Okay, so we need to have a talk about this Japanese-Kids-Who-Collect-Shit genre of gaming.
Pokemon. Digimon. Yugioh. Medabots. Card Fighters, Duel Masters, yadda yadda yadda. It’s not so much the games themselves that get me, rather, it’s the way that in all these scenarios the battle game of the day is completely and utterly engrained into the lies of everyone, in all walks of life. I guess it adds to the immersion value of the bright and cheery worlds they spin, but it just seems odd that everyone from people’s parents to the school administration keeps a Pokeball or Robocube or whatever handy just in case some kid wanders by looking for a fight.
Musing on Pokemon, I’ve always wondered; Are there normal plants and animals in the Pokemon universe? I mean- people gotta eat something, preferably something that’s not too cute, poisonous, and conducting electricity. Or are there simply chefs who specialize in catching Pokemon en masse to slaughter and cook? Again, not that it’d make an appealing menu if your entrees were grass/rock types.
The next game of one of these series should address what happens when a fad dies. Maybe in a belated Medabots sequel, where Ikki wanders about town looking for someone to Robattle with a box full of enough bot parts to buy a used car, only to find the other kids are playing some collectible card game where famous war criminals wage mystical battle.
…Oh yeah, and those collectors’ magazine covers are fugly. Just sayin’.
Silent Hill 5: The Pokeball
Ha — that would be a rather interesting game! You know what else would be cool? A Pokemon-style game involving an alien race that has come to Earth to enslave humans, forcing them to live in tiny enclosures and battle each other ad nauseam. Considering that we pack ourselves into small apartments and engage in all manner of warfare, they could probably work in a lot of deep allegorical elements…