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6 lessons Pokemon Sun and Moon can learn from Pokemon GO

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6 lessons Pokemon Sun and Moon can learn from Pokemon GO
By Oscar Dayus
|
iOS + Android + 3DS
| Pokemon Sun/Pokemon Moon

Did you forget there's another Pokemon game (technically two) coming out later this year? Shame on you.

Well there is, and, if Pokemon GO's success is anything to GO by (haha, geddit?), the new versions will be popular, to say the least.

But what can Pokemon Sun and Moon learn from Pokemon GO? Let's find out…

People still love Pokemon...

Pokemon was a genuine phenomenon in the 90s. It's easy to forget this now, when in some circles it isn't 'cool' to like Pokemon, but the series hit heights that few games can.

Now, in Space Year 2016, Pokemon has once again reached the mainstream. When my mum is bringing up conversations about a game, you know it's big.

If The Pokemon Company is smart, it will advertise the nuts off Sun and Moon inside GO. Do promotional Pokemon, arrange special events, brainwash anyone who plays GO from September onwards so they instinctively buy any Pokemon branded merchandise - do it all.

...But people hate Pidgey now

We've had enough Pidgeys to last a lifetime, so leave it out, yeah?

Pokemon Incense should be a thing

If you're a PokeFan, you'll know Incense already exists in the mainline Pokemon games.

The different varieties of incense change what will hatch from your Pokemon's eggs in the Day Care. So a Snorlax holding a Full Incense will produce a Munchlax egg, not a Snorlax one.

Pokemon

This is cool, but means Incenses are pretty much useless if you're not a Pokemon Breeder.

Incenses in Pokemon GO, on the other hand, attract rare Pokemon to your location - useful if there's one you want in the area but you're just too lazy to twiddle that stick. How about it, game makers? Save me some thumb calories?

Do things right

Pokemon GO might be amazing, but it has been plagued with technical, server, and communication issues since before day one. It's still not out in some regions!

This time, over-prepare your servers, don't just remove features if they don't work, and think about hiring a community manager?

Pokemon GO Get rid of bag limits

Pokemon GO, a free game, has the audacity to charge me to store Pokemon and carry items? What is this, a sound and accepted business method?! How dare they?!

I don't mind microtransactions, and we can hardly moan when we paid a total of £0 for Pokemon GO, but Sun and Moon are premium games, and will (presumably) not have any purchasable upgrades.

There seems little point then, in restricting the number of items we can lug around the virtual world with us. So give us an unlimited bag, let me pick up every Razz Berry going, and I'll deal with the broken spine later down the line, okay?

Pokemon Rare Pokemon will always be more exciting

Have you seen how excited people are when they catch a Dragonair in Pokemon GO? This is what it used to be like catching legendaries in the main series.

Then Diamond and Pearl and Black and White came around, with approximately 1,567,431 legendary Pokemon each, and ruined it. Catching these mythical creatures was no longer an event, since you came across one every seven minutes.

Take a leaf out of GO's book, Sun and Moon, and keep these special critters exactly that - special.

Oscar Dayus
Oscar Dayus
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Oscar grew up playing games in the 90s, and as such can't help but jump on any sort of moving platform. He hasn't yet perfected the art of double-jumping in real life, though, so has now turned to writing instead.