Pokémon

Ten Things You Might’ve Not Known About Pokémon Red & Blue

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

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How about we try something new this week? You may not know this but I love me some trivia. Whether it be early concepts, connections between actors or just neat, little easter eggs, I get a weird thrill from learning and memorising this kind of stuff from all kinds of media (which did not help me during my school years when I should’ve been memorising maths). But one thing I love more than discovering trivia is sharing it with others, so I figured why not try my hand at actually writing up some fun articles all about that?

So let’s start things off with ten things you may not have known from a classic set of games that defined a lot of peoples’ childhoods – the first generation of Pokémon games, Red & Blue – courtesy of Bulbapedia and Serebii (just so you know I’m not making all this up). Continue reading →

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu – An Amazing Adaptation or Shockingly Bad?

/ Michael Beckwith / 1 Comment

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When children hear the words “live-action Pokémon movie,” they get excited. When adults hear those words, however, they inwardly cringe. Live-action adaptations of videogames and animated properties both share notorious reputations for being pretty much always bad, so you can’t blame most of us, upon hearing that Hollywood were going to give Nintendo’s most prolific RPG series the same treatment, to place our faces in our hands and groan.

But then that very first trailer dropped and, suddenly, people started to say “Actually, this looks pretty good.” Early impressions indicated that Pokémon: Detective Pikachu would avoid every pitfall that other movies of its ilk had fallen into. Fans’ expectations went from nil to a hundred, but were we right to trust those trailers? Is it even a good adaptation of the game it’s based on? Is it something only the purest of Pokémon fans can enjoy? Continue reading →

Detective Pikachu – A Bolt of Brilliance Or A Load of Trubbish?

/ Michael Beckwith / 2 Comments

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When this game was first announced, it raised a lot of eyebrows, myself included. In a good way, mind you. The idea of a game centered around a gruff-sounding, coffee-loving, talking Pikachu seemed so crazy that it could actually work, or at the very least was worth experiencing. But after its official announcement, we heard basically nothing about the thing for, like, three years until it was suddenly released in Japan in early 2016.

Cut to two years later and the game not only received an expansion but was released in its entirety here in the West for us to enjoy. But was it worth the wait? Does it offer anything of substance outside of its bizarre concept? Is there any reason it should also be getting a movie adaptation? Well, I think I can answer those first two questions at least. Continue reading →

Five of My Favourite Generation 7 Pokémon

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

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About a couple of years ago, I wrote a list about thirty of my favourite Pokémon, but that was before the then upcoming seventh generation of games had come out – Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. These two games introduced a bunch of brand new catch-able creatures so, with the updated releases, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, still fresh in my memory, I figured I would follow up on that previous list and share a small sample of my favourite additions to the ever growing world of Pokémon.

Quick disclaimer – I’m only including brand new Pokémon so no Alolan forms. Continue reading →

Random Rankings – Team Rainbow Rocket Leaders

/ Michael Beckwith / 1 Comment

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the following:

Pokémon Black & White
Pokémon Black 2 & White 2
Pokémon Diamond & Pearl
Pokémon Fire Red & Leaf Green
Pokémon Platinum
Pokémon Red & Blue
Pokémon Sun & Moon
Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon
Pokémon X & Y
Pokémon Yellow

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Last week, it was revealed that the upcoming Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon would mark the return of Team Rocket – now under the new guise of Team Rainbow Rocket – and will  consist of every main villain in the series thus far (at least in terms of the main games). Villainous team-ups are always great, so being able to see all these familiar antagonists return and getting another chance to kick their asses has got a lot of people excited, including me.

Battling the leaders of these diabolical organisations has always been the highlights of the series but, now that they’re all in a game together, how do they fare against each other? Which of them is as mighty as Mewtwo and who’s just as boring as Burmy? Let’s find out by subjecting them to a Random Ranking! Continue reading →

Ten Pokémon That Should Be in Pokkén Tournament – Part 2

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

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About a couple of years ago, I wrote an article about some of the Pokémon I would personally love to see in the then upcoming fighting game Pokkén Tournament. Now the game is out on the Wii U for everyone to enjoy and, I have to say, I quite liked the roster it has. Some people have complained that it’s too small and some of the character choices don’t make sense (i.e. two Pikachus and two Mewtwos) but I felt it was decent enough, with a good balance of the popular and the unexpected.

That’s not to say, though, that I wouldn’t want to see more playable Pokémon appear either as DLC or in a potential sequel. And now that I’ve actually played the game, I’ve got a better understanding of how the developers ultimately chose which Pokémon to put in. There’s a lot more potential here than you might think. So, here’s a sequel to that aforementioned article with ten more ideas for playable characters. Continue reading →

Thirty of My Favourite Pokémon Ever

/ Michael Beckwith / 2 Comments

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Can you believe it’s Pokémon‘s 20th anniversary? When I really think about it, it’s almost surreal that this franchise based around enslaving fantasy monsters to do battle with other fantasy monsters has been going on for that long. I’ve grown up with it since almost the beginning; the first videogame I ever owned was a copy of Pokémon Yellow and I watched the original series of the anime almost religiously. It’s just weird to see something that I loved as a child still be around and relevant today. It’s even weirder to see how many Pokémon actually exist now.

I remember when the 3rd Generation of games were coming out and I was worried about remembering all of these creatures. There’s now over 700 of the bloody things and I reckon if you showed me a picture of any of them, I could name them easily. I may not remember basic maths but I sure can tell the difference between a Magikarp and a Feebas.

With this many Pokémon, it’s not that hard for a fan to list off a few of their personal favourites. I, however, would like to share thirty of my favourite Pokémon – five from each of the six generations. Let’s not waste anymore time and dive right in (hope you’ve got the right HM). Continue reading →

Ten Pokémon That Should Be in Pokkén Tournament

/ Michael Beckwith / 1 Comment

(originally posted September 12th 2014)

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With the announcement of a ‘Pokémon’ fighting game being developed by Namco Bandai, there is much excitement to see which mons will make the cut, for good reason. Even as someone who sucks at most fighting games, being able to control some of my favourite Pokémon in a ‘Tekken’ style fighter is something I can totally get behind. So, here are my personal picks of potential playable Pokémon. Continue reading →