Four Changes I'd Like to See in Pokémon Switch

Pokemon, evolved

       Pokemon used to be one of my favorite franchises, but as I've spoken about before, it just doesn't do it for me these days. The market is over saturated with Pokemon games that make very few improvements, and I find myself increasingly disinterested with the same old formula year after year. In fact, I skipped Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon entirely, which is the first time I didn't play a main series Pokemon title in, well, ever. It's time for a change, and I think that Pokemon Switch could finally be the evolution of the franchise that I've wanted for so long. I think there are some logical, and some illogical, innovations that could go a long way to refreshing this RPG juggernaut. It may seem daunting to completely overhaul the Pokemon franchise, but luckily for Game Freak, the blueprints for these changes lie within four other Nintendo titles. So without further ado, here are four games Pokemon should look to for inspiration in order to create a modern experience new and old fans alike can enjoy.

Borrow The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Non-Linearity

       Pokemon is a very linear franchise, to its own detriment. Pokemon games should be an adventure, but when they are scripted out to such an extent, the adventure does not feel like your own. I want to be able to start out in the hometown and leave in whatever direction I see fit, get my eight gym badges in the order I want, and have the freedom to see as much or as little of the Region as I desire. This would open the game up to a new degree of player choice, and promote extreme replay value. Upon second and third playthroughs of a Pokemon game, the variety usually comes from the Pokemon that accompany you. In this format, there would be even more variables at play. I could take a totally new route and see totally new things than I did the first time around. It isn't as though this would be impossible, or even difficult to implement, as Breath of the Wild accomplished this feat just last year. As soon as you left the Great Plateau in Zelda, the experience was yours. Visit the Zora Domain, and then Death Mountain, followed by Gerudo Town, and Rito Village, or start at Death Mountain and take a completely different path. This freedom certainly didn't come at the expense of the experience, it just shifted the focus and initiative onto the player. I think this is the number one change that could really improve the Pokemon formula, and one that is totally attainable.

Borrow Animal Crossing: New Leaf's Island Multiplayer

       I'd love to be able to experience my full Pokemon adventure with a friend or two, much like the Pokemon Anime, but that is wholly unrealistic. The game would have to be totally developed around this concept, and I think that would stray a bit too far away from the core Pokemon formula. Instead, I want to see the next Pokemon game take cues from Animal Crossing: New Leaf's Island multiplayer. In New Leaf, you and a friend could go to the Island, which was a location fully removed from the Town. There, you'd participate in mini-games to earn medals, and work together to catch fish, bugs, and harvest fruit that could be brought back to the Town and sold. This was an enjoyable, useful, and unobtrusive multiplayer element that my friends and I spent many an hour with during our time in New Leaf. I think that a similar concept would work very well in Pokemon. I envision a jungle island off the coast of the Region that is totally uncharted. It could be reached by boat, and you and your friends would be able to explore it, allowing you to battle rare wild Pokemon and collecting rare items. For so long Pokemon multiplayer has been as simple as battling and trading, so I'd like to see it take the next step and let me explore a closed off area with my friends.

Borrow Elements of Xenoblade Chronicles 2's Battle System

       Of all the things that need to change in Pokemon, the battle system is top priority. It relies far too much on arbitrary numbers and chance, rather than actual skill. Yes, skill is integral to the combat in a competitive scenario, but in the main game, it doesn't matter how skilled you are if your attack misses, or your opponent is a higher level. I believe that Pokemon battles would be far more exciting, fair, and skill-based if we assumed direct control over the action. You'd throw out your Pokemon, for example we'll use Ampharos, and right away you'd be in the action. Ampharos would be directly controllable, and you'd have to literally get within range and execute your moves, all the while dodging attacks from your opponent. To keep the RPG elements, implementing Xenoblade Chronicles 2's attack system would work perfectly here. Just like in Xenoblade, the four Pokemon moves could be mapped to the face buttons, and could work on cooldowns to prevent players from spamming one attack. This hypothetical battle system could also keep Xenoblade's mandate of standing still during an attack which would further set up a risk versus reward system of positioning your Pokemon just right, unleashing an attack, and getting on the move again. It would also open up further strategic possibilities through the various status effects in the core Pokemon games. Maybe you have Ampharos get in close to the opponent, paralyze them, and then line up a perfect Thunder attack for maximum damage. The point of a system like this would be to alleviate the random element of battle brought by move hit percentages, but to also raise the skill ceiling as players would need to develop a mastery of both movement and combat, which would in turn open up strategies to discover and employ.

Borrow Paper Mario: Color Splash's Disregard For A Traditional Level-Up System

       Now I know, bringing up Paper Mario: Color Splash as a template for a future Pokemon game throws my credibility into jeopardy, but it is the closest analogy I have, since very few RPGs that I know of use non-traditional level-up systems. I don't think that Pokemon should adopt a hammer scrap-esque system, but I do believe that Pokemon should totally redefine what it means to level-up. The biggest annoyance in Pokemon, is the constant fight to stay at a good level in order to have a fair challenge. Either I find myself wildly over-leveled, and thus I don't have a challenge, or wildly under-leveled, and then I have to spend hours grinding for exp. points in order to even have a chance. So, I propose that winning battles, instead of gaining exp. points, you gain an assortment of Poke Puffs, the candies from Pokemon X/Y. Only this time, the Poke Puffs would be fed to your Pokemon to raise certain stats.

       There would be four types of these Puffs, Agility Puffs to raise movement speed, Hearty Puffs to raise HP, Spicy Puffs to lower move cooldown times, and Mighty puffs to raise attack power. Since these puffs would augment certain stats only, you'd be able to specialize your Pokemon, not simply make them stronger overall. In this scenario, the Puffs would raise one stat, while lowering another. So, I could take that Ampharos from the earlier example, and raise its movement speed at a detriment to its attack power, or vice versa. There would be the same inverse relationship between raising a Pokemon's HP and its attack cooldowns. Maybe you have a Snorlax with a lot of HP, so it will stay around longer, but it cannot attack very quickly. This system would allow a higher skilled player with a weaker Pokemon to triumph, while still giving an edge to a Pokemon who has been trained for a longer period of time. In the current system, a level 25 Pokemon would be decimated by a level 30 Pokemon, regardless of the player's skill level. Allowing the Pokemon to be specialized, instead of flat out made better than another, keeps the battles fun and uncertain. And, much like my proposed battle system, it would allow for more strategy and diversity in the Pokemon through the augmentation of different skill areas.

       If I'm being honest with myself, I doubt that we'll see my last two ideas realized. They are such big shake-ups to the formula, that I'd be shocked if Game Freak actually went through with anything of that magnitude. However, I feel changes like these are necessary given that Pokemon has stayed stagnant for more than 20 years. Regardless of what additive changes are made, we haven't seen Game Freak try anything truly new with the series. Sure I'd love surface changes like Pokemon being able to walk behind me, or actual Pokemon models during HM moves, but what I want even more than that are significant structural changes. My ideas might seem radical on paper, but we'll never really know what can become of Pokemon if Game Freak never tries to innovate. Sure, if the next Pokemon game on the Switch followed the exact same formula as the 3DS games, it'll sell well, and I'd probably run through it, but rehashing the same tired formula will come around to bite Game Freak. There is already a growing discontent towards the franchise within the Nintendo community after Ultra Sun and Moon, and I'd hate to see this once great franchise totally lose its fan support. But, it isn't too late for Pokemon, and there is an awesome opportunity for the series on Switch, Game Freak just needs to take advantage of it.