The New Generation Gap Featuring Pokemon

[Chase]

If you have ever asked the questions like "why is Pokémon getting easier these days" or "why can't Pokémon have a mature story like several of the various fan games we know and love?" - this thread is one of awareness to you guys. Let me first prepare you - some of these revelations may not make you very comfortable with the direction our beloved Pokémon franchise is going - and they may even cause some minor sorrow.

 

First though, I'm going to make all of us feel really old. Despite all the shade folks older than us throw at us "millennials" - we are no longer "the next generation." - at least when it comes to Pocket Monsters.

 

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The Millennial March

 

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One of the things us 20 somethings -DO- have going for us is that Pokémon remains a strong following for people our age as it did in the past - you know, when Ash was going around Kanto and the Orange Islands and we all had Gameboy Colors and were getting our trading cards at Burger King. If there was a trend in polling - it would show that millennials are the most eager to follow the franchise.

 

Thanks to Generation Y, Competitive battling has become a premise in every Pokémon game to be improved upon - and some would argue that among our age group THAT is the reason you buy a new Pokémon game these days. In terms of successful endeavors by Game Freak to cater to millennials - this one counts in a big way.

 

The millennial can also be joint-credited with the next generation in making Pokémon Go! a success.

 

Truth be told - millennials have done some growing, and they like their sophistication in their Pokémon games. They care about abilities, EVs and IVs and how to raise them, and they will be unafraid to spit on a certain forever-10-year-old anime protagonist. This is the background of the Gen Y demand for Game Freak.

 

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 POKEMON Z-...er....Generation Z

 

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Unfortunately, polling elementary and middle school kids (and some current high schoolers - sorry guys.) isn't extraordinarily reliable. Middle School becomes a messy experience when any trend - even one as battle tested as Pokémon - is tossed to the wayside or picked up. Elementary school kids however - MIGHT just love Pokémon like we used to. If not more. (If you are a teacher or a recreation leader like I am - you know what I am talking about.)

 

The typical Generation Z'er - or "the Boomlet" - is estimated to have an attention span of 8 seconds - largely due to the massive amounts of imagery they will be exposed to via screens of some sort when growing up. How does this relate to the popularity of Pokémon in this generation?

 

The Trading Card game is MUCH more popular with this generation than the main series video games - despite NOT having a screen. The reason being (if sticking to the attention span thing) is because trading cards are static and can be put aside at will, where a good game grips some for far longer than eight seconds.

 

This also means the current anime is STILL a huge hit - albeit probably more so with Boomlets than with Millennials. The difference between the two of course, is that Boomlets hold a lot of respect for Ash - kind of like the hope we used to have in him before seeing him fail multiple times.

 

The games focus more on the player's own experience and MUCH less on the narrative of the plot. In order to teach the boomlet how to play, Game Freak makes tutorials hand-holdy and rewarding while mixing in rewards to hold interest. The story never really seems out of reach in order to prevent the boomlet from getting lost, and it's kept vanilla in themes for understanding.

 

Remember when beating Blue and becoming champion was the pinnacle of the game? Beating Professor Kukui - to a boomlet - is the pinnacle of the game for these folks - but they need to be reminded of that fact more than we did.

 

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This is the "fortunate" problem Game Freak has. It has two massive generations that are willing and able clients for their product - but both generations have different needs and demands. I like to call this "the Star Wars effect" - referring to the massive amount of money George Lucas made merchandising his Star Wars franchise despite the prequel trilogy being horrible for previous fans.

 

In fact, that's just a shift from where we are with Pokémon. Star Wars was the rage with Generation X, and Millennials - as much as we may want to discard the notion now - LIKED the fast-paced podracing and Obi-Wan Kenobi's dry one-liners. You could say that Star Wars Episodes 1-3 just sucked and be correct - but you could make a very tangible argument that there was a generation gap that made it suck for the older - and thus more respected - generation at the time.