Why didn't Nintendo have Pokemon Red/Blue as a launch title for the N64, instead of for the 7 year old Game Boy? It might have helped the N64's sales, Pokemon would have been in color from the start, and the N64 cartridge had enough memory to store all the Pokemon without needing to split them between two games.
What if: Pokemon Red/Blue on the N64.
- Thread starter CastletonSnob
- Start date
Memory was not the point of spliting the games apart. What if? There is no what if?
The Nothing would have save the N64. It was a garbage system sticking to a form of media that couldn't keep up with tech. Not even pokemon would have saved it.
The Nothing would have save the N64. It was a garbage system sticking to a form of media that couldn't keep up with tech. Not even pokemon would have saved it.
GameFreak worked basically forever on that game, and they had designed it around the limitations of the GameBoy; including taking advantage of its portability both for connecting with fellow players and having its gameplay suitable to play on the go, hence why no action in the game requires timing skill.
What GameFreak wanted from Pokemon was players connecting with each other. That means talking at the school yard, at the park or just walking home from some where. That can't be accomplished with a home console.
Plus honing the market on easy to get into portable rpgs meant not having to go against console rpg juggernauts.
Plus honing the market on easy to get into portable rpgs meant not having to go against console rpg juggernauts.
I'm no marketing pro, but if you asked young/chaoticneutral-roy why he liked the pokemon games it would have been because the pokemon looked cool and he could play it in the car driving to the city.
N64 games looked like dogshit. I don't want to be mean, but even later when we saw the first 3D pokemon in a game they looked like barf. You aren't getting the same effect out of cute animal friends when the cute animals look like they would cut you to ribbons on their polygons if you hugged them.
N64 games looked like dogshit. I don't want to be mean, but even later when we saw the first 3D pokemon in a game they looked like barf. You aren't getting the same effect out of cute animal friends when the cute animals look like they would cut you to ribbons on their polygons if you hugged them.
Because the game was designed as a portable game for a handheld console, if they had made it for the N64 it would have been a completely different game. And if you just plopped it onto the N64 as is it would have gotten a terrible reception. It looks decent as a gameboy game, but if kids of the 90s were comparing it to all the 3D graphics on the N64 it would have looked incredibly dated. Heck it looks bad even compared to SNES games, especially if you are looking at the original Japanese release sprites. Generally you want launch titles to show off the capabilities of the console and releasing a gameboy game on the N64 would not do that by a long shot.
And if you just think that you should be able to play Pokemon Red/Blue on the N64, there's Pokemon Stadium. You can even play it at 3X speed (or 4X on Pokemon Stadium 2).
And if you just think that you should be able to play Pokemon Red/Blue on the N64, there's Pokemon Stadium. You can even play it at 3X speed (or 4X on Pokemon Stadium 2).
Man that was a fucking Godsend! They even had a sort of Pokemon Bank prototype that let you load your red/blue pokedexes onto the N64 cart so you could start a new game and not lose anything special.
I think the mobility of the Gameboy and link cables allowing trades/battles out in social spaces helped Pokemon become big. There were many kids at my school sneaking in gameboys to battle and trade.
Also Gamefreak isn't handling the 3D transition exactly well these days. Being on the N64 would probably mean that they had to implement 3D graphics, or end up looking pretty bad. I guess Pokemon Stadium does exist, but it doesn't involve having full 3D worlds and I'm not sure they could've secured the budget before Pokemon was even a proven product.
It might have been interesting if they attempted a higher budget 3D Pokemon title after the success of the first gen. Though without the social/portable aspect and online play not really being a thing at the time, it's hard to say how well that would have worked.
Also Gamefreak isn't handling the 3D transition exactly well these days. Being on the N64 would probably mean that they had to implement 3D graphics, or end up looking pretty bad. I guess Pokemon Stadium does exist, but it doesn't involve having full 3D worlds and I'm not sure they could've secured the budget before Pokemon was even a proven product.
It might have been interesting if they attempted a higher budget 3D Pokemon title after the success of the first gen. Though without the social/portable aspect and online play not really being a thing at the time, it's hard to say how well that would have worked.
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