Does Pokemon ever need to Evolve?

The new Pokemon black and white games release today, and they are really tempting me to actually purchase a Nintendo console (I loathe the company but more on that later. that's boring) so I can actually play the newest iteration. As a taxpaying, home owning, "mature" (fingerquotes) adult in society I have no reservations saying that I love Pokemon. The franchise is fun. The games are fun and introduce new generations of gamers to surprisingly deep amounts of RPG elements and great strategy. It's a very popular game that's not all about killing Nazi's or space Marines (not that there's anything wrong with that) and a game that takes more thought than twitch.

My only real problem with Pokemon is that since Pokemon Red and Blue all those years ago the game really hasn't changed at all. You wander through tall grass finding Pokemon, going on the internet to figure out which ones are best, and waste tons of time making sure you can get 6 that will PWN the Elite 4. You go through the bug forest pretty early on, then the cave with ZuBats and GeoDudes, etc. They have added a lot of great multiplayer and new Pokemon to capture over the years, but the core gameplay is pretty much intact. Will this ever change?

Well no, not really.

Imagine how amazing a "mature" (fingerquotes) Pokemon game would be. Despite being marketed as a kids game there would certainly be an audience for a more adult game based on the concept. The games have been popular in North America since Red and Blue's release in 1998 and a generation of gamers have grown up playing them. Image a (dare I say it) Wii open world game based on the Pokemon franchise where you have more battle options, more world to explore, online tournaments, dlc, etc. It would not only be widely popular but VERY profitable. Why will we never see it?

Because Gamefreak and Nintendo are making too much money with the same formula. It is the exact same reason that we don't drill for oil in deep water or develop alternative energy sources; there isn't enough demand for change. As long as the same game with different colors keeps selling tens of millions worldwide, there will be no Pokemon MMO (how AWESOME would that be, way more exciting then the WoW clones we keep getting) or a console RPG.


Regardless of all that Garydos FTW!!!!