Why do people buy Pokemon games?

[Treefingers]

Because they still fucking rock.

Because they want to...

Because people still have fun playing? Because a storyline is not what the series is about?

This this and this.

I love Pokemon.

 

[Marter]

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

Yeah, it is milked. The thing is, there are alterations and improvements made each generation.

For example, just look at the differences between generation 1 and 4. We've now got special/physical split, double battles (soon to be triple), abilities, natures, EVs, IVs, gender, and a whole lot more.

As for why they release two-three games per generation...they've always done this. It encourages trading between owners of the games. I'm not going to defend it that much though, as I don't particularly like that.

It is also insanely addictive, and stays fun even after multiple generations.

It's like sports games. Every time one gets released, there are additions that improve the experience.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Because they make money. Lots of money. If you were a developer, would you really want to change whats been such a successful franchise?

 

[Unesh52]

snip

The mechanics are tweaked, yes. They're better even. But they're not fundamentally different. And the result, for at least 20 hours of game time (before you unlock the endgame stuff), is the exact same. Walking around in circles in the grass followed by piss easy, predictable bosses (why did they all decide the best way to run a gym is to only keep one type of pokemon?), and linear, re-used non-puzzles ("How will we get past this tree? I just wish we had something we could CUT it down with. Like some type of maneuver which would CUT it away. Oh well. BTW, have you met the amazing CUTmaster in town yet?"). Now, it worked the first time (when I was 8, though I doubt I would be as amused with it now), when no one knew about HMs and remembering which types were good against which wasn't second nature, but now it's boring and the "innovations" are just so much frosting on a slowly hardening turd.

And I put "innovations" in quotes because most of the additions are insubstantial or half-assed. The special/physical delineation is the only truly game-changing thing that actually worked, and it's the best thing that's happened to the series.

The competitions are stupid because moves which are good for fighting are not necessarily good for comps, but about the only reliable way of getting new moves is fighting. There are other options, like making it take twice as long with exp. share, or gambling on whether or not the move you auto-learn in day care will be more useful than the one it deletes, or doing the same gamble on TMs (but with a few thousand bucks instead of a different move).

The double battle thing is neat, except that there are so few opportunities to use it in the main campaign that it'd be counter-productive to include the moves which are only useful for those fights in a normal moveset. So double battle just turns into two single battles happening at once. You could do the same thing on the first generation by playing two separate games at once, and it's just as fun as that sounds like it would be.

Oh, and the new pokemon? Yes, they have different stats and types and that, but the unique, interesting ones are startlingly few and far between. Every version still has a physical attack focused small animal and a normal/flying type that levels up twice. Every one has that one that sucks at first and doesn't level up till 55. They've even done that "completely shit but turns into a badass at lvl 20" thing more than once, and it was still a water type. I mean, yeah they're "different," but you use them in the exact same way. There's that one you use so you can fly and cut stuff. That one lonely bastard you teach flash (and another thing -- 4 generations and they still couldn't figure out that flash shouldn't be an HM?) and never use again. Your starter you use as a trump card when shit gets real. Keep in mind that that's just for the main campaign. I know there are lot's of cool new strategies to use for battle tower and multiplayer (though those things are inherently flawed because they require about 10,000% more time to get to than you'll actually spend playing them because you still have to train everything).

And finally, the story sucks. And that has yet to change. The characters are stupid, defined entirely by forgettable one-liners, and are the exact same in every game. I see your analogy about Mario, and raise you that the re-makes of the classic format suck, and Super Mario Galaxy, which introduced entirely new (not just tweaked and re-skinned) settings and mechanics. The story is still lame, the characters are still only cool for nostalgia's sake, and the new Mario titles are still more innovative than anything pokemon's done in the past decade.

The real reason pokemon is even still a topic of conversation is because no matter how much they'd hate to admit it, a lot of people just love to grind. They like to do simple, boring tasks over and over again while watching their list of achievements grow. People don't max out the clock in pokemon because it's just such a varied experience, they do it because it's practically impossible to actually get every pokemon. And then there are still shiny's. And you haven't gotten them to level 100 yet. There are a million in game counters and a spectacular way to show off all the things you've done in the storage system. Nothing is more self-affirming than flipping through page after page of pokemon you've raised.

Pokemon is a grind. I hate grinds. I have good reason not to hate grinds. Nearly every other aspect of the game sucks and they won't let you have the good stuff until you've sat through all of it.

 

[Kyman102]

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 know, an ice cream cone! Isn't that awesome?! Oh wait... You were mad... Don't see why. I find the concept of an ice cream cone Pokemon to be hilarious enough to be fun.

And NO GOOD SIR, I WILL NOT ADMIT TO WHAT I DO NOT BELIEVE IN! Each generation has its strong and weak designs.

Gen 1 had great designs like Dragonair and Charizard, but it had lame ones like Jynx and Muk.

Gen 2 had good designs like Skarmory and Typholsion, but it had lackluster ones like Dungsparce.

Gen 3 had Blaziken for the good, but it had some lames ones like, oh, Spinda.

Gen 4 had awesome designs like Empoleon and Torterra (It's a loving LAND TURTLE! Those are ALWAYS epic and awesome!) but lame ones like Magmortar and Tangrowth (I'm not dissing their stats, just their lackluster designs)

And now comes Gen 5 with GREAT designs like Smuglord, a ghost/fire chandelier, and A DRAGON WITH AN AXE FOR A FACE. I mean, a dragon with an axe-face is like a magical hand that shoots bees. Even with the presense of that weird ground/electric flounder... Thing... It doesn't matter. Overall, I LOVE the new generation, so pull your head out of your nostalgia-filled hole in the ground and give them a chance to grow on you.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Well you know..... You gotta catch em all.... and... stuff.

 

[sora91111]

It's because it's still fun I've played from Red to Soul Silver and some Ranger here and there, but my point is it still hasn't gotten old for me.

 

[Joshimodo]

Because they're fun. You can switch from chilling out, barely paying attention while capturing Pokémon or beating the Elite Four, to incredibly intense EV trained-uber-tier battles with so many tactics you'd need a military strategist to help you out.

 

[WolfEdge]

God wow. Thank you for opening my eyes to the truth! Pokemon games... are just... Pokemon games?! Yes! Now I know the cold hard facts!

When I look back and think about all that fun I was having playing Pokemon... little did I know I was playing the same damn game! Over and over again! But with like, improvements and stuff! If only I knew...

IF ONLY I HADN'T BEEN SO BLIND!

... slashsarcasm

 

[archvile93]

I don't know how, but the games just seem to feel new again after just making a new map and adding some new pokemon. That's why I still buy them. After extensive investigation, while I still don't have the whole story, I've come to suspect black magic is involved.

 

[ThatFanBoyGuy]

Simply put: Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Can you ever be 100% completly done a Pokemon game? What would that look like? The most radical I can think of would be to catch them all, get all of their evoled forms, fill the National Pokedex. Get all evolved forms to level 100, and get them all in the Pokemon League Hall of Fame by going through the Elite Four with all of them. That's the most extreme I can think up.

So suppose you are, as Yahtzee puts it, "That Guy." You do that. You've spent hundred, if not thousands, of hours to complete that National Pokedex. Then, just as you finish the Pokedex and run them through the Elite Four... BAM! It is annouced that a new Pokemon game is out with at least 100 more Pokemon! Uh oh, now you're Pokedex really isn't complete, because there is at least 100 more to catch! And you've gotta catch 'em all...

So why do I say the short answer is "Gotta Catch 'Em All"? The Pokemon games invoke the collector in us. It is not done until we hae collected them all. And as long as they keep inventing new Pokemon or new evolved, no matter how ridiculous they look, you'll never be done. Want more proof? Why do you think Beanie Babies were so popular back in the 90s? Why do you think the inventor of Beanie Babies is a billionaire set for life? Because he knew how to invoke the collector of us, just like the creator of Pokemon did.

P.S. Any "Pokemon Purists" out there who only acknowledge the original 150/151?

 

[Artina89]

I find Pokemon games rather addictive. At the moment I am playing through Soulsilver and have plans to pick up Black or White when it becomes available in the UK. I think I enjoy playing and buying Pokemon games as I always feel rather ostalgic when I play them, especially Red/Blue/Yellow and Gold/Silver and Crystal which is why I try and play one of them every year. I am thinking about playing Blue this year actually.

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

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.

I never said I didn't like Pokemon games. Why would I play Fire Red then Sapphire if I didn't like the games. I just don't see the vast improvements that they make that warrant the multiple releases.

You guys like bitching about sports games but will defend pokemon even though like sports games, they add almost nothing in recent installments (because lets face it, how many problems in gameplay are left to fix for the next installment? Add one more pokemon to have 3v3 battles? Gasp!!).

 

[chif-ii]

47 new abilities and removal of 1. for a total of 123. Many older pokemon have 2 possible abilities now.

Out of curiosity, what is the one that got removed?

Cacophony. Reason being no pokemon in gen III ever used it.

 

[capnpupster]

I think there's two groups of people who buy pokemon games as they come out. The first and simplest to understand is kids. Kids get a generation or two of the series, grow up a little, realize that the new games are going to be the same and move on. It's an inexhaustible supply of consumers. The kids aren't dumb, it's just that it's still new to them for a while. The other group is slightly to very neurotic adults who enjoy the repetition and collecting. There's nothing wrong with liking these things, but you have to admit you need to have a special kind of wiring to really enjoy it. It's like collecting stamps or coins, I don't get it, but whatever.

In the end there are quite a few of these slightly neurotic adults who are vocal proponents of the series, but I imagine the bread and butter group is the children. At least I hope it's mostly kids still buying these things.

Also this stuff applies mostly to Americans, as that is the society I'm familiar with. I don't know about European mentalities, but I'm sure the Japanese consumer groups are balanced differently.

 

[Fanta Grape]

To be honest, there are really only a few completely different pokemon games.

Red/Blue/Green/Yellow/Fire Red/Leaf Green
Gold/Silver/Crystal/Soul Silver/Heart Gold
Emerald/Ruby/Saphire
Black/White

So... four pokemon games

 

[Steam Colossus]

To avoid being mocked by their peers... wait it's pokemon...

 

[Twilight_guy]

Why? Marketing. Gotta catch em' all is a compulsion not a slogan. Also, they are solid games even if they have evolved little since the gameboy.

Of course for everyone who likes them you always get a whiner who says that there awful and new Pokemon ruined everything and blah blah blah so I always wonder if its old gamers buying new games or new games buying their first.

 

[Ih8pkmn]

People buy Pokemon because it's simple. And people like simple. They also like collecting things for incentive.

But, I don't buy Pokemon. Black and White can go rot in hell for all I care.

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

My point still stands.

But it doesn't. It doesn't stand at all.

100 new pokemon but you only need 3 too win the game the rest are ust to fill your craving to collect everything a game has to offer.

And sports games don't have best players? Hundreds of players, and only a few dream teams. You're supposed to use the ones you like, not just the best. Any game with choices have choices that are clearly better than others.


New updated roster of retarded looking pokemon. I can admit that the first 151 are awesome but nowadays... you have to admit that the designs are getting ridiculous.

Whoop de doo. This only silly argument again. The first game was just as ridiculous in it's designs.

2v2 battles aren't a game mode and that feature was introduced once and added to the what 5 other pokemon games following it.

Nice job ignoring the primary mention of the Battle Tower.

See this is my point. You are the same type of person that would agree with me if I were to make a thread titled "Why do people buy yearly installments of sports games".

Nice job ignoring the primary mention of the Battle Tower

Yeah sure the Battle Tower is in all the games....

Whoop de doo. This only silly argument again. The first game was just as ridiculous in it's designs.

Yeah...no. The newest pokemon are the most retarded looking. Te original ones are the most memorable to a lot of pokemon fans.

My point about the updated roster was that they only add more pokemon (that still look incredibly ridiculous) to have the users collect them all.

In sports games they aren't the biggest feature. Heck the devs update the rosters based on injuries etc.. EVERY WEEK. My example of NBA 2k11 was used primarily due to the fact that they added a LOT to the game over the previous one, NBA 2k10. A Michael Jordan challenge with a bonus of being able to control MJ and play with him on current teams and such. From NBA 2k9 to 2k10 they added a single player mode called My Player where you create your own guy and guide him through his journey through the NBA.

When is the last time the pokemon series received a big new game mode or feature? I don't hate pokemon (digimon was better though) I just don't see why they newed the regular installments when the newest ones add barely anything new.

Yeah my point still stands. If you manage to show me how the newest games have completely improved on the last making it look obsolete then I will back down and agree with you.