Inside Yolk

The Pokemon Company announced last week that not only was a Pokemon Snap sequel coming to Nintendo Switch, but that even more Pokemon news was on the way. On Wednesday we got to hear what that was all about. It turns out that The Pokemon Company is working with Tencent — a giant Chinese conglomerate that owns Riot Games — on a new Pokemon game called Pokemon Unite.

https://twitter.com/Pokemon/status/1275779892404256768?s=20

It’s League of Legends, but with Pokemon! As someone who has never played LoL, I’m nonplussed. This is another example of Pokemon trying to do something that doesn’t feel like Pokemon. Sure, the game lets you catch and evolve popular monsters, but really Pokemon Unite is about taking an already-existing popular game formula and slapping the Pokemon brand on it.

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I’ve been playing Pokemon for more than 20 years and obviously there’s a lot I like about the iconic video game franchise. The battling, the exploring, the wacky NPCs, and of course the awesome variety of Pokemon that have been discovered over the years; all of that’s good stuff. The one thing that’s perplexed me is the demand on streaming platforms for shiny Pokemon hunting.

For those who are new to the game, shiny Pokemon are extremely rare creatures who are differently colored than the rest of their species. For example, the Charizard we’re used to seeing is orange, but the shiny version is charcoal and happens to be extremely cool looking. Other shiny Pokemon have more subtle differences compared to their “normal” counterparts, but all of the shines are hard to come by.

In order to find one you have to go through a lot of random encounters in the wild (often more than 1,000) or hatch a ton of eggs, which is easier for Pokemon that aren’t common in the wild. It’s very time consuming, very monotonous, and for some reason has a huge following on Twitch.

https://twitter.com/Sierradawnx3/status/1274517001059344385?s=20

The fun part is when the shiny Pokemon finally appears and the streamer loses their mind, but that often comes after hours of just running in circles on screen and talking with the chat. For engaging personalities, it can work because the streamer doesn’t have to worry about concentrating on gameplay and can put 90 percent of their attention on the chat. Of course, it’s also possible to engage with chat while doing something more exciting in the video game.

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That’s right. During the Pokemon Players Cup stream today we caught a glimpse of the Gigantamax form of Melmetal and it is looking pretty swole. Thanks to Serebii.net webmaster Joe Merrick for using his Pokemon Snap skills to capture our new steel deity in all its glory.

Damn. I would not want to be on the business end of Double Iron Bash coming from that monstrosity. I might have to finally dig into Pokemon Go and evolve Meltan just so I can one day have my own steel juggernaut with gorilla arms. Although just having a Melmetal is different from having one with Gigantamax capabilities, so maybe we’ll eventually be able to catch one in a raid? I hope so, because I wasn’t a huge Pokemon Go fan even when it was safe to go outside.

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I’m probably going to be a Pokemon fan for my entire life, but there are times when The Pokemon Company can be frustrating. Today was one of those days, as we expected big news, but all we got as an announcement that the big news will be coming next week, as well as a couple of smaller titles and a Pokemon Snap remake that it seems everyone is hyped for except me.

Maybe it’s because I remember playing the original Pokemon Snap when it came out. It was fun for a little while, but the on-rails gameplay didn’t leave room for exploration and the experience lacked depth. I’m sure the new experience on Nintendo Switch will offer more than the old N64 game did, but from the trailer it looks like the player will be on rails again while throwing apples and other items at photogenic Pokemon. I might end up buying New Pokemon Snap in the future because I’m such a big fan of the franchise, but I can’t say I’m over the moon with this announcement. Plus, there’s no release date yet.

The Pokemon Company also revealed a puzzle game called Pokemon Cafe Mix and a mobile app called Pokemon Smile whose goal is to motivate children to brush their teeth. I’m interested to see how many adults download Pokemon Smile just for themselves. I’m sure it will be booming on Twitch today, as the game is available right away.

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