Soapbox functions allow our writers to express their own opinions on hot topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In this play, Ryan explores the idea of a restart of the Pokémon TCG video game and why now might be the perfect time for such a release …
Given how many Pokémon games are out there and how well the Pokémon Company has always been to the last penny of its global army of fans, it’s quite surprising to realize that the official Pokémon trading card game has was ever adapted in the form of a video game twice – and even then, one of them was exclusively Japan.
Although ideas may not always be for me, I will always appreciate that Pokémon is used in new and interesting ways – such as an app that helps kids brush their teeth – but we’re talking about a series that doesn’t afraid to recycle old ideas, whether fans care or not. There was a huge eleven Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, for example, and between mainstream entries, remakes, spin-offs, and mobile titles, franchise fans have become accustomed to seeing a small handful of new Pokémon experiences released each year.
So how come the Trading Card Game format – an already established game in itself, which has changed 30.4 billion cards in the last twenty-five years – has been used so little? Would a new video game based on the card game make sense? It would generate crazy levels of revenue that the company would expect and contribute to uniform change More physical cards? The answers to these last questions are “probably” and “quite possible”, but I would argue that there has never been a better time for the Pokémon gods to give it a try.
As you will probably hear countless times over the next few months, as new products hit store shelves, this year marks the 25th anniversary of Pokémon. It’s been a very special holiday year (Katy Perry is already on board, for starters) and knowing how much the Pokémon Company likes to revisit the past, you can be sure that there will be some clues as to where the series started. mix. Indeed, on an appropriate topical note, some iconic Pokémon cards are re-released as part of the fun.
Suddenly, an entire community of players who would meet in clubs or game stores to play and trade can no longer do so.
This is a good enough reason to restart a TCG video game in itself, but of course the anniversary falls at a strange time, with the COVID pandemic erupting; While video games have actually blossomed due to the fact that people are inside, the trading card game is a whole other story. A potential drop in sales aside, trading card games shine best in social media – the only thing that currently can’t exist. Suddenly, an entire community of players who would meet in clubs or game stores to play and trade can no longer do this and go to a store to pick up some booster packs is not accurate. the same cheerful journey he was making.
Now, TCG Online – an official and constantly expanding digital version of the game, which can be played on smart devices – close tick all boxes. In TCG Online, you can fight opponents with digital decks that you have built yourself, buy new cards to add to your digital collection, and even redeem codes from real packs of physical cards to add even more. It’s a wonderful, accurate recreation of the game and it certainly works as a replacement for reality, but it’s missing something, and something is the magic of video games.
Let me quickly intercept a line or two about the thing that inspired me to write this piece in the first place: Pokémon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy. One of the two TCG-based video games that appeared on the console, was released in 1998-2000 depending on your region, and made players build their own decks of cards from the first three sets of cards in the game. real books. From there, you’ll take eight clubs to defeat your masters and win medals, before taking a version of the classic Pokémon Elite Four setup. Once you’ve been certified the best (as no one has ever been), you can continue the fight and trade with friends who also have a copy of the game on Game Boy.
I’ve been playing it for the last two weeks, and although nostalgia helps, I’ve fallen in love with both it and the trading card game again. Completing the objectives to receive in-game booster packs – no purchase required – is a lot of fun, and extracting a digital version of the shiny Blastoise card I still have in a folder at home made me happier than a few lines of game code should ever. It has a decent plot, NPCs to talk to, a complete collection of cards to unlock through skills and gameplay, rather than additional purchases, and all can be played on a Nintendo console. It feels right.
So let me introduce the idea of a new Pokémon trading card game for Switch. Like the main games, players can start as novices, but this time with a single pack of cards, as they embark on a journey to become the best card player the world has ever seen. The cards from the past series are correct and present – can you imagine getting that Chainyard Shiny everyone wanted, but now, in 2021? – and once you have finished the story of the game, you can continue and play against all your friends. Switch online.
Now, you have something that feels like a 25th anniversary celebration, helps players enjoy safe online gaming, would attract new players to the physical game, and could happily launch for a console that seems to invigorate any franchise that appears on it. Right now do what tick all the boxes and I doubt the very idea.
I would usually end by saying something along the line “You know, this will never happen, so don’t get too excited.”, but it really is not excluded. For one thing, Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution – a Switch game that allows you to collect over 9000 cards from the history of that series and play scenes from his anime – does almost everything we talked about here, but for Konami’s collectible card game. And if We Pokémon Snap can finally brings back a series that last saw the light of day twenty years ago, why couldn’t a “New Pokémon Card Game” follow suit?
Please, Pokémon supremacists. Let it happen!
Are you a fan of the Pokémon trading card game? Want to see a new and updated game for Switch? Tell us your opinions in the comments below.