When it was announced that Mr. Iwata would introduce the big Pokemon news in a special “Pokemon Direct”, fans knew it was going to be something special. The internet, and most Pokemon experts were predicting all kinds of things. A Pokemon MMO for Wii U, a collection of all the previous Pokemon games in one, etc. but few actually picked it. It seems so obvious now. Two new Pokemon games for 3DS. Pokemon X and Pokemon Y. Not the most inspiring names, but seeing as Nintendo basically ran out of colours and precious stones, I suppose they had to call it something.

I’ve never really played a Pokemon game. I’ve watched others play and listened to their stories about how they did this and how they found that. I started to play Pokemon Black on DS, but I didn’t think I’d be able to sink the time in so I quit . When I was in high school there was 151 Pokemon. Now there’s 649. That escalated quickly. I find it interesting that there is two new Pokemon games coming in 2013 when there was two released in 2012, Pokemon Black and White 2. Call of Duty syndrome beginning to develop over at Game Freak? Just kidding.

Running on the 3DS screen or not, this is dog ugly

Thinking about the short amount of footage we saw of Pokemon X and/or Y in Pokemon Direct, I couldn’t help but be immediately disappointed at the low quality graphics. I really hope for Pokemon fans’ sake that the graphics improve. It’s not that dramatic an improvement over the DS versions. Some people reported the game was using the same 3D models as the Pokedex on 3DS. It didn’t look like it to me in the Pokemon Direct trailer. The backgrounds looked bare, the model of the protagonist looked blocky and ugly, and the overall pseudo 2D style looked downright dated. I understand that gameplay is certainly key when it comes to Pokemon. Blocky, green and black 8-bit graphics served the franchise well in the days of Gameboy and Gameboy Colour. The game series would never have been a success without these original titles.

This isn’t much better

Those are my thoughts. I’m not a graphics whore by any means- I’m a Nintendo fan and I can’t afford to be. I just would have thought that when such a beloved franchise debuted on a new machine, the reveal might have been something a bit more spectacular. Iwata spent more time talking about the past than he did with details on the new games. Hopefully the new games really deliver because I would love to give Pokemon games a go.

What did you think about Pokemon X and Y? Will it entice new players to the Pokemon experience? Let me know by leaving a comment! You can follow me on twitter: @rustyshell and Miiverse: zinger_AU