Nintendo Pokémon Direct – The Afterthoughts

The newest Pokémon themed Nintendo Direct landed just over 2 hours ago and did not disappoint at all. It was brimming with new content and information that sparked excitement in even the most casual of fans.

The video opens with an unfamiliar face, no Satoru Iwata greeting us with his gleeful grin, but instead the video is hosted by Tsunekaz Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company and producer of Pokémon. Quickly though he is joined by Iwata and special guest Junichi Masuda, one of the founding members of Game Freak – the main company responsible for the Pokémon games.

The video begins with ‘Pokémon Triforce’ holding a retrospective talk about the previous entries in the Pokémon series. They revel over the original Game Boy and packaging for the first games, Red and Green. They discuss the different ways in which players could connect to one another for trading and battling. From the link cable, to the wireless adapters, to the wireless online capabilities of the DS. This leads to the first reveal: Pokémon Bank.

 

Pokémon Bank:
Pokémon bank is an online service that serves as an expansion to the number of boxes available on the in-game PC. This service allows for up to 3000 Pokémon to be stored online and withdrawn at any time.  Additionally, a further application will be available under the name Poké Transporter. Poké Transporter will be available to allow the player to transfer their old Pokémon from Black/White and Black 2/White 2 into the Pokémon bank and then further transport them on to the new Pokémon X and Y games.
A small caveat is added at the end by Iwata though; because the service requires constant maintenance it will be a paid-for service and annual fee (which has yet to be revealed), but the scope of lifetime for the service is meant to extend for years to come./

Kanto Starters:
It’s revealed during the Direct that you receive one of the three Kanto starters from the original Pokémon games as a gift from Professor Sycamore in addition to the new starter you receive from one of your friends. Then some massive news hits.

Kanto Starter Mega Evolutions:

MEGA CHARIZARD – JUST LOOK AT IT!

Yeah you read that right. For a long time fan this was absolutely amazing news. The original three Kanto starters, Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur are all going to have 4th stage mega evolutions. This is what I meant in my previous post about old Pokémon getting a new lease of life, it’s superb.
It’s also revealed that mega evolution requires an item called the Mega Ring. Mega evolution occurs when the ring the trainer wears and the Mega Stone the Pokémon holds connect with each other – this requires a strong connection between Pokémon and trainer in order to occur. Finally it’s stated that there are many more Pokémon that will have mega evolutions.

“As a player, I’ve been with Pokémon for a long time, and I feel like Mega Evolutions are an expression of everything in the past.” – Tsunekaz Ishihara

The final piece of news that the video relays is the release of 2 new special Pokémon themed blue and red 3DS XLs, which will be released on the 27th of Sepetember in Europe and America.