Since the release of Pokemon X & Y is right around the corner I thought now would be a good time to voice what I feel would be great to see in new next-gen Pokemon games. Pokemon is one of my favorite and most replayed games ever but lately I must say that the lack of anything new or original (other than the pokemon themselves) in the recent entries is quite disheartening. Don't get me wrong I still love to turn on my DS or GBA and play some of my favorite entries in the series, and still to this day the accomplishment I am most proud of is catching Mew in Red without a cheat code and noting feels quite as rewarding as running around in one area for an hour trying to get one pokemon and then catching it. I remember spending hours trying to get the timing right on the glitch in order to make Mew appear and it was so rewarding when I finally got it right.
Yet I digress, over the course of the 19 years pokemon has been out in the US the series has budged little more than an inch, with minor changes to their battling mechanics being the bulk of the changes (i.e double, triple and now air battles) and the rest being new abilities and stat changes one could argue pokemon stopped evolving after Gen. III. Although if Game Freak would simply shake up the formula a bit they could bring entice any former fans to return to the franchise and introduce new people the game. Here are just a few ideas.
1. More save files
This may be a small nit pick but I hate having to overwrite one of my old games in order to start a new one, this is mostly due to that slight attachment you feel to your Pokemon and the though of deleting all of the work you put into that previous game. It's a small thing but I complain about it every time I restart my game.
2. Use what you already have.
That may already sound like the mission statement emblazoned above Nintendo's door but I assure you this is something I have wanted in a Pokemon game forever. The Pokeverse has five regions (soon to be six) Filled with places and pokemon fans know and love USE THEM, ALL OF THEM! Why not use every region in one game and allow the player to choose where they start. Think about it wouldn't it be awesome if you could choose to start in Kanto and work your way through Johto, Hoenn and the rest with increasing levels along the way. On top of that having the entire Pokedex available to capture. Maybe even taking it a step further and have a Pokemon MMO, where you would be able to pick what town you are from your backstory (do you want to be a Pokemon Master or run a Team Rocket of your very own), or even pick your own starter.
3. Choose your own starter
There are over 600+ different pokemon but when you start your journey you must always pick one of the 3 starters that the game presents to you and only those three what about the other 598 pokemon maybe I want to start with one of them. Now i don't mean give the player access to literally every Pokemon to start with but give the player more of a choice; like instead of choosing only from a grass,fire,or water type allow the player to choose from a pokemon of every type. This would increase immersion and allow people to have a more unique gaming experience and come on it would be cool to start the game with a dratini.
The phrase 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' may be working for Nintendo now but sooner or later even the most hardcore fans will give up,but hey maybe that will be the kick in the butt Nintendo needs to finally realize making the same thing over and over won't work forever and finally get around to releasing the games people have been begging for for years.