Game Corner Alternatives

[Pokémon Spectrum]

Back in 2010, when I realized how freaking difficult Voltorb Flip was, I started brainstorming ideas of what they could have done instead in the localized versions. I mean, a Minesweeper variant is just a huge waste of the touch screen's potential. I thought it would have been better if someone had thought to turn the Game Corner into an arcade. It'd have been simple (in terms of programming): create a few Pokémon-themed arcade games-- like Whac-A-Diglett and Voltorb Skeeball-- make it so that you have to pay a small amount of money (somewhere in the 5-10 monetary unit range), change the word "Coins" into "Tokens," and Ta-Da! You have a much better replacement for the slot machines that's closer to the original concept.

I'm personally hoping that they decide to do something along this line in future games. Sure, the TMs are all reusable now, so there wouldn't be much point in offering them there, but they could still offer rare items and Pokémon for prizes. Anyone else have any ideas for Game Corner alternatives that they'd like to share?

 

[Stratelier]

Voltorb Flip isn't Minesweeper so much as a cross between Minesweeper and Picross. Once you realize that, it's nowhere near as difficult as it looks at first (I got up to Lv.7 for a few rounds at one point before an unlucky round dropped me back to Lv.1)

But I agree, as much as GF doesn't want to feature virtual gambling in Pokemon anymore (for assorted legal reasons), sometimes I do miss the old Game Corners.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I don't miss the Game Corner, as frankly I don't want to gamble for hours to get hold of prizes, but an arcade could be rather fun - with say, five different mini-games to play

 

[Stratelier]

I could totally see things like the Pokeathlon's Brick Break and Hurdle Dash as arcade minigames.

 

[Pokémon Spectrum]

I don't miss the Game Corner, as frankly I don't want to gamble for hours to get hold of prizes, but an arcade could be rather fun - with say, five different mini-games to play

I wasn't really a fan of how long it took to get the coins necessary to get decent prizes either, but at least you could just buy the coins instead, and the slots were still easier than Voltorb Flip.

Okay, so we have Whac-A-Diglett and Voltorb Skee-ball, and you say that there should be at least five mini-games. What would the other three be? I'd imagine there should be something along the lines of those duck-shooting galleries (Maybe Farfetch'd and Remoraid?).

 

[Goffik_Lolita]

I don't miss the Game Corner, as frankly I don't want to gamble for hours to get hold of prizes, but an arcade could be rather fun - with say, five different mini-games to play

I wasn't really a fan of how long it took to get the coins necessary to get decent prizes either, but at least you could just buy the coins instead, and the slots were still easier than Voltorb Flip.

Okay, so we have Whac-A-Diglett and Voltorb Skee-ball, and you say that there should be at least five mini-games. What would the other three be? I'd imagine there should be something along the lines of those duck-shooting galleries (Maybe Farfetch'd and Remoraid?).

For other games there could be a Skill Crane. Maybe each thing had some sort of item and tokens? I dunno.

 

[Pokémon Spectrum]

I don't miss the Game Corner, as frankly I don't want to gamble for hours to get hold of prizes, but an arcade could be rather fun - with say, five different mini-games to play

I wasn't really a fan of how long it took to get the coins necessary to get decent prizes either, but at least you could just buy the coins instead, and the slots were still easier than Voltorb Flip.

Okay, so we have Whac-A-Diglett and Voltorb Skee-ball, and you say that there should be at least five mini-games. What would the other three be? I'd imagine there should be something along the lines of those duck-shooting galleries (Maybe Farfetch'd and Remoraid?).

For other games there could be a Skill Crane. Maybe each thing had some sort of item and tokens? I dunno.

I'd say a skill crane (or as my family calls it, a crane game) would be more along the lines of getting rarer items that you can't buy, like Ethers or Berries. It's a good idea, though.

 

[Muur]

I always hated the game corner, I just wasted money buying coins till I had enough for the TMs and/or Pokemon. Any side thing that is fun will do for me. Like say the Pokeathlon, bring that back.

 

[Pokémon Spectrum]

I always hated the game corner, I just wasted money buying coins till I had enough for the TMs and/or Pokemon. Any side thing that is fun will do for me. Like say the Pokeathlon, bring that back.

Yeah, about the only complaint I have with X and Y is that there's nothing along the lines of Contests or the Pokéathlon. Those were the best parts of Gen. III-V: something that could occupy your time after you've beaten all of the plot-based elements of the game. I especially liked Poké-Star Studios, It was always fun to go back and try all of the films over and over again with whatever Pokémon you want.

 

[Stratelier]

I wasn't really a fan of how long it took to get the coins necessary to get decent prizes either, but at least you could just buy the coins instead, and the slots were still easier than Voltorb Flip.

I was never much good at slots. And Roulette never had good enough payouts to grind coins. But when you get really good at Voltorb Flip and lucky enough to reach the highest levels you can often net 300+ coins per round in much less time.

 

[Pokémon Spectrum]

I wasn't really a fan of how long it took to get the coins necessary to get decent prizes either, but at least you could just buy the coins instead, and the slots were still easier than Voltorb Flip.

I was never much good at slots. And Roulette never had good enough payouts to grind coins. But when you get really good at Voltorb Flip and lucky enough to reach the highest levels you can often net 300+ coins per round in much less time.

Well, not everyone has the patience or skill to get that far. I was lucky if I managed to get to level 3, and I usually messed up immediately afterwards.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I always hated the slots and roulette, but I love Voltorb Flip to death, I wouldn't mind seeing more of that. Arcade games would be neat too, though.

As for my ideas, the only thing I can think of is a Skiddo/Gogoat themed hurdle game. Really, anything that works similarly to the mini games in Stadium and the DW would work here as well.

 

[Stratelier]

Well, not everyone has the patience or skill to get that far. I was lucky if I managed to get to level 3, and I usually messed up immediately afterwards.

Yeah, when you get to the higher levels there IS a bit of luck to it, but it helps to take notes and mark which squares are possibly what. As a quick example, any row or column with a total of only five coins/Voltorbs is a waste of time so if you just put marks on any such rows/columns you can eliminate a fair chunk of the board right off (which improves your odds considerably). After that the best bet is often to go for squares that have the highest coin count AND lowest Voltorb risk across their intersection of row AND column. Any time you reveal a 2x or 3x, if the remaining # coins+Voltorbs matches the # remaining squares stop checking that row or column and move on to another. The rest is, indeed, just luck of the draw....

 

[Hex Maniac]

I never had much patient for the Game Corner, it was pretty boring. Gameplay-wise, if you can just buy your way to the prizes then there isn't much point in the games and if you can't, games like slot machines require far too much luck and patience. It's like forcing something akin to shiny hunting on people to get items they may need. Plus, GF has had legal issues with the casino-like Game Corner in the past and been accused of promoting gambling through it.

I think that an arcade would be a much better idea. What prizes you got would depend mostly on how good you were at playing and arcade-like games are much more fun to play. I don't think that would be similar to casinos either, so it would also be easier on GF.

 

[Dorothy]

Moving to Video Games since this thread is better suited there.

 

[Osprey]

The only Game Corner I was ever good at was the one in Firered and Leafgreen. The slots' patterns were fairly easy to figure out. All the others were way too difficult (goddarn Hoenn roulette) or just not interesting. Why do slot machines even deal with Clefairy??

I liked Voltorb flip, but trying to play that to get enough coins for Thunderbolt was completely out of the question. I like the idea of a Pokemon-themed arcade though. I can just imagine all the scratch marks my touchscreen would have after a 2-hour run in there.

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

I miss the original Game Corner because the games were fun and easy, but because of newly-implemented censorship issues in the US and Europe at the time, the Game Corner was altered in the US versions to Voltorb Flip, which I found to be agonizing and difficult, always getting the Voltorbs and losing my coins (getting a Dratini was a pain, especially since I wanted one before the league and I wasn't at Dragons Den yet). Why couldn't it be something else? I know the slots are still in the Japanese version, but I can't pay for imports and I cannot speak or read Japanese (only English), so I had to suffer with the exploding beach balls of death. I do believe this was also because of cultural standards in the west since things like the slots would be okay in Japan but having kids play on slot machines in the US and Europe is considered taboo, and with these new censorship standards, any instances of "gambling" will instantly cause the games to have a T or M rating, and of course the games need to be safe for kids under 13.

This could be the reason that Unova and Kalos have no Game Corner to avoid these censorship issues, instead going with basic battle facilities like the non-Subway battle facility in Nimbasa next to the Pokemon Center, which could have been where Unova's Game Corner would be, given it would fit in the city well, as well as Musicals and Poke-star Studios. The Amie mini-games in X/Y also count even though there are no prizes except Pokepuffs. Of course, all these involve the use of Pokemon in the player's current team as opposed to simply being regular Pokemon-themed mini-games that didn't need the player to select someone from their team. For now, these are the closest alternatives to the Game Corner; it's either these or go back to playing the older games which had the pre-Voltorb Flip Game Corners just to see the slots and other games once more (or play another game entirely).

This does make me worry for what will happen to Mauville's Game Corner in OR/AS, since we won't likely see the slots or the roulette game due to these censorship issues enforced by the ESRB (even though you were playing with coins rather than the actual in game money you earned from trainers). I have one of three guesses to what might happen to Mauville's Game Corner:

1. We have Pokemon-ized versions of classic arcade games, which would be a fun past-time and would add variety.
2. Another battle facility with frontier-style rules involving Battle Points and bans on legendaries.
3. There will be nothing there at all, which at this point will be most likely given how Game Freak likes to play things safe.

I personally hope for the first option because I would love a bunch of mini-games, plus I always found Hoenn's Game Corner to be the most fun due to me finding the Roulette game fun, as well as the fact that it was a great way to take a break from constantly battling trainers all the time (and I was never really a fan of Contests), and Game Corners were the only mini-game type thing that didn't involve the use of the Pokemon in the player's current team.

 

[Pain Split]

I loved the Game Corner. It gave a nice, mature taste to an otherwise censored-to-crap game (I'm looking at you, Oblivion Wing). And I found it fun to grind for tons of coins in DP. To throw out all that for... an arcade? I personally disapprove. In my eyes, the ideal situation is for Game Freak to stop giving a crap about making Pokémon "safe" and go back to what they started out doing. Remember in RGBY when the man at the Nugget Bridge would give you his "golden ball"? And then there's the peeping tom at the window of the Celadon Gym. If GF must take away the little points that made Pokémon seem less overprotective and stuffy, then at least let someone make a spin-off series that isn't so obsessed with keeping Pokémon "safe". Create a series with Game Corners, all the little mature details of past games, and pretty much anything that the Japanese games included, that was excluded from international releases.

 

[Pokémon Spectrum]

I loved the Game Corner. It gave a nice, mature taste to an otherwise censored-to-crap game (I'm looking at you, Oblivion Wing). And I found it fun to grind for tons of coins in DP. To throw out all that for... an arcade? I personally disapprove. In my eyes, the ideal situation is for Game Freak to stop giving a crap about making Pokémon "safe" and go back to what they started out doing. Remember in RGBY when the man at the Nugget Bridge would give you his "golden ball"? And then there's the peeping tom at the window of the Celadon Gym. If GF must take away the little points that made Pokémon seem less overprotective and stuffy, then at least let someone make a spin-off series that isn't so obsessed with keeping Pokémon "safe". Create a series with Game Corners, all the little mature details of past games, and pretty much anything that the Japanese games included, that was excluded from international releases.

They've already "thrown out" the Game Corner. And I do agree that it's incredibly silly for people to complain about there being "gambling" in a kid's game. It's the parent's job to make sure that their kids don't go down the wrong path, not anyone else's (except maybe teachers, but I digress). However, the choice has been made, and I can't see them changing it any time soon. I was sad to see the Game Corner go as well, but I just think they could have handled the transition better. An arcade would have been a nice way to dumb things down from a casino while still providing a fun, easy way to get the prizes being offered.

Or, you know, they could have just given you the option to BUY THE EFFING COINS.