Are We Growing Out of Pokemon? Or Has The Franchise Been Bled Dry?

In today’s news, Nintendo has released their financial numbers for the past fiscal year, as well as announced the release of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. Are these two items related? I’d like to think so. 

The WiiU hasn’t been doing well – which shouldn’t surprise anybody, even Nintendo. In their latest financial report, Nintendo announced an operating loss of $457 million dollars.

Along with this information comes a list of which games are selling best on the various Nintendo consoles. Pokémon X and Pokémon Y top the list of 3DS games, with over 12.6 millions units sold. On the DS list, Pokémon Diamond/Pearl, Pokémon Black/White and Pokémon Heartgold/Soul Silver making the top ten list with 17.63 million, 15.58 million, and 12.72 million units sold respectively.

Considering the amount of financial success Nintendo has had with its Pokémon franchise, Nintendo’s announcement of a Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire remake coming right at the heels of their huge fiscal losses makes sense. They need another best-seller and another Pokémon games seems to be a no-brainer for that criteria. 

That said, the rapidity with which Nintendo has been throwing out Pokémon games in the last five years is overwhelming. Not only is it overwhelming to attempt to catch the ridiculous amount of Pokémon added with each generation, the new Pokémon themselves are often, in a word, ridiculous.

Everyone remembers Vanillish, a Pokémon resembling an ice cream cone; and Garbodor, a Pokémon made out of garbage, from Pokémon Black/White, simply because they were silly and perhaps a clear indication that creative juices were running low with the games creators. 

In Pokémon X/Y, we get even more ridiculous Pokémon such as a sword imbued with a spirit (Honedge), and a tree-stump imbued with the spirit of a child who died in the forest (Phantump).

In fact, there is an entire video devoted to the weird/creepy Pokémon  in Pokémon X/Y.

Is it safe to say that Pokémon has gotten a little over the top? I think so. While Pokémon X and Y were unique additions to the Pokémon franchise (for once), it’s clear that the Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Pokémon Omega Ruby may just be cash-grabs for Nintendo in their bid to stay relevant and not lose another $457 million.