nod to Ness :3 It makes me so happy. It’s also a bit OP with that damaging teleport.

    And do we know when exactly in January that bank is updating?

    Reply

  17. What a terrible new year already 1 hour after a terrorist attack occurred in Turkey and at least 30 people died ugh it’s so sad 🙁 Not to mention that this’ll raise the far-right parties and xenophobia. Sorry but it’s just so sad.

    Reply

  18. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/68a87f25164d8d5659e7a44e23002a05b1005afa1c9ad6c08d439c8e7e5ede14.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2118b8931b8282b8f353ab4edbfc5a2cf0ded666c588a9c257c3e31d23b59b22.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5138da51a146ea644945285b895b999e2e73bf3c31c2610347868db2797186a9.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/55daf5ec272b9ba09330d73dce1658354996c9a13b8d534e8d6022dbff3e6cbf.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/48556b63e816ccbb02cdc5a55a15e283bb43fe2490288184966b75f44351e4c2.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d1347cb6ef56665ed6438a3fdf360a18a2726fa9f52516607bca0564e2c30c31.jpg

    Reply

  19. What better way to go to the new year than starting off with a shiny charm in sun and a brand new copy of Pokemon Moon (my mim bought it)
    It’s not new year yet where i love, but here’s to an amazing 2017!!!!

    Reply

  21. Good things from 2016. I want to start this year with positivity.
    – Nintendo Switch Reveal
    – Zootopia
    – Stranger Things
    – Moana
    – Overwatch
    – Pokemon Sun and Moon
    – Pokemon GO bringing people together
    – Steven Universe’s best episodes
    – Phillip Defranco Show
    – Robbie Rotten
    – Fantastic Beasts
    – Rogue One

    Reply

  22. For those of you fellow West Coasters, we’re at just under 5 hours until ball drop. I have a feeling that I won’t miss this year in the slightest. On December 31, 2017, I will be a community college-goer with a real job and some degree of direction in life. The best has yet to come. As I am synonymous with Xatu, I suppose I should ask: does anybody have any predictions for the crazy antics that will occur in 2017? So much unpredictable stuff happened this year, down to the most unbelievable things.

    Reply

    • -Breath of the Wild will change gaming forever like the first one did or Ocarina of Time

      – I will be slightly happier

      – Pokemon Stars will make me struggle to decide what my favorite Pokemon game is

      Reply

      • Honest predictions:
        – Switch will have a great year because of the good advertisement by nintendo
        – There will be a great shortage (and I probably won’t get one until may sadly if this happens)
        – Stars won’t release until fall

        Reply

        • Here are some of my Switch predictions:
          -Animal Crossing before the end of the year. The new New Leaf. Sells like crazy.
          -Zelda BOTW is a launch title. Also sells like crazy.
          -Super Mario Switch is a holiday 2017 title rather than a launch title. E3 2017 features it. We get another Mario game at launch instead.
          -Switch sells out within days. Mass media panic ensues.
          -We get a Kid Icarus game on Switch in 2017.

          Reply

          • I have my doubts about the AC thing, but we are getting a mobile app, which, if apps themselves have switch compatibility, may hint at it.

          • “Nintendo will design the latter game so that it will be connected with the world of Animal Crossing for dedicated gaming systems. By playing both Animal Crossing games, users will find increased enjoyment.” It’s going to happen, it’s simply a matter of when. I think it makes more sense to be closer to the app’s release than further in the future.

          • Yeah, and then another rumor came out saying that the game was pushed back to a fall release due to dev issues, which makes it sound a bit more fake given it just sounds like their trying to continue the lie since a fall release wouldn’t be reveled likely in January. But that’s my own two cents.

      • I’m going to do 2 years of community college before going to a full college for another 2 years. It saves money and increases options for me. I’m hoping I don’t get a D in Calculus before graduation, because that might cause some unforeseen problems. It’s seeming more likely every day. I’ve heard mixed reports though, I might be alright.

        Reply

        • What I mean is that at some schools in my county, you can get your AA at a community college by attending during your junior and senior years of high school. Then you graduate w/your AA and high school diplomas. Is that what you’re doing?
          Also it’s very smart that you’re doing this. I know a lot of people put down community college as being “low-tier”, but in the real world it doesn’t matter. Good luck!

          Reply

          • Nope, I suppose I’m just going to graduate from high school normally, the community college won’t be involved in that. That is what comes after, as in this fall (probably). There’s this whole world of possibility that will open up for me post-June that I am extremely excited about. I need to be freed from the high school shackles.

  24. So in this hour of chewing out the clock until I decide to just go to sleep
    I figured I try for one more Fakemon for the night

    Reply

  25. (Hit return by accident)
    But this Pokemon is a Pure Electric Fox like Pokemon
    So far I call it Sparkit or Sparkistu
    Sparkit
    The Young Fox Pkm
    Motor Drive/Quick Feet HA: Speed Boost
    A Small bright yellow Mammalian Pokemon with a large backward jagged ears in the shape of lightning bolts and a white muzzle with squinting slits for eyes, and an extremely long tail
    “They live in high valleys following storm clouds, by absorbing Electricity into their bodies they can run up to 60MPH”

    Then by the touch of a Thunderstone these fast footed Electric types evolve into Veloxity
    Veloxity
    Electric
    Motor Drive/Quick Feet HA: Speed Boost
    A larger Fox Pokemon with sleek blonde fur powerful legs that have grey paws, their ears get very long and point back and their muzzle point out almost to a needle, their tail grow long and stray sparks of electricity jolt out of them
    “Blindingly fast, Veloxity amplify their running muscles with electricity to run as fast as a bullet, at top speed they discharge electricity and resemble a lightning bolt”

    Reply

Leave a Comment