Pokemon: Sinnoh Remakes!

Well, y'all wanted it, y'all got it! Sinnoh remakes are coming, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. I can't say that I'm surprised! It's not something that really makes me go super-duper excited, and I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to buy this. I thought I would be all over the Link's Awakening remake but I haven't even bought that game yet, and it took me a considerable amount of time to even begin playing Let's Go Pikachu when it came out. It's certainly more of a 'me' problem, though -- I know lots of people are just happy to have this on principle, so I am certainly very, very happy for the crowd out there that wants it. Sinnoh is a gorgeous region, and I put in hundreds of hours into my copy of Platinum. 

That said, I am happy that this isn't actually a Let's Go remake for sure. Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee does a lot of things right aesthetically. It's a pretty game to look at! Walking wild Pokemon! It's also a horrible game to actually play because there's no wild battles, which meant grinding was an utter chore. Cutting out some features from the original game -- the Safari Zone being my biggest complaint -- is also not a good thing in my books. So I'm definitely happy that BD/SP are going to be apparently 'faithful' remakes. Good, so no fugly Galar stadiums are going to infiltrate my Sinnoh. 

It's going to have Link's Awakening remake style overworld graphics, which... I'm not going to lie, it's actually kinda cute. Lots of people are screaming bloody murder at this, though, but honestly, I don't care for it? I just want the game to be enjoyable, I think, is all. I do hope that they give us just a wee bit more content, otherwise I'm... I don't think I'm particularly super-excited about this one? It's like expected at this point. I guess now I know why they added a bunch of features into OR/AS back when they were hyping it up. Things like new megas, random new NPC's and the Delta Episode really worked wonders to give a bit of an extra. 

Coming out of left field and surprising absolutely everybody is Pokemon Legends: Arceus. The game itself, I mean. The concept of the game? "Breath of the Wild, but Pokemon"? Yeah, that's not something that surprises me at all. Sword and Shield already has that proof-of-concept prototype going on, and this game looks neat!

No one expected this. All the rumours (and admittedly, I wasn't looking that hard) were talking about a potential Detective Pikachu or Conquest remake/sequel; and for me personally a Pokemon Ranger or Pokemon Colosseum remake/sequel would be most welcome -- but with them already having the (very pretty) Pokemon Snap for Switch? I didn't think two side-game remakes in a row is likely. Let's Go Johto is the other huge contender, too... but who expected this? Not me, for sure. 

That said, Sword and Shield did kind of burn me by feeling so incomplete, both from a storytelling perspective and as a region. So I'm still heading into this with a bit of skepticism. And, hell, even Breath of the Wild still rubs me the wrong way, by being a great standalone game but kind of a disappointment as part of the Zelda franchise -- that's what I'm afraid of. That this thing is going to entirely eclipse the original gameplay mechanics of the Pokemon franchise. Thankfully, we're at least still having traditional battles, so we're not abandoning that, at least. 

The trailer we're seen... it's kinda cool, I guess, though not the most impressive thing out there. The grass is prettier than Sw/Sh, but the movement kinda looks a bit stilted, and you just know that there's no way they can get even half of the existing Pokemon into this engine. Honestly, with two years after Sword and Shield, they better have taken all the XY models and polished it up for Switch. Nintendo, you get a pass for one generation if you need the time to do the models. Make it happen for Generation IX. 

It's not all negativity, though. If the game's good, then it's good! And from the looks of it, the concept of the game -- a feudal Japan prequel style about ancient researchers in Sinnoh, running around with ancient Pokeballs? Plus anything featuring Arceus in game canon is 100% welcome as far as I'm concerned. The grasslands and mountains are honestly whatever, every other game out there can do that already, but I do like what little cities and beaches that we get. We know so little about the game's story, but the little we get in the premise I actually do like. And honestly, Sinnoh and Unova are two regions where I feel there's a huge minefield of opportunity for a 'prequel set in the distant past'.

And the fact that the starters of this region are Cyndaquil, Rowlet and Oshawott (three very good boys -- and perhaps, not coincidentally, three that are still unavailable in Sw/Sh, so very hopeful that the next generation will have all the Pokemon eventually) is also something that took me off-guard. If nothing else, again, I do appreciate that we're going to get more variety out there. Again, I'm not going to expect much just so I don't get my hopes crushed -- it's probably just going to be the Sinnoh pokedex and a bunch of extras.

So yeah, this game (and the new Pokemon Snap, which looks flat-out gorgeous) is pretty cool. Someone put this game as something akin to Colosseum and Gale of Darkness; which are ground-breaking graphics engines for the generation that they debuted in, which I don't think is an unfair comparison, actually! I feel like marketing this as an ambitious side-game is a pretty good thing. Personally, I'm not going to hype myself up, because this could have the potential to be very good or be underwhelming, but by virtue of being something new and unexpected? Yeah, not bad, Nintendo. Not bad.