Review Fix Editor-In-Chief and resident Pokemon guru Patrick Hickey Jr. shares his thoughts on some of the gameplay features he feels should be incorporated into the next Pokemon game.
Pay for Pokemon: You pay for extra characters in fighting games, right? So why not, for a nominal fee, say one dollar, buy a level one Pokemon you need to fill out your Pokedex? However, there would be rules involved. The Pokemon in question would have to either not appear in the game they are playing or it was one that the game failed to catch at some point in the game. This way, gamers can’t simply buy high-level Pokemon or just pay for one’s they are too lazy to catch.
Create Universal Trade Software: There is no reason why someone needs two systems or can’t trade between all of thegames. It’s understandable that Nintendo wants the game to be a multi-player experience in addition to the hours played by yourself, but that all went out the window once the game’s world expanded past Kanto. If Nintendo could create software that would allow someone to trade their characters from games as far back as Fire Red and Leaf Green, it would bring thousands of older gamers back into the mix and would create matchups real fans would love. Remember that Level 100 Mewtwo you had when you were 14 in Fire Red? Imagine if you could somehow get it into Black 2 to battle Zekrom? This would be the type of fun the series hasn’t provided in some time.
Provide Better Mini-Games: Dream Radar and the Global Link are interesting excursions, but there needs to be more at stake when you are away from the game. What about a mini-game, almost like how nano-pets were in the late ‘90s where you’d raise a pokemon online, fighting it against other online trainers and once it got to a certain level, you were able to transfer it to your 3DS or DS? Best yet, you could pick from a large list of pokemon to raise; this way no one gets stuck with a Pidgey or a Rattata.
Reward Those Who Bleed the Game: Pokemon is, for the most part, a devourer of time. So why not give rewards based on hours played? It could be items as well as Pokemon, but in the end, the game’s most dedicated fan base would have more incentive to continue their journey.
Real Downloadable Content: Why not add another island to the game after a few months? Or another gym? If other games can do things like this, Pokemon titles should be able to take advantage of these options as well.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Review Fix Editor-In-Chief and resident Pokemon guru Patrick Hickey Jr. shares his thoughts on some of the gameplay features he feels should be incorporated into the next Pokemon game.
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