Alola, fellow nerds! Here at Straight Outta Kanto (https://www.facebook.com/StraightOuttaKanto91/ or insta: @straightoutta_kanto twitter: @KantoOutta) we are majorly excited about the new and imminent Sword and Shield Expansion Pass releases.
However, one is never satisfied with what one has and always yearns for the elusive and out-of-reach. I for one am still dreaming of a Pokemon Gen 4 remake and will not rest until I see this dream realised for Nintendo Switch.
For those of you currently unfamiliar, “Gen 4” refers to the Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum series of games from 2006 – 2009. The games are the franchise’s fourth RPG line and is set in the stunning fictitious Sinnoh region. This generation of the Pokemon series has continuously been overlooked for remakes and reboots so often by the game’s creators so that this fact is now a long-running in-joke amongst Pokemon pop culture community.
If you are amenable dear readers, I would like to share with you a few snippets of my vision (and based on discussions with members of the https://www.facebook.com/groups/1623889321229114/ Pokemon Fan Club Ireland) for what a Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum reboot for the Nintendo Switch could look like.
I have ten points, in no particular order, of things I feel we all would dearly love to see.
1. A Mt. Coronet/Snow Point Wild Area.
Yes! Can you imagine a region as vast and beautiful as Sinnoh having certain routes upgraded with Gen 8 Wild Area function!? Mt. Coronet and the routes proceeding Snow Point City in particular offer ample opportunity for such an upgrade. The post-game resort and battle areas also lend themselves with ease to becoming Wild Areas, as do the three legendary lakes. The improved cinematic graphics and audio capabilities of the Nintendo Switch as well would greatly enhance an already winning soundtrack and region.
2. HD Cynthia.
Cynthia is hands down one of the most strategically strongest (and toughest) Champions of all time, one with an extremely interesting background and is a hands-down fan favourite. Cynthia is a badass. Cynthia and her historian grandmother both. Cynthia is one of the most hands on champions in the game with regards to tackling the evil Team Galactic and frequently re-appears in later games to continue kicking your ass. There’s many rumours circulating that Cynthia is a mother and has a child who is also a Pokemon trainer. Were there to be a Gen 4 remake, I think a good meaty dose of Cynthia with plenty of, if not backstory, then “what happened next” style story building around her would be welcome by all.
3. Distortion World Post-Game Side Quest.
Forgive me for being greedy, but if we get a fleshed out Cynthia in the remakes, I also want a fleshed out Cyrus! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO CYRUS AFTER HIS BUTT WAS ORIGINALLY KICKED IN THE DISTORTION WORLD! Where did he go!? Did he ever return from the Distortion World!? IS HE STILL THERE!? A Distortion World post-game story in the style of the Grovyle;s from Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time/Darkness could be phenomenal. Also, Distortion World as a Wild Area, anyone!? A Wild Area with perhaps legendary Hoopa rings similar to the OR/AS reboots, because let’s face it, a Wild Area Distortion World ain’t gonna have no boring old Pidgeys in it…
4. Pokemon follow you!
Yeeees! Let’s keep this trend of Pokemon following you around outside the pokeball going! Reserved for Yellow, G/S/HG/SS and the Let’s Go games, this is a feature that the adorable and kick ass denizens of Sinnoh deserve! I. Want. My. Piplup. To. Follow. Me. Around. Adorably.
5. FREE THE HM SLAVES!
Alola’s Ride Pokemon changed… everything! No more HM (Hidden Machine) moves were required to take up precious space in your Pokemon’s move list and the Bidoofs, Sentrets and Zigzagoons of the world were safe! Sinnoh was such a horrifically HM heavy region I would desperately hate to see the new and improved game functions regress from their current state of freedom to HM locking certain areas and Pokemon. The Let’s Go games got around the HM issue in a pretty nifty way, by having your Pikachu/Eevee learn a special trick to get around the HM requiring obstacles, the game creators were able to make a faithful remake without cumbersome features.
6. Sinnoh Mythology Explored.
Each Pokemon game and region comes with it’s own unique and layered culture, lore and mythology but Gen 4 is where the game creators really start hinting at some meaty history. Allusions to eating Pokemon and possibly marrying them all the way to Pokemon and humans being one and the same, Gen 4 raised a lot of questions we all want answers to. Cinematic flash-back cut-scenes fully explaining the histories hinted at in the Canalave City library would be AMAAAAZING. The screen of the Nintendo Switch alone is huge, and also hooks up to your telly – so imagine a big dramatic Pokemon history re-enactment about the origins of Sinnoh on the big screen!? Come on lads! DO IT!
7. Underground Wild Area.
Underground Wild Area, anyone!? Or, failing that, just a really juicy, mini-game filled visually spectacular Underground feature for Nintendo Switch. I would play the heck out of that. It was enjoyable as a clunky little poor graphic game for Nintendo DS, there’s no excuse for it either not feature in a Gen 4 remake or to be less than its original DS incarnation. Making it a bit more like the Secret Bases of Hoenn is probably asking too much…
8. A Full Darkrai and Cresselia post-game quest.
Darkrai is one of the coolest rare Pokemon additions in the decades long list of Pokemon and is the antagonist in some of the darkest Pokemon storylines that the franchise has created to date. That coupled with the fact he has a direct opponent in Cresselia – the Holmes to his Moriarty if you will – has left me wanting some class of in-game Darkrai/Cresselia showdown for years. What better venue to stage this showdown than on Sinnohs very own Full Moon island after a dramatic battle to save Sailor Eldritch’s Nightmare-ridden son… I’m telling you. The Darkrai/Cresselia/Sailor Eldritch Arc of Pokemon D/P/Platinum is one of the saddest non-entities of the franchise. The possibilities for an epic post-game duel and rescue mission are endless. I want this post-game quest more than I want the Distortion World one. And I really want the Distortion World one…
9. Sinnoh Formes.
I have actually really enjoyed the regional variants added to the later games since Pokemon Sun and Moon and I for one welcome our new Sinnoh Forme overlords. While regional formes felt gimmicky initially with the Alolan ‘mon, I actually think Game Freak hit the nail on the head with the Galarian Formes and would love to see how some of the national Pokemon can be updated for a region as diverse and lush as Sinnoh.
10. More. Eeveelutions.
I DON’T CARE WE ALREADY GOT TWO NEW EEVEELUTIONS IN SINNOH.
I. WANT. MORE.
It’s been years since our last new Eeveelution – we deserve a new Eeveelution and as Sinnoh has already proven itself to be a region where new evolutions of Eevee cann thrive – I WANT MORE!
So that’s it in essence! Of course, there are many, many arguments for and against a multitude of other functions and features and characters and plots in the Gen 4 games that are not discussed here today, but that’s what the official Straight Outta Kanto social media is for!
Twitter: @KantoOutta and @VenusDeVilo
Instagram: @straightoutta_kanto and @venus_de_vilo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StraightOuttaKanto91/ and https://www.facebook.com/VenusDeViloTheVoiceOfHorror/
Join the Pokemon Fan Club Ireland Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1623889321229114/
Listen to the Straight Outta Kanto Podcast Radio Show https://open.spotify.com/show/0FRul8v6Xpy8JFD8clhlok?si=-f1uecxqT5erPBqigRIALg and the music of Venus de Vilo https://open.spotify.com/artist/7hSAeNpNk7ydf8lgE93sHn on Spotify.
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