Nintendo Celebrates Pokemoniversary

Thanks to IGN Pocket for their article pointing out that Nintendo's Pokemon franchise is celebrating its 5th anniversary in the States. According to the article, "Pokemon first launched on the original Game Boy in Japan in 1996. Since bringing the franchise to North America in September 1998, Nintendo has sold more than 110 million Pokemon games worldwide. Pokemon merchandise has generated over $15 billion in worldwide retail sales since 1998." With the HAL-developed Pokemon Pinball:Ruby And Sapphire out now for GBA, and Pokemon Coliseum for GameCube forthcoming early next year as a Pokemon Stadium-style companion for Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire on GBA, it seems Pikachu and friends are here to stay.

Comments

No-one can afford Pokemon anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

First they came for the menial jobs. I never spoke out because I didn't have a menial job.
Then they came for the unskilled laborer jobs. I never spoke out because I wasn't an unskilled laborer.
Then they came for the skilled labor jobs. I never spoke out because I wasn't a skilled laborer.
Then they came for the call center jobs. I never spoke out because I didn't work in a call center.
Then they came for the middle management / clerical jobs. I never spoke out because that wasn't my job either.
Then they came for the programmer's jobs. And there was no-one left in employment who wanted to help me.

FACT: This country is being hollowed out from the inside by filthy subhuman animals. An invasion of scum, often illegally entering the country, who are crawling their way into good jobs. Why? Because they are wanting to take everything over. We all know to what effect that 'positive discrimination' has altered employment practises. Now, instead of the most valuable person for the job, companies are obliged to employ rancid, workshy immigrants.

Of course, the animals want to get into good companies, so they in turn can influence management decisions to outsource further jobs to their cousins overseas. Thus destroying an entire nation.

From the lowliest Janitor to the highest executive, foreigners MUST be eliminated from our corporations.

THEY BREED FASTER THAN OURSELVES BECAUSE THEIR LIVES ARE WORTH LESS.

Re:No-one can afford Pokemon anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolutely right. Lousy foreign Pokemon taking all our jobs. And in the latest versions of the games, kids are encouraged to breed them, ensuring a saturated job market. Curse Nintendo and their moneymaking ways.
.
.
.
That is who you meant by "they", right? ;)

First Postimon

[Anonymous Coward]

sorry I had yo...

FAGGOTS

[Anonymous Coward]

Goatse Receiver, ass contortionist, dead at 55

I just heard some sad news on talk radio - ass strectching exhibitionist Goatse Receiver was found dead in CmdrTaco's bed this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to making the intarweb a great place for millions of users. Truly an American icon.
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Important Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything

nigger

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I'm a Republican
I got a small schling
I like to bomb niggahs
and make a lot o' bling

I got a bunch o' friends
in high up places
They helps me get dem
government graces.

You think I'm smart
I just know who's who
I couldn't run a fruit stand
without the red white & blue

Don't need no history
Don't need no schoolin'
I got my ideology
To keep me a shootin'

I fancy myself
A brilliant tactician
But neither me nor m'buddies
Could even pass basic trainin'

See, I'm above all that
A fightin' and shootin'
I just say "Sic em!"
Then run the other direction

Liberals! Faggots!
Commies and queers!
Socialist hippies
Full o' pussy tears!

I'll drop some crap
about Jesus the Christ
You'll buy it all
and vote for me twice

'Fact, Jesus is comin'!
Real soon, now!
So we gotta prop up Israel
That ol' sacred cow

Propaganda's m'friend
But I calls it "fact"
Even though I don't read
'Cept for Chick tracts

Facts? No! Don't need em here!
We're conservatives! We work on FEAR!
Don't like what we say?
Well FUCK YOU, bud!
We'll shove it down yer throat
and tell ya it's good!

Pokemon Malvolution

[edward.virtually@pob]

While Pokemon is still around, it obviously isn't as popular as it once was. One reason for this is Nintendo's making Ruby/Saphire incompatible with the Pokemon from previous editions.

Re:Pokemon Malvolution

[M3wThr33]

Not as popular?
Yet another(6th) movie on the way, and already sold about 10 million copies of Ruby/Sapphire in under a year. I'd say that's DAMN GOOD.

Re:Pokemon Malvolution

[Shrubber]

What's to be compatible about? It's a new game, a new character, there's nothing to carry forward from previous editions.
There wouldn't be much point to the game if you could somehow carry forward the Pokemon you had built up to high levels in a previous game and just walk through.

Re:Pokemon Malvolution

[hibiki_r]

In the red/blue to gold/silver transition a beefed up pokemon from red/blue woudn't help much until you have the badge that allows you to "tame" high level pokemon. They'd just refuse to obey your orders at all. After you got the badge though, the game was pretty much over.

Re:Pokemon Malvolution

[Chris Mattern]

They've never made Pokemon games compatible with the previous generation. Gold/Silver/Crystal was incompatible with Red/Blue/Yellow.

Chris Mattern

Re:Pokemon Malvolution

[edward.virtually@pob]

Um, WRONG. You can import all pokemon from Blue/Red/Yellow into Gold/Silver/Crystal. That's why Gold/Silver/Crystal did not suck and Ruby/Saphire does.

The sad state of the games.slashdot.org

[The Zody]

When you can look at a post and find four threads at 0 and one at 2 you know something is wrong.

pinball looks intresting..

[gl4ss]

kinda reminds me of kirby pinball, which is an excellent (for bw gb) game, with good physics feeling even the plaything is a cutesy character.

.

um. yes.

My Thoughts

[Gothic_Walrus]

Pokemon is most definitely a dead fad, but the game franchises won't be going anywhere soon. Even if you hate all of the marketing that once surrounded the series, you've got to admit one thing: the games that started it all were actually good.

I still remember (was it back in 1998? Seems longer...) when I got my Pokemon Red game. The games had just been released in the U.S. and the series wasn't exactly popular at that point in time. I got the game because I heard it was a good RPG, and I found out that it was. Decent storyline (too bad it hasn't changed in any of the other GB games...), incredibly deep battle system (Bulbasaur or Squirtle?), lots of replay value...Screw Final Fantasy. Now this was an RPG.

It's unfortunate that Nintendo killed the series' popularity through overexposure (the card game was a bit much). It also didn't help that the new Game Boy games brought some innovations (Gold and Silver) but were mainly retreads of what's been done before (Ruby, Sapphire, Yellow, Crystal).

In any case, I'm going to remember Pokemon for what it began as: a damn good RPG.

Re:My Thoughts

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish I had as dead a fad as Pokemon surrounding our product. :( 10 million shipments of their latest edition would be marvelous numbers for us.

Re:My Thoughts

[WWWWolf]

It's unfortunate that Nintendo killed the series' popularity through overexposure (the card game was a bit much).

The TCG wasn't that bad.

I did think, though, that the GameBoy game based on the TCG was a bit overboard... =/ I mean, it's one thing to make a pretty decent CRPG or a card game based on it, and another to make a game based on a card game based on another game.

Bet they'll next make a card game based on the GB game based on the TCG based on the first GB game. Or at least agree to fund the documentary "Making of 'Making of Titanic'".

RPG????

[Dot.Com.CEO]

At the danger of the Jap games fanboys jumping on to me, let me make a comment. Those Final Fantasy games you are refering to, as well as the Pokemon "RPGs" are anything but. Sure, you gain points and you can level up, you learn spells etc., but you cannot "role play". Can you choose between being a good or a bad character? Will the game change towards you when you do? If, for example, you decide to play the game again as a different character, will you have a different experience? Do you even have the choice to play the game as a different character? Don't get me wrong, I'm quite fond of the Final Fantasy style games but this thing of calling them RPGs really has to stop at some point. People are even calling the Zelda series an RPG, I'm really beginning to think I've lived my whole life in a paralel gamers universe.

These games are much closer to the adventure games of old in that they are story and character driven. Please stop calling them RPGs. I suggest you play a game of Morrowind or Neverwinter Nights to see what a real RPG is like.

Re:RPG????

[Gothic_Walrus]

I know exactly what you're talking about, and it bothers me too at times. Still, what other genre would Pokemon and Final Fantasy fall into? The only one that comes to mind is adventure, and that's not a very good fit. What genre do you consider these games?

Re:RPG????

[Dot.Com.CEO]

I do consider them adventures. They continue where great games like Secret of the Monkey Island left off. They have some arcade elements, true, but if you think about it, I think you will find that they have more things in common with, say, old Sierra adventures than with pure RPGs. The Final Fantasy series is especially a good point to make since they are story based. Take out all the fighting and you have a pure, story based, adventure game.

I don't mind the convention, usually, but it bothers me when people define the RPG genre with games like Pokemon * and the Final Fantasy series...

Re:RPG????

[Gothic_Walrus]

Ah...an intelligent poster. The gaming world needs more people like you.

As for defining the genre...ask any PC gamer to name an RPG. I can almost guarantee that they won't mention FF or Pokemon. It seems to be an opinion held, for the most part, by console gamers.

I realize I've gotten off-topic from my original post, but I still think that Pokemon is a very well done game. It's just not the only kind of RPG out there.

Re:RPG????

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, you're a teenager, aren't you?

Face the facts

[gasaraki]

Everybody calls FF type games RPGs how. They always have and they always will. Just because you can't create your own character, or the game doesnt have an alignment system, it doesn't mean it's not an RPG. If he's a "Jap games fanboy", you're a "D&D nerd fanboy".

Re:Face the facts

[Dot.Com.CEO]

They call them RPGs because they don't know any better. I've never played D&D in my life, btw, but nice try.

Trading and Cheapness

[X-wes]

However...

Nintendo realises a loophole in this system. If you have a copy of Red and a copy of Gold, you can trade your starting Pokemon from Gold to Red. In Red, this Pokemon can be trained in Unknown Dungeon to, say, level 55. Upon returning to Red, however, the trainer would not need a badge to control this Pokemon, since the ID number states that this Pokemon did, in fact, belong to said trainer. Badges are only necessary to control Pokemon whose original trainer (OT) is different.

This system of incompatibility ensures that cheaper ways out of actually training Pokemon is relatively eliminated. Nevertheless, I do agree that Nintendo shot themselves in the foot with making Ruby/Sapphire incompatible.

Re:Trading and Cheapness

[fyrewulff]

Yeah, they shot themselves in the foot so much that they sold another million copies.

Time Machine

[X-wes]

I agree. Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal made several provisions for backward-compatibility:

• Time Machine
• Move-Forget Function
• Preservation of Carried Items

Perhaps Mister Mattern has not said Pokemon games; if so, then, he cannot be blamed for his blatently incorrect statements.

RPG: Role-Playing Game

[X-wes]

I believe you are taking a point of view that is slightly too purist for general convention. A role-playing game is, after all, a game where you take actions within the confines of a role. You must deal with the many issues that such a role would throw at you.

For example, the player Red is a Pokemon trainer. He must deal with buying Poke Balls, dealing with trainers, and winning badges. He cannot be expected to achieve the presidency; that is not in his role.

Agreeably, this definition is slightly broad. Under this definition, Super Mario Bros. is a very, very weak RPG. However, Morrowind or Neverwinter Nights is also a very weak RPG, as you must create a character as you go along. There is no 'role', as you must define one for yourself. MMORPG's are not RPG's anymore.

Re:RPG: Role-Playing Game

[Dot.Com.CEO]

I don't understand your point. Perhaps mine was not clear enough. What I meant was that when faced with a particular problem in, say, Neverwinter Nights, you have to solve it according to what your character is, or where you want him/her to go. Do you want your character to be good or evil? A wizard or a tank? Solve the puzzle to get the item from the NPC or kill him? Etc. etc. I'm not very much into MMORPGs other than a spell of Dark Age of Camelot (which I enjoyed), but I don't agree with you. MMORPGs are the essence of role playing nowadays - if you choose to play them like that, that is. If you are lucky enough to isolate yourself from the ever-present idiots who do not know how to role play and act as if they just came out of third grade, you will enjoy an excellent role playing experience. It is, however, hard to roleplay while answering to something to the tune of "h3y d00d, gimme monneyz!". YMMV, of course.

very last post, I win again!

[muirhead]

last post!
Baby Ruby says "bwarghhhhh!"

YOU FAIL IT!

[Anonymous Coward]

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Re:YOU FAIL IT!

[Anonymous Coward]

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