A jaw-dropping reimagining of a ’90s classic, an energetic riff on a long-established genre, a couple of beloved games reimagined for contemporary audiences, and a clever approach to a mobile game that has been growing for five years and counting. When you put it like that, the fact that these four descriptions refer to a classic RPG series like Pokémon is a bit strange. And yet together, they are able to testify to just how brilliant the world’s highest-grossing entertainment franchise truly is.
It would be easy to say that 2021 was a slow year for Pokémon; heck, it would be easy to say that 2021 was a slow year for games. However, if I can be bold enough to vaguely oppose Occam, not all that is easy is right. From critics favorites like The Forgotten City to indie hits like The Riftbreaker, 2021 was packed with all sorts of riveting games that might not have had the same visibility if the industry had been dominated by titans like God of War Ragnarok and The Legend. of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2.
Interestingly, the same can be said for Pokémon. Not only have New Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Unite already earned their place in the PokePantheon, but even older games had new opportunities to shine. While Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl hardly reinvented the Whirlipede (it’s a wheel, geddit?), The fact that the highly coveted Gen 4 remakes were so true to the originals is quite poignant. They’re not the most inspired duo out there, but I defy anyone to say they made it through the initial selection without experiencing a welcome pang.
Not to mention other aspects of Pokémon, most of which received expansions, updates, or some other form of news throughout the year. Perhaps the most impressive of these was TCG’s Evolving Skies expansion, which acted as something of a point of re-introduction to the card game for tons of long-asleep fans, including some of us here at For The Win.
Meanwhile, Pokémon Sword & Shield received shiny variants of Celebi, Zacian, and Zamazenta, as well as Global Show Champion Leonardo Bonanomi’s Charizard. If you’re a big enough fan to tune into Pokémon Cafe Mix and Pokémon Masters EX, then you’re also a big enough fan to keep up with their year in review. Many people could cite the absence of Gen 9 as a point against the 2021 value, but even if it had been ready, there really was no room for it. Also, it would always come out in 2022, something that may or may not change now, depending on how hard Game Freak has been hit by the pandemic.
Since we’re on that topic, it’s probably wise to point out that 2022 has the potential to outpace this year. If Pokémon Legends: Arceus is as good as it sounds and Gen 9 does indeed come out, it could quickly establish itself as the best year in Pokémon history. However, until we can judge its merits this time around next year, all we can really do is focus on 2021 in hindsight, by which I mean celebrating all the wonderful games and updates listed above.
However, we haven’t talked about the Pokémon trump card yet. In the introduction to this piece, I mentioned “a stunning reimagining of a 90s classic” (New Pokemon Snap), “an energetic riff from a long-standing genre (Pokemon Unite),” a couple of beloved games reimagined for today. audiences ”(Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl) and“ a smart approach to a mobile game that has been growing for five years and counting ”. That last one, while probably obvious to anyone who has seen a phone, has yet to be mentioned by name. The fact that we can get this far in an article on how strong a Pokémon year has been without even writing the words “Pokémon Go” says it all, really.
And while saying it all, what else is there to say? Pokemon Go is one of The Pokemon Company’s biggest hits. You may no longer see people barging in and out to catch a Squirtle, and trees these days have far fewer face-shaped dents, but Niantic’s mobile device has gotten bigger than ever. It surpassed $ 5 billion in lifetime revenue in July and had nearly a million daily active users in January in the US alone. However, more than any of these stats, Pokémon Go’s ability to adapt to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 has been a remarkable feat to witness. In a year of great Pokémon games, Niantic’s AR colossus has emerged once again as the ultimate dog.
It’s helpful to get back to that point on Go’s quiet growth, as it’s actually a pretty fitting way to describe the show’s presence in general in 2021 as well. While there have been no Legends: Arceus or Gen 9, the sheer number of moving parts that Pokémon successfully snapped into place this year is staggering. We could have done a PokePun there, but we’ve probably done enough already, plus we use an absolutely hideous term like ‘PokePun,’ so we’ll respectfully spare you any more duress.
In the same way that 2021 was a better year for gaming than many people would like to acknowledge, it saw phenomenal performance from all the teams behind Pokémon. In our eyes, it’s the best year the series has had since Sinnoh was called Hisui, which was… next month? No matter. It’s the best year in years. You know what we mean.
Anyway! Three cheers for Pokémon in 2021. We hope Legends: Arceus lives up to the hype when it launches on January 28, 2022. If not… well, at least we have this year’s lineup to go through, huh?
Written by Cian Maher on behalf of GLHF.
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