Part of my frustration with Pokemon is that I’m pretty over the whole combat/become champion stuff. Been there done that.
I want more Pokemon games that explore life with Pokemon when you aren’t on the dogfighting treadmill. If there’s any IP that could actually benefit from the mythical witch on the alps spinoff it’s pokemon.
The anime does have its moments of these, i especially remember that a girl had a centiskorch (the giant fire centipede) as a pet SINCE BEFORE SHE WAS BORN (was the mother pokemon) and because of that this pokemon was incredibly attached and pretective of her, to the point the parents let it be the nanny in some occasions.
Said pokemon is hit by a gigantamax ray and starts to destroy the city and the kid begs the main characters to help it, that its family and it doesn't want to hurt anyone.
I love that they choose a pokemon that actually doesn't look as kind and cuddly for this situation.
Then there's the inverse where an old socialite woman named Madam Muchmoney has a cute little Snubble which is a bipedal pink dog with a perpetually bitchy look on its face. She pampers it like any rich woman would pamper her dog, but it actually wants to fight and be outdoors. It runs away at the end of the episode, following Team Rocket because it likes biting Meowth so much.
Madame Muchmoney returns way later, having tracked and followed Snubble. She's now ripped and athletic with a new appreciation for the rustic lifestyle. When Snubble evolves into Granbull, a big purple orc dog kinda thing, she helps it battle Tram Rocket. The two of them race home on foot.
That's a space that the thriving Pokémon fangame and romhack community has dabbled in a number of times, at least. And many of those are honestly really good.
The most fitting example is definitely The Slowpoke Shack, which is quite simply a slice of life game where you're just running a restaurant, getting infredients, exploring the town and talking to people. Very cute and sweet imo. But there's all sorts of other stories people have made. Like one about being a Nurse Joy and diagnosing and curing pokemon as the gameplay loop, more than one about being a pokemon ranger solving problems rather than battling to the top, I saw one the other day about being a ditto in a daycare searching for your egg. Of course theres more than one about being a gym leader which doesn't exactly get you out of the the whole traditional gameplay, but does turn your role on its head and removes the journey aspect.
There's clearly lots of fun spaces to explore there and I'd love to see them officially explored too, but in the meantime theres still lots of talented people making their own slices of pokemon life to experience and I have to recommend giving them a try
The Last Nurse Joy, Pokémon Nightshade, Pokémon Transform, and This Gym of Mine are the ones I was describing. There's other Ranger and Gym Leader ones out there as well, those are just the names most familiar to me. Slowpoke Shack mentions being inspired by a number of other romhacks (including Nightshade) that are all good recommendations for slice of life-y Pokémon stories. Pokémon Family Restaurant is rather similar, Pokémon Halcyon is also a cute story from the perspective of a younger girl just kind of roaming around town and does a really good job of showing things from that perspective.
There's more, but those are the names I've got on hand. The pokemonromhack subreddit is also a great resource for finding what you're looking for and folks there probably remember and have played many more than I. Last I looked they're even working on a proper unified repository for all the romhacks in one place to make it a lot easier to find what you're looking for.
I can't remember the name of the top of my head, but I once played a pokemon fangame that was a detective game set in the pokemon world. Not like Detective Pikachu, it's more like a typical detective game that just happens to be set in the world of Pokemon. Still has pokemon battles, but they're not as much of a focus as the mainline pokemon games.
I played one just like that too, Ashen Frost, fantastic game with a surprisingly long story. Apparently its still actively being developed, even more content added since I remember playing. I certainly recommend that one as well.
I’m making a joke about a twitter user that got mad dunked on. Read all about it here.
The TLDR was a viral tweet where a person said that she would like a game with Disco Elysium’s narrative systems but make it about a young witch in the alps finding her cat. The virality came from how the user called the protagonist of DE a “generic middle aged white man” while pining for the most generic milquetoast cozy game imaginable.
So my post references that I would like a more cozy game in the Pokemon universe without what I consider really tired and uninteresting combat focus and instead explore aspects of the worldbuilding that I think are more interesting than “here’s your starter here’s seven severely underleveled gyms and an elite four that still wont have a full party, and a team of wacky criminals” #1,254. Like if they refuse to make a Pokemon game that’s actually interesting or challenging then at least make a spinoff that can actually scratch a different itch.
Hilariously enough, the last two generations of games (IDK about the Legends spin-offs, as I haven't played them yet) have made the wacky criminal team so wacky, they're not really criminal at all. Team Yell are literally just mega-simps for [spoiler] and Team Star are literally just a group of high school delinquents.
It's not exactly a recent game, but this is why I love Pokemon Channel so much. You just get to chill in your room with your friend Pikachu and watch TV. Do some online shopping. Walk to the buss stop and say hi to the wild pokemon around. The highest stake in the game is finding the reel for the finale of the TV series you're watching. It's so cute.
I loved the old Pokemon Rangers games. There’s still “battling” but it’s different and for a different reason, and the stories are a little cozier with more emphasis on helping out your community.
Honestly, the anime does this pretty well. Sure, the main focus is on Ash’s journey to be a Pokémon master and involves a lot of battling, and I haven’t seen Horizons yet but I imagine it’s also got a lot of battling, but there’s also a ton of episodes involving the characters meeting people who have that slice of life thing going. They’ll meet someone who has a specific Pokémon because it helps with their job, or their hobby, or something else like that, or just lives with them. There’s an episode of Johto where they find a town where everyone has a Wobbuffet, Diamond and Pearl has a lady whose Pikachu evolved into a Raichu so it could help her open Berries, it happens a lot. While I do wish that there was a bigger focus on it in general, it’s definitely something that exists in media and has been getting more attention over time
You bring a good point and yeah I freaking love the episodes that are just chilling in the world and getting to know a random pokemon and what makes them tick.
It was WiiWare and that shop has been closed down for a long time now, the only way to get it would be to emulate it but I don't think it has any features worth exploring in this day and age.
If you haven't yet, I strongly recommend checking out the "Pokémon Ranger" series. Especially the first half focuses on a lot of Slice of life problems. Like "Help, the local Muk population is out of control and screwing with the sewers. Can you relocate them" or "My Pokémon went missing" or "This mountain pass had a landslide, can you get Pokémon to help you fix it"
Also "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Explorers of Sky" is great. It's just a world full of Pokémon and you're part of a Pokémon adventuring guild. It's a genuinely fun dungeon crawler and has a really good story. Don't be confused by the long af Title, "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon" is the series name and "Explorers of Sky" is the game name. And Sky is the Platinum equivalent to Darkness/Time.
Absolutely. Don't know how they'd adapt the gameplay though, since it's very tied to the DS.
And Explorers is actually still going I think. I just don't know if they're good since I'm autistic and if I want to play an Explorers game, I'll play the one I know I love.
See, I would love that, and they have explored that space a little bit before, but I always leave with the distinct impression that the stories are about nothing more than “gee, aren’t Pokemon great?” Which, yeah. They are great. We established that in the 90’s. Can we get maybe some compelling character drama or an interesting story or something?
I want to see how people live in a world where animals have superpowers, but I want the story to be about more than JUST the animals with superpowers. Funny enough, I think the best example I’ve seen of what I would personally want was the Detective Pikachu movie, given the whole side plot with the kids dad. Yeah it came down to “animals with superpowers” in the end, but it was something.
Same! I want a Pokemon game in the vein of Stardew Valley. Let me and my buddies settle down and explore a town. Maybe run a B&B, uncover a bunch of ancient Pokemon secrets, and make friends with all the local people/Pokemon!
As it stands I have no plans to buy a Switch 2 but I would buy one for that!
By and large, a lot of the animated media depicts the Pokeworld as quite similar to ours: people have normal jobs, they travel for work or school. They take vacations, or just take the day off around town.
What are the details around that? What are the rules for airport security? Do I have to buy a seat for my Pikachu, or do the real-world rules apply like when you've got a lap-infant? Does the poor thing have to be in a pokeball? Do I need to leash my Houndour?
Is there even the same market for long-distance travel like that? What if I've got a Pidgeot or Staraptor that's large enough to ride? Are there flight restrictions like when flying a drone?
How about aquatically? What are the seagoing regulations for avoiding Lapras strikes? Ash and company traveled on his Lapras in the Orange Islands, do I have to make sure mine has a red/green lamp hat?
Can I bring my pokemon to work with me? Does Mr Mime need to wash his hands before helping me make sandwiches at the deli? PZA showed that our partners can dine with us at the cafes, but only on the outside. Can I go inside with my Kirlia and get them a hot chocolate?
What is the process to renting an apartment? Do I have to disclose my Tyranitar? Do I have to pay an extra deposit?
Pokemon ranger would have the possibility to do that.
With the whole you are a local ranger stuff that helps people. And a modern game in that style would be amazing
It evolves when exposed to an evolutionary stone, just like Pikachu. Which means they bothered to evolve the Pikachu but not the Vulpix, the family clearly has a favorite /s
Ninetails is also significantly larger than vulpix while Raichu is only a small size boost from Pikachu. If they live in a small space, having a full grown fox with nine huge fluffy tails that literally create fire would probably be a huge risk.
I was thinking the same thing and googled nine tails... that fucking dog is tiny. I expected a human size dog, but its only the height of a child's waist. It only weighs 40 pounds.
The amount of electricity Raichu passively generates is absolutely enough to start electrical fires on accident.
It's Pokedex entries frequently mention it overcharging, which makes it aggressive, but also that the overcharging is about 100k volts, and that careless contact will shock you.
Ninetales, meanwhile, doesn't have any Pokedex entries about uncontrolled flame.
It's bad enough the guilt of stepping on a cat's tail or closing a dog's nose in a cupboard, it's more than a little worse when they can blast you with a kanji of flame.
Tripping over a ninetales lying in a nice warm sunbeam and it cooks you with an instant solar laser.
I think there was serious disconnect between the pokedex entry writers and the overall intention for the overall game direction for the first game and future games. There is no way the majority of Pokémon can live with humans in domesticated situations without a lot of injury/death. It just ain't happenin.
I feel like they should have collaborated more on that front so more slice of life Pokémon could be viable and lucrative.
It is even funnier when you consider size multipliers. Every Pokémon has a hidden size multiplier (mainly due to moves like heavy slam and grass knot). The multiplier is applied to both height and weight, ignoring squared cube law. The factor can be anywhere between .10 all the way to 5.5 (it follows a normal distribution, so you only have a 0.002% of min or max). In theory, if you get a max Groundon, it would be 63' 03" and 11,519.2 pounds. On the other hand, a minimal Groundon would only be 1' 02" and 209.4 pounds. Ridiculous, right?
The height and weight from previous Pokédex entries are used as species base height and weight. From there, a Pokémon's height can vary as much as ±40% and their weight can vary as much as +68% to -52%.
And for legends arceus
Height now varies by ±20%, and weight now varies by +44% to -36%.
Scarlet violet and beyond
Height can vary as much as ±20%, and weight no longer varies at all.
Where did you get a 550% to -90% variance in height?
Pokemon sizes are notoriously horrendous and wildly all over the place, and are often way less than they should be. Mudsdale is one of the heaviest pokemon ever just by virtue of having a weight accurate to the irl horse breed that it's based off of, despite the fact that there are many, many pokemon that are larger than it and should also be heavier than it. I'm pretty sure wailord's so light for its size that it would literally float in the air. Steelix is so light that it would have to be a completely hollow metal shell that's only, like, a single millimeter thick.
There's an episode of Pokemon Concierge about an old fisherman struggling to care for his newly evolved Sealeo. It went from this tiny little Spheal he could carry and hold to a giant pokemon that's bigger than him.
That episode made me cry, even though I knew where the story was going the moment they started talking about the sealeo's evolution. I love Pokémon Concierge.
Every Pokémon has a hidden size multiplier (mainly due to moves like heavy slam and grass knot). The multiplier is applied to both height and weight, ignoring squared cube law. The factor can be anywhere between .10 all the way to 5.5 (it follows a normal distribution, so you only have a 0.002% of min or max). In theory, if you get a max Raichu, it would be 14' 02.5" and 165kg. On the other hand, a minimal Raichu would only be 0' 03.1" and 3kg. Ridiculous, right?
To be fair, stone evos are a commitment. Still funny they went out of their way to evolve Pikachu but left Vulpix as-is for seven years. Someone in that house is team yellow.
Fire type fur doesn't shed whole, when it is shed from the fire type it incinerates and ash drops in its stead.
Just ash piles everywhere. Great for the dust baths your electric rodents require, and less static electricity discharge than comparable sanitary dust baths. Biggest issue is for people that have either a plusle or a minun but not both, the lopsided charges tend to magnetize everything in your home INCLUDING fire type dander (and smaller electric types like a pet Joltik). Nightmare.
Or the Vulpix plain out doesn't want to evolve, the most obvious one is Ash's Pikachu, but Dawn's Piplup also refused to evolve to the point of constantly using Bide to disperse the evolution.
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Vulpix and raichu are obviously housepets and I don't think its ethical to keep a ninetails unless you have a lot of space. Raichu on the other is much more compact. Its like the difference between keeping greyhound and a cockerspaniel.
I don't doubt it! Just because an animal needs space doesn't make it a bad pet. If you can build a big enough enclosure you could keep an iguana in an apartment, but they still make terrible pets!
I used to own greyhounds. Great pets, the sweetest dogs I've met in my life. They're large enough and awkward enough that they need a decent amount of space to exist in. The biggest concern with them, though, is that they regularly need a chance to run around. So they need both a decent-sized living space and a park or field that's close enough to visit very regularly.
So you're right, it takes a lot of consideration to properly raise a greyhound.
She is lazy AF. Don’t get me wrong, if you throw her ball, she is speed, she is grace, she occasionally meets the fence with her face, but 90% of the time she is wandering the house barking at the children for rough housing (she also does not approve of spanking. My cousin doesn’t spank but a relative who does was “kindly discouraged” by Boo ever so gently but firmly grabbing his hand in her mouth. She didn’t even leave a mark but he could NOT have his hand back until my cousin told her to drop it. It was a memorable Thanksgiving to say the least.) or snoring on a soft surface.
Or “bothering” the cats. We joke that Boo is a cat in her heart, she and the cats will cuddle puddle and she licks the older cat until he is downright soggy. (He lets her, he welcomed her home when she first joined the family and has loved her since. Where Boo is, Major Tom usually isn’t far.)
But she is such a lazy horse dog. She values her downtime and in winter will huff when she has to go outside. (She has many sweaters and goofy little “hood masks” that my cousin’s daughter has knitted. Kid learned to knit and purl at eight or so and Boo is a very stylish horse)
She is totally awkward though, she knocks shit off the coffee table with her tail and sticks her loooooong nose into human’s shirts when she thinks she is not being properly adored. And that nose is COLD.
But honestly, she is so much less active than I expected. She was a racing dog once and evidently has decided she is entitled to a lazy retirement. If the kids wanna throw a ball, she will show her speed, but just let into the backyard she does her business and then lays on the deck to sunbathe.
I dunno. They might need to curl up but I’ve seen a Great Dane maneuver into a similar armchair and Nine Tails is smaller than that.
But also, maybe the Vulpix is content with itself?
Grandma Joy worked hard for years at the Pokémon Center and when she retired to live with her son and his wife (and their son when he was born, she tried not to step on her DIL’s toes with the kid but she enjoyed being a live in Nana) she brought an egg a trainer had left and never come back for.
The resulting Vulpix takes her duties as Nana’s companion VERY seriously. She likes the kid ok, but she is a house fox and beauty sleep is important! As is curling up with Nana to watch their stories every afternoon, and patrolling the house, and occasionally licking Peeps the pichu/pikachu/raichu because she likes the static buzz on her tongue. (Pichu meanwhile accepts it because Vulpix is his honorary mama)
An evolution stone in Nana’s curio cabinet has sat unused for years now. Maybe someday Vulpix will evolve, but Nana’s lap is only so big and Vulpix cherishes being a lap warmer.
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Vulpix might be the parent's Pokemon, but the Raichu is the boy's. The parents and the boy had different priorities.
It's a stone evo, so they can choose any time. And in theory, you could present the stone to your pokemon and give them the choice too. It's possible that Vulpix wasn't interested in evolving.
Also, y'know, what everyone else said about relatively large fire fox
A reminder Pichus evolve by High Affection for their trainers.
(Which incidentally makes the Pokemon Anime episode about Ash's Pikachu evolving into a Pikachu in the wild after deciding to leave the Khangaskan Commune out of love for his adopted mother and sister all the more heartbreaking).
That's a devastating connection. The wild Pikachu chose family over evolution, a pure love that defied the mechanics. It makes Ash's later choice with the Thunder Stone an even stronger parallel of a bond that transcends power. Beautiful catch.
Back in the day they told my little ass I could be a Pokemon breeder, not a trainer, and I really genuinely believed that they would make that game for me eventually. The game where I don't have to care even slightly about the power level of my guys, where EVs get eschewed for food preferences and enrichment needs but the complexity and open world were all still there to support those goals. My wildlife rehabilitator game where the animals might set me on fire if I'm not careful.
In the Sun and Moon anime (spoilers for Pokemon Sun and Moon anime) there is a Stoutland that acts as a parent to a Litten. We see that it's pretty old, getting slow, and eventually it passes away from, presumably, old age (though I don't think it's stated outright)
Iirc there's also an old treecko in one of the earlier anime seasons, though I don't remember the episode. I've just seen the image floating around
It would depend on the pet. I'm used to dogs that seek out human contact, and cats that don't.
This Pikachu is clearly very stand-off-ish at first, then only begrudgingly willing to touch the kid...
I don't think it's Stockholm Syndrome (even if Stockholm Syndrome was a real thing), it's just reminiscent of it to me. Some pets are slow to warm up. Maybe the Pokemon is a rescue, in which case, well done to the kid!
Pokemon are a lot more human-like when it comes to relationships, despite being very animalistic and pet adjacent. Building bonds with them requires more than just meeting their needs. Similar to human relationships, it requires trust and understanding, and that's not something you can just passively build by existing in the same space like you could with most pets in real life. Pokemon all have their own wants and needs and generally have varied temperaments even among each individual species. A lot of them have their own hobbies and likes, even.
All that to say, Pokemon are a lot more complicated to raise compared to your average household irl pet. With maybe a little side of Stockholm Syndrome, but in a franchise about magical creatures that could literally all probably kill you, what's that matter really?
I'm making a joke. In Pokemon Black & White, the bad guy team is called Team Plasma. Their whole shtick is wanting everyone to release their Pokemon, because hurr durr pokemon shouldn't have owners.
Your claiming what is obviously a pet Pokemon has Stockholm Syndrome is similar to Team Plasma's talking points, hence "Plasmaist ideology". I have now explained the joke.
I expressed myself poorly in my original comment. I should have made it clear that I don't believe it IS Stockholm Syndrome (which isn't real, the reality of the originating incident is far more interesting), just that it's reminiscent of it given the Pokemon's early reactions to the kid's attempts at affection, and how they disappear over time.
My apologies. I wandered in to a foreign fandom and made a poorly worded flippant remark.
It is a Pokemon thing. The Antagonist team in Pokemon Black and White/B2W2 was Team Plasma, who worked for a maniac named Ghetsis (referenced by another comment). They basically believed that owning and keeping Pokemon was slavery, and that Pokemon should be free and away from people (This was done as a ploy to essentially unarm any resistance to his plan, but that's a whole other thing.
As for the Pichu, and later Pikachu, It's because in mainline pokemon games, Pichu can only evolve into Pikachu after you reach a certain level of friendship. So the boys Pichu probably wasn't ready to evolve until it has spent some time with the boy and grew close to him.
Not that I'm aware of, never had a cat; but that seems to describe most car relationships I've seen. 😉
My dogs also always sought out human contact and affection.
It's the Pokemon's actions in the first 2 examples that seem off to me. Dodging, then begrudgingly touching the kid for the first time after a year together.
Don't worry about it. I'ma tell myself the Pokemon is a rescue.
Pokemon slice of life is my jam
Part of my frustration with Pokemon is that I’m pretty over the whole combat/become champion stuff. Been there done that.
I want more Pokemon games that explore life with Pokemon when you aren’t on the dogfighting treadmill. If there’s any IP that could actually benefit from the mythical witch on the alps spinoff it’s pokemon.
The anime does have its moments of these, i especially remember that a girl had a centiskorch (the giant fire centipede) as a pet SINCE BEFORE SHE WAS BORN (was the mother pokemon) and because of that this pokemon was incredibly attached and pretective of her, to the point the parents let it be the nanny in some occasions.
Said pokemon is hit by a gigantamax ray and starts to destroy the city and the kid begs the main characters to help it, that its family and it doesn't want to hurt anyone.
I love that they choose a pokemon that actually doesn't look as kind and cuddly for this situation.
The fact that most of the anime movies started out with a slice of life montage was always one of my favorite things
IRL centipedes are very good mothers to their horror babies.
Then there's the inverse where an old socialite woman named Madam Muchmoney has a cute little Snubble which is a bipedal pink dog with a perpetually bitchy look on its face. She pampers it like any rich woman would pamper her dog, but it actually wants to fight and be outdoors. It runs away at the end of the episode, following Team Rocket because it likes biting Meowth so much.
Madame Muchmoney returns way later, having tracked and followed Snubble. She's now ripped and athletic with a new appreciation for the rustic lifestyle. When Snubble evolves into Granbull, a big purple orc dog kinda thing, she helps it battle Tram Rocket. The two of them race home on foot.
"Pretective" lol. Protective.
My problem is they don’t seem to put any budget in their spin off games. Pokopia looks fun though. I’m hopeful for that.
They aren't putting budget in their main games either
Yeah and they’re putting even less in the spinoffs.
They aren't going to waste any money on games that could be used to make a slightly taller gold hoard.
If you’ve played Dragon Quest Builders, it’s the same team making it, and DQB was quite fun.
That's a space that the thriving Pokémon fangame and romhack community has dabbled in a number of times, at least. And many of those are honestly really good.
The most fitting example is definitely The Slowpoke Shack, which is quite simply a slice of life game where you're just running a restaurant, getting infredients, exploring the town and talking to people. Very cute and sweet imo. But there's all sorts of other stories people have made. Like one about being a Nurse Joy and diagnosing and curing pokemon as the gameplay loop, more than one about being a pokemon ranger solving problems rather than battling to the top, I saw one the other day about being a ditto in a daycare searching for your egg. Of course theres more than one about being a gym leader which doesn't exactly get you out of the the whole traditional gameplay, but does turn your role on its head and removes the journey aspect.
There's clearly lots of fun spaces to explore there and I'd love to see them officially explored too, but in the meantime theres still lots of talented people making their own slices of pokemon life to experience and I have to recommend giving them a try
Do you have any recommendations on this as well as the slowpoke shack? I’m definitely interested in playing some rom hacks like this
The Last Nurse Joy, Pokémon Nightshade, Pokémon Transform, and This Gym of Mine are the ones I was describing. There's other Ranger and Gym Leader ones out there as well, those are just the names most familiar to me. Slowpoke Shack mentions being inspired by a number of other romhacks (including Nightshade) that are all good recommendations for slice of life-y Pokémon stories. Pokémon Family Restaurant is rather similar, Pokémon Halcyon is also a cute story from the perspective of a younger girl just kind of roaming around town and does a really good job of showing things from that perspective.
There's more, but those are the names I've got on hand. The pokemonromhack subreddit is also a great resource for finding what you're looking for and folks there probably remember and have played many more than I. Last I looked they're even working on a proper unified repository for all the romhacks in one place to make it a lot easier to find what you're looking for.
I can't remember the name of the top of my head, but I once played a pokemon fangame that was a detective game set in the pokemon world. Not like Detective Pikachu, it's more like a typical detective game that just happens to be set in the world of Pokemon. Still has pokemon battles, but they're not as much of a focus as the mainline pokemon games.
I played one just like that too, Ashen Frost, fantastic game with a surprisingly long story. Apparently its still actively being developed, even more content added since I remember playing. I certainly recommend that one as well.
I do like that they are starting to do more spinoffs related to just people sorta living in the world
like that resort island one
pokemon concierge is great, yeah!
obviously claymation is hit or miss for a lot of people, but they really nailed it for me.
What is a mythical witch on the Alps spinoff?
I’m making a joke about a twitter user that got mad dunked on. Read all about it here.
The TLDR was a viral tweet where a person said that she would like a game with Disco Elysium’s narrative systems but make it about a young witch in the alps finding her cat. The virality came from how the user called the protagonist of DE a “generic middle aged white man” while pining for the most generic milquetoast cozy game imaginable.
So my post references that I would like a more cozy game in the Pokemon universe without what I consider really tired and uninteresting combat focus and instead explore aspects of the worldbuilding that I think are more interesting than “here’s your starter here’s seven severely underleveled gyms and an elite four that still wont have a full party, and a team of wacky criminals” #1,254. Like if they refuse to make a Pokemon game that’s actually interesting or challenging then at least make a spinoff that can actually scratch a different itch.
Hilariously enough, the last two generations of games (IDK about the Legends spin-offs, as I haven't played them yet) have made the wacky criminal team so wacky, they're not really criminal at all. Team Yell are literally just mega-simps for [spoiler] and Team Star are literally just a group of high school delinquents.
It's not exactly a recent game, but this is why I love Pokemon Channel so much. You just get to chill in your room with your friend Pikachu and watch TV. Do some online shopping. Walk to the buss stop and say hi to the wild pokemon around. The highest stake in the game is finding the reel for the finale of the TV series you're watching. It's so cute.
I loved the old Pokemon Rangers games. There’s still “battling” but it’s different and for a different reason, and the stories are a little cozier with more emphasis on helping out your community.
Honestly, the anime does this pretty well. Sure, the main focus is on Ash’s journey to be a Pokémon master and involves a lot of battling, and I haven’t seen Horizons yet but I imagine it’s also got a lot of battling, but there’s also a ton of episodes involving the characters meeting people who have that slice of life thing going. They’ll meet someone who has a specific Pokémon because it helps with their job, or their hobby, or something else like that, or just lives with them. There’s an episode of Johto where they find a town where everyone has a Wobbuffet, Diamond and Pearl has a lady whose Pikachu evolved into a Raichu so it could help her open Berries, it happens a lot. While I do wish that there was a bigger focus on it in general, it’s definitely something that exists in media and has been getting more attention over time
You bring a good point and yeah I freaking love the episodes that are just chilling in the world and getting to know a random pokemon and what makes them tick.
Yess, or something like the Chao gardens in Sonic but with pokemon.
Wasn't that Pokemon Ranch, the glorified PC box game?
😯 I didn't know that existed! That looks cool, it is for the Wii though so idk if it is easy to find now.
It was WiiWare and that shop has been closed down for a long time now, the only way to get it would be to emulate it but I don't think it has any features worth exploring in this day and age.
Pokemon Nintendogs would be my forever obsession
If you haven't yet, I strongly recommend checking out the "Pokémon Ranger" series. Especially the first half focuses on a lot of Slice of life problems. Like "Help, the local Muk population is out of control and screwing with the sewers. Can you relocate them" or "My Pokémon went missing" or "This mountain pass had a landslide, can you get Pokémon to help you fix it"
Also "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Explorers of Sky" is great. It's just a world full of Pokémon and you're part of a Pokémon adventuring guild. It's a genuinely fun dungeon crawler and has a really good story. Don't be confused by the long af Title, "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon" is the series name and "Explorers of Sky" is the game name. And Sky is the Platinum equivalent to Darkness/Time.
I have, they’re fantastic and need to be a series staple!
Absolutely. Don't know how they'd adapt the gameplay though, since it's very tied to the DS.
And Explorers is actually still going I think. I just don't know if they're good since I'm autistic and if I want to play an Explorers game, I'll play the one I know I love.
Mr. Mime is helping me find my gun.
A lot of the PokeToon animations scratch that itch. Hell even some of the animated short series like Pokemon Generations, there are some fun episodes like the police raiding the Kanto Ground Gym looking for Giovanni.
See, I would love that, and they have explored that space a little bit before, but I always leave with the distinct impression that the stories are about nothing more than “gee, aren’t Pokemon great?” Which, yeah. They are great. We established that in the 90’s. Can we get maybe some compelling character drama or an interesting story or something?
I want to see how people live in a world where animals have superpowers, but I want the story to be about more than JUST the animals with superpowers. Funny enough, I think the best example I’ve seen of what I would personally want was the Detective Pikachu movie, given the whole side plot with the kids dad. Yeah it came down to “animals with superpowers” in the end, but it was something.
Stardew Valley but with pokemon ranching/raising mechanics instead of crops and combat
Pokemon Concierge
Pokemon love to fight. It’s part of their enrichment.
Same! I want a Pokemon game in the vein of Stardew Valley. Let me and my buddies settle down and explore a town. Maybe run a B&B, uncover a bunch of ancient Pokemon secrets, and make friends with all the local people/Pokemon!
As it stands I have no plans to buy a Switch 2 but I would buy one for that!
By and large, a lot of the animated media depicts the Pokeworld as quite similar to ours: people have normal jobs, they travel for work or school. They take vacations, or just take the day off around town.
What are the details around that? What are the rules for airport security? Do I have to buy a seat for my Pikachu, or do the real-world rules apply like when you've got a lap-infant? Does the poor thing have to be in a pokeball? Do I need to leash my Houndour?
Is there even the same market for long-distance travel like that? What if I've got a Pidgeot or Staraptor that's large enough to ride? Are there flight restrictions like when flying a drone?
How about aquatically? What are the seagoing regulations for avoiding Lapras strikes? Ash and company traveled on his Lapras in the Orange Islands, do I have to make sure mine has a red/green lamp hat?
Can I bring my pokemon to work with me? Does Mr Mime need to wash his hands before helping me make sandwiches at the deli? PZA showed that our partners can dine with us at the cafes, but only on the outside. Can I go inside with my Kirlia and get them a hot chocolate?
What is the process to renting an apartment? Do I have to disclose my Tyranitar? Do I have to pay an extra deposit?
Its what if your pet had super powers, Maybe why I love Krypto so much
Love seeing those “slice of life in Pokémon” kind of tweets. “Just threw an ultra ball at a kid thinking it was a shiny Ralts.”
r/pokemedia might be just your speed
Oh sweet! Thanks.
Pokemon ranger would have the possibility to do that. With the whole you are a local ranger stuff that helps people. And a modern game in that style would be amazing
The place you thought was a cat cafe was actually the home of a Skitty and Purrugly breeder
I absolutely love the Homecoming short.
I like that Pichu isn't too happy about it until it evolves because Pikachu is a friendship evolution.
Aren’t we all
Stockholm Syndrome by MUSE is a pretty good song
7 years and the Vulpix still hasn't evolved?
It evolves when exposed to an evolutionary stone, just like Pikachu. Which means they bothered to evolve the Pikachu but not the Vulpix, the family clearly has a favorite /s
Ninetails is also significantly larger than vulpix while Raichu is only a small size boost from Pikachu. If they live in a small space, having a full grown fox with nine huge fluffy tails that literally create fire would probably be a huge risk.
I was thinking the same thing and googled nine tails... that fucking dog is tiny. I expected a human size dog, but its only the height of a child's waist. It only weighs 40 pounds.
I mean real foxes also aren't that big. They aren't wolves.
But the main issue is the nine large fluffy tails and the ability to generate fire spontaneously.
Raichu can spontaneously generate bolts of lightning...
Okay, houses are usually made of wood, not water, duh. It's not like I'm saying they can take Raichu in the bathtub.
The amount of electricity Raichu passively generates is absolutely enough to start electrical fires on accident.
It's Pokedex entries frequently mention it overcharging, which makes it aggressive, but also that the overcharging is about 100k volts, and that careless contact will shock you.
Ninetales, meanwhile, doesn't have any Pokedex entries about uncontrolled flame.
Ninetales is just to seal away your children's future with a curse on your entire family
It's bad enough the guilt of stepping on a cat's tail or closing a dog's nose in a cupboard, it's more than a little worse when they can blast you with a kanji of flame.
Tripping over a ninetales lying in a nice warm sunbeam and it cooks you with an instant solar laser.
I think there was serious disconnect between the pokedex entry writers and the overall intention for the overall game direction for the first game and future games. There is no way the majority of Pokémon can live with humans in domesticated situations without a lot of injury/death. It just ain't happenin.
I feel like they should have collaborated more on that front so more slice of life Pokémon could be viable and lucrative.
Houses are ground/plant type, so electric Pokémon are safe but the fire types are potentially problematic.
Yeah electric-type attacks are not very effective against grass
dont forget its ability to curse people especially if they pull on its tail
Pokemon Canon sizes continue to be hilarious. Charizard is only 5'7'' and 200 pounds for example.
It is even funnier when you consider size multipliers. Every Pokémon has a hidden size multiplier (mainly due to moves like heavy slam and grass knot). The multiplier is applied to both height and weight, ignoring squared cube law. The factor can be anywhere between .10 all the way to 5.5 (it follows a normal distribution, so you only have a 0.002% of min or max). In theory, if you get a max Groundon, it would be 63' 03" and 11,519.2 pounds. On the other hand, a minimal Groundon would only be 1' 02" and 209.4 pounds. Ridiculous, right?
... where did you get your numbers from?
The pokemon wiki says
The height and weight from previous Pokédex entries are used as species base height and weight. From there, a Pokémon's height can vary as much as ±40% and their weight can vary as much as +68% to -52%.
And for legends arceus
Height now varies by ±20%, and weight now varies by +44% to -36%.
Scarlet violet and beyond
Height can vary as much as ±20%, and weight no longer varies at all.
Where did you get a 550% to -90% variance in height?
Makes the most sense if you consider a lot of them to be written by children.
Pokemon canon sizes are wonky though. Garchomp, the terrifying champion dragon shark thing that's the ace of the champion battler, is only 6' tall.
Pokemon sizes are notoriously horrendous and wildly all over the place, and are often way less than they should be. Mudsdale is one of the heaviest pokemon ever just by virtue of having a weight accurate to the irl horse breed that it's based off of, despite the fact that there are many, many pokemon that are larger than it and should also be heavier than it. I'm pretty sure wailord's so light for its size that it would literally float in the air. Steelix is so light that it would have to be a completely hollow metal shell that's only, like, a single millimeter thick.
Wailord is a bad example because its also based off of a blimp so it should be lighter than air.
There's an episode of Pokemon Concierge about an old fisherman struggling to care for his newly evolved Sealeo. It went from this tiny little Spheal he could carry and hold to a giant pokemon that's bigger than him.
I am now totally freaking out about a Magikarp that I could keep nicely in a koi pond and my complete inability to then cope with a Gyarados.
I wouldn't worry too much, I think Magikarp is about the one Pokemon that would not evolve on accident.
That episode made me cry, even though I knew where the story was going the moment they started talking about the sealeo's evolution. I love Pokémon Concierge.
Raichu (according to the ‘Dex entries) are 2’7” tall and weigh 30 kg.
Ergo, either this dude is a giant or that Raichu has dwarfism.
I’m actually pretty sure that a normal size Raichu is bigger than a normal Ninetales, Dex-wise.
Every Pokémon has a hidden size multiplier (mainly due to moves like heavy slam and grass knot). The multiplier is applied to both height and weight, ignoring squared cube law. The factor can be anywhere between .10 all the way to 5.5 (it follows a normal distribution, so you only have a 0.002% of min or max). In theory, if you get a max Raichu, it would be 14' 02.5" and 165kg. On the other hand, a minimal Raichu would only be 0' 03.1" and 3kg. Ridiculous, right?
To be fair, stone evos are a commitment. Still funny they went out of their way to evolve Pikachu but left Vulpix as-is for seven years. Someone in that house is team yellow.
Or they don't want to clean the amount of fur a Ninetales probably sheds.
Fire type fur doesn't shed whole, when it is shed from the fire type it incinerates and ash drops in its stead.
Just ash piles everywhere. Great for the dust baths your electric rodents require, and less static electricity discharge than comparable sanitary dust baths. Biggest issue is for people that have either a plusle or a minun but not both, the lopsided charges tend to magnetize everything in your home INCLUDING fire type dander (and smaller electric types like a pet Joltik). Nightmare.
Or the Vulpix plain out doesn't want to evolve, the most obvious one is Ash's Pikachu, but Dawn's Piplup also refused to evolve to the point of constantly using Bide to disperse the evolution.
Maybe Vulpix didn't want to evolve. Ash's Pikachu denied an evolution stone in the show, it happens.
Eviolite for Christmas to show they respect its decision.
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Pokemon have opinions on whether or not they want to evolve. Stop Evershaming
It might be a situation like Ash's pikachu, who didn't want the stone.
Maybe vulpix doesn't feel ready yet.
Vulpix and raichu are obviously housepets and I don't think its ethical to keep a ninetails unless you have a lot of space. Raichu on the other is much more compact. Its like the difference between keeping greyhound and a cockerspaniel.
Greyhounds make great pets though?
I don't doubt it! Just because an animal needs space doesn't make it a bad pet. If you can build a big enough enclosure you could keep an iguana in an apartment, but they still make terrible pets!
I used to own greyhounds. Great pets, the sweetest dogs I've met in my life. They're large enough and awkward enough that they need a decent amount of space to exist in. The biggest concern with them, though, is that they regularly need a chance to run around. So they need both a decent-sized living space and a park or field that's close enough to visit very regularly.
So you're right, it takes a lot of consideration to properly raise a greyhound.
My cousin adopted a greyhound.
She is lazy AF. Don’t get me wrong, if you throw her ball, she is speed, she is grace, she occasionally meets the fence with her face, but 90% of the time she is wandering the house barking at the children for rough housing (she also does not approve of spanking. My cousin doesn’t spank but a relative who does was “kindly discouraged” by Boo ever so gently but firmly grabbing his hand in her mouth. She didn’t even leave a mark but he could NOT have his hand back until my cousin told her to drop it. It was a memorable Thanksgiving to say the least.) or snoring on a soft surface.
Or “bothering” the cats. We joke that Boo is a cat in her heart, she and the cats will cuddle puddle and she licks the older cat until he is downright soggy. (He lets her, he welcomed her home when she first joined the family and has loved her since. Where Boo is, Major Tom usually isn’t far.)
But she is such a lazy horse dog. She values her downtime and in winter will huff when she has to go outside. (She has many sweaters and goofy little “hood masks” that my cousin’s daughter has knitted. Kid learned to knit and purl at eight or so and Boo is a very stylish horse)
She is totally awkward though, she knocks shit off the coffee table with her tail and sticks her loooooong nose into human’s shirts when she thinks she is not being properly adored. And that nose is COLD.
But honestly, she is so much less active than I expected. She was a racing dog once and evidently has decided she is entitled to a lazy retirement. If the kids wanna throw a ball, she will show her speed, but just let into the backyard she does her business and then lays on the deck to sunbathe.
ninetails isnt big though, its fox sized and is only 40 lbps, smaller than most dogs i see in houses.
maybe they just dont like white
Ninetales may only be 44 pounds, but its 3 feet 7 inches tall, which is still pretty big. Which I think gives it similar dimensions to a maned wolf.
thats the hight of most medium sized dogs....
Maybe they weren't confident they could provide the kind of care a Ninetales requires.
Their grooming needs alone are a huge commitment!
Based on a couple of it's Pokedex entries....
And
I think I'd leave it as a Vulpix too. Imagine stepping on its toes accidentally and having your entire bloodline cursed.
Have you seen the size of them? They wouldn't fit in the chair!
I dunno. They might need to curl up but I’ve seen a Great Dane maneuver into a similar armchair and Nine Tails is smaller than that.
But also, maybe the Vulpix is content with itself?
Grandma Joy worked hard for years at the Pokémon Center and when she retired to live with her son and his wife (and their son when he was born, she tried not to step on her DIL’s toes with the kid but she enjoyed being a live in Nana) she brought an egg a trainer had left and never come back for.
The resulting Vulpix takes her duties as Nana’s companion VERY seriously. She likes the kid ok, but she is a house fox and beauty sleep is important! As is curling up with Nana to watch their stories every afternoon, and patrolling the house, and occasionally licking Peeps the pichu/pikachu/raichu because she likes the static buzz on her tongue. (Pichu meanwhile accepts it because Vulpix is his honorary mama)
An evolution stone in Nana’s curio cabinet has sat unused for years now. Maybe someday Vulpix will evolve, but Nana’s lap is only so big and Vulpix cherishes being a lap warmer.
firestones aint cheap
The De 'Sears Group has a monopoly on Fire Stones.
Aaaaaay
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Vulpix might be the parent's Pokemon, but the Raichu is the boy's. The parents and the boy had different priorities.
It's a stone evo, so they can choose any time. And in theory, you could present the stone to your pokemon and give them the choice too. It's possible that Vulpix wasn't interested in evolving.
Also, y'know, what everyone else said about relatively large fire fox
Because Vulpix is perfect the way they are.
The size difference between a Vulpix and a Ninetails is huge. Could be a case of not having the space to properly house a Ninetails.
Electricity is more economical than fire. You can charge batteries with a Raichu. You can't cook a lasagna with a Ninetales.
You absolutely can. You just need a fireplace
They want that evolite boost
Pokemon can and will reject evolution stones offered to them. The games don't show this, but the show and manga do.
I'd chuck a fire stone at it faster than Aroldis Chapman
If you like this, it's from a series of shorts called PokeMinutes. Just a bunch of cute slice-of-life animations, and a few random craft videos.
I know what I’m inflicting on my bestie next time we’re online! (She’ll love it, she loves cute slice of like Pokémon stuff)
The small details like the pictures on the wall behind the kid's head growing more numerous! Cute
And how almost all of them are the kid with his Pokémon. Those fuckers are loved. Absolutely cherished.
A reminder Pichus evolve by High Affection for their trainers.
(Which incidentally makes the Pokemon Anime episode about Ash's Pikachu evolving into a Pikachu in the wild after deciding to leave the Khangaskan Commune out of love for his adopted mother and sister all the more heartbreaking).
That's a devastating connection. The wild Pikachu chose family over evolution, a pure love that defied the mechanics. It makes Ash's later choice with the Thunder Stone an even stronger parallel of a bond that transcends power. Beautiful catch.
Fuck no it didn't. Fuck off, clanker.
Except wasn't that before Pichu was a thing?
The khangaskan backstory was in the last Ash Season.
Oh, so it was just a recon then? Got it
Back in the day they told my little ass I could be a Pokemon breeder, not a trainer, and I really genuinely believed that they would make that game for me eventually. The game where I don't have to care even slightly about the power level of my guys, where EVs get eschewed for food preferences and enrichment needs but the complexity and open world were all still there to support those goals. My wildlife rehabilitator game where the animals might set me on fire if I'm not careful.
nearly 30 years later and I'm still waitin'
There's always the option to make a fan game.
Its so sweet how he waits for affection from Pichu and isnt pushy
A pichu needs to feel safe and in control, and it will not participate in activities it does not agree to. Being pushy is a good way to get zapped.
Looks like it wasn’t very long after the second clip, Pichu was definitely coming around on him
I love the glasses one where the vulpix turns around last second to reveal its wearing glasses too.
Okay, but let's talk about the glow-up the kid went through.
Is it a glow-up? I realize it’s a cartoon but they didn’t exactly draw him as an uggo in the first shot.
Of course he’s ugly, he’s wearing glasses!
I think that by "glow-up" they meant something like
Literal child -> Young man of an age that is reasonable to consider attractive
So it’s like a “from wouldn’t to would” situation
I'm gonna cry
I see Raichu, I leave upvote. Simple as.
Finding out these were gifs was a very pleasant surprise
That kid grew 16" between 1 month and 1 year.
Growth spurs will do that to ya
Cute! 💛
This is the cutest thing ever holy crap 😭
This is giving me so much gender envy omg
I feel like this raises a question, can pokemon die of old age? Like we never really see old Pokémon unless they're made to be old like drampa.
In the Sun and Moon anime (spoilers for Pokemon Sun and Moon anime) there is a Stoutland that acts as a parent to a Litten. We see that it's pretty old, getting slow, and eventually it passes away from, presumably, old age (though I don't think it's stated outright)
Iirc there's also an old treecko in one of the earlier anime seasons, though I don't remember the episode. I've just seen the image floating around
Brings back childhood yearning to have pokemon irl
The kid wore glasses in the first 3 panels, but as an adult has no glasses.
Wonder if he's wearing contacts?
-Mint Linux Guy
Just melting over the Raichu clip, absolutely melting
That’s fucking adorable
Should've started with the animations, I almost scrolled
..... that can't be right, most medium sized breeds don't go any higher than just past my knee. I feel like 3'7 would be just higher than my waist.
Did he just nuzzle the cheek of a pokemon that stores lethal amounts of electricity in its cheeks...?
Pikachu and Raichu have full control over the release of their electricity. Pichu is the one you have to be careful around.
Where’s the full image?
Where did his glasses go 😭
Cute.
That vulpix is seething I bet, no firestone for it but the pikachu gets one
Poor pikachu, it didn't deserve to get downgraded to raichu like that!
Why does he love Raichu more than Vulpix 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔
Buy the poor thing a fire stone, for Arceus' sake.
The real question is why did it take him 3 years to get his friendship level high enough to evolve Pichu.
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Who's behind the camera, taking the photo?
Either the Pokemon don't get stockings, or the parents don't have them
It feels a little like celebrating Stockholm Syndrome...
Okay, not to get into the whole “Pokémon is animal cruelty” debate, this kid is very clearly not using his Pichu/Pikachu/Raichu to fight anything.
Do you… do you think pets are Stockholm Syndrome…
It would depend on the pet. I'm used to dogs that seek out human contact, and cats that don't.
This Pikachu is clearly very stand-off-ish at first, then only begrudgingly willing to touch the kid...
I don't think it's Stockholm Syndrome (even if Stockholm Syndrome was a real thing), it's just reminiscent of it to me. Some pets are slow to warm up. Maybe the Pokemon is a rescue, in which case, well done to the kid!
Pokemon are a lot more human-like when it comes to relationships, despite being very animalistic and pet adjacent. Building bonds with them requires more than just meeting their needs. Similar to human relationships, it requires trust and understanding, and that's not something you can just passively build by existing in the same space like you could with most pets in real life. Pokemon all have their own wants and needs and generally have varied temperaments even among each individual species. A lot of them have their own hobbies and likes, even.
All that to say, Pokemon are a lot more complicated to raise compared to your average household irl pet. With maybe a little side of Stockholm Syndrome, but in a franchise about magical creatures that could literally all probably kill you, what's that matter really?
Kind of tbh.
-ghetsis
? I don't know what this means.
Isn't it a bannable offense to espouse Plasmaist ideology these days?
I'm quite curious what this is; is it a Pokemon thing?
Am I espousing it, or is it part of the OP that you're seeking to defend? "What's the charge? Espousing a succulent plasmaist ideology?"
Or should I just Google it?
I'm making a joke. In Pokemon Black & White, the bad guy team is called Team Plasma. Their whole shtick is wanting everyone to release their Pokemon, because hurr durr pokemon shouldn't have owners.
Your claiming what is obviously a pet Pokemon has Stockholm Syndrome is similar to Team Plasma's talking points, hence "Plasmaist ideology". I have now explained the joke.
Excellent! Thank you.
I expressed myself poorly in my original comment. I should have made it clear that I don't believe it IS Stockholm Syndrome (which isn't real, the reality of the originating incident is far more interesting), just that it's reminiscent of it given the Pokemon's early reactions to the kid's attempts at affection, and how they disappear over time.
My apologies. I wandered in to a foreign fandom and made a poorly worded flippant remark.
Y'all have happy holidays!
It is a Pokemon thing. The Antagonist team in Pokemon Black and White/B2W2 was Team Plasma, who worked for a maniac named Ghetsis (referenced by another comment). They basically believed that owning and keeping Pokemon was slavery, and that Pokemon should be free and away from people (This was done as a ploy to essentially unarm any resistance to his plan, but that's a whole other thing.
As for the Pichu, and later Pikachu, It's because in mainline pokemon games, Pichu can only evolve into Pikachu after you reach a certain level of friendship. So the boys Pichu probably wasn't ready to evolve until it has spent some time with the boy and grew close to him.
Do your cats/dogs experience Stockholm syndrome?
Not that I'm aware of, never had a cat; but that seems to describe most car relationships I've seen. 😉
My dogs also always sought out human contact and affection.
It's the Pokemon's actions in the first 2 examples that seem off to me. Dodging, then begrudgingly touching the kid for the first time after a year together.
Don't worry about it. I'ma tell myself the Pokemon is a rescue.
My cats quite literally sought us out at the shelter. They crave attention and are incredibly needy.