Formal Critique: Pokemon HeartGold

Pokemon HeartGold for Nintendo DS is a remake of Pokemon Gold for GameBoy Color.

Although Epic Mickey is currently the latest game my family owns, the last time I purchased a game before then, was Pokemon HeartGold for Nintendo DS. It's technically a new game since it released March 14, 2010, and I picked up my copy just two days after that. As a crazed Pokemon fan, I could ramble all about "mah pokemanz", and how much I love them. However I am a game designer, and I should analyze the game as such.

I love my "Pokemans".

Pokemon (pronounced Poh-ck-eyy-maun) stands for "Pocket Monsters". For those who never really got into the Pokemon franchise, it is a kid-friendly adventure and role-playing game (RPG). The franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri, a Japanese man with Asperger's syndrome who had a fascination with collecting insects.[1] When Nintendo introduced the Game Boy, its link-cable system caught his interest, and spawned his idea of "insects crawling through the link-cable". This was what brought the idea of the "Pokemon" trading game mechanic to life, which was ultimately the root of which the Pokemon series was born. The main objective of the game is to become the Pokemon master. In order to become the Pokemon master, you must capture Pokemon, train them through battling other trainers' Pokemon (or wild Pokemon) and work your way up until you can challenge the Pokemon Champion. But before you reach that point, you must collect eight gym badges by defeating eight gym leaders, and then challenge what's called the "Elite Four" before challenging the Champion him/herself. Pokemon development company, Game Freak (a second party game development division of Nintendo Co., Ltd.), has always been conservative with the Pokemon formula; four directional movement, carry six Pokemon at a time, battle other trainers, collect eight badges, challenge the elite four, "gotta catch 'em all", etc. Even though each Pokemon game is a more or less a rehash of previously constructed game mechanics, people just eat them up, including myself.

As I've said before, the game mechanics require the player to move the protagonist (can be male or female) in a four-directional fashion across a region of the Pokemon world. In Pokemon HeartGold, that region is called Johto. If the player stumbles upon a grassy area, a cave, or the player surfs on water, a wild Pokemon may appear and challenge the player. The player has three options; defeat it (it faints, they don't die [2]), capture it and add it to the player's team, or run away. Now of course, in order to capture other Pokemon and battle trainers in the first place, you need your starter Pokemon. In Pokemon HeartGold, your choice is between grass-type Chikorita (right), fire-type Cyndaquil (left), and water-type Totodile (center), as shown in the following picture:

I chose the fire-type Cyndaquil as my very first Pokemon.

That's right, I forgot to mention, a large part of the Pokemon formula is their elemental type. When Pokemon battle, a rock-paper-scissors type of combat occurs. If a fire-type attacks a grass-type, the damage is super effective. However, if a fire-type attacks a water-type, the damage is not very effective. There are also individual statistics that every Pokemon holds, and they differ between Pokemon - even if they're of the same species. Yes, like animals in the real world, there are more than one Pikachu, for example. My younger cousin received this game as his first Pokemon game for Christmas 2010, and chose Cyndaquil (which made his big cousin proud). However, since I've been playing Pokemon longer than he has, the attack, defense, speed, etc. stats of my Pokemon are a lot stronger than his. But considering that today I barely have time to play video games for fun (as I am in university), my cousin has the chance to train his Pokemon, conquer the game, and ultimately challenge me. In my opinion this is one of the greatest beauties of Pokemon - Multiplayer.

Pokemon Trainers

In multiplayer, you can battle and/or trade Pokemon with fellow real-life "trainers". I would love to see the day where my cousin trains his Pokemon to high levels, and then defeat me in battle. Also note that contrary to popular belief, Pokemon is actually a very strategic game where battle is turn-based, and trainers must use wits to overcome his/her opponent - not so much with brute force. There are different attacks of different elemental types that Pokemon can use (for example, water-type Starmie can use electric-type move thunder as an attack), and different stat-boosting moves that a Pokemon can use (to temporarily boost its attack stat during battle, for example). Another factor in the battle mechanic is the Pokemon's "level", which is a number that gives other trainers an idea of how strong the Pokemon is. Once a Pokemon reaches a certain level, it may evolve into a stronger Pokemon. For example, my cousin's Cyndaquil evolved into Quilava at level 16, and last time I checked it is at level 19. Meanwhile, my Cyndaquil already evolved to its final evolution, Typhlosion, at level 36, and is now at level 59.

As you can tell, there is a lot in Pokemon that keeps it fresh, interesting, and ultimately mysterious. Like The Legend of Zelda, the player can freely roam around, complete side-quests/activities that may not exactly tie in with the main story, and even stumble upon hidden areas. Such hidden areas may contain rare items, or even rare, legendary Pokemon. Additionally, back in the day of the original Red and Blue (Green in Japan) games, the creator snuck in an extra Pokemon called Mew that can only be acquired through trading, and through a programming "error".[3]

Mew is one of the rarest Pokemon in the game!

Of course, we should also look into the control GUI of the game. Control interface sports a simple layout, is easy to use, and a lot can be accomplished with it. When the player is in "overworld" mode, the player can use the directional pad to move the player around, and press the "A" button to talk to other people. In "menu" mode, the player again uses the directional pad and "A" button to navigate through his/her Pokemon, his/her items (that can be used to advance through the game, or used to help strengthen Pokemon). Since Pokemon HeartGold is played on the Nintendo DS, the touch screen can be used to navigate through the menu a lot easier than the former mechanic. Finally, in "battle" mode, the player can use the directional pad and "A" button to choose whether to attack, switch Pokemon, use an item, or run away. If the player chooses to attack, he/she can use one of four moves that the Pokemon knows/can learn. Again, since this game is played on the Nintendo DS, the touch screen can be used to select options a lot easier than the traditional button mechanic.

Nintendo DS sports a touch screen that allows menu navigation to be a lot easier to use.

As for the music of the game... Pokemon HeartGold holds some of the most memorable melodies in video games. There is a different background tune for every city, and every route division. Each are pleasing to the ear, and appropriate its area. For example, the cave music - although it is eerie - is appropriate for its area, and its melody is deep. The music contributes a positively to the overall game experience, because the design theme of Pokemon is to explore, grow in strength with your Pokemon teammates, and make it all the way to the top. As you progress through the game, the music changes and builds. When the player starts his/her journey, the music is cheery and innocent. Once he/she gains all eight badges, and before he/she challenges the Elite Four, he/she'll reach his/her hometown again. Listening to that same cheery music again will instantly remind the player of the start of his/her adventure, and naturally he/she will reflect on the amount of progress he/she made since that beginning. As the player makes his/her way to the Elite Four, the music builds and becomes more intense.

The main aspect of Pokemon that make it unique and incredible compared to other RPGs is how well it integrates its social gaming aspect. Social games like FarmVille consist of having the player work toward growing crops and farming animals, to ultimately make money. In Pokemon, trainers train their Pokemon, earn money from defeating in-game trainers to purchase items that can be used to strengthen their Pokemon even more, and ultimately battle/trade Pokemon with real-life friends or even strangers over the internet. This creates a whole community of Pokemon players, allows people to make new friends, and/or strengthen the bond with current friends. This is why Nintendo releases two "versions" every generation (Each generation sports a new set of Pokemon); one version has some Pokemon that are unobtainable in the other version, and vice-versia. Other RPGs are usually one-player games that cannot communicate with other player's games, however Pokemon does, and that why I think the franchise is such a worldwide megahit - it brings the world together. Now all we need is a Pokemon massively multiplayer online (MMO) and Earth will gain the status "World Peace Achieved!" Okay maybe I'm being a little too idealistic here, but hey, anything that brings the world together is definitely something good.

FarmVille created by Zynga is Facebook's most popular game.

I must say that there are aspects of recent Pokemon games that are unessential to the franchise, such as the "triathalon", or the online "mini-games". However they are fun to have, it's great to take a break from battling, and it's all in the same game! The best part is that you can play these mini-games with other friends too!

What I think is truly essential to the Pokemon franchise is allowing it to take the next step. As I've stated before, Game Freak has been very conservative with the franchise. However I feel that bringing it into the realm of massively multiplayer online (MMO) is an essential step to the growth of Pokemon. Not only that, but improving the AI, both of the characters, and the game itself. With Pokemon HeartGold, the AI's difficulty is based on their Pokemon, essentially their level and statistics - not so much the trainer's intellect. If a trainer has a level 7 Pidgey, he won't be tough to beat. If a trainer has a level 88 Charizard, then he/she'll definitely be a tough cookie, especially how Pokemon of higher levels have a more complex move arsenal. However in my idea of a Pokemon MMO, the atmosphere will feel much like the anime cartoon. There will be no non-playable trainers, and the only AI would be the Pokemon and their many behaviors blended into one unique "personality" per Pokemon. Also rather than rely on Pokemon "levels" to track strength, Pokemon will have an internal stats system that is unknown to the player. This will prevent supernerds who lack "lives" from creating a team of Lv. 100 Arceus', giving everyone a chance to particpate and challenge other trainers in the world. Of course training Pokemon will allow them to be stronger, as their internal stats will improve. What I mean is that for example pitting a Blastoise against an Igglybuff will obviously give Blastoise the upper hand, however there is still a very slight chance that the Igglybuff can defeat him/her.

Obviously Blastoise (left) would defeat an Igglybuff (right) with ease. However who's to say that the opposite could never happen?

Let's say that in the Pokemon MMO, the player gets frustrated with his Blastoise, and/or overtrains him/her. The Blastoise may feel resentful toward his/her trainer for that day, and ultimately lose to a new trainer's Igglybuff should they battle. Pokemon should start factoring experiences between trainers and Pokemon, and more importantly, trainers and other trainers. This is what Pokemon should move on toward. Additionally, the game itself should be more intelligent. Every time a Pokemon attacks in Pokemon HeartGold, the text below the battle screen will say for example, "Charmander used tackle. The attack was super effective! Charmander's attack decreased! Charmander's defence increased! Charmander is paralyzed, it can't move!". The menu system (both in battle mode and outside battle mode) in Pokemon games are too systematic, and need to loosen up. For example, Apple's iPhone. The system is very casual, very intuitive, and doesn't give the impression what you're dealing with some robot.

Anyway that's my critique on Pokemon HeartGold. I know that I expanded to the entire Pokemon series quite often throughout this post, however I think that it is essential for the series to keep its child-friendly charm, its theme of growing with your Pokemon team (among many other themes), the ability to trade/battle/associate with fellow trainers, and the mysteriousness and wonder of the Pokemon world. I think that there are many ways in which the series can evolve without impacting its original charm, and one of those prominent ways is to make it into an MMO. In fact, making it into an MMO will only improve the original aspects that Pokemon series holds - especially the social aspect.

Thank you everyone for reading!

[1] http://books.google.com/books?id=RK-nqZKyaIgC&pg=PT58&dq=%22satoshi+tajiri%22&lr=lang_en&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=3&cd=3#v=onepage&q=%22satoshi%20tajiri%22&f=false
[2] http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/99/1122/pokemon6.fullinterview1.html
[3] http://www.stanford.edu/group/htgg/cgi-bin/drupal/sites/default/files2/gshin_2004_1.pdf