Adding the Kanto region to Gen 2 was one of the best things Pokemon ever did

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Poll of the Day » Adding the Kanto region to Gen 2 was one of the best things Pokemon ever did
faramir77
09/27/2024
10:58 AM
#1
Think about it:
  • You get the first sequel to a Pokemon game, awesome.
  • Wow, lots of quality of life changes. The experience bar in particular is a nice change.
  • Game mechanics aren't nearly as broken either.
  • Johto has 8 gyms just like the previous game, this'll be great.
  • The game is awesome while feeling thematically distinct from the previous game.
  • Alright, got all 8 badges, off to the Elite Four.
  • Oh dang, it's literally the same Pokemon League location as before! Johto was just to the west, neat.
  • Beat the Elite Four
  • "You can go to Kanto now and challenge their gyms"
  • You literally get a nearly full blown second game after beating the first part, which that first part was every bit as long as the entire previous game.
  • Kanto maintains most of the classic thematic feel from RBY while having a sort of existential feel to it, knowing that Red (the character) fixed so many problems and is still spoken about as a near mythical figure.
Absolutely awesome. GSC was flawed in many ways but you can't deny that it was super generous in terms of content it provided.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCtAUrZbUk
-- Defeating the Running Man of Ocarina of Time in a race since 01/17/2009. --
MICHALECOLE
09/27/2024
10:59 AM
#2
Missing that safari zone though
Damn_Underscore
09/27/2024
11:25 AM
#3
Yes but

1) The Kanto section isn't very good
2) The Johto section wasn't even that good, but this was masked by the addition of the Kanto section

This was absolutely amazing back in the day, but nowadays you can look back and see that it was definitely overrated
On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?
I bet you say that to all the boys...
MICHALECOLE
09/27/2024
11:30 AM
#4
Damn_Underscore posted...
Yes but

1) The Kanto section isn't very good
2) The Johto section wasn't even that good, but this was masked by the addition of the Kanto section

This was absolutely amazing back in the day, but nowadays you can look back and see that it was definitely overrated
it was amazing back in the day! But twenty years later its overrated

so stupid
Damn_Underscore
09/27/2024
11:34 AM
#5
MICHALECOLE posted...
it was amazing back in the day! But twenty years later its overrated

so stupid

Yes exactly

The novelty of it all helped mask the game's problems
On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?
I bet you say that to all the boys...
acesxhigh
09/27/2024
12:57 PM
#6
Yeah it seemed like a big map but both sections were actually pretty small.

If you think of Kanto as "extra" it seems generous to include it but that would make Johto seem even weaker. The whole thing does not take very long to get through, and the majority of the time in Johto is spent battling severely underleveled trainers. And GSC's Kanto is only about half the size of Johto so we are not adding much.

Thematically, I actually love Johto and its story, and connection to Kanto and the previous games events. Obviously they have not done that since then so it stands out as something special. But the more I come back to the games, they are just not that fun compared to Gen 3 and 4.
ConfusedTorchic
09/27/2024
02:58 PM
#7
finding out that there was a whole other ass region after beating the elite 4 was absolutely the hypest shit
see my gundams here
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faramir77
09/27/2024
03:15 PM
#8
ConfusedTorchic posted...
finding out that there was a whole other ass region after beating the elite 4 was absolutely the hypest shit

finally someone else gets it, thank you

everyone else here so far can't appreciate art, pfft pfft
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCtAUrZbUk
-- Defeating the Running Man of Ocarina of Time in a race since 01/17/2009. --
Muscles
09/27/2024
03:27 PM
#9
The biggest problems were the leveling and lack of Johto Pokmon in Johto.

Everything else was great.
Muscles
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Nade_Duck
09/27/2024
04:10 PM
#10
it's a shame they've never bothered to replicate it. obviously in the remakes, but i mean in other gens. with all the shit about kanto in sun and moon it would have been pretty cool to fly there and visit in some endgame content.

doesn't have to be kanto of course, but going back to some old places and seeing some progression of time would have been cool. gen 5 was kinda close to that but it was still all gen 5 stuff.
http://i.imgur.com/ElACjJD.gifv
"Most of the time, I have a whole lot more sperm inside me than most women do." - adjl
FrozenBananas
09/27/2024
04:32 PM
#11
Ive never played past gen 2;

how do they handle the Pokdex in later generations? They clearly cant include every single Pokmon from past gensso do they just pick and choose whatever old Pokmon they want? Or is there never any old Pokmon?
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faramir77
09/27/2024
04:40 PM
#12
FrozenBananas posted...
Ive never played past gen 2;

how do they handle the Pokdex in later generations? They clearly cant include every single Pokmon from past gensso do they just pick and choose whatever old Pokmon they want?

Yeah pretty much.

Gen 5 made a bold choice by making none of the Pokemon from Gen 1 to 4 available until the postgame.

Gen 6 did the complete opposite (in that they very much promoted catching old Pokemon) and only added like 70 new Pokemon, but I felt like they actually handled it pretty well.

Gen 7 was terrible and I haven't played a new Pokemon game since.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCtAUrZbUk
-- Defeating the Running Man of Ocarina of Time in a race since 01/17/2009. --
GanonsSpirit
09/27/2024
06:48 PM
#13
faramir77 posted...
Gen 6 did the complete opposite (in that they very much promoted catching old Pokemon) and only added like 70 new Pokemon, but I felt like they actually handled it pretty well.
True, but they also added 30 mega-evolutions, the only good 1-gen gimmick.
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EclairReturns
09/27/2024
07:03 PM
#14
faramir77 posted...
it was super generous in terms of content it provided


You mean in general, or relative to the content Game Freak's been churning out as of late?
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faramir77
09/27/2024
07:15 PM
#15
EclairReturns posted...
You mean in general, or relative to the content Game Freak's been churning out as of late?

In general for a game running on 1989 handheld hardware, and relative to current GameFreak content.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCtAUrZbUk
-- Defeating the Running Man of Ocarina of Time in a race since 01/17/2009. --
ConfusedTorchic
09/27/2024
10:19 PM
#16
FrozenBananas posted...
Ive never played past gen 2;

how do they handle the Pokdex in later generations? They clearly cant include every single Pokmon from past gensso do they just pick and choose whatever old Pokmon they want? Or is there never any old Pokmon?

they absolutely can just include everything, but realistically it's less work to just not do that since there's over a thousand of the fuckers now. it's just gen 8 and 9 that don't actually have every pokemon obtainable in them. the others are capable, even if not directly catchable in them.

how much less work is questionable, given the piss poor state of the games as of late, but for what it's worth, gen 8 and 9's dlc do add a bunch more pokemon back, but then you get into the argument of "did they actually just not include everything so they could sell them back to you?" (yes.)

and legends arceus is actually a breath of fresh air in the series, despite it's shit tier performance, and sword and shield actually were not that bad, and let you actually just roam around the world with your friends which was pretty enjoyable.
see my gundams here
https://imgur.com/a/F7xKM5r updated 08/01/24; hg mighty strike freedom
fishy071
09/28/2024
12:07 AM
#17
I liked that.
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Poll of the Day » Adding the Kanto region to Gen 2 was one of the best things Pokemon ever did