Why do people buy Pokemon games?

[nuba km]

Because they still fucking rock, and have some of the best competitive play and endgame content in the business on top of that.

People who think it all went downhill after R/B/Y or G/S/C are just fooling themselves.

I will agree that the battle mechanics have vastly improved, but dude, they need to get better character designs. Have you seen some of the new ones? One of them is a fucking ice cream cone. I WISH I WAS FUCKING KIDDING!!!

You have to admit, R/B/Y & G/S/C were stronger in the character design aspect.

i find character design really depends on peole but lets face it every generation has stupid pokemon
e.g.
1st: jinx
2nd: dunsperce
3rd: chime
4th: can't think of the top of my head
5th: the icream cone
but every generation has mostly good pokemons like for the 5th generation bachuru,zurazukin, ulgamoth, desukaan, nittron and those are only the ones I know the name of (some are properly misspelled) also in the 5th generation every pokemon is worth training(stats wise).

 

[llamastorm.games]

Because there is a genuine depth to them.
They satisfy that collection and exploration aspect many people want from games.
If you want to play effectively and maybe do battles against other real world players, there is a great deal of strategy involved.
They completely made handheld gaming.
There is more variation in Pokemon games than there is in many other game franchises.
Every game has completely new characters, a whole new locale, usually over 100 new pokemons, new items, new story, new moves, new gyms and then builds on the last games content aswell. They fulfill a social aspect many look for in gaming.
Anyone who rags on Pokemon but owns a handheld console is a massive hypocrite.

 

[MostlyHarmless]

Because people, shocking as it may be, may have fun with things you don't like. I love Pokemon to death and have played through the games a number of times. Your opinion doesn't mean everyone else thinks like you.

And they do keep improving. Also think of it, kids around 8 or 9 today don't have the original Game Boy to play the original Pokemon. Nintendo fixed that with FireRed and Leaf Green for the Advance, which can be played on the DS. They also recently released Heart Gold and Soul Silver, remakes of the original Gold and Silver games. They made it so young ones today could figure out where it all started and what made the games so great. And it's also fantastic that the older fans can enjoy the older versions of the game with enhanced graphics and whatnot. It's all about perspective.

 

[hazabaza1]

Because.
They.
Are.
Fun.
That's it.

 

[scw55]

New mechanics.
New pokemon.
Continuation. If you invested so much time in one title, you'd want to export your hard-earned data onto the next game (Pokemon).

You can argue all other games are exactly the same thing.
Zelda - Go to x number of temples/dungeons to get x things to kill the big bad boss Y.
General FPSs - Shoot stuff. Uninteresting characters die along the way. Bamsplosions.
JRPGs - Some shit hits the fan in a peaceful village. Shove angsty young teenagers around the countryside slaying random monsters to kill an uber and magnificant looking uber boss.
Western RPGs - Hack and slash around a muddy countryside.

 

[GeorgW]

I've played Sapphire and Fire Red and seen footage of the rest. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME DAMN THING! Start in a small town, mom tells you to see professor, someone tells you professor is on trouble, ave professor ten you get your pokemon. After that their nephew/niece becomes your rival. Get all badges rinse and repeat. To add to the milking why do they release tow versions of the game on the same platform with the only difference being ONE damn pokemon?

People talk about COD, Halo etc. but THIS is the most milked franchise EVER

You are completely right, but you are forgetting one vital thing. We still have to catch them all!!!
But the two versions are to force people to trade, and therefore socialize. It's a juvenile idea, but a wonderful thought nonetheless.

 

[TerranReaper]

Because they still fucking rock, and have some of the best competitive play and endgame content in the business on top of that.

People who think it all went downhill after R/B/Y or G/S/C are just fooling themselves.

I will agree that the battle mechanics have vastly improved, but dude, they need to get better character designs. Have you seen some of the new ones? One of them is a fucking ice cream cone. I WISH I WAS FUCKING KIDDING!!!

You have to admit, R/B/Y & G/S/C were stronger in the character design aspect.

Spoiler

Well, Generation 1 Pokemon were the first to appear (Obviously), so you can't really compare them to anything. To be fair, I thought Generation 3 was a bit weaker in its designs, but Generation 1 did have quite a bit of questionable designs, each generation does have messed up designs.

 

[Ipsen]

I would have to say the multiplayer aspects of the pokemon games keeps people -coughmecough- keep people interested. Along with the competitive aspect of battling pokemon, there's the trading aspect which is pretty darn important if you want to catch 'em all (which is the meat of these games anyway; the plot is just filler).

Besides, out of all the games on my PS3, my 4th gen pokemon games are the ones I have the most DLC for, mostly because the DLC for pokemon games are free.

Well put.

 

[Jake the Snake]

New adventures. New pokemon, New gameplay mechanics. Nostalgia. We think its fun. Basically the same reasons anybody plays a game.

 

[Scarim Coral]

It may sound weird to you but maybe it because people do genuine have fun playing the game or at least some form of enjoyment from playing each game.
Ok I can get why people think it repetitive but again isn't that what rpg is like anywhere? Example you raise the Pokémon level is the same as raising a character level in an rpg. Pokémon and "insert rpg game here" involve eliminate (defeat, slay etc) the opponent to acquire the experiences to level up.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

THEY ARE ALL THE SAME DAMN THING!

[...]

People talk about COD, Halo etc. but THIS is the most milked franchise EVER

*looks at Madden*
I disagree.

But, ehh, the pokemon games are still fun even if it is the same thing over and over again.

 

[nuba km]

Because they still fucking rock, and have some of the best competitive play and endgame content in the business on top of that.

People who think it all went downhill after R/B/Y or G/S/C are just fooling themselves.

I will agree that the battle mechanics have vastly improved, but dude, they need to get better character designs. Have you seen some of the new ones? One of them is a fucking ice cream cone. I WISH I WAS FUCKING KIDDING!!!

You have to admit, R/B/Y & G/S/C were stronger in the character design aspect.

Spoiler

Well, Generation 1 Pokemon were the first to appear (Obviously), so you can't really compare them to anything. To be fair, I thought Generation 3 was a bit weaker in its designs, but Generation 1 did have quite a bit of questionable designs, each generation does have messed up designs.

I will use this picture when ever someone tells me after the first generation pokemon started being lazy in their designs.

 

[TeeBs]

Because pokemon is still and always was, hotter then your mom.

 

[SodaDew]

I play them over and over because they have minor change, BUT its also a tradition for me along with I'm just a softy for Pokemon games

 

[interspark]

I've played Sapphire and Fire Red and seen footage of the rest. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME DAMN THING! Start in a small town, mom tells you to see professor, someone tells you professor is on trouble, ave professor ten you get your pokemon. After that their nephew/niece becomes your rival. Get all badges rinse and repeat. To add to the milking why do they release tow versions of the game on the same platform with the only difference being ONE damn pokemon?

People talk about COD, Halo etc. but THIS is the most milked franchise EVER

ok, the games ARE all the same but none of the reasons you said are true! you save the professor once! and the rival is NEVER his nephew or niece! in Gen 1 it was his grandson and in Gen 3 it's his son/daughter! oh and there are always 2 so that you have to trade between the 2 to finish the game, this means more money for nintendo but it also adds a fun, multi-player angle to it.

people like pokemon because it's an awesome game and an awesome idea (not everyone's cup of tea but not everyone has to play it) people KEEP playing it because they keep releasing new pokemon and regions to explore, ensuring the adventure stays fresh and new!

 

[comadorcrack]

Because they still fucking rock, and have some of the best competitive play and endgame content in the business on top of that.

People who think it all went downhill after R/B/Y or G/S/C are just fooling themselves.

The improvements made with each game in the series are mostly seen in the battle system and endgame content.

The Battle Tower was the best thing to happen to the series, imo. And not the shitty Crystal version one.

The Physical/Special split between individual attacks, rather than just types, introduced in Gen 4 was brilliant, too. It made elemental punch Alakazam less utterly broken, and made Hitmonchan...Well, he still sucks, actually. Just much less. He's now viable, at least.

Don't get me started on the epicness of the Battle Frontier...

I almost didn't post, because you said anything that ever needed to be said in the way of pokemon. But I had to let you know how epicly correct you are.

I... I think I love you....

 

[Dragonforce525]

I'm sorry OP but at the end of the day all this comes down to is personal preference, any point you try to make can be obliterated by some 6 year old writing "I like it because it's fun!", what are you supposed to say to that? Do you tell the poster he/she is wrong and that he/she doesn't find it fun?

But I do agree with you...kind of, the only game I ever really played was Pokemon, I played GoldenSun and Links Awakening, but whenever someone says Gameboy my mind instantly goes into Pokemon mode, now I'm part of what seems to be the minority of people who think modern day handhelds suck, I hated the PSP because I don't think PS2 games can be played on such a small screen with such ass controls, and I hate the DS because I feel like a moron when someone sees me using it, I think handhelds are for children and should stay that way, if you're still in school that's fine, but if I see someone at college playing with a DS I want to throw it into the river, ***** slap him, and tell him to grow up, I'm getting off track here, ummm Pokemon, yeah, a combination of my utter disgust for modern day handhelds and Pokemon looking more and more like aborted SPORE creations make me hate the franchise.

Also I hate how they won't make a 3D version of R/B/Y (for example) because they think pokemon should stay on handhelds, all I hear when they say that is "Well we could make a 3D version of the handheld games, but that would require genuine effort, and we're really busy rolling in the money of handheld gamers."

 

[TurboPanda]

The games are far from perfect. The story has stayed the same for over a decade, the new pokemon are never as good as the original 150, HMs are stupid, NPCs will still say the same thing for an entire game, you still can only move up down left and right and of course there's the ironic fact that you want to catch them all but the first thing you do is choose the 2 pokemon you can't get for the rest of the game.. This may have been ok in 1997 but not in 2011.

However I've spent over 300 hours on Pokemon Pearl and 100 hours on SoulSilver so I'm either an idiot or Pokemon is still somehow quite good. I think this is because Pokemon is a game that is simple enough that a 6 year old can complete it yet once you start playing competitively you will find an incredibly deep strategic RPG.

 

[Peteron]

The campaigns are always different, as well as pokemon, movesets, etc. Why do people play new Halo and COD games? Isn't it the same damn thing? Not at all.

 

[CarrowayUpton]

For me, its that part of my childhood that I chose to keep with me, the good part.

But the same thing again and again? Pffft. Sure the concept is the same, go out, catch pokemon, train, get badges, become champ, get all of the little buggers.
That article pretty much explains it to a T. And I don't particularly fell like rehashing it.

And 5?

Really?

More like at least 100 every time. (Some times less, sometimes more).

And how about a whole new continent?

HG/SS is mind blowing how much the series changed.

Go play some Gold, then go play some Heart Gold.

Tell me its the same game, I dare ya. Heh.

I think what a big part of what brings people back, is the versatility.
You pick what pokemon ya want, you can chose how you want them to be. (For the most part. The nature and such can't be helped. But thats where selective breeding comes in handy)

Any who, actually playing the games might help with understanding it.

Then again, its just not some peoples slice of pie.

Go ahead and play your Madden 11'.

I'll be over here EV training my team while I wait for Black and White.