Pokemon is one of, if not the biggest media franchise around the world. With dozens of games spanning across 9 generations of pocket monsters, along with the dozens of spin offs, restaurants, trains, global events, trading card game, it’s hard to not acknowledge Pokemon as the absolute media juggernaut it is
Pokemon is a very old franchise with a very established formula. And with a very established formula, you have to be able to innovate it to keep it interesting. Has the Pokemon Company been successful at this?
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…….
However successful you may feel the Pokemon company is at innovating the gameplay of Pokemon is irrelevant, because I want to talk instead about how the fan base has innovated the formula, specifically with the new self imposed challenge run called Nuzlockes. For those not in the know, Nuzlocke runs basically add perma death to Pokemon, as in if they faint at any point in the run, they’re considered dead, and thus unusable for the rest of the run. There are other rules, such as you’re only able to catch the first pokemon you find in any new area, and your have to name all of your pokemon
What the nuzlocke run does is add stakes to a relatively low stakes game, forcing you to form an attachment to your pokemon by naming them, and then forcing you to throw them in the line of fire. It’s stressful, intense, and completely changes the mood of any given run. It turns Pokemon into a un adventure with friends into an intense game of war, where your pets are now instruments for battle, their only purpose to drive you to victory
So naturally this approach to pokemon seems completely contradictory the the tone Game Freak is going for in a Pokemon game, and there’s no way they’d actually make a game even remotely close to the mechanics and tone of a nuzlocke run, right?
….
Magikarp Jump is a 2017 mobile game developed by Select Button and published by the Pokemon company. The goal of the game is to raise your Magikarp’s jump level to progress through the Magikarp jump league and claim victory. The player can of course, name their Magikarp’s whatever they like, feed them food, personally train them, give them friends that offer any number of benefits such as more experience points or refreshing your Magikarp’s energy
It’s also the only officially published Pokemon game where your Pokemon can die.
And I’m not talking about story related deaths, oh no. I’m talking about the merciless slaughter of hundreds of Magikarps. The bodies will begin to pile up as you progress through the game, for you see, during training sessions, you may trigger an event, where your Magikarp may be consumed by a Pidgeotto, or incinerated by a Voltorb. Like damn, at least in Nuzlocke’s you pretend your pokemon die, in Magikarp jump they just do it, obituary and all!
And believe it or not, death is only the tip of the iceberg. If your Magikarp manages to survive its training, get to max level, and enter the league, it’s still not safe. Because, even if you max out your Magikarp’s level, it’s still possible to lose. And if they do, it’s instant retirement for the Magikarp, who is forever branded a failure and forced to see the next generation suffer the road to the same fate
Magikarp’s in Magikarp jump are not your friends, they are tools, stepping stones for your own personal glory. If they fail you, they’re worthless to you. And if they die, who cares? Another will inevitably take its place to continue the vicious cycle. Only the strong will survive in Magikarp jump, while the weak die, or live their life as failures to the cause
Bet that Pokemon Scarlet Nuzlocke you’ve been putting off doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?
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