Game Freak are renowned for introducing revolutionary features only to proceed to toss them aside and take a step back when it comes to releasing the next installment, claiming that unique features make a game worth revisiting. There’s an argument to be made that some of these features should absolutely remain in future games, and these are just a few that I’d like to see the most!
1. Shadow Pokémon
Introduced in Genius Sonority’s 2003 title Pokémon Colosseum, Shadow Pokémon are corrupted versions of the monsters with their hearts closed off that need to be purified by the player. In their original iteration, they only knew one move: Shadow Rush. This did high neutral damage to every Pokémon, with the cost of recoil damage. This was later expanded in Pokémon: XD, with a plethora of shadow moves being added, such as weather-inducing and status-afflicting moves, which fleshed out the shadow concept into something unseen in the main games to this day.
Shadow Pokémon were recently added to Pokémon GO and have shown to be a great success within the GO community. Seeing this, it’s not out of the question for this feature to return in an evil scheme in a future game, especially now that XD‘s art director and Shadow Lugia’s creator, James Turner, is now the lead art director for Sword and Shield.
2. Varied Battle Facilities
Introduced in Crystal, extra battle facilities for post-game content is nothing new to the series, but it hit its renaissance in Generation 3 with Emerald‘s Battle Frontier and Generation 5’s Pokémon World Tournament. Battle Facilities are still in modern Pokémon games, but as of X and Y, they have been solely Battle Tower-style buildings with endless battles in different formats rather than the gimmick and complexity of what the Battle Frontier used to consist of. We need more variety to stop us getting burnt out on endless no-thrills battles.
3. Difficulty Settings
This is a unique concept only attempted once by Game Freak in a very convoluted way. Difficulty settings existed within Black and White 2 but were locked behind clearing the game and the key system. What this meant was if you wanted to change your difficulty to easy or challenge mode, you had to first receive the key from another player who had cleared Black and White 2 via infrared and then toggle that mode, as starting a new game erased the keys you had earned too.
Challenge mode entailed having higher-level Pokémon, better stats, different held items and move-sets, an improved AI, and the major characters having an extra party member on their teams. Having this as an option in the new games from the beginning would alleviate most players’ concerns that the games have gotten too easy.
4. DexNav
The Habitat List was also introduced in Black and White 2 (it seems like most of the best features did in hindsight) and then greatly expanded on in the Hoenn remakes into the DexNav system. This system basically lists all of the Pokémon you can find on any given route and grades you accordingly so you can keep track of what you need to catch and where they live with relative ease. In addition to this, the DexNav introduced a system where you could chain Pokémon to get higher IVs, egg moves, hidden abilities, and even increased shiny odds if you were patient enough, making it the ultimate system to find rare Pokémon with the best abilities.
5. Following Pokemon
Although technically introduced in Yellow with Pikachu, Heart Gold and Soul Silver is where this series saw its full potential, with every Pokémon in the game being able to follow you at any time, giving you a close and personal bond with your team members and adding to the overall immersion.
This feature was reintroduced in Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee!, and recreated beautifully, with every Pokémon having unique animations whilst following. Even giving the ability to ride select Pokémon as a means of faster travel through the region was added. This was brought back in the Isle of Armour expansion for Sword and Shield, but it feels quite undercooked compared to how Let’s Go managed to implement the feature, especially as you can only do it on the island.
6. Mega Evolution
One of the best gimmick features to be added in recent memory, Mega Evolution was the leading element in Generation 6 stories and the competitive scene. A temporary transformation, 48 Pokémon were capable of this temporary transformation, making usually nonviable choices see the spotlight and create new team possibilities. Although a little unbalanced at first, Mega Evolution was adjusted and correctly balanced in Generation 7, but is absurdly absent from Generation 8—likely to not take the attention from the new Dynamax feature. The return of this feature would make long-time fans very happy and allow weaker Pokémon with the trait to return to their former glory!
7. Rematching Gym Leaders
This is as simple as it sounds. In every game, the post-game should allow you to battle the region’s gym leaders with beefier teams and more intelligent AI. This feature almost always seems reserved for remakes or, in some rare cases, definitive versions like Platinum, but it should seriously be a series staple at this point.
8. Seasons
Shockingly, only included in the Generation 5 games, seasons are an aesthetic change to the game’s overworld that happens once a month. Changing the spawn rates of certain Pokémon and causing snow/leaves to pile up in other months, this also allows you to access secret areas for cool rewards. This change in weather had an effect on Deerling and Sawsbuck, which underwent a transformation depending on the season, which could have opened the floodgates to seasonal transformations. But alas, we haven’t seen this feature since 2012, and with the 3D engine, it’s unlikely we’ll see this for a long time again.
9. In Game Events
When Mythical events were introduced, you were usually given an item such as a boat ticket or a letter, which you then had to take to a certain place or ride a boat to travel to the Pokémon. Then you had to complete a few battles or complete a puzzle, sometimes both, to then encounter and catch the mythical Pokémon. In Generation 6, they did away with this in favour of just giving you the Pokémon at a Pokémon Center, and if you were lucky, some flavour text. Make us work for our mythicals, Game Freak!
10. Player Search System
X and Y had their flaws, but their online communication system was not one of them. They did away with union rooms and colosseums and introduced a seamless local and online system on the bottom screen where you were never more than three taps away from a trade or a battle. They took a huge step back with the festival plaza and the Y-Comm in Sword and Shield uses finicky codes rather than a friend list, which still doesn’t hit the potential that the PSS had. Don’t fix what isn’t broken, and don’t pull another Festival Plaza on us, please!
And these are my picks for the 10 features every Pokémon game should try to include. Do you agree with my choices? What features would you love to see come back consistently? Let me know in the comments!
Video game completionist and 3D platformer connoisseur, Riley is a fan of the whimsical frenzy of bright and colourful characters that blessed us in the late 90's. Their favourite game's are Spyro, Persona 5 and Super Mario Sunshine.