A nostalgic return to Pokémon

Given my obsession with this franchise, a quick post on my personal blog about Pokémon Go is long overdue. I’ve written down some thoughts more formally in a UX critique of the app, but I want to just talk about the overall impact the game is having on a cultural level.

I’ve walked into people of all ages and colors playing and having a great time with the game. I’ve gotten used to the classic “You on Team Mystic?” greeting while walking into a gym being attacked, the half-smiles of trainers welcoming you to a heavily lured Pokéstop, and the frantic rush to follow a herd of trainers trying to catch something rare that appeared nearby.

It’s bringing fans of the franchise who never played the games beyond the first or second generation back into the action. They’re struck by a combination of old-school nostalgia and childlike wonder when playing the game. People like me never fell of the Pokémon bandwagon and have been religiously playing every single game to date faithfully, but I know that I’m in the minority. It’s wonderful to see people reigniting their love for the franchise through Pokémon Go.

I have to praise Niantic Labs here for absolutely nailing the feeling of exploring and capturing pokémon. It’s exactly what we imagined it to be when we were furiously tapping B to keep the pokémon in the ball on our Gameboys in the Red & Blue versions twenty years ago. Everything has been faithfully recreated in the mobile app, down to the pokéball triple-shake that plays and the encounter animations. Even the sound effects and music that plays are inspired by the originals. No wonder the world is having a blast reminiscing about pokémon.

The game is even attracting newer players to the mix. Kids born after 2005 kind of missed out on the initial magic of the first generation and most just never got in to the franchise. This game is like the very first pokémon game for that generation of kids. I’ve seen many 10-12 yr olds walk around looking for “the weird crab thing” or “the flaming horse”, without knowing what they were called, their typing, or their evolution chain (which to me, was shocking). It’s nothing but bliss seeing the world rejuvenated by the joy of capturing and training pokémon at a time when all we tend to see in news reports are bombings and shootings all over the Western world.

As expected, any AR game that forces players to walk around in the real world is going to be met with backlash from anti-technology groups and non-fans of the game alike. Ingress had the same troubles, but only a niche group of players constantly played it and didn’t cause chaos on the streets at midnight. But screw the haters. This is the first mainstream game in a very long time that’s forcing people to go out and walk. So what if it’s under the pretense of finding and capturing fake virtual monsters that only exist in your phone? You’re getting real-world benefits out of it. I’ve found numerous landmarks and parks near my house that I never knew existed. I’ve met so many cool people in my neighborhood that I otherwise wouldn’t have because we fought over gyms together.

In my opinion, people that are attracted to video-games for their aesthetic qualities and ample storytelling capabilities are the ones that have vivid imaginations, the ones that are satisfied sitting for hours on end at home without feeling an ounce of boredom or any longing to “go out” and explore (I would categorize myself in this lot). As a result, most of the “fun” happens inside the mind, completely invisible to the outside world and enjoyable only by one. To them, what happens in their minds is infinitely more interesting than anything that could happen in the real world. So they feed that craving and devote more time to mental stimulus rather than physical exercise.

Here comes a game that feeds both the opposing forces — one to satisfy imaginative curiosities of the mind and another to flex the muscles of real-world exploration and discovery. This is a fantastic combination of two lifestyles that have been so separate for so long. And I’m glad to see it coming together the way it is. You don’t feel like you’re exercising or walking — you just feel like you’re catching pokémon. The immersion in this game is very strong, to the level that some people are forgetting the blurry line between AR and the real world.

It’s been a solid two weeks for the app so far, though. I’ve had a blast power-leveling and figuring out the mechanics of the game with my friends. I’ve had highs of holding six gyms at once and lows of hatching Zubats and Pidgeys out of 10 km eggs. I’ve experienced in real life my 10-yr old dreams of wanting to take down gyms near me with my favorite pokémon. The app is absolutely dominating the charts of Top Free apps and Top Grossing apps on the App Store and Play Store. It’s barely launched in half the world and it’s already the most successful mobile app of all time. Its daily active users surpassed that of Twitter in a mere two weeks. Nintendo stock has hit an all-time high and pokémon-fever has probably never been this high.

I can definitely see the players dropping off in a month or two, but the dedicated fans will keep playing. And if the trailers are any indication, the legendary events will be quite a sight to behold (given they can stabilize their servers), keeping interest in the game fresh over time. If they play all the right cards with implementing battling and trading properly, this could be the biggest mobile app of all time. Nintendo finally has proof that there’s massive amounts of money in mobile, and I’m sure they’re planning something for their other IPs like Mario Kart and The Legend of Zelda in mobile form.

It’s a great time to be alive and an even better time to be a pokémon trainer. I hope Niantic Labs keeps adding new generations and new features to the app. I want to wish that poké-fever never leaves everyone, but our minds are fickle things and people will probably tire of it in a couple months. The fate of the app is up for debate, but the incredible amount of fun I’m having right now is second to none. Gotta catch ’em all!