Vol. 2, Issue 31 - The Legacy of Pokémon - Part 6 (Generation VI)
The continued story of my ongoing feature: The Legacy of Pokémon, where I share my time playing through Generation VI. Plus, a recap of the latest Pokémon news
Welcome to Vol. 2, issue 31 of the Johto Times newsletter! This is the sixth part of an ongoing series that shares my memories and experiences of Pokémon through the generations. This week, I'm sharing my time with Generation VI, which covers my experiences in the Kalos region with Pokémon Y, my return to Hoenn with Pokémon Omega Ruby, and my introduction to a game which brought about a second wave of Pokémania across the globe: Pokémon GO. As usual, I also put together a recap of the latest Pokémon news from the past week.
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News
In celebration of next month's Pokémon World Championships in Honolulu, customers at select local and online retail locations where Pokémon TCG products are sold, including participating Pokémon Center stores, can obtain a limited edition Pikachu promo card featuring a battle against the mythical Pokémon, Mew! It will be available between August 2nd and August 18th, 2024, while supplies last. Players can also participate in a Worlds Celebration event at their local Pokémon League from August 12th – August 18th, 2024.
You can find your nearest League by checking out the Event Locator. For more information, check out the official Pokémon website.
Source: Pokémon
The Pokémon Company International made $10.8 billion in retail sales in 2023, according to a report by License Global, an annual report ranking global retail sales for licensed consumer products and experiences. The earnings are down from their 2022 report, which announced the company made $11.6 billion.
Source: License Global
The Pokémon GO Community Day for August 2024 has been announced! Popplio, the Sea Lion Pokémon, will appear in greater numbers on Saturday, August 31st, 2024, from 14:00 to 17:00 local time. This is a great opportunity to obtain a shiny version of the Pokémon, which will have an increased chance of appearing during these hours. For more information on the event, including information on the Special Research Story, Event Bonuses, Bonus Raid Battles, and Field Research, be sure to check out the official website in the source link.
Source: Pokémon GO
The Pokémon Center in Nagoya will be closing temporarily on Sunday, November 8th, 2024, due to preparations for a new store, located on the second floor of Nagoya PARCO East Building in the Autumn of 2024. Customers who shop at the Nagoya store between Thursday, August 1st, 2024, and Sunday, September 8th, 2024, will receive an Original Clear Card, featuring the mascot Pokémon Pikachu, Chikorita, and Fuecoco.
Editor’s note: The Pokémon Center in Nagoya actually closed on September 8th, 2024, not November 8th, 2024, as originally reported on the official Pokémon website.
Source: Pocket Monsters, Pokémon
Feature: The Legacy of Pokémon - Part 6 (Generation VI)
Generation 6
2013 – 2016
Imagine being thrown into a car against your will and forced to purchase Pokémon Y… Well OK, maybe it wasn’t quite that dramatic, but I certainly had no interest in purchasing any more Pokémon games. That didn’t stop my friend David from wanting me to purchase Pokémon Y, the opposite copy of the game he wanted, so he could trade the version exclusive Pokémon and starters with me. After pretty much kidnapping me and bribing me by paying half the cost of the game, I reluctantly picked it up. We pulled up to his local Sainsbury’s supermarket and each got a copy of the games. As an added bonus, we swung by the local GAME store where we were given a Pokéball-shaped 3DS game holder, which was a pre-order bonus for something we never pre-ordered, but luckily the manager happened to be a mutual friend of his.
While I did complete the game and had enjoyed the Mega Evolutions and riding segments, Y was even less enjoyable than any previous games I had played. Some of my complaints were the lacklustre storyline, poor camera controls, and the feeling that the games were rushed and incomplete. After playing through the game again years later, I don’t hold the same strong feelings as I originally did, but can’t shake the belief that something changed with Pokémon from that point onwards. Perhaps in the years to come, my feelings will change again, and I will appreciate generation VI much more.
On November 28th 2014, I traded in my copy of Y for a special edition copy of Pokémon Omega Ruby with a steel tin on its launch day, which is one of the few times that I don’t actually regret trading in a game. Omega Ruby was a faithful yet enjoyable remake of Pokémon Ruby with new stories and lore. I loved the inclusion of Primal Groudon and Kyogre, plus the post-game content, the Delta episode featuring Zinnia and Rayquaza, and the exciting finale involving Deoxys! While I didn’t hold the same excitement for Omega Ruby as I did with the remakes HeartGold and SoulSilver, I still enjoyed it. I defeated the Elite Four on January 10th 2015 with a Groudon (Lv. 49), a shiny Metagross (Lv. 56), a Breloom (Lv. 47), a Greninja (Lv. 66), a Blaziken (Lv. 49), and a Swellow (Lv. 46).
One piece of music from the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire games that I found inspiring was the Primal Reversion theme, which plays when you engage with the legendary Pokémon Groudon or Kyogre, who return to their ancient forms as part of the story twist for these remakes. The theme combines the original composition with the new arrangement, mixing the old with the new: a primal reversion! I was so fascinated with this concept that it served as the inspiration for a fan-arranged Pokémon album I directed and produced called Harmony of a Champion, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first generation of games. It was a story-driven musical experience, with arrangements that told a story through music. We recreated themes from the original Game Boy soundtrack from scratch, and placed parts of it into the music to invoke a sense of nostalgia at key points.
Collaborating with musicians, artists and engineers to put albums like this together was a keen hobby of mine, and I can state with confidence that the music I heard in generations I and II of Pokémon were instrumental in this pastime. The album began production in January 2015, and eventually launched on December 25th 2017. The project was delayed beyond its original release of 2016, and while the project did coincide with a lot of personal issues I was facing at the time, I am very proud of it. This licensed album raised money for Child’s Play Charity, helping to provide toys and video games to children’s hospitals worldwide. I am thankful to the entire team for helping to make it happen. As much as I would have loved to do a follow-up album for Gold, Silver and Crystal, the stress the album put me under at the time meant this was out of the question.
In July 2016, the passion for Pokémon was thriving around the globe with the release of Pokémon GO for mobile devices. The augmented reality title, developed and published by Niantic, was a fun and refreshing game. Not only has it allowed me to experience Pokémon in a whole new way, but it provided several positive benefits to my life, such as improving my physical activity, socialising with locals, and improving my mental wellbeing. My journey in that game started on July 6th, and since then, whether it was joining in with raids in the local area, discovering and capturing rare Pokémon during community days, or enjoying the game with a friend for a couple of hours for a much-needed break, Pokémon GO has had a significant and positive impact on me.
On July 29th, just a few weeks after the game was released, I was able to meet up with my old school friend Shaun who I had not seen for roughly fifteen years. We planned to catch a few Pokémon together and catch up on life. The day was pretty great, but the best part was trying to locate a Ponyta which I still hadn’t managed to catch. We knew one had spawned locally, thanks to some third party software we were using at the time, but realised we wouldn’t be able to reach it before it despawned. Suddenly my friend Beki, who I was staying with at the time, came flying around the corner in her car screaming for us to get in. We raced up the road, trying desperately to get to the location of Ponyta. This resulted in us zooming past a police car and had me wondering if we were going to get arrested and thrown in a cell as a result of catching Pokémon. Thankfully, with no police in pursuit, we reached the Ponyta with seconds to spare and caught it, giving each other high-fives in celebration. It’s still one of the most surreal and intense moments I have ever had in GO, and one I am happy to have shared with old friends.
Another memory was when I discovered an Omastar in GO, something that wasn’t a very common spawn in my area at the time. I was super excited to catch it. It now resides with my friend Ryan, who is one of the friends I met online thanks to Pokémon GO, and is someone I consider to be a very close friend. On March 24th 2018, I successfully captured my first Mewtwo in an EX Raid battle. I made the journey to the EX Raid Gym especially for the occasion, despite it not being very local. I remember celebrating by getting on to my knees and cheering, with a few other people who were just as ecstatic to have obtained the legendary Pokémon.
Two years later on March 19th 2020, I made my first contribution to GO by submitting my first PokéStop nomination, which was accepted and added to the game. There was a great sense of pride knowing that I was responsible for creating a spot where many other players could benefit from my recommendation, by spinning the PokéStop and collecting items.
Pokémon GO was a great support mentally. When I felt low, I took a nice long walk and opened the game to capture some Pokémon. Before I knew it I was walking to new places I haven’t explored before, distracting myself from my problems, and later returning home feeling refreshed and satisfied. If it wasn’t for this game, I wouldn’t be nearly as active. I even found myself going out in storms, and on one occasion, a blizzard! While the hype around Pokémon GO has died down by comparison, it’s a very important game to me that continues to have a positive impact, which extends beyond a traditional video game.
X and Y were almost good games. They came very close. They are some of the most beautiful Pokemon games as far as environments and routes go, and I love so many of the new Pokemon introduced. But the story, the controls, and Lumiose City (just, like, all of it) drag the games down so much that it's hard to go back to them. Just like the endless interruptions in Sun/Moon make them hard to go back to.
ORAS, however, were and continue to be my favorite games in the entire series. Hoenn is beautiful, the Pokemon are wonderful, the story is fun, the DexNav is the best thing introduced to the series, and the games are so replayable.
I never got into Pokemon Go because when it came out, I lived in a very rural area. And all the negative things about the developer that I heard from friends just soured me on the entire game.
Interesting! I STILL haven't played Pokemon Y, but I have played Omega Ruby. The music is rather great.