Ash Ketchum wish Misty a Happy Valentine in Pokemon 2023

Welcome to PokéFocus’ ‘Route 27 Special’, as we celebrate Pokemon’s 27th anniversary on February 27, 2023. This route number is also the route number that unites the Kanto and Johto regions for a new beginning. So we find it appropriate. The games that we will review can be from any of the eight previous generations of Pokemon.

The second half of the nineties was characterized by gaming fever go karts or more casual races, driven by everyone’s favorite plumber. games like Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing Y crash team racing (inspired by the previous one), they were the leaders of the multiplayer rooms of the time. Virtually all the companies jumped aboard the little vehicles and launched their properties for a run.

We saw Mickey and his friends from Disney, the toys from toy storyto the family Pac Manto the characters of final fantasythose of Shrekto the looney tunesthose of Digimon… didDigimon? Yes, even they took to the track of crazy races, among many others. Strangely, the same never happened with Pokemon during that golden age until the mid-2000s. Nintendo didn’t even try, well Mario Kart, f-zero Y Diddy Kong Racing They already covered those spaces.

Ash Ketchum wish Misty a Happy Valentine in Pokemon

A game of ‘karts’ starring the creatures of Pokemon would have been an immediate success. Also predictable to genre fever and pocket monsters. The Pokemon Company had already allowed the ‘spin-offs’ to go their own way. For example, HAL Laboratory included minigames in Pokemon Stadium that reminded those of Mario party. Two of those minigames consisted of short track races between four Rattata and Donphan, a small taste of the potential.

His spiritual successor would come with the then new Nintendo DS. For this, we must understand the state of the successful console in 2004. GameCube and Game Boy Advance had barely been on the market for three years when Nintendo launched DS, which did not seek to compete or replace the other two consoles but to serve as a bridge. The touch screen -resistive- for December 2004 was a luxury in video games and Nintendo took advantage of that. Stretching Pikachu like Mario in Super Mario 64.

One of the demos shown with the laptop at E3 2004 was ‘Pikachu: DS Tech Demo’, inspired by Hey you, Pikachu! Y pokemon channel. Not really a virtual pet but to demonstrate the capacity of the microphone and the touch functions of DS. This would then be adapted to the home screen of Pokemon Dashformally the first “racing” game on a major Nintendo console. This Ambrella experiment was not entirely well received.

It seemed like a spiritual successor to pokemon race mini, in the sense that only Pikachu could be controlled and the Pokemon aptly did not drive vehicles. However, the races were played with a bird’s-eye view, scratching the touch screen with the ‘stylus’. We say “scraping” because that’s what happened when playing a lot Pokemon Dash. The continual sliding of the stylus across the DS’s touch screen could easily leave scratches that were impossible to remove. Unless you used a protector, which also got scratched.

Not being able to arrow control the only playable Pokemon was certainly a handicap for Pokemon Dash. Besides that and the unconventional camera, there were no demarcated tracks but routes spread between islands. The objective was to advance from marker to marker and float from island to island until reaching the finish line. Far from being a ‘Pokemon Kart’ or ‘Pokemon Racing’, like the followers of Pokemon waited after its announcement and launch in late 2004.

A mechanic to rescue were up to 420 special races activated by any of the third generation games of Pokemon for Game Boy Advance. One for each ‘sprite’ of Pokemon could be enabled by inserting said cartridges into the GBA slot of the Nintendo DS. Aside from that and being Munchlax’s debut, Pokemon Dash It is not one of the ‘spin-offs’ to recommend in the franchise.

Why isn’t there a ‘Pokemon Kart’?

The million dollar question. As we already mentioned, if The Pokemon Company never delegated the creation of a ‘Pokemon Kart’ –despite the popularity of both words– it is because of how strange that would look, even in the world of Pokemon. We can see the pocket monsters competing against each other, in races with their own organic abilities, but not driving go karts. Hence the first two experiments already cited.

There was a very low budget title for PC, developed by ImaginEngine with lousy graphic quality and not superior gameplay. pokemon team turbo he put the creatures in capsules and only made use of his third generation ‘sprites’ in slow competitions without speed. It also threw other mini puns that had nothing to do with it. Despite its existence, it’s the closest the franchise has come to having a ‘Pokemon Kart’.

Other athletics tests were given in PokéPark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure (type 100 flat meters) and in the ‘remakes’ Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (jumping fences) through the Pokéathlon, or the Pokemon Olympics. A coherent contribution within the franchise because it is the same Pokemon who once again use their bodies to compete. But they are still good additions without major repercussions, such as the minigames in both Pokemon Stadium.

An alternative option, just as he has taught us Super Smash Bros.the thing is does not need to be a game under the title of Pokemon to have a strong participation of Pokemon.

What would happen if Mario Kart 9…

Masahiro Sakurai had an open letter to introduce Pikachu and Jigglypuff in the first Super Smash Bros. and more Pokemon in its aftermath. Content Pokemon in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate it is titanic, despite the enormous number of guests from other series. Rumors come and go that Nintendo is looking to go a step further with the future and feasible. Mario Kart 9. you see, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe it’s just a Wii U port expanded by the Bonus Tracks Pass. Nintendo Switch does not have its Mario Kart own, as well as Tears of the Kingdom it will be his first Legend of Zelda not ‘remake’.

Corridor gossip, of which we cannot vouch and simply comply with reporting, ensures that Nintendo would think of a similar approach Smash to Mario Kart 9. With this we do not mean that each and every one of the playable characters of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate they would leave the fights in favor of the wheels. But let’s think about the primary properties and it doesn’t sound crazy, especially when Link is already competing against Mario on the tracks. Although Pokemon It is not properly from Nintendo, we have every chance to see Pikachu and company compete aboard go karts against the mushroom kingdom.

‘Pokemon Kart’ could be a more than close reality thanks to the future Mario Kart 9. We only hope that Nintendo’s best-selling game expands its horizons to other franchises from the Big N and The Pokemon Company