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Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

economist.com

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Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#41

Post by sunaookami »

ecshafer wrote: post #28

Its interesting that elementary kids have this kind of evergreen introduction to Pokemon. There is always a new set of games coming out, cards to buy, toys, anime. So kids see older kids with it, they want to get it, then they get introduced. So this "fad" has gone on for 30 years. However, even as someone who plays JRPGs. I can't for the life of me understand how adults are playing the games. The pokemon games are p…

Newer Pokémon games have way more quality-of-life such as EXP share and way faster animations so it's not a slog anymore. Recently finished Scarlet and enjoyed it very much. Currently replaying SoulSilver and I couldn't play it without cheats that make the game a bit faster (cutting repetitive animations, making the game run at 60 FPS, etc.) since everything is so slow.

I'm nearing 30 and have played a lot of JRPGs in my life.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#42

Post by haunter »

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #29

Now that Niantic was bought, how will Nintendo prevent any damage to the brand from the 'seemingly' money grab changes to Pokémon Go?

You mean Pokemon TCG which introduced illegal unregulated gambling for millions of kids (since 1996)? Don’t forget to buy the next pack for the special holo Raichu DX Spring Edition.

Don’t pretend that Game Freak/Creatures/Nintendo are some saints.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#43

Post by jtbayly »

Rant incoming...

My wife and I live near a park. When we go on walks, we see people who have driven to the park, where they drive slowly around the parking lot, frequently stopping and starting, cars running the whole time. Rarely do they get out of their car. They are, I believe, playing Pokemon Go. Yesterday there were over 2 dozen cars driving around. Nobody was walking. They don't talk to anybody. They are like zombies. I don't get it. Yesterday I did see one dad with his kid, and they were out actually walking on the trails. I can understand that. But driving to the park to drive around?! Argh!

end rant. Thanks for listening.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#44

Post by [deleted] »

ecshafer wrote: post #28

Its interesting that elementary kids have this kind of evergreen introduction to Pokemon. There is always a new set of games coming out, cards to buy, toys, anime. So kids see older kids with it, they want to get it, then they get introduced. So this "fad" has gone on for 30 years. However, even as someone who plays JRPGs. I can't for the life of me understand how adults are playing the games. The pokemon games are p…

[deleted]

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#45

Post by bkandel »

ecshafer wrote: post #28

Its interesting that elementary kids have this kind of evergreen introduction to Pokemon. There is always a new set of games coming out, cards to buy, toys, anime. So kids see older kids with it, they want to get it, then they get introduced. So this "fad" has gone on for 30 years. However, even as someone who plays JRPGs. I can't for the life of me understand how adults are playing the games. The pokemon games are p…

As far as I can tell, my kids and their friends never actually play the game either, they just collect the cards. I don't think they even know the rules.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#46

Post by haunter »

Love Pokemon, hate the whole unregulated illegal gambling part of it and how they pray on kids. It’s the dark side of Nintendo. And of course the stories like this https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2025-08-13/mcd...

Honestly TCGs like Pokemon, YuGiOh, and Magic should have been regulated long long time ago but we have 100 years of history with baseball cards too so nothing going to happen.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#47

Post by juris »

ecshafer wrote: post #28

Its interesting that elementary kids have this kind of evergreen introduction to Pokemon. There is always a new set of games coming out, cards to buy, toys, anime. So kids see older kids with it, they want to get it, then they get introduced. So this "fad" has gone on for 30 years. However, even as someone who plays JRPGs. I can't for the life of me understand how adults are playing the games. The pokemon games are p…

> Why as an adult you would play Pokemon over SMT is something I can't get

bro are you serious? smt is the definition of painful in terms of time sunk and the newer pokemon games have so many guard rails; i can mindlessly blast through the whole story and craft a quick crew to beat down my wife and friends and just be done ;p

now granted, would I rather play (and 100 percent complete) any SMT game? yes. how do adults do it? i watched my friend who's an RN on hospital hours + has three kids blast through cyberpunk and the answer is pretty simple: sleep is for the weak.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#48

Post by basch »

haunter wrote: post #46

Love Pokemon, hate the whole unregulated illegal gambling part of it and how they pray on kids. It’s the dark side of Nintendo. And of course the stories like this https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2025-08-13/mcd... Honestly TCGs like Pokemon, YuGiOh, and Magic should have been regulated long long time ago but we have 100 years of history with baseball cards too so nothing going to happen.

Their extended popularity should be viewed closer to praying on addiction than an accomplishment of culture. The phone game, by removing the exploration of outside aspect, became just mindless collecting. If you have ever been to an event as an outside spectator, there is as much anxiety in their air as joy.

Pack opening is the equivalent of pulltabs or scratch offs. It's an asset class closer to beanie babies than baseball cards, because there is no tie to a rookie going on to have a huge career or anything but artificial scarcity.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#49

Post by basch »

bkandel wrote: post #45
ecshafer wrote: post #28

Its interesting that elementary kids have this kind of evergreen introduction to Pokemon. There is always a new set of games coming out, cards to buy, toys, anime. So kids see older kids with it, they want to get it, then they get introduced. So this "fad" has gone on for 30 years. However, even as someone who plays JRPGs. I can't for the life of me understand how adults are playing the games. The pokemon games are p…

As far as I can tell, my kids and their friends never actually play the game either, they just collect the cards. I don't think they even know the rules.

once they get a phone they switch from cards to go.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#50

Post by FrustratedMonky »

elictronic wrote: post #8
someperson wrote: post #3

It's just a fad

There's Godwins law about comparing everything to nazis. Will there be someperson's law of completely misunderstanding what a word means?

Unfortunately, Goodwins law has lead to many people fearing to point out obvious fascism.

Reversal of the Law: Mike Godwin himself has stated that his rule does not discredit efforts to make valid comparisons, particularly when democratic institutions are under threat.

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