The Legacy of Pokémon - Part 7 (Generation VII)
A record of the personal journey of a Pokémon fan, from the very beginning
I received Pokémon Sun as an early birthday and Christmas gift from my friend Steve on November 26th 2016, after I expressed some interest in picking it up for myself, thanks to Pokémon GO reigniting some love for the series once again. I had originally pre-ordered the game on Amazon with a steel book, but was unsure of whether I wanted to buy it or not, so I later cancelled it. Hearing that Sun and Moon were swapping out the traditional Gym Leader challenge for trials, and the removal of HM abilities from these new titles, I was intrigued and decided to give it a chance.
I have always been a huge fan of birds, and when I first set eyes on the Alolan grass-type starter Rowlet, my decision to choose it as my first Pokémon was immediately clear. When you select a starter in Sun and Moon, Hala, the Kahuna of Melemele Island, states that a Pokémon and trainer must choose each other before they can truly become partners. The cutscene that followed involved my character and Rowlet staring at each other, waiting in eager anticipation to see if, for the first time in Pokémon, my starter would also deem its new trainer worthy. Shortly after, my character lifts Rowlet gently into the air in a very wholesome scene. This wonderful round borb quickly became my favourite Pokémon, and was further solidified once I saw its fun and silly personality in the anime, especially the scene where it looks like Rowlet is having an existential crisis. I couldn’t bring myself to evolve my starter back then, so he will always remain a Rowlet in Sun.
I also loved the various Alolan forms that were introduced in Sun and Moon, namely Exeggutor and Marowak. I cannot forget the hilarious Alolan Exeggutor memes at the time, with its long neck extending out across multiple Twitter posts, or one image of it going into outer space! I was impressed by the design of Marowak’s regional form and its typing of Fire and Ghost was a neat pairing. I generally thought it looked awesome and it’s likely my favourite of all the Alolan forms.
Upon completing the game, my feelings on Pokémon began to shift positivity a little, feeling more content about the experience, despite years of dissatisfaction. I thought that becoming the first ever Champion of Alola was a great touch. Pokémon Sun was the most enjoyable game for me since HeartGold and SoulSilver, which is quite an achievement for a series that I felt had lost its spark. I completed the game on December 30th with an Alolan Raichu, a Toucannon, a Wishiwashi, a Snorlax, an Alakazam and my unevolved starter: Rowlet. While I have the information on what my team consisted of, I was disappointed to learn that Hall of Fame records didn’t exist any more, and I can’t remember specifically what my team’s levels were.
In late 2017 I commissioned an artist who was producing some artwork reminiscent of the art seen in generation I by Ken Sugimori. I requested four pieces featuring my friends with their favourite Pokémon, including references to some of their hobbies and interests in their design. I decided that I would also request one for myself, which featured my new favourite Pokémon Rowlet, with my character wearing a cape to represent my favourite type of Pokémon and trainer design: dragons! The cape was held together with a pin that had a Screw Attack design etched into it to represent my love of the Metroid franchise. By December 2017 I had received them all, and had them printed and placed in Pewter frames, a reference to the town in Pokémon Red and Blue. Overall I was very happy with how the designs turned out, and based on what my friends told me, they loved them too.
The series finally moved away from the 3DS and on to the Nintendo Switch with the release of Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee. On November 16th 2018, I was transported back to the world of Kanto with a fresh new approach, determined to catch all 151 Pokémon. As an avid fan of Pokémon GO, and a Switch owner, it was a no-brainer. I went all out and purchased the special edition version of Let’s Go Eevee with the Pokéball Plus, a device that could be used as a controller for the game and was compatible with Pokémon GO as a catching device.
While it was great to return to Kanto, I felt that the experience wasn’t as enjoyable as the original games or even as comparable to Pokémon FireRed. However, I did enjoy the catching mechanic, which I had been familiar with in Pokémon GO for a couple of years up until this point, and to see a brighter and more detailed version of Kanto. The soundtrack was particularly enjoyable, especially the Pokémon GO arrangements. It was disappointing to see that the Let’s Go games had limited scope in terms of features, making them a fairly contained experience that I probably won’t revisit.
In my opinion, these remakes of the original games were created with the intention of capitalising on the huge success of Pokémon GO, in an attempt to bring people over to the Switch in time for the next generation of games. I also believe that adding this game to Game Freak’s already tight release schedule, seeking higher revenue, is one reason later generations of Pokémon struggled to live up to the quality of previous titles. Let’s Go Eevee marks the first time I have ever completed a Pokédex in a Pokémon game, catching all 151 Pokémon, or 153 if you count Meltan and Melmetal, which I transferred to the game from Pokémon GO. I completed Let’s Go Eevee for the first time on November 21st 2018. My team consisted of Charizard, Pidgeot, Blastoise, Victreebel, Raichu and Articuno. While it was nice to revisit Kanto once more, I was eagerly anticipating the next generation…