The Pokemon franchise turns twenty years old this year. New titles Sun and Moon will be released in November adding to the Pokemon legacy. New challenges and new features highlight each generation of Pokemon games. While we currently do not know what will be part of the new game beyond the starters and legendaries at this point, it is always fun to guess and hope. I came up with a few things that I would like to see in future Pokemon games.
Dark Type Gym
I got back into Pokemon with the release of X and Y and exploring the Kalos region. The gyms are of course a vital part of the game. While getting back up to speed, I looked at the gyms. Each gym specializes in a specific type of Pokemon. Each type of Pokemon has been represented in the gyms. Except one: Dark type. Although introduced in generation two, there has been no gym that focuses on Dark types. Even Fairy type introduced in generation six has a gym to its name. Hopefully a future game will remedy this.
Mid Battle Evolution
This has been something that many have been clamoring about for years. A staple of the anime has been when Ash and his companions are under great stress during a battle and their Pokemon evolve to turn the tide. It would be interesting to have a Pokemon evolve if it reaches the right level or use a stone during battle to switch up tactics. Eevee evolutions during battle to change up type matches would be very interesting.
Gyms with multiple typing
Pokemon Gyms all focus on a specific type of Pokemon. If you have the right Pokemon, gym battles can be relatively easy during gameplay. Perhaps a way to fix this could be to have gym leaders that dedicate themselves to two types of Pokemon. For example, the obvious play for a Fire type gym would be to have a water type in your team. Perhaps the gym leader could dual type with an Electric type to balance out the weakness. Gym battles are meant to be tougher and can definitely use an upgrade to provide more of a challenge.
More Eeveelutions
Currently Eevee has eight different options you can evolve it into. That still leaves ten types up for grabs. That could change if a new type is introduced in the new game. Although only generations two (Dark and Steel) and six (Fairy) have introduced new Pokemon types. Some of the existing types can make for some interesting Eevee evolutions.
Mega Arcanine
It would be weird if for some reason no new Mega Evolutions were to be introduced in the new games. The fun thing to do will be to speculate on who will be the next to gain the ability to mega evolve. I am really hoping for Arcanine. The generation one pokemon is one of my favorite Pokemon and it’s mostly just personal interest that I want to see this happen.
Pokemon Career Options
The Pokemon games have been fairly linear since the beginning. You collect eight gym badges, defeat the evil organization and become the Pokemon Champion. It might be interesting to add some spice to the main games or even expand the post game. There are other careers in the Pokemon world beside training. One I would like to see would be a Pokemon Photographer. The Pokemon Snap concept could be brought in as a series of minigames to add a new twist to the game. Okay, maybe I’m a bit biased as a convention photographer, but I think it would be fun.
Randomized Eevee Gym or Challenge
This will be the least likely to happen, but it would be interesting. Gyms and challenges could be more challenging. A six on six battle with a random selection of Eeveelutions would be a fun challenge. Although being a repeatable challenge like the Battle Chateau would be the best for this. It would be a good place to level Pokemon and get a wide variety of battles.
Those have been just a few of my hopes for future Pokemon games. Now I await the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon to see what comes next.
