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I think I have a solution to the release cycle problem

N

Nightlingbolt

AKA Nightlingbolt
I've always felt like the big problem holding back modern Pokemon is the fact that Pokemon isn't just a video game, but also a collectible card game, a monthly manga serial, and a weekly anime. The anime is especially a big albatross on Pokemon because you only have so much story to tell no matter how much there is to adapt and promote in any given generation. But now that the anime has officially moved on from Ash as the protagonist, I think I see a solution to the problem.

For each new generation going forward, what if the anime started with a three-year series focused on Ash in the new region, then switched to a three-year story focused on an entirely new protagonist telling an entirely new story taking place across the greater Pokemon world, like Horizons is more or less doing now, rinse and repeat with the new generation? Applying this to Journeys and Horizons, this would look something like:

Pokemon Sword and Shield: The Series

Pokemon Journeys: The Series

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: The Series

Pokemon Horizons: The Series

This would effectively create a six-year cycle between new generations, allowing for much more time to be spent on the games, time Mario and Zelda get the luxury of having spent on them as a matter of course. I dunno, I like the idea, at least.
 
Pokefan_1987

Pokefan_1987

Avid Pokemon TCG Card collector.
I think it's feasible to retire Ash for a while but i think that after the Scarlet and Violet series, they might bring him back.
 
N

Nightlingbolt

AKA Nightlingbolt
Yeah, I feel like Ash is so popular at this point that no one would complain about seeing him on another journey. Depending on how well Horizons is received, we could be looking at the model for the Gen 10 anime.
 
M

MidnightHo-Oh

Well-Known Member
To be the devil's advocate here...

-- How would you accommodate the audience members who prefer one anime style over the other (Ash vs New Protagonists, Gyms vs World Journey), and essentially choose/have to take three year breaks every other switch because of their personal preferences?

-- Like you've said yourself, there is only so much story to tell... so how would you keep both your Ash anime and New Protagonist anime relevant to the content of the current games without repeating plots, having to split the story between both versions (which means you'd need 6 years to tell the whole story), or having to make one anime story based and the other all filler? Even the anime series for Sword & Shield, despite being a world journey, had plot elements from the games incorporated into it; you can't just have three years of filler everytime you switch to the new protagonists.

-- Six years is a long time... how would you stretch one generation of game content over essentially two generations worth of time without losing the interest of your audience?
 
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Bolt the Cat

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
MidnightHo-Oh said:
-- Six years is a long time... how would you stretch one generation of game content over essentially two generations worth of time without losing the interest of your audience?
Click to expand...

Well that's easy, you do new styles of games and more DLC to fill in the gaps in between gens. We regularly get new generations and remakes throughout the course of the series, but now they're starting to experiment with different styles of games such as LGPE and LA (now personally I don't think Let's Go should continue, but that is an example of an attempt to create a new style of game). Why not continue some of those? Or perhaps they can revisit making sequels like BW2? Creating new experiences in old regions, finding new styles of gameplay that are very different from how the core gameplay operates, those kinds of concepts would really justify having additional games in between new generations. Additionally, why does the new generation need to be the only one with DLC? Fans are complaining about the remakes not having third version content, for example, why not add that through DLC? There is far too much content that they're blatantly ignoring and far too much room for the series to branch out for them to leave it at new generation, DLC for new generation, and remake of only a new generation.
 
N

Nightlingbolt

AKA Nightlingbolt
I would think Ash's stories get all the content of the new games, and the other series would tell stories based on older Pokemon and regions. Like, shiny Rayquaza is a key figure in Horizons, so the big mystery would revolve around, I dunno, shiny Lugia or whatever? (I know we just had Lugia in Journeys, my point is Legendary Pokemon are inherently popular, so I think fans would buy into stories about them.)

EDIT: I can never remember how to quote a post on here!

To give a better example, perhaps they could explore the relationship between Legendaries that would otherwise have no known connection to each other.
 
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TheWanderingMist

TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
GameFreak would most likely love to have an extra year to work on games. But it's not them that gets to decide that because merchandising deals, merchandising deals, merchandising deals.
 
Auraninja

Auraninja

Eh, ragazzo!
Honestly, I don't think the pandemic has been kind to Game Freak. Maybe this is an audacious statement, but I think without a pandemic to worry about, Scarlet/Violet would have probably ran better. BDSP also had a development delay, and so they had to work on a massive patch.

I'm not saying this is Game Freak's only problem, but I think it was a major problem that slips under the radar.
 
E

Endless

☉
I’m sure there are plenty of improvements that can be made to the anime to make it more exciting or even run for longer, but the anime is just one arm of this behemoth of a franchise and in this case it would make more sense to focus on the root cause.
Pokémon needs a near constant influx of new source material to pull from to keep the gears turning, and while I personally would prefer if the franchise as a whole got downscaled a bit that isn’t really feasible with all the stakeholders interested in Pokémon’s continuous economic success. The merch needs to keep selling.

If I was to come up with a suggestion I would probably suggest something like CoD’s model(although CoD has a huge share of problems as well). Split the workload up between different studios so that not GF alone is responsible for providing all the source material. If different studios take turns releasing mainline games and are actually given creative freedom then that will increase the time GF has to develop each of their titles. Of course there is absolutely a charm and a level of consistency associated with GF producing everything at the foundation but at this point in time I feel that it is starting to do more harm than good.
 
R

Redd

Member
People think that the release cycle is because of the anime??

I don't understand that logic. The anime exists to promote the games, not drive them. It's basically a glorified game commercial.

Moreover, lack of plot never stopped the anime from dragging its arcs with filler and padding. The writers are just doing their job of advertising the mons, not trying to create art. As long as it gets the kids to buy the games, it doesn't have to be well plotted (or well written).
 
WishIhadaManafi5

WishIhadaManafi5

To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.
Staff member
Moderator
Morax

Morax

King of heroes
Does the franchise even need an anime adaptation? Maybe during its early stages but It's a behemoth today. I'm pretty sure cancelling the anime wouldn't result in any substantial losses...
 
Pokegirl Fan~

Pokegirl Fan~

Liko>>>>>Ash
Morax said:
Does the franchise even need an anime adaptation? Maybe during its early stages but It's a behemoth today. I'm pretty sure cancelling the anime wouldn't result in any substantial losses...
Click to expand...
At least the current anime is better than the last series that lasted over 25 years.
 
Pokegirl Fan~

Pokegirl Fan~

Liko>>>>>Ash
Morax said:
It's a waste of resources imo. The franchise could divert that money towards improving the games ...
Click to expand...
Nah, they just need more time to develop the games. They don't need to release one every year or two like they've been doing. The anime has no impact on that at all.
 
R

Redd

Member
Morax said:
More money = more resources = higher quality
Click to expand...
Yeah, higher budget generally means better production values and quality. It's a no brainer.

Though I believe you meant to quote MidnightHo-Oh's post, rather than Pokegirl Fan's.
 
Pokefan_1987

Pokefan_1987

Avid Pokemon TCG Card collector.
I think The Pokemon Company actually uses the same ammount of budgets for all their 3 main sources, games, tv series and card game.

Isn't the anime outsourced and they first choose the studio depending on the art-style they want and don't fund it until they see prototype episodes?
 
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