Would You Like to See More Sequels?

[Bolt Strike]

Last generation, Game Freak did something largely unprecedented: instead of making a Gray version like we all expected, they created the first ever sequels to Black and White called Black 2 and White 2. Instead of simply having a third game that follows the first two closely but changes up the plot to showcase the third mascot, they created an entirely new game still set in the same region but with a new storyline set after the first one, new protagonists, new areas including a new hometown and new gyms, and an expansion to the Unova Dex that included Pokemon not seen in Unova in BW1. Would you want to see more sequels in the future? What kinds of games and regions would you like to see get sequels? Discuss.

 

[-Polaris-]

I think a Hoenn sequel would be awesome.

Also, a Sinnoh sequel Go ahead, shoot me

 

[Bolt Strike]

Okay, here's my point of view on sequels:

I'd definitely like to see them, especially for older generations. A lot of older games had limitations on region design and regional dexes due to restrictions caused by the hardware and what kinds of Pokemon existed in the originals respectively. Kanto and Johto were very short, flat, and clustered regions and could use a major facelift, and Johto itself didn't really have much of an identity because it was treated as an extension of Kanto. Putting them in separate games and developing them individually could definitely help flesh them out. All of the regional dexes not named Unova and Kalos have some kind of variety issue due to there being a lack of options for some of the rarer types like Ghost and Dragon for several generations. And then some of the storylines like in RBYFRLG, GSCHGSS, and XY are either really bare or poorly written and would be much better off building a completely new story than they would trying to fix the originals.

And hell, even if they don't need one, it certain mixes things up. One thing I really enjoyed about BW2 (which frankly I think they could have done better, but was still enjoyable) was how they took old areas and plotlines and gave them completely new roles. Giant Chasm, for example, went from being a mysterious post game area hiding a bonus legendary to being the climax of the storyline. Old areas were visited at different times or explored differently. On the storyline side of things, we saw a schism in Team Plasma based on the conflicting goals between N and Ghetsis and saw them in an entirely different light. N himself went from being a charismatic villain that made you rethink your views on the Pokemon world to being an antihero that helps you stop Ghetsis once and for all. There's just so much that can be done with a sequel and it makes things more new and exciting than a third version or remake that tries to do everything more or less the same.

 

[BettyN]

Sequels are what I wish Game Freak had done from Gens 3 and onwards.

I get why they decided to make Ruby and Sapphire a hard reboot and cut off all ties to Kanto and Johto. There was just no way that the GBA could've linked with the GBC games, and the latter part of Gen 2 (particularly the anime, which was heavily linked with the games' popularity at the time) had soured the franchise for many people (the Johto seasons were poorly received by even the target demo)--To put it in perspective, Crystal (6.39 million) actually sold worse than Emerald (6.41 million) and Platinum (7.59 million), despite Gold/Silver (23.10 million) selling far better than Ruby/Sapphire (15.85 million) and Diamond/Pearl (18.12 million). While people blame Ruby and Sapphire for the death of Pokémania, in reality, it had already died by the time those games came out.

Plus, starting with the 3rd Generation, the total Pokémon count started to break well over 300, so it was starting to become less feasible to include them all in a single set of games, especially considering the GBA's more limited technology in comparison to the DS and 3DS. It's no surprise that the 3rd Generation was the one that introduced the concept of "Regional" and "National" Dexes.

However, I still think that even with all of these issues, they still could've made Generation 3 a sequel instead of a reboot. There wasn't anything necessarily wrong with Hoenn being in its own game, but I didn't need to be nearly as clean of a break from Kanto and Johto. The games could've incorporated characters from the previous two Gens (maybe have Lorelei come from Hoenn instead of the Sevii Islands, for example), as well as referenced the events of RBY and GSC (such as mentioning Team Rocket's final defeat in Goldenrod City) to show that even though RBY and GSC were no longer compatible, their events still happened and Kanto and Johto still existed.

And, then, later in the Generation when they wanted to fill the Pokédex gaps in Hoenn, instead of remaking Gen 1, they could've made a sequel that started in Kanto (and possibly included Johto as a postgame region, think Gen 2 in reverse) that was a direct follow-up to GSC. There, we would've gotten a modernized Kanto (and possibly Johto) and filled the Pokédex gaps (probably more easily than FRLG did, in fact), while still having everything be a continuation of the previous Generations.

In this scenario, Generations 4 and later would've also continued this same pattern, building upon the previous games instead of constantly rebooting in a brand new isolated region without any returning characters or direct references to the past games.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Sequels are what I wish Game Freak had done from Gens 3 and onwards.

I get why they decided to make Ruby and Sapphire a hard reboot and cut off all ties to Kanto and Johto. There was just no way that the GBA could've linked with the GBC games, and the latter part of Gen 2 (particularly the anime, which was heavily linked with the games' popularity at the time) had soured the franchise for many people (the Johto seasons were poorly received by even the target demo)--To put it in perspective, Crystal (6.39 million) actually sold worse than Emerald (6.41 million) and Platinum (7.59 million), despite Gold/Silver (23.10 million) selling far better than Ruby/Sapphire (15.85 million) and Diamond/Pearl (18.12 million). While people blame Ruby and Sapphire for the death of Pokémania, in reality, it had already died by the time those games came out.

Plus, starting with the 3rd Generation, the total Pokémon count started to break well over 300, so it was starting to become less feasible to include them all in a single set of games, especially considering the GBA's more limited technology in comparison to the DS and 3DS. It's no surprise that the 3rd Generation was the one that introduced the concept of "Regional" and "National" Dexes.

However, I still think that even with all of these issues, they still could've made Generation 3 a sequel instead of a reboot. There wasn't anything necessarily wrong with Hoenn being in its own game, but I didn't need to be nearly as clean of a break from Kanto and Johto. The games could've incorporated characters from the previous two Gens (maybe have Lorelei come from Hoenn instead of the Sevii Islands, for example), as well as referenced the events of RBY and GSC (such as mentioning Team Rocket's final defeat in Goldenrod City) to show that even though RBY and GSC were no longer compatible, their events still happened and Kanto and Johto still existed.

And, then, later in the Generation when they wanted to fill the Pokédex gaps in Hoenn, instead of remaking Gen 1, they could've made a sequel that started in Kanto (and possibly included Johto as a postgame region, think Gen 2 in reverse) that was a direct follow-up to GSC. There, we would've gotten a modernized Kanto (and possibly Johto) and filled the Pokédex gaps (probably more easily than FRLG did, in fact), while still having everything be a continuation of the previous Generations.

In this scenario, Generations 4 and later would've also continued this same pattern, building upon the previous games instead of constantly rebooting in a brand new isolated region without any returning characters or direct references to the past games.

I don't think throwing in older characters would've made much of a difference, and I would rather have the new games have original content anyway. The lack of older characters was never the problem, it was how they handled the Pokemon that was more bothering. They didn't really make the whole regional dex/National Dex thing clear in RS and none of the National Dex Pokemon actually showed up in the game, so it made it seem like the non-Hoenn Dex Pokemon were gone for good.

 

[Champion Red]

I myself would really love to see a Kanto sequel for the 20th anniversary. It would probably be 7th gen I believe?

I'd also like to see Red/Leaf stay as the main protagonists, but I already know I'm in the minority on that

 

[Silktree]

I myself would really love to see a Kanto sequel for the 20th anniversary. It would probably be 7th gen I believe?

I think that the next generation in its entirety may be treated as a 20th anniversary project; those typically last more than a year (the one for Final Fantasy spanned more than two years). The initial versions will most likely be released in 2016, but Kanto sequels in 2017 would still count as part of the anniversary project.

 

[Team Gaara]

I prefer third versions. Only games that could use a sequel would be DPPT, in my opinion.

 

[henrymidfields]

Given that RBY, GSC, RSE, and DPPt were all based on Poke-Japan, it would have been great if there was more integration - if not a second region. Because in reality, there regions are never as isolated as the games show them to be. One can do a one-day business trip between Fukuoka-Osaka, and especially Osaka-Tokyo without an airplane, and within a few years time, one can do a 1-night/2-day business trip between Tokyo/Hokkaido with the Hokkaido Shinkansen currently under construction. I would like to have seen a better integration as would be the case in real-life. Even though it could have been better designed (eg Smaller level jump for Blue-Red please, darnit!), and I think it can be better designed, I was actually glad GSC had Kanto as a second region for this very reason. Likewise, I expected a Maglev to Johto as well, like the Sanyo Shinkansen in real-life. Really, it would have been better to either integrate Hoenn with Johto, or go all the way to isolate the region and base Hoenn off Hawaii/Acapulco or Cancun/parts of the Carribbean/Malaysia (They're all better-suited as tropical themes of Gen 3 anyway; Kyushu (excluding Okinawa) isn't that south of Honshu...), as opposed to doing something half-baked like what it is.

Of course, this doesn't apply for Unova, Kalos, and any future games that are distanced away from the past games. This was the reason why I had less trouble with Unova and Kalos being isolated - it makes more sense in reality.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I prefer third versions. Only games that could use a sequel would be DPPT, in my opinion.

Care to explain?

 

[Team Gaara]

I prefer third versions. Only games that could use a sequel would be DPPT, in my opinion.

Care to explain?

They're pretty much the only games with a truly unexplained ending (not counting XY) regarding the evil team. Cyrus disappeared in Platinum's Distortion World and left Galactic to Saturn. A sequel could answer what happened to Cyrus, what Saturn did with Galactic, what happened to the other members, etc.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I prefer third versions. Only games that could use a sequel would be DPPT, in my opinion.

Care to explain?

They're pretty much the only games with a truly unexplained ending (not counting XY) regarding the evil team. Cyrus disappeared in Platinum's Distortion World and left Galactic to Saturn. A sequel could answer what happened to Cyrus, what Saturn did with Galactic, what happened to the other members, etc.

No, I mean why you prefer third versions over sequels.

 

[Joshawott]

As someone who used to sit down and write lengthy blog posts about my predictions for the Pokémon series (of which a significant number were true or very close to the truth), I think we're in a very fascinating era of the Pokémon franchise - where both the series itself and the environment of gaming has transformed in such a way that no one can really make any predictions they can claim to be accurate unless they're either self-absorbed or have insider knowledge.

"Third versions" were for the most part, extremely similar to their primary pairs and only offered slight improvements such as new features and sometimes, additional chapters to a game's story. Yellow, Crystal, Emerald and Platinum were all released on consoles that could not support downloadable content (and before Platinum, DLC wasn't even a thing). Downloadable content has since dominated the industry to the point that even Nintendo has recently started to jump on the bandwagon. While this certainly hasn't stopped publishers from releasing annual upgraded releases (Capcom are really guilty of this), the fact that they and companies who make similar moves end up finding themselves mocked for such decisions, it's a big sign that the general gaming audience would much rather see such upgrades and small amounts of additional content released as say, a £10-20 DLC pack as opposed to an entirely new £40 game that is an almost identical experience to what they played a year or two ago.

"Remakes" such as FireRed/LeafGreen and HeartGold/SoulSilver were also released during a time when Nintendo's hardware didn't support Virtual Console emulation for those platforms. Even with Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, while the Wii U can support full Virtual Console emulation of Gameboy Advance titles, the Nintendo 3DS can not (yes, there were the ten Ambassador games, but their performance isn't at the standard Nintendo have set for Virtual Console releases, which is most likely why they are hesitant to support them outside of that one promotion).
However, Nintendo have promised Nintendo DS games for its Virtual Console library on the Wii U, with one title being made available for a limited period a few months ago. The company has also said that moving forward, they want to have a framework that is similar for both their portable and home consoles, so there is the possibility that Nintendo's next handheld will support Nintendo DS emulation (whereas their current one can simply play DS cartridges). All they would have to do to recreate the full Pokémon experience would be to tweak the games so that they can use the handheld's wireless capabilities (and Nintendo Network) and maybe even make Pokémon Bank compatible with them, which will be less work than making a dedicated remake.

There's also the fact that inside the series, Generation V really threw a spanner in the works by not only being the first new generation to launch on the same hardware as its preceding one (while GS played on original Gameboy systems, they were marketed as GBC games), but they also gave us Black 2/White 2. Sure, they were originally planned as two "third versions", but the final product was the first in-generation sequel to a primary pair (as GSC weren't in the same generation as RGBY). They let fans return to the Unova region once again, but with an entirely new story that directly followed on from what was honestly, the best one seen in the series so far. Also, while many people expected remakes of Ruby and Sapphire, we were instead given X/Y, a new generation on the 3DS (which would then give us those remakes).
Generation V changed a lot of the conventions we had started to expect from the Pokémon series, but they also introduced fans to the concept of direct sequels.

Personally, I would be a lot more open to seeing currently established stories being greatly expanded through dedicated sequel games, as opposed to seeing an additional post-game scenario being added to a third version (as has happened in the past). I would also like to see Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire be the last remakes in the Pokémon franchise; at least for a long time. It is worth mentioning though, that Generation I's story is currently the only one that can't be played on the Nintendo 3DS (and it seems like GameFreak aren't likely to release R/B on the 3DS Virtual Console any time soon).

In the immediate future though, I definitely think that X/Y's sorry excuse of a story could definitely need expanding; with a prequel probably being the best way to do it. I really want GameFreak to let us explore what exactly led Lysandre to believe what he did, Professor Sycamore's relationship with him and AZ's personal struggle, including how exactly he was relevant to Team Flare's plot and such.

 

[Team Gaara]

No, I mean why you prefer third versions over sequels.

Oh, sorry about that. I'm a person who likes a nice, clean, solid canon regarding events in the Pokemon World. This is what third versions accomplish. Rather than an unclear version of events in Sinnoh regarding either Dialga or Palkia, we have instead a single story following the events of Giratina. Instead of debating which events are more likely to have happened in Hoenn: the downpour caused by Team Aqua and Kyogre or the drought brought on by Team Magma and Groudon, we can all agree on Rayquaza settling the screw-ups of both of these Organizations.

Sequels do not help this issue, and, in fact, make a solid canon even harder to determine. Rather than a nice and clean Gray coming in and giving us a clear series of events that happened in Unova, we have a sequel for each, which does nothing to help with the issue of which timeline actually exists in the Pokemon World. There's literally no way for us to determine which Dragon did what in Unova and this basically means that we have two canons for the events in that region. That bothers me. I don't like the idea of alternate universes in that sense because it just makes things more complicated and doesn't give us a clear answer.

 

[Bolt Strike]

No, I mean why you prefer third versions over sequels.

Oh, sorry about that. I'm a person who likes a nice, clean, solid canon regarding events in the Pokemon World. This is what third versions accomplish. Rather than an unclear version of events in Sinnoh regarding either Dialga or Palkia, we have instead a single story following the events of Giratina. Instead of debating which events are more likely to have happened in Hoenn: the downpour caused by Team Aqua and Kyogre or the drought brought on by Team Magma and Groudon, we can all agree on Rayquaza settling the screw-ups of both of these Organizations.

Sequels do not help this issue, and, in fact, make a solid canon even harder to determine. Rather than a nice and clean Gray coming in and giving us a clear series of events that happened in Unova, we have a sequel for each, which does nothing to help with the issue of which timeline actually exists in the Pokemon World. There's literally no way for us to determine which Dragon did what in Unova and this basically means that we have two canons for the events in that region. That bothers me. I don't like the idea of alternate universes in that sense because it just makes things more complicated and doesn't give us a clear answer.

I don't really think it's a big deal, it's not like the storyline is drastically different between versions. The storyline basically amounts to which legendary shows up in the storyline, that's it.

 

[Silktree]

In the immediate future though, I definitely think that X/Y's sorry excuse of a story could definitely need expanding; with a prequel probably being the best way to do it. I really want GameFreak to let us explore what exactly led Lysandre to believe what he did, Professor Sycamore's relationship with him and AZ's personal struggle, including how exactly he was relevant to Team Flare's plot and such.

I agree that a prequel has more potential than a sequel in XY's case (there was no foreshadowing of future events), but I don't think that this is a feasible option for the main series for the following reasons:

1. It is likely that the advent of the New 3DS will push Game Freak to release the next generation in 2016 (the alternative is not doing much with the New 3DS and waiting for the successor's launch no sooner than 2017 to rush a new release for it, which would be a bad move). I don't see how they have time in 2015 to release a game with a new story, especially considering that 2012-2014 have already seen three consecutive releases featuring different regions.

2. A prequel wouldn't work that well as a main series game. The biggest event in Kalos' history is AZ's ancient war, but a main series game can't be set in that period of time. In contrast, Kalos' recent history isn't really referenced in XY, so how notable could it be? I am not saying that Lysandre's perspective isn't interesting, but I don't see how it warrants a badge quest revolving around it. It doesn't help that Xerneas and Yveltal had been dormant for hundreds of years prior to their awakening in XY.

My solution is to let another developer (namely Chunsoft) handle a prequel as an adventure game featuring multiple episodes of Kalos' history (possibly even the future to address what really happened to Lysandre). Toshinobu Matsumiya (Game Freak's scenario writer) would be in charge of the story but Chunsoft would develop the game itself, allowing Game Freak to concentrate on Generation VII. Zygarde would still be used as the mascot and its new assets (Mega Stones or something in that vein) would be transferred to the main series via a patch.

 

[Team Gaara]

I don't really think it's a big deal, it's not like the storyline is drastically different between versions. The storyline basically amounts to which legendary shows up in the storyline, that's it.

It's not just that. We don't know which of Drayden or Iris was the leader in Opelucid in BW. We don't even know which Opelucid is canon. We don't know which Route 4 is canon in BW2, which of Black City or White Forest is actually past Nimbasa, which is the actual state of Reversal Mountain. The Unova region in itself is riddled with confusion.

 

[Silktree]

It's not just that. We don't know which of Drayden or Iris was the leader in Opelucid in BW. We don't even know which Opelucid is canon. We don't know which Route 4 is canon in BW2, which of Black City or White Forest is actually past Nimbasa, which is the actual state of Reversal Mountain. The Unova region in itself is riddled with confusion.

But that doesn't apply to any of the other regions.

 

[Team Gaara]

But that doesn't apply to any of the other regions.

Are you being sarcastic or something?

 

[Silktree]

Are you being sarcastic or something?

No. I don't understand your argument since we're discussing potential sequels rather than B2W2. The ambiguity you described is exclusive to Unova.