#like. bro!! ruby and sapphire >>>>>>>> brendan and may

[twildflower]

[ultraericthered]

Pokemon English Voice Compare/Rank, Rivals

In which I rank the English dub voice actors of Pokemon characters from strongest to weakest, and sometimes throw in my 2 cents of who I think would be solid casting choices. This one is for rivals.

BLUE: 1. James Carter Cathcart - Voice of Gary Oak in the main anime. Look, I just have to put this one first, it’s GARY MOTHERFUCKING OAK. Plus it just fits the original Gen 1 character way too well. Smug and insufferably snotty when he’s a jerk, but more amiable when he mellows out without ever quite losing the defining cockiness. 2. Lucien Dodge - Voice of Blue in Pokemon Origins. Lucien just totally nails Blue. The natural tone of his voice and his every vocal inflection carries across a better-than-thou jackass characterization, and his turn towards humility in the final act is convincingly played. 3. Billy Kametz & Henry Mason - Voice(s) of Blue in Pokemon Masters. If we could take the voice that Lucien Dodge gives Blue and combine it with the more rough delivery of Erik Kimerer, it would pretty much be the late Billy Kametz’s take on Blue, which is emulated by Henry Mason following Billy’s unfortunate passing. Not one of their strongest roles, but definitely suitable for Blue. 4. Erik Scott Kimerer - Voice of Blue in Pokemon Generations. He gets the arrogance down pat, but his voice just doesn’t really fit Blue the way the others do. It’s just Ryuji Takasu if he was an asshole. FANCAST OPTION: Billy Bob Thompson. Not only has he provven he can flawlessly imitate James Carter Cathcart, but even his awful Pokemon Trainer voice sounds more Gary/Blue than it does Red!

GREEN: 1. Kate Bristol - Voice of Leaf in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With only a handful of lines, Kate fits Green/Leaf’s character like a glove.

2. Michelle Marie - Voice of Leaf in Pokemon Masters EX. How she played the role initially left something to be desired, sounding pretty generic and overly child-like, but her return as Sygna Suit Leaf delivered so much improvement that she’s as great as Kate Bristol! 3. Cristina Vee - Voice of Green in Pokemon Evolutions. Cristina never really does a bad job in a Pokemon role and this is no exception, but the casting of her in this role just feels off. It’s just the typical Cristina Vee girl voice acting with no real substance to it.  FANCAST OPTION(S) - Kira Buckland probably should’ve been cast as Green in the latter instead of Cristina Vee. But ideally, I’d go for Lisa Kay Jennings. Her work in Miraculous has shown she can play the untrustworthy, sneaky, sly-as-a-fox type of girl really well.

SILVER: 1. Joe Zieja - Voice of Silver in Pokemon Masters EX. What really can be said other than he plays the part perfectly? 2. Lucien Dodge - Voice of Silver in Pokemon Generations. Lucien’s acting in this role was excellent, but the voice itself isn’t that much different from his Blue, and it fit Blue much better. 

FANCAST OPTION(S) - Had Silver got to be in the main anime in a speaking role, Anthony Salerno would be the guy to voice him. And like with Blue, Billy Bob Thompson could voice a great Silver as well - his voice as Shamus in Black & White is what shows that.

BRENDAN: 1. Aleks Le - Voice of Brendan in Pokemon Masters. The vocal pitch and delivery he does for Brendan make him an ideal fit for the role. 2. Unknown VA - Voice of Brendan in the animated trailer for Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. Generic, forgettable, not much a performance.

MAY: 1. Veronica Taylor - Voice of May in the main anime prior to the Battle Frontier season. Casting the same VA as Ash in the role of May was a big risk but boy did it ever pay off since Veronica’s May is insanely charming and adorable, nailing every aspect of May’s character. 2. Deneen Melody - Voice of May in Pokemon Masters EX. Like how Aleks Le nailed the OR/AS version of Brendan, Deneen totally nails the OR/AS version of May, sounding closer to Veronica Taylor in spirit without having to do a straight up impression of her May. 3. Michelle Knotz - Voice of May in the main anime for the Battle Frontier and Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension seasons. She’s good at imitating Rachael Lillis, but not so much Veronica Taylor. Her delivery was fine, but Veronica’s voice is just one of a kind and she couldn’t replicate it, plus she just sounds naturally more mature. 4. Unknown VA - Voice of May in the animated trailer for Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. Generic, forgettable, not much a performance.

BARRY: 1. Jamie McGonnigal - Voice of Barry in the main anime. While he sounded too flat and low-voiced at first, by the time of the Twinleaf Festival he was just going all out with nailing Barry’s personality and giving the perfect manic delivery for his “I’LL FINE YOU!” outbursts. 2. Erik Scott Kimerer - Voice of Barry in Pokemon Masters. Going outside his usual range, he gives a surprisingly spot on, properly energized vocal performance, at times nearly measuring up to Jamie. 3. Connor Ludovice - Voice of Barry in Pokemon Evolutions. Very weak casting and weak performance, which really hurts the character since the short he appears in is literally centered around him. FANCAST OPTION - Zach Aguilar could’ve also been cast as Barry and nailed it. His more screechy, frantic and bombastic moments as Nikkaidou from March Comes In Like A Lion could carry this role.

CHEREN: 1. Landon McDonald - Voice of Cheren in Pokemon Masters. While some of his line delivery would fit better with BW Cheren than the B2W2 Cheren that he’s playing, his voice and tone are dead on for how Cheren ought to sound. Smart alecky but not overly arrogant. 2. Todd Haberkorn - Voice of Cheren in the main anime. This was as ideal casting as you could get for Cheren. His voice and Landon’s voice sound quite alike. He really only gets second place here due to his material; I did not care for the Cheren he was playing at all. 3. Jason Griffith - Voice of Cheren in the animated trailer for Black 2/White 2. Oh dear, what were they thinking with this one? This voice doesn’t suit Cheren whatsoever. It’s like you’re expecting Ienzo but get Zexion, as in Vince Corazza’s horribly awkward sounding Zexion! FANCAST OPTION - Darren Dunstan. His Kaz Kalinkaz in Chaotic was basically a dead ringer for Landon and Todd as Cheren anyway.

BIANCA: 1. Erica Schroeder - Voice of Bianca in the main anime. She doesn’t exactly sound like how a girl Bianca’s age should, but the flighty, peppy delivery and energy in her performance really sells her as the character despite this. It’s the closest to an ideal Bianca that we got. 2. Erika Harlacher - Voice of Bianca in Pokemon Masters EX. I think she needed less Eileen Stevens and more Erica Schroeder in her delivery. Otherwise she does very well, but something’s just a bit off. 3. Eileen Stevens - Voice of Bianca in the animated trailer for Black2/White 2. A few lines, but similar to Erika Harlacher’s late take. FANCAST OPTION(S) - Jennifer Cody would be the perfect Bianca if they were able to nab her to do the role, but if not, then I’d cast Kate Higgins, with a voice like Mimi Tachikawa in Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna or Serra in Fire Emblem Heroes.

HUGH: 1. Stephen Fu - Voice of Hugh in Pokemon Masters EX. Ideal casting. He’s got the voice, the strength, and above all, the RAGE! 2. Sean Schemmel - Voice of Hugh in the animated trailer for Black2/White 2. It’s just Goku, and it really doesn’t match with Hugh.

SERENA: 1. Havan Paschall - Voice of Serena in the main anime. I don’t really care for the anime’s Serena and she is a vastly different character from Serena of the games, but Havan Paschall never did a poor job in voice acting her, giving her the right sounding voice and some stellar emotional delivery. She’d no doubt kill it with better material. 2. Jackie Lastra - Voice of Serena in Pokemon Masters. Her voice is just as good a fit for the role as Havan’s, but I think her delivery is off for the most part, as I’d prefer Gameverse Serena to sound more refined and matured as opposed to “generic perky young heroine.”

HAU: 1. Neo Chihi - Voice of Hau in the main anime. A young nonbinary VA born in Japan, they’ve not done much notable work yet they hit the bullseye with Hau’s voice - young but not too young, and easygoing. 2. Laura Stahl - Voice of Hau in Pokemon Masters. Oof. The one indisputable miscast in the entire game. There had to have been a more male-sounding VA who could’ve fit Hau - a voice actress had no business being cast and making Hau sound younger than he is. FANCAST OPTION(S) - Jack Dylan Grazer. He lives in LA and does voice acting there, would it not be awesome if he got cast as Hau?

GLADION: 1. Alan Lee - Voice of Gladion in Pokemon Masters EX. He nailed it. 2. Eddy Lee - Voice of Gladion in the main anime. Same last name as the above, and almost just as good were it not for the fact that his voice is notably deeper and grungier than Alan’s more natural take.

HOP: 1. Vargus Mason - Voice of Hop in Pokemon Masters EX. It’s a stand-up comedian (with voice acting experience, though) putting on a high voice with an obviously fake British accent. How is it that this ends up sounding EXACTLY how I always pictured Hop to sound?

2. AJ Beckles - Voice of Hop in Pokemon Journeys. I’d had him as a fancast option and said “this is the sort of role that up-and-coming AJ Beckles would just thrive at.” Then they went and cast him, and guess what? He thrived at it! Really made the most of Hop’s time. 3. Adriel Varlack - Voice of Hop in Pokemon Evolutions. Barely said much of anything in the first short, which is a shame since he sounds alright and probably could’ve delivered with some more material. 4. Griffin Puatu - Voice of Hop in Pokemon: Twilight Wings. Uh, no. This voice for Hop doesn’t work. Way too forced and actually a bit deeper than Leon’s voice. They got the casting ass-backwards here! FANCAST OPTION(S) - Ogie Banks could do a similarly perfect job as Vargus Mason if Bang Zoom had gotten him again. 

BEDE: 1. Beau Bridgland - Voice of Bede in Pokemon Masters EX. Not only can he pull off young characters, but he actually is British, meaning his accent is authentic! There could’ve been no casting more perfect. 2. Brandon James Winckler - Voice of Bede in Pokemon: Twilight Wings. His brief material did him no favors. Bland, generic, ill-fitting.

MARNIE: 1. Cristina Vee - Voice of Marnie in Pokemon Masters EX. Marnie is a Girly Girl with a Tomboy streak trying to come across as more of a competitive hardass punk than she really is at heart, and the voice acting from Cristina Vee really gets that across. Plus, that accent! 2. Hayden Daviau - Voice of Marnie in the main anime. Hayden voiced a reserved, antisocial but nice girl unable to smile in Love Live! Nijigasaki School Idol Club, and she does just as great here. 3. Dawn M. Bennett - Voice of Marnie in Pokemon: Twilight Wings. Her brief material did her no favors. Bland, generic, ill-fitting.

NEMONA:

1. Yolis Arroyo - Voice of Nemona in Pokemon Horizons.

2.Olivia Vidas - Voice of Nemona in Pokemon: Paldean Winds. 

3. Cristina Milizia - Voice of Nemona in Pokemon Masters EX.

FANCAST OPTION - Michelle Rojas

[nekoabi]

Excuse me as I go through the sprites used in the episode and ramble about which characters they are based on.

Firstly, I wanna put it out there that all the sprite art is fucking gorgeous and I am in awe of it all. My intention with this post is just to highlight what certain ones were based on for fun, not to pull away from the talent that it took to do the sprites.

Secondly, I know that these are not completely accurate (except in cases where the artist clearly wanted them to be)

Thirdly, hullo I’m an ace attorney, pokemon and general nintendo stan so... this might get long bc all the games were so good.

Anyway, I’m gonna focus on the courtroom specific poses for the ace attorney ones, bc the whole song has a lot of really good ones and they might be based on already existing character sprites - its just a lot rn, its 3am.

So, Janus’ sprites are obviously Edgeworth (considering he is on the prosecution and everything)

His second one, I couldn’t specifically find a reference for, but I love it anyway and just wanted to share as it still has Edgeworth/Male Ace Attorney character proportions.

Patton’s are Phoenix Wright, of course.

Thomas’ sprite as co-counsel is Mia Fey - just... without the obvious. No other co-counsel (as far as I remember) stands as straight up as she does.

Roman’s is difficult. The proportions are so different and the fact his gavel is visible and in his hand is a wild difference from the judge’s sprites that I feel as though his inspiration may have been some of the front facing sprites of either Phoenix or Edgeworth (mostly due to proportions) or other male characters who take to the witness stand. I have no evidence tho.

And then we have the full courtroom shot which seems to be a mix of counsel sprites. Patton is Phoenix for sure, while Janus is now Franszika. Thomas is hard to narrow down, but it seems to be based more off of Trucy or Apollo’s stance from Apollo Justice. Virgil is one of the audience members, obvs. Logan... I have no idea. The closest I can think of would be Olga Orly from Turnabout Trump, but that is a stretch at best.

(Sorry for the small images, its the best we got)

----

Now. Pokemon.

Oh my god. I almost cried.

It’s a wonderful recreation of my favourite generation of Pokemon and where I started (Generation 3), specifically Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. In fact, the spot where the store is is actually a replacement of the Pokemon Centre in Mauville City - using the tile set of Ruby/Sapphire.

But my favourite part, was the text and Thomas’ trainer backsprite. The text immediately took me back to playing this generation, in all the best ways! And Thomas’ backsprite was based on Brendan - the male protagonist from this generation as well.

----

The Mario section - clearly based off of Super Mario Brothers All Stars upgrade of the original Super Mario Bros. Specifically, the final Bowser boss fight - from the background down to the individual moving sprites to the UI.

---

And then... the part I spoiled myself on by accidentally hovering over the time bar... the part that I almost fucking bawled my eyes out at... Mother 3. Everything... is perfect. The background. The UI elements. The text. The characters. Good god, I almost cried.

---

The Final Fight segment killed me. Like Thomas as Haggar is hilarious to me! I don’t have much else to say, it’s just like before where every detail is so close to the original game that is awe-inspiring.

---

Now, I am far from knowledgeable about Mega Man. I could tell you the basics, but nothing more than that, so I had to go hunting for the specific game that the final boss part was based on. I originally thought X, but it was actually Mega Man 7 - which again was precise down to the health bars, which are very distinctive of MM7.

---

Now. That Kefkaroth fight. Damn... Final Fantasy 6 was the obvious inspiration - those battle sprites make me think of suplexing a train (honestly, if you haven’t seen that, look it up. It’s fantastic.) But the UI specifically seems to come from FF6 Advance - from what I found whilst looking around.

A couple of the character sprites seem specific enough for me to point out. Biggs (top) seems to be based on Locke, whilst Bubu seems to be based on Terra. The other two are fairly generic, but I want to say they are likely based on sprites of early party members, such as Edgar and Sabin. I’m also sure that the enemy sprite is based off of something... but I cannot find it, either in my brain or online. It may just be my imagination tho.

---

Thus ends my crazed video game ramblings. This video was fantastic, the artists did such an amazing job! Everything was wonderful. My heart is full.

[gascon-en-exil]

The interminable generation war of the Pokémon fandom is not something I’m inclined to wade into, not least because I am one of those strange individuals who play the games in part for their stories and worldbuilding. As reliably underwhelming as those attributes of any given game in this franchise may be, it’s nonetheless evident that Gamefreak puts some effort into elements of the franchise that aren’t competitive tournaments or Battle <name of building>s or gimmicky mini games. Sometimes. 

As such, in the spirit of my modest contributions to the FE and Zelda fandoms on this blog and as further proof that I am capable of judging aspects of video games aside from the desirability and inferred sexual prowess (or lack thereof) of their men, here follows my current opinions on each of the regions of the main series...so nothing about Orre or those Ranger spin-offs or whatever. And yes -  regions rather than generations, so the remakes will be grouped with their originals.

So. Very. Blaaaand. As with Archanea from Fire Emblem and the NES Zelda games I can respect the historical significance of the Kanto games; hell, unlike FE and Zelda I was actually following the series back when RBY were in their prime...and yet they are so unremarkable. Kanto feels utterly devoid of distinctive personality despite appearing in all of the first four generations, and even today there’s really nothing I can say about it beyond the relatively realistic villain team and the emphasis on modernization in contrast to Johto. Supposedly, anyway...it’s more like Kanto cares less about historical preservation which I suppose is probably the closest these games comes to commenting upon the real world inspiration for the region. Combine this with a contentious roster of Pokémon - some are great and still hold up today, some are meh, and almost all of them get disproportionate amounts of exposure and new toys in later generations, for better or worse - and an infamously loud fanbase wearing some very thick nostalgia goggles and you’ve got a setting I have no interest in revisiting. I absolutely wouldn’t put another round of remakes past GF, though 

(But having the protagonist and his rival hook up in their later years was a nice twist.)

Not much more developed than its predecessor, but the Johto games benefit immensely from throwing in Kanto as a bonus (sort of) postgame region, both for the aforementioned contrast and for the additional content. Sure, the level curve is kind of screwy, the Pokémon could be better (Johto has my least favorite starter line-up, for instance), and Kanto feels half-formed in Gen II, but it’s not bad for what it is. I like that these games are set three years after the first ones, in that it conveys a sense of the passage of time - something that would only get more vague as the series progressed. I’m not much interested in the nods to Japanese culture and folklore strewn throughout Johto, but at least the region is identifiably Japanese. Also, the implementation of elements like a day/night cycle and days of the week appeal to me, even if in practice they’re more annoying than anything else. And I know the entire internet agrees with me, but HGSS did substantially more for Johto and Kanto than FRLG did for Kanto. That’s kind of sad, honestly.

While I’m bringing up remakes, I would however like to disagree with most of the internet and say that ORAS were good remakes - good enough to where I could actually finish Alpha Sapphire when the original left me so unimpressed that I actually stopped playing the series outside remakes until Gen VI. The beloved Battle Frontier (which doesn’t seem all that interesting? Someone explain the appeal of this thing to me) may be missing and you can’t re-challenge gym leaders and various other things you can only do in Emerald, but on the flip side the story development is much improved and better paced - yay for convenient cutscene warping - and the Delta Episode provides a decent postgame capstone. What’s more, Hoenn is absolutely beautiful in the remakes, looking as lush and tropical as it ought to and no longer bogged down with water routes that are a slog to traverse or much backtracking. Soaring is a wonderful addition as well that shows off the region and cuts down on HM usage, and the DexNav is excellent for reducing the tedium of catching them all (or some approximation thereof when stupid things like event legendaries and untradeable-on-GTS version exclusives still exist).

I haven’t even mentioned the villain teams. I know full well that Tumblr is ahead of me on this one, but they are so gay. I picked up the gayer version with Matt outright professing his love for men (somewhat ruined when you consider that he’s talking to a ten-year-old...ick), but via extensive research *ahem* I’ve learned that Omega Ruby has its moments too and that Teams Magma and Aqua are best enjoyed as a pair. Their goals may be patently stupid, but they all learn something at the end of the day and can go home and have an orgy together. I haven’t even mentioned the Steven/Wallace subtext one of my mutuals cued me into, which is sweet revenge indeed for Emerald fanboys whining for years about femme Wallace with his predictable team becoming champion in that game. It’s enough altogether for me to forgive the game for constantly teasing Brendan/May - because obligatory heterosexual romance doesn’t have to wait for a little thing like puberty.

The only region for which I can’t really give a full assessment. I started a playthrough of Platinum on emulator, but the game felt so slow and clunky that after the second gym (which I’ve read is an especially dull and pace-breaking stretch) I couldn’t bring myself to play any more. I’ve watched speedruns and video reviews of this game, and they’ve only confirmed my initial opinion and caused me to hope that most of Sinnoh’s copious issues will be addressed in the inevitable remakes. The over-reliance on HM slaves (poor Bidoof...), unintuitive region layout, periods of severe environmental slowdown in the form of marshlands and deep snow, and other factors do not appeal to me at all, and while I know Platinum fixed this particular problem I assume that the Diamond and Peal remakes will not have to contend with a limited roster as they did. The characters could do with some work as well: Barry seriously needs to calm down, I still don’t know how to feel about Fantina (will she be Kalosian? What about in the Japanese and French versions where she’s apparently from an English-speaking country?), and Cyrus really doesn’t work as the charismatic leader he’s built up to be. Say what you will about the Hoenn villain teams or Team Flare having idiotic goals, but at least I can say what those are. I still got nothing on Team Galactic caring about Prof. Rowan’s evolution research or stealing energy or what have you. Sinnoh is severely in need of a second - or third, I suppose - draft. 

Confirming that Volkner and Flint are a couple would also be nice. Just throwing out ideas.

When I downloaded White and Black 2 for emulator I didn’t expect to be very impressed by these games. Unova is the MURICA FUCK YEAH region, as we all know, and I shouldn’t have to point out to my regular followers that that fact alone would be enough to unfavorably prejudice me against the place. And yet, in spite of that, it works for me. A big part of that is that Louisiana is absent from this loose celebration of the US as interpreted by Japan; there’s an oil baron dressed like a cowboy, a Californian or Hawaiian surfer bro, a gay (or straight hipster, hard to tell these days) artist with a loft gym in Castro the Village Castelia City, a Southern mammy for some casual racism that was actually too casual for international release, counterparts to Coney Island, Broadway, Hollywood, and American sports, and numerous Pokémon like the Trubbish and Vanillite* lines inspired by the shallow consumerism that passes for culture in the US, but nothing representing my own stubbornly French state. I’m actually warier about the bizarre attempts to insert bits of medieval and early modern Europe into the region via PETA-by-way-of-the-Knights-Templar (what) Team Plasma and the trio quartet of legendaries based on les Trois Mousquetaires. Did whoever came up with those not get the memo about where the series was going next?

With that said, although I’m not as enamored with N as some people his characterization was if nothing else a step up from anything that had come before. While Ghetsis and Plasma make no damn sense aesthetically until the sequels they are intimidating villains who raise serious questions about how humans treat Pokémon...that are naturally never considered in their full complexity because friendship or something. As I stated with Johto I do like the sequel model of region development since we get to see how Unova has changed over two years. I also appreciate the season mechanic that only appears in these games for lending some variety to the geography, though in execution it’s kind of a pain.

*But hey, I’m thankful at least that this is I think the only region that lets you catch (decent) Ice types before lategame. I will absolutely take the ice cream with a face.

Perfect, or rather just imperfect enough to perfectly capture the essence of France and its culture in this silly world of fantasy cockfighting. Unashamedly biased I may be, but as Kalos gets a lot of hate online I feel the need to push back against popular opinion a bit. X and Y were in my opinion the first games where GF really went all in on characterizing a region, because everything from the preoccupation with aesthetics (Character customization! Dog Furfrou grooming! Petting and pampering your Pokémon! Meticulously kept jardins à la française! Serious philosophical discussions on the fleeting nature of beauty! Team Flare...ok, never mind, they’re kind of dumb) to the discerning restaurant culture to the general ambivalence toward glorious and gloriously wasteful institutions like monarchy and their lavish châteaux feels so familiar to me. And how could I forget the Fairy type, a type tailor-made to vex the sort of posturing bro gamer sorts who somehow maintain their bro-ness while openly playing Pokémon. Could any region but Kalos have delivered that so beautifully? Well, now that I think about it, are the Japanese aware that the French are characterized as feminine in the English-speaking world? Regardless, I could go on, but this post is long enough as it is.

As I said before, Kalos isn’t entirely without flaw. Team Flare might be a hair less ridiculous than Team Galactic, but that isn’t saying much. The troupe of rivals, such as they are, aren’t much better, and others like Sycamore and most of the gym leaders are woefully underutilized. The Kalos Pokédex is overstuffed, and while I enjoy its subdivision into three regions that not-so-coincidentally recreate the Tricolore it is nevertheless a pain for those who like to fill up the Dex as they go along in a game. The developers were still clearly learning how to deal with the camera in a 3D space as is evident in certain areas like Lumiose, and certain features like the roller skates are awkward to use. Not the Exp Share, though - call me a lazy casual, but that thing makes team-building so much easier and actually incentivizes doing so rather than just relying on one overleveled Pokémon with good coverage to solo everything. Oh, and we never got a Pokémon Z, or more importantly an extension of the map that would include southern France. Poké-Gascogne, please, Game Freak.

Really, it’s hard for me to criticize X and Y because I quickly come back to everything I love about the place. I’m actually replaying X right now, inspired as I was by this project and lacking anything else to play before USUM comes out next month. Speaking of which...

I may not have any personal attachment to Hawaii, but I have to give GF serious props for taking the best gameplay and worldbuilding elements of Kalos and replicating them on an even greater scale. Alola is a vibrant and extensively-realized setting for a game, and I’m not even taking into account that we’ll be getting an AU version of it or something like that in the upcoming games. Sun and Moon fascinate on their own with their deep characterizations that touch on such surprisingly dark topics as child abuse (in a variety of forms) and the failure of community and, er, social programs, or whatever you’d call the Island Trial and the whole sending-ten-year-olds-out-to-enslave-wild-animals thing this universe has going on. 

There aren’t really any duds in the cast, either: Kukui is drool-worthy, Guzma and the rest of Team Skull are thoroughly silly and also thoroughly sad, most of the kahunas and trial captains are entertaining in their own ways (special props go to Nanu, Kiawe and his hiker boyfriend, and Acerola the fallen aristocrat who’s entirely too perky about it), Lusamine is a demented mother figure so of course I find her compelling, and Hau...taught me what a malasada is? It’s basically a Portuguese beignet, from the sound of things. Lillie is the real star however, and I don’t understand why some fans criticize the games for making the story more about her than about the player character. One of the biggest drawbacks of silent protagonists, and especially silent protagonists that never emote, is that it’s difficult for them to be a part of character-driven storylines, and in a first for the series unless you count N in BW Sun and Moon are exactly that kind of story. Lillie gets a voice and a distinct place in the world and in the lives of the other major players in the narrative, and she has a development arc that follows along with but stands independent from the standard one followed by this protagonist and all others in this series. Meanwhile, the player character...is from Kanto, and is Kukui’s cousin, and Kukui is probably fucking their mother. That’s pretty much it.

I’m a little less enamored with the Ultra Beast plotline as it’s a little too sci-fi for me, and Aether’s presence and purpose in Alola feels unexplored, but there’s still a chance that USUM may woo me on either score. I’m fairly indifferent on the Mega Evolution vs. Z-Moves argument, and I can take or leave Alolan forms - except Ninetales *pets* - but SM made one substantial gameplay improvement I absolutely adore and will hate to see be removed from future games: ride Pokémon. No more HM slaves, yay! Compound that with surfing between islands and some new areas and they’ve sold me on the next games. If the story is as radically different as trailers seem to be promising I can only hope that it’ll be just as engaging as the first time around.

So, if I had to provide a tl;dr by dint of a simplified ranking, it’d probably go as such:

Kalos > Alola > Hoenn = Unova > Johto > Kanto = Sinnoh

I’d expect Sinnoh to get bumped up a few notches in remake form, but otherwise that’s about right.

[estrelatzia]

do all pls

It took a while, and I am sorry for taking so long, but I finally had the time to do it ;u;

Thank you for the ask!

Favorite video game?

I can’t choose just one, I have quite a few in my heart.

Professor Layton Series (My fave being Miracle Mask)

Pokemon (Of course! My faves being ORAS, RSE, HGSS, SUMO, B2W2)

And Animal Crossing (New Leaf and HHD)

First console you owned?

The super NES.

I come from a family of “gamers”, in a sense that my dad and most of his cousins are big video game fans.

However, when he was younger, they couldn’t afford any video game, it was too expensive and well, the income was very low, so they mostly spent their times in Arcades. So when my dad got married and finally had a budget, like one of the first things he did was buy a NES lol

He taught me how to splay super Mario when I was very young, tho I don’t even remember the first time I played it.

The first console my parents bought for me was the nintendo 64. And the first one that only belonged to me (Cuz I shared the 64 with my dad and my cousins) was the game boy colour.

A game that holds a special place in your heart?

I think Pokemon Ruby! God, I have so many good memories of this game! Like it was such a good experience for me!

I kinda was “kinnie” with May and saw myself a lot in her. And I fell in love with so many pokemon in that gen, like Torchic, Milotic, Absol, Azuril, Jirachi etc.

I got my first pokemon to lvl 100 (My blaziken). I found my first ever Shiny Pokemon (Trapinch who evolved into Flygon) and was lucky to get a lot of jackpot at the casino (Which I really sucked before lol). I also had a lot of fun times with the secret bases. And I loved the characters like Brendan, Winona and Wally. I discovered a lot of stuff on my own that up until today was memorable to me, like finding the 5% chance of fishing Feebas and trying to discover how to get Azuril (we didn’t have bulbapedia at the time and couldn’t read very well in English.) I also fell in love with the wonders of Hoenn! 

After like 200 hours I think, the games had a thing were the clock just stops moving and you can’t plant berries and such and it kinda sucks. I know it doesn’t change much in game, but when I was a kid it felt like the end of the game for me. And it kinda made me sad, but I still have the cartridge intact. I never had the heart to reset the game, I just moved my pokemon to other games (HGSS). Ruby will always be like a special treasure for me.

Favorite video game character?

This one is difficult, because I love so many lol Like I could talk about days, especially since they have a lot of characters in pokemon.

But I guess I will spare the details and go straight to a video game character that I appreciate and love a lot: Professor Layton.

That man is just such good guy? Like he is charismatic, fancy, so kind and so smart! It is fun playing along with him as a main character! And it’s super funny considering that the plots get so weird sometimes, that someone as logical as him can always figure out what is going on before everyone lol

He is just such a nice guy that you would like to meet you know? Also his voice is so calm and nice, it’s soothing!

He is voiced in Japanese by  Yo Oizumi (Which I would recommend everyone to give a listen to! You won’t regret! It’s so soothing and beautiful!) And Christopher Robin Miller in English!

Least favorite video game character?

I don’t have a character that I dislike with a big passion, but since I am given the opportunity I need to talk about one that annoyed me and I will probably put lot of people in a bad mood….please don’t take it personal, it’s just my opinion ;;

But for me, Zin/nia in ORAS made my experience with the post game some much more annoying!

Like I already have kinda a hate-love relationship with Post game ORAS (The delta episode). I like that they added it to the game and gave more story, I adored the moment you go to space and fight Deoxys. All this was so wonderful. I dislike however how you are like “Place A, fight someone. Ok now go to place B. Fight someone again”. It’s really annoying…and the fact that Zinnia’s character was rushed(?) into the story made it more annoying to me. Like we have some details of her story but not a whole lot. We can probably connect the dots…but still?? It felt weird to me. I thought there would be more to it, but it didn’t. And because of that it made the whole experience annoying and almost frustrating, because we don’t know a whole lot of what’s going on, but Zinnia doesn’t explain either. She is just angry and in a rush, and instead of just explaining what is happening, she goes around and steal stuff and punch people??? And when Steven the champion tries to offer some help, she is just rude?? which honestly I don’t care if she hates him, but logically if you want someone to listen and help you, why are you just being horrible to everyone?? And all that alternate universe will be destroyed…is like ok…I get what you mean but HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT FOR SURE??? How is anyone supposed to know that?? I just…idk it frustrated me. And I thought they would one day explain, but it has been like 5 years? and GameFreak maybe forgot about it, so it’s still a bitter memory to me. I know may love her and it’s ok, but to me she came off as unsympathetic at the time.

Favorite genre?

I would say RPG, but I haven’t complete any RPG in years, except for Pokemon. So I guess just relaxing games? Like Animal Crossing? Or games you can explore? Because one of the thing I love the most about games is exploring the vast worlds and interesting cities.  Idk, I also like puzzle games a lot lol

Video game character you’ve had a crush on?

Well when I was a young kid, I had a crush on Silver and Bugsy lol But now I don’t think I have crushes on any characters to be honest. I kinda lost having crushes on characters, but I am not sure why.

I guess if I have to choose, I would say Henry Ledore from Professor Layton: Miracle Mask, because I really liked that character and his personality. And it’s the closest that I have to a character crush, even though it is barely one lol

First video game you remember playing?

Super Mario for the SNES. But my memories are kinda hazy, so the one I remember the most is playing Diddy Kong Racing lol.

Age you started gaming?

I was super young, I can’t really remember when I played a video game for the first time, but I really started being interested in games around 7-ish. When I started playing Pokemon and discover other video games with my cousins.

Hardest video game you’ve played?

Listen…I don’t have the patience to play hard games…when it gets tough I give up…If I have the choice I would choose the easier mode…so I can’t even answer this question, because I would be saying a very easy game and people will be laughing at me and saying I am a fake gamer or something.

Video game you’ve spent the most time on?

Tomodachi Life (Don’t judge, I love it!)

Animal Crossing New Leaf

Pokemon Alpha Sapphire

Most embarrassing gaming moment?

When I was a kid I got stuck playing Golden Sun at the Mercury Lighthouse. It was early in the dungeon, like right after you get Mia, there was a statue you had to do Ply on, and I never got it. So instead I wondered for hours in the few accessible places in the world and did almost everything else I could. when I discovered, I cried almost of joy, my characters were so over-level at that point lol

I tried to play Pokemon competitive mode a few years ago because everyone was talking about it and lost almost immediately, I had no regrets because I dislike competitive modes, so it just proved that it wasn’t for me, but at the same time, it was darn embarrassing.

My first ever game of Kingdom Hearts was 358/2 Days. My experience with KH so far was only KHI that my cousin had. So I never really played it or knew the story, I just knew there were Disney characters and Mickey was apparently a King??? But I just wondered around Traverse Town (thus why I guess that town is so nostalgic to me), I wanted to explore like Atlantica because Ariel was there, but my cousin didn’t let me because it sucked (tho to be fair, he was right, but I didn’t know that!). Fast forward to Days, I was excited to finally start my own adventure and rapidly got confused. Like where was Mickey? My companions Donald and Goofy? Why was everyone talking about nobodies?? (Which for the longest time I thought meant like a insult instead of actually a real thing in the games lol). And to me the game tutorial felt soooo long. I just wanted to explore, and I lost patience so rapidly. Like if you would ask me, I would say that I spent almost 100 days on that game, but apparently I gave up so early, right before going to the first Disney World (one day before according to my brother lol…). I got roasted by my bro and cousins.

Scariest video game you’ve played?

I also don’t do scary stuff lol ;u; I get scary pretty easily! Like I got scared from playing limbo and couldn’t sleep well that night (I am not kidding lol)

Most memorable gaming moment?

Getting my Shiny Trapinch, finding Feebas and hatching my first Azuril in Ruby!

Also when me and my cousin were exploring the Silver islands (? myabe not the proper name, but I am too lazy to search) in Pokemon Silver, we found Lugia!! And It was super exciting for us! We were super happy for the rest of the day!

Video game character you wish you could meet in real life?

I guess Professor Layton, Aqua from KH and Maya Fey from the Ace Attorney games (She is so funny!).

PC, Xbox, Playstation, or Nintendo?

Almost only Nintendo.

Gaming company you’re most loyal to?

Nintendo, mostly because they make the games I am the most interested in, like Pokemon, AC, Mario, etc.

If you could only play one video game for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

I guess Pokemon, because I can’t imagine leaving without pokemon. But honestly, I can’t just live with ONE game, I would get bored eventually.

Do you use strategy guides?

I used when I was a kid. Now I just use references online when I need it.

How often do you use cheats?

If it’s a in-game glitch, I love trying it. If it’s a cheat that you need to use like a 3rd party, then I never use it.

The only time I cheated was when I was playing DPP, I really wanted to capture Creselia and other event legendary (which I never got, because I live in an obscure town and Nintendo didn’t even give events close to us here so… :) ). I made myself had like 100 master ball in the game, I was just so tired of chasing after Creselia. And honestly I don’t regret doing it. The only reason I don,t use 3rd party cheats is just because I don,t like to use it in the game, I’m paranoid and afraid I will loose my file or something lol

Competitive or single player?

Single player, definitely.

Video game character you want to/have cosplayed?

At a con I went, there was someone dressed like Donk City! Peach. I kinda want to try this but maybe a Roselia or Daisy version!

The other I want to try is KH3 Kairi, just because I adore her outfit. But I feel like it would be difficult and kidna not comfortable to wear, so I am pretty sure I will never lol

Ever go to a video game convention?

No never. It is quite far from where I live. But someday I would like to go.

Hardest boss fight you’ve been in?

I don’t remember honestly.

Video game you wish you could burn from your memory?

Time Hollow. It was kinda a boring game.

The other would be Sims…because I get really distracted and addicted to it to the point I don’t do much else when playing with it and I don,t like being like this since I feel like I am wasting my free time when I play for too long.

Favorite gaming series?

Pokemon

Professor Layton

Animal Crossing

Kingdom Hearts (Even though, I didn’t even played half of the games...)

Do you skip tutorials, or find them useful?

I try to listen when I am not familiar with a game, but I most likely get bored and eventually skip…

Best online gaming experience?

I don’t play online.

Worst online gaming experience?

I don’t play online.

Why do you game?

I game cuz I like gaming. lol It is just a nice hobby and a nice way to relax honestly.