10 Things We Want To See In The Next Generation Of Pokémon

It's now been over two years since the last new generation Pokémon title was released, with Pokémon X & Y making Generation Six the first to feature on Nintendo's 3DS systems. For the first time it truly felt as though the series was making meaningful strides forward in adding to the tried and tested formula, and the games garnered huge commercial and critical success. Now that the developers have cut their teeth on two 3DS titles - including last year's remade Generation Three games - the question starts to arise as to what we'll see next in the series. There's still plenty of life left in the 3DS console for Nintendo, and so we can more than likely assume we'll be seeing at least one more main series instalment released for these before the next big change. Short of this, who knows what aspiring Pokémon Masters will have to face? Now, we won't claim to have any priceless gems of information about what lies in the future of the series, but we certainly have more than a couple of ideas as to what we'd like to see. So, without further ado, here are the ten things we'd like to see in Pokémon's 7th Generation 10) More Trainer Customization For the first time, Generation Six allowed players of the games to have a modicum of control over the appearance of their budding Trainers. In Pokémon X & Y, you were able to give your avatars new outfits and haircuts, having chosen from one of three male or female base models in the game's opening moments. The following title, Ruby & Sapphire offered a little more of the same in that regard, but it would be nice to see this take greater steps in the next instalments. It's a given that the character is always going to be the typically adventurous youngster, but expanding the possibilities for customization would be a further improvement. More aesthetic options would be great, as would different personality types that have influence over what types of creatures each player is best suited to training. That's to say a brash, hot-headed trainer could be more adept at battling with Fire or Fighting types, whilst a more relaxed trainer may be well-suited to monsters with easy-going natures. Interesting, huh? 9) Improve The 3D Perspective Unsurprisingly - given the platform change - X & Y were the first titles to feature a major variation on the traditional top-down perspective that we've come to expect from the series. A titled, slightly less "birds-eye" approach was taken throughout these games, and as a result, players were immersed in the action further than ever before. Now that the first perspective experiment has proved to be successful, it's time to push the boat out a little further again. Dropping the camera just a few degrees more in the overworld view would give greater angles on distances and make the buildings in each town and city pop just that little bit more. The in-battle perspective could use a shake-up, too, but again this would only have to be very slight. The 3D angles for the battle openings were very effective in the Generation Six titles, but making this camera just a little more fluid around the battlefields would be a better step in improving how exciting the game's battles appear. 8) Increase The Training-Based Mini Games Super Training was an interesting inclusion in Pokémon X & Y because it brought the training techniques used by competitive battlers to a more widespread audience. The whole thing became far more accessible, and players really had to think about what they wanted from their top battlers. The only problem with the training exercises was a distinct lack of variety. While the benefits made the mode essential, the monotony that soon set in turned the experience into somewhat of a grind before too long. If the developers could add a greater variety to the types of exercises each stat can be trained by, it would stop the boredom from setting in quite as quickly. Another potential addition could be environment-based training opportunities, where different skills can be trained at lakes, forests or caves. At least there then would be a greater aesthetic variety to each exercise! 7) Face Challengers As The Champion One of the ultimate goals - aside from catching 'em all, of course - in the Pokémon series has been collecting all eight Gym badges before challenging the Elite Four and their almighty Champion. It's the culmination of any aspiring Master's journey, but should defeating the Champion really be the end of things? Why can't players have the chance to fulfil their role as Champion and take on budding challengers further down the line? Save for things like the Battle Towers and the occasional Gym Leader rematch, there's scarcely been any sort of lasting challenge once the reigning Champ has been overthrown. A lack of competitive end-games in the series has always been a bit of a problem, but a move like this could go a long way to resolving that and could provide additional replay value for players not so keen on the online battling scene. 6) Destructive Environments One of the most exciting things in the Pokémon anime series is the way the battles themselves are so energetically crafted and how powerful they make the creatures seem. Hardly a gym battle goes by without Ash and co. crashing through the scenery and leaving visible destruction along their path to glory. To a degree, we do get to see some of this in the way certain attacks can be used to move blocking items and objects in the games' overworld views. Add to this the occasionally meaningful weather effects or chipped background stones we see in battles, and that's about as much interaction with the world that players and their Pokémon can have in the games. More readily destructive environments would make the battle scenes more exciting, and could even add an extra element of chance to proceedings. Cracking earth could decrease the Speed stat of a defending Pokémon, for example, as they struggle to keep their footing on a recently wracked battleground. Attacking players would then see their windows of opportunity open wider, meaning trainers able to exploit their surroundings could find even greater battling success. 5) Quicker And More Dynamic Evolutions Evolution is one of the most exciting steps in the player's journey, as they see their prized Pokémon take on grander and more powerful forms. Hitting the required level for a new evolution is a huge boost for any trainer, but there's also a sense of anti-climax that's tinged within it. In the anime, we've seen Ash's battling beasts call on the very limits of their power and resolve to keep fighting on many an occasion, with some even finding the experience to evolve mid-battle and turn the tide in their favour. To that end, mid-battle evolutions should surely be an addition to the next instalment of the series. Sure, players might of had a taste of what this could be like with Mega-Evolutions in Generation Six, but I think most can agree that these temporary advancements felt more than a little gimmicky. Full, mid-battle evolutions would be far more exciting in future, and would take the anti-climatic feel away from the stop/start evolution process that currently exists. 4) More Land Mass, Less New Pokémon After Generation Six, there are now a total of 721 Pokémon, and a new generation would of course meanz a whole new set of the monsters to go with it. This is far from a bad thing, as designs like Fennekin and Pangoro proved that the designers and developers still know how to come up with truly great Pokémon after all this time. That being said, there have been more than a few duds in recent years meaning that some of the later generations are being labelled as boring or unimaginative. A simple remedy to this is simply to limit the number of new additions in the next instalment to something like 50. That way there's more than enough new content offered, without so much risk of them failing to capture the imagination of the players. To balance the reduction in the number of new monsters, extra scale should be added the next game's map. Either through adding the series' largest region yet or through allowing players to play across multiple areas, a more expansive environment would certainly be a good step to keeping us hooked in the new generation. 3) Get Rid Of The Bad Guys It's been a heck of a ride thwarting the plans of the bizarrely un-adept trainers that make up the games' various bad guy teams, but, while the entertaining Team Rocket are still as essential as ever to the TV series, now is the time to scrap this element of the Pokémon games. This may seem like a drastic move, since their evil plans have regularly held the stages of the player's adventure together with the closest thing to story that the games have, but in truth, the story element simply isn't needed at all. The teams ultimately serve as nothing more than an annoying side-track on the player's quest for glory. It would be nice to play a brand new Pokémon game where the objective was simply the player's own journey to becoming a Pokémon Master, without having to be dragged into some moron's doomed plot for world domination. 2) Compatibility With Pokemon Go The most exciting news surrounding Pokémon ultimately came a little earlier this year when the mobile 'Catch 'em all' app Pokémon Go was announced for release in 2016. While the gaming app itself is bound to be a terrifyingly addictive smartphone spectacle on its own, its future within the rest of the franchise is as yet unknown. Crossover compatibility between the app and the next main series game could be a logical step, and a damned good one at that. Players may recall the PokéWalker peripheral that came with Heart Gold & Soul Silver games before the release of Generation Five, and remember the surprising fun that could be had by training their team on the go with a Tamagotchi style device. Adding crossover functionality between the mobile app and the next game would be a disaster for those of us who are easily distracted, but boy would there be some fun to had while we're on our way to the unemployment line! 1) Makes The Battles Last Longer The measure of a good trainer in existing Pokémon titles seems to be how quickly they can reach the point where any foe's team can be decimated in a matter of seconds, but in truth, it really shouldn't be that way. High-level battling had such a throwaway air to it later on in the games, and a certain amount of de-powering needs to be done to avoid this. Consider (again) the anime series and the way Ash and his friends battle the Pokémon against each other with remarkable spirit and resilience. Each one employs numerous powerful attacks - the likes of which would end most in-game battles - but still they continue to fight to their last ounce of strength is exhausted. These battles are far more exciting than their video game counterparts and this imbalance has to be addressed. The one-hit-KOs have to be minimized to make endurance and strategy far more prominent as the game progresses now. I know I'm sick of winning battles as soon as they get going, aren't you? Now that you've heard our suggestions, tell us, what do you want to see in the future of the Pokémon series? Let us know what you're hoping for in the comments below!