Back to the future: How will certain Gen I "features" translate into DLC?

[The Outrage]

Up to now, most people have been talking about wireless functions and how the Pokemon could potentially transfer through PokeBank, but what we've neglected to talk about are some of the key "features" in these games that for one reason or another, probably won't make it to the DLC, but how would they be handled?

Glitch Pokemon and Glitch City - The original games were incredibly glitchy and that was half their charm. Now they're being ported. Even the best games come off with a few glitches in transition. Did Game Freak reprogram the games from the ground up to address these issues?

Game Corner - Due to certain EU laws, this has been removed in future games, however, the Game Corner plays an integral role in both the Team Rocket subplot and also for our ability to "catch 'em all". The irony of course, is that even if the Game Corner was replaced with an 8-bit Voltorb Flip, the game still deals with Team Rocket's thinly veiled animal poaching and trafficking scheme, which we must contribute to in order to catch 'em all (only place to catch Porygon)....but as long as there's no gambling, its okay!

Jynx - They changed its skin color in response to the blackface controversy. Let's not get in a big conversation with how you feel about this because that's besides the point--fact is, Jynx's face was recolored. RBG probably gets a pass because its monochrome, but Yellow is not so will they risk another controversy or will they change Jynx's face?

Mew - This could have gone with glitches but I think it deserves its own point. Mew wasn't programmed into the original Gen I games. Are we going to get an event for Gen I DLC?

 

[EvilChameleon]

Regarding the Game Corner, apparently Serebii tweeted out that the PEGI rating is higher, meaning it probably wasn't removed.

 

[Fairy Type Arceus]

Regarding the Game Corner, apparently Serebii tweeted out that the PEGI rating is higher, meaning it probably wasn't removed.

Also in the article they linked the website site said "if you're lucky you may be able to catch the legendary and powerful Mew!"

 

[Team Gaara]

Regarding Jynx, if people still worry about it, I assume they'll just change the face color~ It won't be that big of a deal regardless of what they do, imo, since I don't think these days people will make too much of a fuss about it~

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

Other than the wireless features, it would be hard to change anything without causing backlash from long-time friends. The Game Corner is a real concern (I'm still upset over it being completely abscent in OR/AS), but given how it's critical to the plot of the Gen 1 games, it can't really be removed. As for the higher PEGI rating, Pokemon has always been aimed at kids (who are usually under the age of 12), which might cause a number of problems for TPCi's marketing of the franchise, this is especially true since PEGI is a lot more restrictive than the ESRB and CERO are, and a 12 or Teen rating would pretty much be a death sentence to the franchise (the only Pokemon game to recieve a rating higher than an E rating was a spin-off title, unless you count the Smash Bros games as Pokemon titles). Alas, it's a sacrifice that must be made to keep the games in their original state.

Jynx might be harder to censor though due to the graphical limitations at the time. There is one thing I would also like to point out that's become impossible in recent generations, which is naming your Pokemon swear words, which also may cause problems.

 

[The Outrage]

The Game Corner is a real concern (I'm still upset over it being completely abscent in OR/AS), but given how it's critical to the plot of the Gen 1 games, it can't really be removed. As for the higher PEGI rating, Pokemon has always been aimed at kids (who are usually under the age of 12), which might cause a number of problems for TPCi's marketing of the franchise, this is especially true since PEGI is a lot more restrictive than the ESRB and CERO are, and a 12 or Teen rating would pretty much be a death sentence to the franchise (the only Pokemon game to recieve a rating higher than an E rating was a spin-off title, unless you count the Smash Bros games as Pokemon titles).

I don't think a higher PEGI rating on a virtual console GB game would kill the franchise. First, having the high rating on one game doesn't mean that all games get this rating. Second, while Nintendo tries to say that this is for old and new fans, the older fandom will likely be the ones driving the sales. Third, parents ignore these ratings all the time, and it'll probably be even easier to ignore given that there's no physical box. Lastly, I doubt the sales of these games tanking would result in a huge financial burden for Game Freak.

Regarding Jynx, if people still worry about it, I assume they'll just change the face color~ It won't be that big of a deal regardless of what they do, imo, since I don't think these days people will make too much of a fuss about it~

I think the Jynx issue is more that the GBC can only show a limited amount of color in each sprite so would they even be able to do it?

 

[Team Gaara]

I think the Jynx issue is more that the GBC can only show a limited amount of color in each sprite so would they even be able to do it?

I imagine if they still consider it to be a concern, they'd have though of some way to change the face color or something~ But I don't think they should worry about it. I mean it's really not that big of a deal and I don't anyone would care one way or the other~

 

[Blazing Charmander]

This is really interesting to me, since Virtual Console games are usually direct ports of the originals but with Pokemon RBY there is so much that could be done to bring them up to date while remaining largely faithful to the originals.

I would imagine that the games will be left untouched other than the advertised wireless trading/battling functionality, but the wishful part of me hopes that we will be surprised in future press releases regarding new features that have been implemented. The overall mechanics will probably stay the same (though I hope that some of the more obvious errors in the battle coding are edited such as Critical Hit ratios), but I think that Game Freak would be missing a trick if they didn't include a legitimate way of obtaining Mew. I don't suppose that Pokemon Bank functionality would be possible since the coding make-up of Pokemon in RBY is drastically different to those in Gen III+ games, but it would be a huge boon if they managed to overcome this.

 

[The Outrage]

I don't suppose that Pokemon Bank functionality would be possible since the coding make-up of Pokemon in RBY is drastically different to those in Gen III+ games, but it would be a huge boon if they managed to overcome this.

Its been 15 years since they had to transfer Gen I Pokemon to Gen II games, and in that scenario, Game Freak had to generate an entirely new stat. When Pokemon are traded, you don't "transfer" data, the Pokemon are copied from the original cartridge into the new one, and then the old data files are deleted. Compatible coding is only an issue for direct-cartridge trades.

In contrast to the old scenario of trading Pokemon, PokeBank is on a cloud server, so the Pokemon themselves don't directly go to the new games. Game Freak could theoretically create a "Retro Box" expansion for PokeBank for Gen I - II DLC's that will store the data in its original state. In terms of transferring to new games, PokeBank could read the original data and translate them into new code. Here's what I propose:

1) Take their original values and reassign them on a 0 - 31 IV scale. To minimize randomness, Hidden Power should be calculated using the Gen II formula, and IVs assigned based on what would give the original Hidden Power. A comparison chart is here:

Spoiler

0 = 0, 1
1 = 2, 3
3 = 4, 5
2 = 6, 7
4 = 8, 9
5 = 10, 11
6 = 12, 13
7 = 14, 15
8 = 16, 17
9, = 18, 19
10 =20, 21
11 = 22, 23
12 = 24, 25
13 = 26, 27
14 = 28, 29
15 = 30, 31

2) Since gender and shininess were originally assigned based on IVs, PokeBank could read the original IVs to see the Pokemon's corresponding gender and shiny status in Gen II games, and then assign them a personality value that corresponds to this label in the future games.

3) Since abilities did not exist in Gen I or II, the Pokemon could either be assigned a new value and given the corresponding ability or to give incentive to buy the original games, create "Retro Abilities"

4) EVs would have to be reset since there was no cap in the originals.

A lot of the transfer process involves giving new values where the original code had none, but also reading the original code and translating it into how the existing code is structured. Is it more difficult than simple trading? Definitely. Is it impossible? Absolutely not. Computing has gone a long way in the last 15 years, many game companies are able to release their games cross-platform, which is way more difficult than translating a few bits of code. Game Freak isn't restricted by the limited computing power of the New 3DS since PokeBank is on a cloud server, and Nintendo itself is promoting cross-platform gaming with the NX.

People didn't think there would be any Gen I or II DLC because they didn't think that Game Freak could give the games wireless capabilities and literally refused to acknowledge other games have done this. Thank god Game Freak's mindset isn't as restricted as the fandom's (surprisingly)

EDIT: To further drive home the point that you can translate between generations, have a look at the Personality Value page on Bulbapedia. Here's some highlights:

• Gen V onward, the personality value that determined abilities changed, presumably in order to accommodate Hidden Abilities
  
• Gen V onward, Natures were no longer determined by personality values

 

[DoctorWhy]

While I really doubt they would do it, I would appreciate if they fixed the Gen 1 type chart to mirror current matchups (disregarding new types), battle mechanic glitches (like Crits), and maybe even fix a couple of shitty movepools (like bringing RB movepools to the standards of Yellow; ex: Charizard can learn Fly in Yellow, but not RB).

 

[GiraFragMich]

Retro abilities. Imagine if they could find a way to make the games compatible with Bank, when transferring Pokemon they get a new ability...

 

[Dorothy]

I think the Jynx issue is more that the GBC can only show a limited amount of color in each sprite so would they even be able to do it?

They probably could, but it'd likely be too much effort for not much gain. The controversy was so long ago that I doubt anyone would care anymore, and there's always the argument to be made that the games should be presented as they were originally released for historicity's sake.

 

[jman21]

The type match up errors. That's my big issue. Psychic being immune to ghost, bug and poison strong against each other, and ice doing neutral damage to fire. They fix that then I'm happy.

 

[The Outrage]

While I really doubt they would do it, I would appreciate if they fixed the Gen 1 type chart to mirror current matchups (disregarding new types), battle mechanic glitches (like Crits), and maybe even fix a couple of shitty movepools (like bringing RB movepools to the standards of Yellow; ex: Charizard can learn Fly in Yellow, but not RB).

I don't think they should mess with the original type match-ups, but they should address obvious glitches in the original programming, like Psychic being immune to Ghosts. Not that it matters since the only move they have is Night Shade and Lick.

They probably could, but it'd likely be too much effort for not much gain. The controversy was so long ago that I doubt anyone would care anymore, and there's always the argument to be made that the games should be presented as they were originally released for historicity's sake.

If they don't do it, its because they probably don't think its an issue. However, if it becomes an issue, "historical accuracy" isn't really going to be an excuse since that reasoning isn't accepted in any other instance someone's raised the issue.

 

[Desdar300]

I think they may fix a few glitches but the game will largely be the same.