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My Team For The Kanto Pokemon Games

Now that I have covered my least favorite and favorite Pokémon as well as my overall opinion on the Kanto games, I now will cover the team that I most typically used. It was a little harder to remember all of the Pokémon I used in Red when I was much younger, so I tried to make my best guess between all of the iterations and times that I’ve done a play through. After compiling these six Pokémon, I also came to the conclusion that if I were to start one of the games right now, this is the team that I would go with for the best results from my own personal knowledge of these Pokémon. I do remember that I used to just only use my starter Pokémon with a few others and only my starter would be super powerful and it just never worked well for the Elite Four. Thankfully though, I have learned to better balance my teams and how to create more well rounded teams. Anyways, let’s get into my team for the Kanto games in order of how I would get them, and counting them as their final evolutions.

Charizard

I mostly pick Charizard as my starter because it is my favorite of the region and one of my favorite starters. It does well against a few of the gyms and Elite 4 in Red and Blue, but becomes better when you get to Fire Red with the inclusion of the Steel typing. This made the first gym against Brock easier if you leveled Charmander up enough to learn Metal Claw. It’s just a powerful beast of a Pokémon and I would say the best Fire Pokémon in the region. I believe there are more options for Grass and Water coverage if you choose Charmander as opposed to if you didn’t choose it and wanted good fire coverage. I think maybe the best would be Arcanine if you didn’t choose Charizard, but really on any given day I would choose Charizard first. There are of course some challenges using it like against Misty, but if you use one in Fire Red or newer than your match against Lt. Surge is actually easy with the added steel typing unless of course you’re facing Raichu. At this point though you likely won’t have Charizard yet, so no worries on the electric advantage against the eventual flying that Charizard becomes. I can see where Blastoise or Venusaur May be better in other scenarios but I would suggest Charizard.

Pidgeot

I will be the first to admit that Pidgeot doesn’t have much coverage throughout the game in any of the big battles except maybe Erika. You already have the flying typing covered by Charizard, so you don’t really need a Pidgeot, but through most of the game it serves well as a solid Pokémon to do some decent damage in most battles. I never found myself using it that much except maybe against Bruno, but I do always remember going to it when I was in a bind. It’s just the perfect middle of the ground Pokémon that really does help more in the early game than in the later portion of the game, but I can’t help but use it every time given how much I really like the whole evolution line. You won’t want to use it in the first gym, but it’ll definitely help you with all of the bugs alongside Charmander in the Viridian Forest. I won’t recommend it for everyone because in this case I have Charizard which can learn a flying move, but I always love using Pidgeot.

Nidoking

This is an absolute must have in these games for any team. As I’ve said before, I’m not a competitive battler and I don’t spend hours on end looking at exact typing matchups and all of the detail stuff, but I use what I learn from results. Nidoran is available early on and it doesn’t really matter if it’s the male or female, I personally prefer Nidoking, but it doesn’t really matter which you choose. You can use it early on and will likely evolve before you even get to Misty. You can get a Moon Stone also before you get to Misty in Mt. Moon so you can get a Nidoking at Lv. 16. You get great poison typing as well as ground typing and an array of moves that you can use. As you get out of Mt Moon you can also get Mega Kick or Mega Punch which is a great move to add early on. On top of that you will eventually get Earthquake and a bunch of other great moves. I always found it useful for most of the gyms in some shape or form and tended to rely on it in tight situations. It was easily my second best on my team behind Charizard. I will always recommend Nidoking or Nidoqueen for any Kanto team.

Gyarados

Yes. I never used a Gyarados when I was playing early on because I didn’t have the patience, but as I grew up I started to use one because it is one of the most powerful Pokémon you can have through the game and is a great substitute for not choosing Blastoise. For all of the newer players that have grown up with Exp. Share as a Key Item, you won’t know how irritating it was to level up. Back in the days of Red or Fire Red I had to start with Magikarp and then switch it out immediately just to give it some Exp. It was a pain and took a little while, but you can get Magikarp as soon as you get to Vermillion City and get the Old Rod. Take the time to level it up to lv. 20 and then there you go, you got yourself a very powerful Water Pokémon to compliment the rest of your team. You won’t get much use out of it against Surge or Erika, but it does it’s job against team Rocket, Blue, and most other trainers as well as the later gyms like Blaine and Giovanni and some of the Elite 4. I see it as being the third strongest Pokémon on the team so far behind Charizard and Nidoking. If you’re willing to put in the work then Gyarados is definitely worth the time.

Snorlax

You may be able to tell by now, but I’m a fan of big powerhouse Pokémon on my team. I like to build a team that is all around brutal to deal with and do brutal damage to most challengers. Snorlax being a normal type is a bit annoying because it does have some weaknesses, but it learns such powerful movies and has a lot of HP so it definitely holds up against most of what you’ll face. On top of that, you have the opportunity to catch two of them. I don’t recommend using two, but you get two chances to get one in case something happens on your first encounter. You get it at a decent level if you search it out as soon as you get the flute and you won’t be disappointed at all when using it. There’s really not much to say because it all depends on the moves you teach it. Just don’t expect much if you try to use it against Bruno.

Victreebell

I picked Victreebell for this last spot because in recent years, I have used it specifically for this team as my Grass type coverage. Bellsprout isn’t available in the beginning, but proves very useful towards the end of the game and can be a very valuable Pokemon to have on your team. Now with that though, my sixth slot is usually wide open and just depends on what I’m feeling for that playthrough. In some instances, I have used one of the legendary birds or even Aerodactyl. I don’t have a real preference for the sixth slot through Kanto, but I will say that Victreebell is very likely the best choice for this position. The only reason I suggest it as a good choice is because it does give you the grass type coverage that you’re lacking with the rest of the team.

This is my recommended team based off of what I typically use when I play through the Kanto games. I’m sure a professional Pokemon game player will tell me that I’m wrong with some of my decisions or that all of them are bad, but this is the team I would and have gone with. It has proved to be very successful for me. Some of these Pokemon are on my favorites list, but not all of them of course. I would like to know what you all think! What would your team be for the Kanto games, do you agree with mine? Comment below or send an email to TowerCityMedia@gmail.com and follow us @TowerCityMedia

My Favorite Kanto Pokemon Ranked

Having completed my least favorite Pokémon, which consisted of a mixture of terrible designs or just plain annoyance, I now have compiled my favorite Pokémon from the Kanto games. A list that will be much more appealing to look at and much easier to talk about. This isn’t my favorite region by designs, but there are many from this region that I genuinely like and continue to like as some of my all-time favorites. I won’t get into it too much though since you are just wanting to get into the list so here we go! Remember these are just my opinion so of course yours will be different.

10 . Zapdos

Okay so, I created this list before watching someone else’s opinions on some Pokémon including Zapdos, and they made a funny comment that didn’t change my opinion. They said that Zapdos looked like it was cut out from construction paper which is hilarious, but I still love the lightning bird. A few reasons why I like this electric chicken are that it was always the go to legendary bird when I played through the games and I’m a fan of electric types that seemed to not get much love in the earlier games. There were electric Pokémon, but there just weren’t that many unique ones until we got into later generations. It did make Zapdos one of the cooler looking and stronger electric types for a while. Although, it is more of a sentimental thing though since it was always the easier bird for me to find in the games. I remember that Moltres was in Victory Road, but I never just came across it, while Zapdos was always easy by just going into the Power Plant. Articuno was difficult to find on the islands, so it was always just the easier one to get for me. Also, it was my go to Pokémon when I didn’t have a strong enough team for the Elite Four so I have definitely used it more than the others.

9. Ditto

I may be in the minority by liking this one as much as I do since the design is fairly simple and isn’t all that strong, but I really do like Ditto. It’s a Pokémon that I would never and have never used in a playthrough, but I like the concept of it being able to transform into the opposing Pokémon, but it just isn’t practical enough for an in-game playthrough. I remember in the show when Ash was going through the Orange Islands, the Champion Drake? I think that’s his name, he had a Ditto if I remember right and I remember enjoying that battle. Ditto seems like it would be great to use if you were in the show and it would be a lot of fun, but for the games it isn’t. The other great thing about it is the mechanic of it being able to breed with any Pokémon do to the fact that it can transform so of course I frequently use one for breeding. It may not sound like I give enough reasons for putting it on this list, but just something about it I really like.

8. Muk

This one is a bit of a mixed bag as far as how I’m going to explain this. So in my least favorite list, I pretty much disliked the whole evolution line of the Pokémon on the list. In this list though I bring to you the first Pokémon where I dislike its first form, but really like its evolution. Grimer is just goofy looking sludge that I have never liked and would only get so that I could evolve it into a Muk. I don’t like the look of Grimer at all which sucks, but I like it enough to use until it does evolve. I like Muk now more than I did in the past. I’m not sure what exactly turned me, but I do enjoy using it anytime I want a poison type and would use it in a playthrough if it were an option in Sword and Shield which it isn’t yet unfortunately. I also really like Muk from its appearances in the anime and how it always jumped on Professor Oak. It was surprisingly strong when Ash used it, but seemed to be forgotten about and not used as much as it could have been. I just really wish I could use one in a playthrough right now.

7. Snorlax

This giant loveable giant thing is an instant classic for the Kanto games. There isn’t a whole lot to stay about it other than its great design and incredible range of moves that it can use. I believe in all of my playthroughs of the Kanto games, I used one of the two Snorlax that you have an opportunity to wake up and catch. It’s hard not to use one when it has such great stats and access to a multitude of different typed moves. It’s a powerhouse when trained well and can save you in tight spots. It’s just overall a great Pokémon. Also I think it’s one of the only Pokémon in the show that could use more than four moves in a battle which means it’s completely broken in the show.

6. Krabby – Kingler

I don’t particularly love their designs, and they don’t have fantastic stats, but I do love the color scheme they use and it was awesome in the show. I would use one now in a playthrough, but I haven’t yet gotten around to using one, maybe the next time I do a playthrough I will. I think the anime was the biggest reason why I like it as much as I do. I remember that his Krabby was much smaller than Gary’s and I always felt bad for it until it actually had a chance to battle. Every time it did battle though it manhandled its opponents. I remember one time it was facing an Exeggutor and it used Vice Grip to launch it which was surprising and funny. It only became better when it evolved into Kingler and I believe it’s one of Ash’s most underrated Pokémon. I also just tend to like most of the crab like designed Pokémon in all of the games like Corphish or Clawitzer so maybe I just like that type of Pokémon. Thinking on it now, I think I will use a Kingler on my next playthrough.

5. Kabutops

I don’t like too many of the fossil Pokemon and I usually don’t like their first form so in this case I don’t like Kabuto, but I really like its evolution a lot. I haven’t actually used one in a playthrough, but I did always go out of my way to pick that fossil and then train and level it up after I finish the game so that I can have a strong one. I would actually use it through a playthrough of Sword and Shield if it were an option but as of right now it isn’t so we’ll have to wait on that. I don’t remember it being in the show very much so I don’t have any fond memories that made me like it from the show so I think it just comes down to overall design. It’s a water/rock type which means it swims in the ocean. My favorite animal is a shark which this doesn’t look like at all, but I love the design and how crazy it would be to see this thing swimming at you in the water. It’s terrifying and perfect as a design and I love to have one accessible to use.

4. Pidgey – Pidgeotto – Pidgeot

There’s not a lot to say about this line other than the nostalgia factor of using it in every single playthrough and for it being the original starting bird. Anytime this Pokémon line is available, I use it because it is powerful when leveled up, but it’s also a classic for the games and in the show and I was upset when Ash released his. I can’t say much about it other than I just really like the design and have always loved it and loved to use it. It’s fantastic and will always be one of my favorites. Yes, I said I wasn’t going to include Mega evolutions, but this pic has that just because it’s awesome.

3. Nidoran – Nidorino – Nidoking

I remember always like the design of Nidorino and occasionally using one way back in Red, but I don’t think I knew how to evolve it so at some point I stopped using it. It wasn’t until my playthrough of Fire Red that I knew how to evolve it and used Nidoking as one of my main powerhouses on my team. Nidoking has a rad design with some great stats and some incredible moves that it can learn that makes it an absolute monster if you teach it the right moves and train it enough. On top of that, it can also evolve very early on in the game which makes it that much more crazy to use. It is of course another Pokemon that I wish I could use but can’t right now in Sowrd and Shield, but is instantly a Pokemon I will have when it becomes available. It’s one of my all-time favorites.

2. Gastly – Haunter – Gengar

I don’t care too much for Gastly but Haunter is pretty awesome. Ash also caught a Haunter to beat Sabrina. Actually I don’t know if he actually caught it or it just befriended Ash, I can’t remember that part but I know it wasn’t so cut and dry because he ended up giving it to Sabrina too I think. Either way though, it’s a really good Ghost type to use that only becomes better if you can trade it with someone and get it back to have a Gengar which is one of the all-time best designed Pokemon and my favorite ghost type. Gengar is very strong and tough to beat when facing the Elite Four, the only thing that holds it back is how you have to trade it to evolve. Thankfully though, Sword and Shield helps a lot of these trade issues by making the evolutions available in the Wild Area. I never used one in any of my playthroughs, but I have used Haunter on a few occasions. I just really love the design and everything about it, and Ash finally has one in the new anime so thankfully he finally got one.

Charmander – Charmeleon – Charizard

Yes, I am one of those people that loves Charizard and will 100% have one in any of the games if it available. I had one in the Kanto games, Johto, Hoenn, Kalos, Alola, and Galar. I do like Blastoise and Venusaur a lot and will use them if available, but it was always Charizard that I went with and will default to on most occasions. It is one the coolest designed Pokemon in all of the games and is an absolute beast in most of them as well. It’s a fire dragon that has access to many strong typed attacks. It can destroy many of the tough trainers you go against if you have it leveled up enough and of course Ash had one and it was an absolute monster after he got to the Johto League. Some of the most memorable moments from the show involve his Charizard and it’s just a staple poster child for the series. I love Charizard and will always without hesitation use one. This concludes my list of my favorite Pokemon from the Kanto games. It is of course entirely from my point of view and the bottom half will actually change from time to time depending on when you ask me. I do also frequently switch out those with Blastoise or Venusaur and a few others, but for the most part, this is what I was feeling for this list. Make sure you comment below or send us an email at TowerCityMedia@gmail.com of what you think or even your list so that I can see what some of your favorites are. Also follow us @TowerCityMedia

My Least Favorite Kanto Pokemon Ranked

Kicking off my first ranking from the Kanto games is my ranking of my least favorite Pokémon from the Kanto region. I know we all have those Pokémon that we just stay away from because we don’t like the design or we just have no real urge to use them or even for other reasons. I like to say that I’m pretty open to using any Pokémon after I complete the story, but even I find myself staying away from certain Pokémon. I don’t think the Kanto Pokémon have too many that are terrible designs or no real urge to use, but it also wasn’t too hard to come up with a solid list. I will of course be sticking with the 151 Pokémon that were introduced in the first games and not any of the additional Pokémon from various other regions that you’re able to get in the remakes. With that, let’s get into my least favorites from the Kanto region!

10. Drowzee – Hypno

Some Pokémon on my future lists are very specific and not include the whole evolution line, but many of the ones I pick do in fact include the whole evolution line. Drowzee and Hypno are both psychic type, and are both terrible designs in my eyes. I understand the origin being of a creature or being that eats bad dreams, but I really can’t see the design matching up with how cool it could have been. I remember always meeting them outside of Vermillion city, but I just never wanted to use one and would rather stick with trying to catch the difficult Abra. Hypno isn’t any better, actually coming off as more weird looking than Drowzee was. It does get the ring thing for hypnotizing and some fur around the neck, but it really doesn’t look unique enough to be a solid evolution for Drowzee. Checking into its origins also proved to be pointless since it falls right in line with what Drowzee came from. I know it’s an evolution so they’re going to share similarities, but this Pokémon is just forgettable with no want for me to have other than to finish the Pokedex. Easily one of my least favorite psychic Pokémon in the whole series and one of the most forgettable.

9. Tangela

This is another Pokémon that suffers from design issues for me. It also doesn’t have a clear origin with some thoughts being that it stems from Medusa or even a swamp monster, but unfortunately it doesn’t live up to either one of those ideas. The design itself is weird because it’s two eyes on a black body surrounded by vines with no arms and red boots…? Why does it have red boots? Is it actually its feet or did it steal the red boots? I’m just so confused where exactly the shoes come from and what the purpose is. I also don’t quite understand what exactly it is. It’s just like a black ball of vines. It doesn’t seem unique and is quite forgettable when thinking back on it. I never used one and never had any urge to get one, the only thing I remember about it is how creepy looking it was in Red and Blue. Of course those sprites weren’t the best, but it was still pretty creepy looking. Fortunately though, its evolution picks up the slack by gaining arms and is a bit more memorable when introduced in the Sinnoh, but this Pokémon on its own is just not good.

8. Doduo – Dodrio

Based off of an ostrich or a dodo isn’t enough to save the design of Doduo and its evolution Dodrio. Both of the designs are just boring and not very inspiring. The only thing I can remember most about these Pokémon when playing through the games was that Dodrio could learn Tri-Attack which was kind of cool back in the day, but now I just could care less. I don’t remember it ever being that strong and found it pretty easy to beat when a trainer had it, but it was never really the strength for me because I do like to use some Pokémon that I know to be weaker, just Doduo and Dodrio are not appealing in any way to me. On top of not being appealing, they both are capable of learning Steel Wing and Fly…How can they even learn those moves without having wings?? I never understood that and I think I might have used one of them once when I needed a Pokemon that could learn Fly, but that’s about as useful as they get. It was so bad that I don’t even think any of the main characters in any of the series ever used one. It would be better off forgotten about or known as being the worst of any of the flying Pokémon.

7. Spearow – Fearow

Crazy right? I just said that Doduo and Dodrio are the worst of all flying types, but now you see Spearow and Fearow here. That makes sense right? Okay, so I think Doduo and its evolution is in fact one of the absolute worst flying types when it comes to actual usage, however, Spearow and Fearow are a Pokémon that I have a separate reason for disliking. Okay, so there’s two main reasons why I put these two on this list. The first of which is that it is far inferior to the Pidgey line and just doesn’t stack up next to it. On top of that, it seemed like all of the birdkeeper trainers from Red had both of these Pokémon which made battling them uninspiring and annoying. The birdkeepers tended to also have Doduo or Dodrio, but something about the look of both Spearow and Fearow just irritated me which could stem back to my other reason for disliking them. This may not be entirely fair since I’m supposed to be basing these opinions mostly off the games, but I hate Spearow for what it did to Ash and Pikachu in the very first episode. Is that fair? It should be, ever since that day I just always had a dislike for Spearow so sorry pal but that’s why you made the list.

6. Paras – Parasect

Okay, back to the show again for this one. I fondly remember the episode where Ash is training his Charmeleon against a Paras I think. It was one of the two, but I always laughed because Charmeleon would just poke it and it would faint. That Paras or Parasect was so weak and very telling of how I felt about the Pokemon when playing through the games. Again, easily one of the most forgettable Pokemon out there and I just really don’t care about it at all. Neither Paras or the evolution has any characteristics that I like and unfortunately I just see no need to ever use one. I don’t have much to say other than that.

5. Voltorb – Electrode

Everyone complaining later on about the inanimate objects as Pokémon need to look back to generation 1 for the first examples of this. Voltorb and Electrode seem to be based off of Pokeballs and they just don’t work. Voltorb works better of the two having a more menacing face and being an electric type, but Electrode breaks that mold by gaining a mouth and a more excited face that just looks weird. The only memorable thing about these Pokémon is that you can expect them to explode on you which always pissed me off. I don’t find any use for them and have never tried to use one.

4. Jynx

Ew. This Pokemon is just creepy and makes me feel so uncomfortable. If it wasn’t for the disturbing sprites in the early games than it was the uncomfortable representation of it during the anime. I vaguely remember one episode being controversial with a Jynx in it, but I’m not even sure if it was ever aired in America. It just isn’t an appealing Pokémon to look at by design. The longer you look at it, the creepier it gets and more uncomfortable I feel. It does have some good moves that it can learn, but ultimately I just don’t understand where the creative team was going with this design and I feel may not have made the games if it was pitched today as a concept. Ew. Just. Ew.

3. Tentacool – Tentacruel

This marks my top three and all three are at the top of this list for very similar reasons. I will say that one of the cooler aspects about Tentacruel was the episode where a giant one attacks the city even though it really isn’t supposed to be that big. I just vividly remember the episode and always enjoyed watching it. On the flipside though, if you ever went surfing in these games then you know what it was like to always encounter wild Pokémon to an annoyingly irritating level and it was always a Tentacool. I could not stand having to surf and deal with getting stopped over and over again by this dumb jellyfish that might actually be a good Pokemon if it didn’t spend most of its time just pissing me off as much as it does. Unfortunately because of the obnoxious appearances, I don’t think I can ever find myself using one unless somewhere in the future it gets a new form of some kind.

2. Rattatta – Ratticate

As I said before, this Pokémon also suffers from the same obnoxious appearance issue that Tentacool had. I remember always running into them and always battling the youngsters who always had one of the two and on top of that, there just is no need to even use one. I don’t like anything about the designs or the move sets and it only becomes interesting when they receive Alolan forms, but I can’t count that for this list. It’s just an absolutely annoying Pokémon to deal with when the playing through the games.

Zubat – Golbat

I’m not going to harp too much on this one. You ever go through any of the mountains or caves? You ever fight Team Rocket? Well then you have faced a least a couple thousand Zubat and/or Golbat. It is the most annoying Pokemon whenever it is included in a regional pokedex. It is easily my least favorite Pokemon of the Kanto region mostly for this reason.

With that, I have given my top ten least favorite Pokemon of the Kanto region. I’m sure there are some on this list that you will disagree with and some that you will agree with, but either way this is of course my list and my opinion, but feel free to comment below your thoughts and which Pokemon you would put on this list. Make sure to comment or email us at TowerCityMedia@gmail.com and follow us @TowerCityMedia and be on the lookout for the next list!

Pokémon Kanto Week: Kanto Games Reviewed

In finishing my review for the Pokémon DLC “Isle of Armor”, I found that what better a way than to review the rest of the main series games! Now it would be quite a long challenge to go through and review each individual game, especially since most of the ones from the same generation are pretty much the same game. With that in mind, I am going to be focusing on each individual region for my game reviews. I will also be focusing on one region each week with various posts that are all connected to that specific region. In this case and for week 1, I will of course be reviewing the Kanto region games, giving my opinion and overall thoughts of all of the games released for this region from Pokémon Red to the Let’s Go games. I will not be reviewing the Kanto region that we see in the Johto games, that portion will be thoroughly reviewed next week when I cover Johto. Now let’s carry on to the original games released in North America, Red and Blue.

Red and Blue and Yellow

Thankfully I was born in the 90’s and lucky enough to have an older brother that wanted a Gameboy Color. I can’t exactly remember if I asked for the game or if he already had it, but I remember starting my Pokémon game journey off with Pokémon Red version. The reason I liked Red so much over Blue was simply the fact that I thought Charizard was much cooler than Blastoise. I still feel the same today (sorry Blastoise). I didn’t think much of it at the time, but one issue I have with these original games is that there really isn’t much difference between these two games unlike in all of the others where you get a version exclusive legendary. There is of course a Green version with Venusaur that was not released in North America, but again it wouldn’t have mattered all that much.

I did go back to looking into some of the version exclusive Pokemon since I couldn’t exactly remember what they were and haven’t played the games in a while, but even with the exclusives I still stand with my choice of picking Red over Blue. The biggest standouts for exclusive to only Red are Growlithe/Arcanine, Scyther and Electabuzz. This was a time though when they were just finding their footing as far as how to actually make each game unique while also having them be very similar.

I have seen several videos on the glitches or just general issues that these games had like how the psychic typing was very overpowered and overall stats issues, but personally I just don’t get into all of that. I have always been the type of player for these games where I just casually enjoy the journey and challenge of beating the champion tow in the game. I don’t do any competitive battling so I just take the games as their put in front of me and these first games really set the stage for what would become my love for the series as a whole. It is simple enough to get into for the younger age while also still being challenging and enjoyable for the older fans like myself. I think the simplicity is rather refreshing when going back to play after being used to the newer games like Let’s Go or Sword and Shield.

It’s hard to narrow down the best parts of these games because it all just works so well. I have some very fond memories of playing Red over and over and over again, not getting enough of it until generation II was finally released. I think some of my most fond memories were that of going in the Safari Zone and trying to catch all of the Pokémon in their which at times was more challenging than catching the legendary Pokémon like Mewtwo. I think the story works well without being too complicated and also has my favorite villain in Giovanni. It also has the best rival with Blue, but these original games as I said, really set the stage for what the series would become and cemented my love for the series as well as many others. Heck, not even the graphics are enough to deter me away from going back and playing it again.

I’ll touch on Yellow real quick since it’s not entirely different from Red and Blue. The biggest difference being that it seemed to fall more in line with the anime where they start you off with a Pikachu rather than allowing you to choose between the three you normally got to choose from. You do however will have an opportunity to accept each of the three starters later on in the game in the same way Ash does in the anime. It was cool to see slight updates to the game from the previous ones and for them to give us an entirely new journey while also staying very close to what we had before. It was all familiar, but giving us a different journey. You also got to have Pikachu follow you and show its emotion which was a nice change that even now we as fans want more of and are starting to get with Pokémon following us again in the Isle of Armor.

Fire Red and Leaf Green

The release of the first remakes in the series being Fire Red and Leaf Green was also the first time that I was getting to play through the Kanto region with my very own copy that I got for Christmas. Did I “accidentally” find the game hidden somewhere in my house before Christmas? Maybe. Was I extremely excited when I got to open it on Christmas day? Hell Yes. Not only did I get this game, but I also upgraded from a Gameboy Advance to a Gameboy Advance SP, the blue version. It is probably one of my most memorable moments in my Pokémon Game playing career and I will always remember it.

I was just coming off of playing Pokémon Sapphire and couldn’t have been happier to relive the memories I had of playing Pokémon Red with the updated graphics that we had for the Hoenn games. There really isn’t too much to say about these remakes that really changed my overall opinions from the original games. If I was more concerned about the stats or typing issues then I would say that these games are soooo much better, but I never worried that much about those issues so they were a bit of a non-factor. The updated graphics were definitely a plus for these games along with the addition of the post-game story. We got to visit the Sevii Islands along with being able to interact with both Johto and Hoenn Pokémon, so another plus is the expanded Pokedex this time around.

Really I just don’t see any negatives for these games at all. Any negatives that I see for Fire Red and Leaf Green would be just personal negatives like version exclusive issues. It’s a personal negative though because every game has version exclusives and I don’t see that ever changing. It just made it hard though because most of my friends also got Fire Red so I didn’t know anyone that could get those version exclusives from Leaf Green to trade with. Another issue I have that I didn’t bring up in the original games was the inclusion of trade evolutions. I understand the thought process of wanting players to connect with each other to evolve these Pokémon like Kadabra and Machoke, but I just hated that it was the only way of evolving them. Overall though, I really do love Fire Red and Leaf Green and see them as the ultimate perfect Kanto game that we have had.

Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee

Finally, we get to the more recent release and latest remake of Red and Blue being Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee which now that I think about it are actually a remake of Pokémon Yellow. Now I didn’t actually play both, but I did end up getting Let’s Go Pikachu. I’m not actually sure if I am in the minority of my mixed feelings about this game compared to the previous ones. On one hand, it’s the first main series game on the Nintendo Switch which is a far superior console than the 3DS so of course overall it was going to look better visually along with the mechanics being heightened. While I was expecting these games to feel like a true updated version of Yellow or Fire Red, it was actually disappointing to see that the focus was more towards the younger kids.

I know that all of the Pokémon games in general are kids games, but these especially felt more kid like and I wasn’t a huge fan. The catching mechanic was also changed in a way that was closer to that of the mobile game Pokémon Go and less like the traditional way. I am not a fan of this at all and felt that typical style of catching Pokémon being a major miss for this game. The other big issue is that they replace the rival Blue with Trace who just doesn’t compare to Blue at all. Outside of these issues though, the games really do hold up as good updates on the Kanto region, but tend to feel a little too easy and not challenging enough for myself.

On the other hand though, this was technically in generation VII so we got the inclusion of mega evolution, Alola forms, and the introduction of Meltan if you had Pokémon Go on your phone. Unfortunatley though, even with this game being in generation VII and having hundreds of new Pokémon available, it limits you to only Kanto Pokémon outside of Meltan and the Alola forms. There were some cool new mechanics like riding Pokémon or even having a Co-op mode, but they felt more gimmicky than actually useful. There also wasn’t any kind of post-game which in this modern age of coming as far as we have in the Pokémon games, makes this game feel somewhat hollow and incomplete. Overall, I am just mixed about how I feel about these games when they could have done the remakes justice and fell more in line with Sword and Shield. Because of the decisions they made, Let’s Go stands as being my least favorite of the Kanto games.

Ending

To wrap up my overall opinions of the Kanto games, I just want to reiterate that I love the Kanto region for all of my fond memories. These games set up what we have come to know and love for the series as a whole and have gone through changes from Red to Fire Red to Let’s Go. Fire Red stands as being my favorite of the three different generation versions, but all of them have aspects that someone will like or dislike. These aren’t my favorite games in the whole series, but they will probably stay in my mind as being the most cemented in my memory.

Looking towards the future though I think it would be great for a future game, maybe Sword and Shield, to use the Kanto region as a DLC of some kind to allow us to travel and explore the region with the graphics introduced in Sword and Shield. I would love to see the region to come back in play in the future, but it needs to be paired up with something else. A “Let’s Go Johto” or a remake again of Gold and Silver would bring us back to Kanto and that would also be ideal, but I feel that where we are right now with Pokémon games, the Kanto region as we see it in Red, or Let’s Go Pikachu is just too simplistic to stand as its own remake and I think it’s very evident in Let’s Go Eevee and Pikachu.

That does bring to a close my overall thoughts of the Kanto games that have been released thus far and also kicks off Kanto week where I go in depth with various things relating to the Kanto region. There are a lot of great things to look forward to like my team that I typically use and even my ranking of favorite and least favorite Pokémon among other things so stay tuned!

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Pokemon: The Isle of Armor Expansion Review

Pokémon has released its first DLC for a main title game on the Nintendo Switch being The Isle of Armor expansion for Pokémon Sword and Shield. With the announcement coming several months ago, I wrote a post about how it can be good and bad to have DLC’s for these games. I wasn’t entirely on board, but also suggested some advantages they could have and different ideas for where they could go with it, but overall I was skeptical going in. It wasn’t until a few weeks before its release that I was reminded that it was coming out so soon and began to get excited again. The last few months leading up to this expansion, I actually hadn’t been playing that much having mostly found myself being a bit bored.

The few days before the release renewed my excitement and I began playing again. It was the anticipation of having an expanded world in the game that got me so excited into playing again. I really didn’t read that much into the expansion before release and really only knew about the addition of Kubfu the new legendary Pokémon that was to be gifted to you with two different Gigantamax forms. I was super excited to get my hands on this new Pokémon not only because it was a new legendary but I love the design of both.

The expansion came and I began playing. The first thing I noticed was how simple it was to get to the Isle of Armor. You update the game after buying the expansion of course and then as soon as the game boots up it informs you of the update and lets you know to go to the rail station to travel to the new Isle. After arriving, travel becomes easier as you are able to simply fly to and from the rest of the Galar region and the Isle of Armor. They could have easily gone the more complicated and senseless route of making all of this more complicated but thankfully they didn’t and I appreciate that a lot. It’s just easily accessible as long as you have the expansion.

The word “expansion” is interesting because it can mean just about anything. It’s not specific to like adding new Pokémon or actually adding story or even specifically a post-game story like we typically have for many of the main series games. It seemed that going the route of DLC’s rather than releasing a sequel like Black 2/White 2 or Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon meant that maybe we would just expansions that did give us more story and more game to actually play. That was my biggest worry because I wanted something that was going to make me stay invested into the game that I had grown somewhat bored of.

Thankfully there is a story in the Isle of Armor, albeit not one that take entirely long to play through but at least it wasn’t just a new place to find newly added Pokémon. It actually made you work for that new Pokémon Kubfu which on one hand I just wanted them to give it to me because I was so excited to train it while on the other hand I felt like it was smart to actually make you work for it, so I count that as a win. The story doesn’t take entirely long as you have to complete different trials by Master Mustard (weird name) and then eventually you get a Kubfu. After that you have to train it and gain a friendship with it until Mustard says you’re good to go and then you get to pick one of the towers to train in.

I feel like this decision was one of the better decisions that they made because rather than forcing you to only be able to evolve it into a game specific form, you actually get to choose which one you want with it be the Fighting/Dark or Fighting/Water typing. I feel like this is a unique decision that could be more interesting to play around with in future games. I understand the advantage profit wise of wanting to have two different games for each of the box cover legendries but it would also be cool to see them allow you to choose which one you want while also giving up the other. It just poses some interesting questions as to where you could actually take that concept in the future and it could have some implications of what to expect in the next expansion The Crown Tundra. We know that there are two new “Regi” forms that could also serve as a means to allow you to choose one and give up the other or it may be that you actually get both, so we’ll see which is the case in a few weeks.

Before you can actually go into the tower though, there is a suggestion that your Kubfu be at least Lv. 70 before entering. I’m not sure if it prevents you from going in if you’re under that level because I trained mine to about 73 before I tried to enter, but even still it sets it up as being difficult challenge especially since you don’t get to take any other Pokémon with you. Now training of course carries over from the rest of the game where you can train normal or just use the candies that you get from raid battles to just level it up quick. The candies are the quick and not as fun way of leveling up so I suggest the grinding way just to go back to the old days when you had to do that. It does however bring up the issue I have of the NPC’s on the Isle.

Despite everything this expansion does have, the one thing it doesn’t have is actual trainers to battle outside of Mustard and Klara/Avery. I feel like this is a missed opportunity to give us a chance to go back to the old ways of grinding to level up by going through various trainers. I also wish that in the expansion there was some sort of inclusion of re-battling trainers. It could have been the perfect place for us to have a spot to continuously battle trainers to train rather than the easy way out of just using the Exp candies. With the theme being a dojo it just seemed like it was a missed opportunity to do this.

That does bring me to the theme of this expansion being the dojo and the inclusion of the new outfit which I personally really like and continue to use now. I wish there was more customization to the outfit, but either way I really like it. The theme doesn’t reach much further after you get through the story part as it resorts back to just being a new “Wild Area”. This is what I mean by missed opportunity though. If their intention is to put a lot of focus on these game and expanding upon them then they should have put more effort into really making this unique to the dojo/ martial arts theme. As in, they should have made it the ultimate training spot, not just full of new Pokémon and Raids, but also plenty of NPC trainers for you to continuously battle to level up your Pokémon.

It even would have been awesome to see some cameos from some past trainers known for martial arts that are visiting to train their Pokémon like Chuck, Bruno, and many others. Rather than having that inclusion, we have a new form of battling being the type restricted battling at the dojo. While it is cool and does pose a challenge, it does bring me back to the worst part about the Battle Tower or other things that follow that model being that you don’t actually get experience for your Pokémon which ultimately sucks. To me, it’s about training your Pokémon and I feel like outside of the raid battles and the raid candies, they don’t give us enough to actually do that which sucks. I want strong trainers in-game that are difficult to battle and that will give us experience for our Pokémon.

Once you defeat Mustard and evolve your Kubfu into Urshifu then you get another side mission of finding a specific item that will be used to allow your Urshifu to Gigantamax. It’s a cool little side final mission that brings you back to Hop, but ultimately doesn’t allow you to actually battle Hop at any point which is a real shame. Another missed opportunity for a great rival throughout the game. You don’t get to spend a whole lot of time with your Urshifu after that point unless you really like it because it’s already almost at level 100. For me, I still use it a lot because I like the Pokémon, but I see others throwing it in the boxes and forgetting about it at this point.

After finishing the final side mission, you have a few other things you can do like upgrading the dojo, finding all of the Alolan Diglett, or exploring the new isle and the added Pokémon. It does bring in question again the issue everyone had with not including the National Dex because while they do bring in various new Pokémon that we all love, it still leaves much to be desired as far as all of the missing Pokémon. Some of which are being included in the next Expansion, but the others are still out there waiting for inclusion in the new games. I will say though that I like the Isle of Armor more than the Wild Area due to the uniqueness of the design and how fun it is to just explore the island. I also enjoy how open world it seems like being able to go out to the ocean and explore smaller islands. The biggest surprise for me was when I first showed up and there was just a giant Wailord in the ocean which was a pretty sweet visual that I think they intended on doing to make some sort of statement.

Ultimately, after playing through the expansion and logging several hours, I have come to the conclusion that yes the Isle of Armor is worth it to buy for the expansion itself, the new Pokémon and the effect of making you go back to the game, however there is still much to be desired. A lot can be made up in the next expansion, The Crown Tundra, but as of right now I think that Game Freak needs to focus more on giving players a reason to stick with it rather than just capturing players for a few days or weeks. The expansion offers a lot for someone to come back to, but doesn’t give you much reason to continue after you complete the “story”. We do get some new Gigantamax forms for Venusaur, Blastoise, and the other Galarian starters, but even that isn’t enough to save this from being something that I will soon forget about and become bored of until the next expansion.

Pokémon needs to focus on expanding the games to a point where there is so much to do in these games that it gives players plenty of reason to not grow bored after defeating the main story. The DLC’s are indeed an opportunity for them to keep players engaged and sticking around, but more can be done to make it successful. At this point I feel like people are very much engaged, but with the relatively short amount of time between the expansions I think they will be fine in keeping people invested, but it will be after the next expansion where I start to get worried about the interest staying high. I am excited for The Crown Tundra, but for now if you have played through The Isle of Armor than let me know what you think and if not then definitely give it a shot to see if you like it.

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I’m Selling Stuff!

This is a wierd post, huh? Not something I usually do at all.

Anyway…

My eBay Link: https://ebay.com/usr/connorfahy1013

I am moving and in that process am trying to sell some of my media to clear space. This is not a cry for help or financial support (but it won’t hurt) because I am fine in that regard. Instead this is just a signal boost to see if anyone would like what I am selling.

Included in the link/ what I am selling:

Collections/runs of comics in single issues (I still bought the trade for many of these so don’t ask why I did both because I have no answer).

A few manga collections

Card sets (Keyforge and CAH)

That is it for now. More stuff will be posted once I determine what all I want to sell, and how it want to sell it (I mean I just have so, so, so, so – seriously a lot- of Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards and a healthy portion of Magic TG cards). On top of that will be movie collections, TV series and more.

Here is the link again: https://ebay.com/usr/connorfahy1013. I want to repeat that this is not for financial support, and if you don’t want to buy anything I won’t like you any less.

Also: if you do want to buy something and contact me saying that you are a reader of the blog I will give you a discount on any of the stuff you order!

(And because it’s tradition)

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Final Fantasy VII Remake is STRANGE

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is one of the most hotly contested video games that’s come out in recent time. The biggest debate is if it’s actually a “remake” or not. I couldn’t tell you’d. I never played the original, but boy… do I have thoughts on the games that’s been released. Most importantly it is kind of strange.

The plot is well known, but in case you need a refresher the story follows Cloud, a former SOLDIER, who teams up with eco-terrorist Avalanche to help take down the UltimateCorporation (bigger than Mega, like Digimon) Shinra. During an assault Cloud is injured and flung to a church where he meets a mystic, Aerith, to aid in the fight. Only Cloud, Aerith, and the rest of Shinra might not all be what they appear.

It’s common knowledge now that, I think, what people think is strange about the game is that it follows in the Rebuild of Eva model of having the remake (or are those Reboots?… not the point) being an element of the story. In this case there are ghost-dementor-spirit-things called Whispers that cycle around Aerith for reasons… Actually, do we know why they are around her? I mean, I think it is supposed to be the Whispers trying to keep the universe as it is supposed to be, but Sephiroth corrupted them. Maybe that’s what is going on. Again, as someone who never played the original it is hard to tell what all those Whispers are doing other than allowing characters not to die.

Yet, as confusing as the plot is I do not find that the strangest part of the game. No, the stuff that was already in the original game is the strangest stuff of all, and it seems like nobody noticed.

To break it down in “mom-speak.” You have a guy with a giant sword who works with eco terrorists, one of whom had a gun for an arm that is never explained, and another who is a girl that punches and kicks good to take down the electric company in a city named after a Norse realm. On top of that there are ancient people’s that are extinct except for one girl, as well as space aliens who are used to make clones, and a talking wolf dog that has a fire tail. Oh, and giant robots, dragons, chickens, and Bangkok.

That list of plot and other elements are all stuff that has not been changed since the original game, and that stuff is weird, strange, and bold to say the least. But, digging into the characters, they too are strange.

I mean look at Cloud. He was designed to be both the coolest, and what I can best describe as an emo kid who is too much of a good boy to say no to his mother. Part of that was how I played him, but the fact he helps people whenever they ask despite constantly pouting. He’s clearly a good boy.

On top of that, Barret is an even better boy. Again, this will be more focused on the Remake, but the fact he is so boisterous about his causes, and love for his daughter is just so endearing. He is just so honest, upfront, and blunt about his feelings over the planet, Shinra, and his daughter that it makes you question why he looks like the Hulk grew a gun arm. It’s strange, but makes him better for it.

Ladies Tifa and Aerith are less strange, or outwardly weird. Tifa is just a protective person who can fight well. It’s cool she also runs a bar, but that is not focused on enough. Aerith, as a character, is not focused on enough, despite large chunks devoted to who she is. Cloud spends so much time with her. We see how she sells flowers, lives a secluded life, and tends to an orphanage near her house. She also has a tragic backstory about being a lab rat with her mother because of their heritage. All of that amounts to her being a really sweet person. In the original I know it’s meant to endear you enough for when she is killed. It’s unclear if that will continue into whatever sequel or second part they are making. As it stands now she is just generically sweet and mostly there to have Cloud loosen up. They are fine, just not strange.

From a gameplay perspective the only thing really strange is how the enemies don’t react when you damage them, except for when they are staggered. The stagger makes sense as far as a game mechanic. It shows the enemy vulnerable for extra damage. It works. What does not work is how I can be wailing on an enemy and it looks like they aren’t taking any damage. That is quite annoying, and a strange choice since it’s hard to tell how much damage you are doing outside of the damage numbers. On top of that, the fact that you can start a move that needs the enemy to be in a certain place, but moves right after you start the attack (Infinity End in particular is the worst for this) so it misses is extra frustrating with the more agile foes.

It is also strange (though this is mostly my fault) that I didn’t know you could quick access moves by holding L1, and then using the face buttons. I found that by accident. It’s possible I missed the prompt for that tutorial, but finding such a crucial skill so late put me back in those harder boss fights.

The final strange element as far as the remake’s gameplay is concerned are the motorcycle sections. The controls are fine enough, but the attacks are lacking. The swings feel like they should be further, or have a larger hit box, or give you access to lower damage range moves. This is only because they both go one for too long. The second one when escape Shinra HQ is really padded-feeling considering how there are like two boss fights on top of the normal foes. The proof of them being strange and unnecessary is that when you beat the game and can choose chapters it allows you to skip them… strange indeed.

Yet, after everything I’ve said and played the truly strangest thing of all is how much I a)liked the remake, and b) want to go back and play the original to see what the story is really all about. The remake has some great moments and characters, but that plot is not easy to understand (and I kind of know the plot to the original. I know about Jenova, and clones, and the giant mechs. I know stuff), or not well explained at least.

Final Fantasy VII is one strange beast indeed.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge is The Game (a Review)

Mortal Kombat as a series to adapt should be the easiest thing in the world. Take outlandish characters, put them in a tournament, make them fight, add gallons of red corn syrup, and a character to follow. Yet, there have only been a handful of adaptions of questionable quality to hold up as an example. This film, looking to capitalize on series like Castlevania looks to correct that.

After Hartori Hanzo’s village and family is killed by the icy Sub-Zero he is brought back as Scorpion to fight for the devious Netherworld in hopes of getting his family back. To do so he must compete in Mortal Kombat, a death game for the right to rule earth and the netherworld. Scorpion is joined by karate master, Liu Kang, army brat, Sonya Blade, and pompous ex-action star Johnny Cage to fight for their lives or die trying.

If you like Mortal Kombat the games, you’ll like the movie. It is really as simple as that. It has all the blood, violence, swearing, and action a fan of the games would want.

The fights are all suitably kinetic, and frenetic. The production crew went all the way with trying to adapt the video game finishers to screen in all their x-ray vision, bone snapping glory. Not all the gore effects look great, but get the job done.

The voice acting is also on point. Getting perfect casting like Joel McHale as Johnny Cage, and Jennifer Carpenter as Sonya Blade is almost too perfect. Add Steve Blum as Sub-Zero, and Patrick Seitz as the titular Scorpion they all perfectly reflect those characters and should be the main voice actors if they’re not already.

Unfortunately it is not all perfect. The main issue the film has is pacing and focus. For a movie about Scorpion it spends lots of time of Liu Kang and his group. That’s used to help progress the story of course and flesh out the tournament, but also makes Scorpion feel lost in his own movie. The reveal of what is really going on with Scorpion is also obvious. They make up for that by having a great final fight, and tease for more possible stories to come.

The inherent problem fighting game movies end up having is the inability to escape giving fans certain characters they want to see. The Street Fighter II anime movie is great, but suffers the same problem as this movie. There are so many fan favorite characters that juggling them is difficult. This does the best so far by giving them a journey to parallel Scorpion’s own, but still puts the movie in some chains.

However, none of that matters. It’s got the action, blood, and snapping bones. That’s all you need to finish it!

DOOM: Eternal, Doom Infernal (Initial Impressions)

Doom Eternal is faster, bloodier, has more diverse locations, incredibly strong shooting mechanics, and is just all around a better game than its 2016 predecessor. Unfortunately all of those changes make me enjoy it far less.

That idea should not make sense. If this game is better than the first in every conceivable way why do I continue to find it far less fun and engaging?

Doom (2016, obviously) was simple in all forms. You had guns. You had demons. And you had a portal from Mars to Hell. There was some plot, but it was so meaningless that you could ignore it. All of this made for a throughly compact, instantly replayable experience.

Doom Eternal meanwhile is chaotic. That is but design for sure. The team wants you to constantly move, jump, shoot, chainsaw, and doom punch your way through waves of enemies. And I have to admit that the base shooting loop works. The guns feel responsive, the explosions are chunky, and zipping around slicing demons to bits looks great. It just feels like the team missed two two key features of the first game.

Doom Eternal gives you the shotgun as your standard weapon along with a refilling chainsaw that allows you to cut enemies to get ammo. If you cannot tell the issue here then recall the first things you could do in Doom. You can punch and had a blaster you that refilled.

Those two two game play pieces leant Doom a feeling of stability. It was clear what you had at minimum in any situation. Doom

Eternal does not work that way. Instead of stability in what arsenal you have, it just gives you weapons and you have to scrounge for ammo like a survival horror game and hope your chainsaw is refilled by the time you need it. That would be fine if you could still punch all the demons to death, but you cannot do that either.

In Doom you could simply melee weaker zombies and low level demons. They would then glow so you could melee them a second time to regain health. The flashy glow returns, but you have to shoot all the demons to get them into that state. The problem about that is the aforementioned ammo scarcity, but also you cannot control when an enemy will survive the shooting or just explode into bits. Meaning you would have then wasted ammo and your dying.

I say that like the shooter sections is where I died the most. It was not. The most I ever felt unfairly about the shooting sections is when I’m blocked and for whatever reason cannot jump over the enemies and just die.

No, the real reason I do not like this game as much are the platforming. The platforming is garbage. Straight demon trash. The sensitivity is all over the place. Sometime I will grab a surface no problem, other times I grab it only to punch the wall. The protruding railings have the same issue of if I should have made contact or not. On top of that, this is a first person game. You cannot see all of the surroundings making it all that harder to tell where to jump next, or if you missed a jump, what went wrong.

When will developers learn that first person platforming does not work unless tightly, tightly, controlled and equally responsive.

There are some good things about the game. The UAC hologram lady is the perfect kind of blunt satire you want in the game, and the wide range of collectibles to find makes exploring the level really fun.

All the criticism (expect the platforming sensitivity. They could not have wanted it that bad) feels all designed to give the chaotic, energized experience. It succeeds at that. It wants to up that ante more and more, but I find doing that misses part of what made Doom what it was. It went from simple to hand holdie when giving out weapons, collecting ammo, and fighting demons. It’s a chore.

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Don’t See Sonic the Hedgehog

The Sonic movie is coming soon (here if you’re reading this later) fast! It is the next film in a long line of video game adaptations that looks terrible on its face. I am not going to see it or review it. You should not either.

I try to be a reasonable guy and give media the benefit of the doubt. Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) might be the best film of the year, but I am not going to see it because the film studio is tricking you (or is trying to trick you) into seeing the film. That is what all marketing movie marketing is honestly. But you should be leery of it more so than ever in this case.

To illustrate my point let’s go back all the way to the original trailer and character reveal in April 2019. This might not be the most accurate date, but the original trailer is pretty buried in the YouTube algorithm, but not the point. Now remember that trailer. We see the man-hog with attitude, a dull, lifeless world, and Jim Carrey putting into all the effort. The trailer sucked. It was the equivalent of a movie studio tossing its dumpster onto the closest internet server. It caught attention for that, and for possibly being a new “so bad it’s good” classic.

If sugar coated studio garbage is your thing I don’t blame you. Laughing at the worst uses for millions of dollars is what we are owed if the richest are going to blow their money bad movie pitches. I may actually have gone to see that film. It looked hideous, but at least it was someone’s vision and idea.

Then the studio got scared and pulled the film to change Sonic’s look and try to sell us that he does come from the wacky, surrealist world of the games. Now it went from a movie I could hate watch to a movie I hate.

When I say hate, I don’t necessarily mean I hate the movie itself, but what the movie represents.

Movies made by a committee of boardroom suits are normal. I mean look at those recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies. Actually, those two films are a perfect example of what happened to the Sonic film and what can happen to films in the future. The first TMNT film in 2014 was a rush job after it was revealed the turtles will be aliens, and a white guy is playing Shredder so they cobbled a Wikipedia page into a film with all the style of a flashlight. It somehow made money so the studio decided to shift tone and style in the sequel to be closer to the classic TV series, but couldn’t even get the storytelling of a cash grab 80s show.

None of that seems like a bad thing. Learning from mistakes to make a better film should be what all series try to do. The difference is the why. TMNT Out of the Shadows and the Sonic movie were not changed because the director, writer, or production crew really wanted that. It was changed because the studio thought it would please fans and make them a couple extra bucks.

Wanting money is good. Tricking people is not. So the studio changed Sonic’s look because they “listened to the fans.” A better question is why they thought the original design was good in the first place. I am not going to galaxy brain a way into saying all of this was a long planned marketing gimmick. It wasn’t. Instead the movie studio is claiming it listened to you and now says those same fans should support the film after they had to be told the man-hog was a terrible idea, and totally devoid of creativity. It’s a trick. It’s retroactively trying to fix one bad idea and sell it like they have learned. They haven’t, and letting them get away with it now will cause problems.

What problems could listening to the fans create? I mean the easiest thing I need to point to is what happened to the Star Wars Sequels. I may like them, but it shows a trend. Trailers and promotional material will no longer be trying to sell the movie, but gauge what fans want the movie to be and changing it to match the feedback. The issue is that fans don’t know what they want. They say there are elements they want, but often times that doesn’t make for the best media. Look at the gulf in quality of the Hellboy movies. Two were made with a vision and no support of fans. The other tried too hard to please everyone that it was Hellbad (ha, terrible pun).

The point, however, is that seeing the Sonic movie does not say that you are supporting a company that listens to you. It is saying that you support a company that does not care about its people or has faith in the products it creates. You’re supporting a company that will try to please everyone until that well dries up, then they will move onto the next well because they don’t care about you. They care about themselves.

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