XD: which generation?

[Silktree]

The screenshot to which Zhen Lin linked is brand new, showing Bonsly in battle alongside Butterfree. Suspiciously, the screenshot looks very similar to this. The differences lie in the color of the beam used by Butterfree, the replacement of Jolteon by Bonsly and Butterfree's level. Editing Butterfree's stats should be easy enough; Bonsly looks out of place and the entire background appears to have gone through changes in color. This certainly looks like a modified version of the existent screenshot, meant to create the impression that Bonsly can be used in battle.

Of course, this does not at all mean that Munchlax and Bonsly will not be able to be used in battle. This is clearly to remain a mystery for the time being, but it is at least reasonable to speculate that Manene will be revealed to be in the game in next month's CoroCoro.

For the record, whether or not these Pokemon can be used in battle will have no influence on my view of the game as part of Generation III. Most of the reasons have been mentioned by Archaic and Zhen Lin--any decent player of the games should be able to judge them from more aspects than merely the Pokemon which are featured. This is the first time for an RPG game to contain Pokemon of an upcoming generation, but it should not be such a surprise once you consider that the Gamecube games are not confined by the engine of the GBA games.

The interesting thing will be whether or not these Gen. IV Pokémon have Pokédex numbers by the release time, and even more interesting would be what those numbers are. Or not. What on earth would we be able to speculate about from the gaps in the Pokédex numbers?

If they can indeed be used in battle, the problem of their Pokedex numbers is easily solved by the fact that the Pokedex system is absent in the Gamecube games.

 

[bduddy]

I believe that Generation IV Pokemon=Generation IV game. I'm sort of new here, so... what did you classify FR/LG as? If it's Generation I, then by those guidelines, this game should certainly be III. Otherwise, this should, I think, be IV.

(Now that I'm rereading that, I don't think it makes a lot of sense... oh well, it's still my opinion.)

 

[stupidsite]

Don't get sidelined by sneak peeks at new pokemon.

IMHO XD is III Generation and not IV.

IV Generation will be entirely based on Nintendo DS/Revolution hardware. The only upgrade path that has been announced is by uploading your pokemon from a GB Cartridge to a DS Cartridge via the DS Handheld.

DS Cannot connect to GB or GC either via cable or wireless.

So far I've only heard reports that you see/temporarily own the two new pokemon. I've heard no reports that you can keep them long-term, nevermind trade them to a GB Cart.

Besides, trading to a GB Cart will no doubt involve some sort of upgrade of the Cart in a similar fashion to the berry update for Ruby/Sapphire.

Personally I can't see Nintendo going to all that trouble for two pokemon.

 

[Doctor Oak]

My gravedigging senses are tingling...

I'm sure this matter has already been settled. It's obviously a Gen III game. Gen IV really doesn't officially start until Pokemon Ranger kicks off - that's certainly a very, very smart place to pin down the beginning of the fourth Generation.

 

[evkl]

No necromancy, please. And I'm confident in my catchables benchmark for the deciding factor in generation-based games.

 

[Argy]

Who the hell voted in this and tricked me into doing it before I saw how old the thread was?! >:O