9 Years Ago Today, Nintendo Forced Gamers to Touch Grass

Pokémon Go took the world by assault and seemed to get out of the left field, And It is hard to believe that the game has been released for almost a decade! There are still a large number of people who play the game today, however, of course, nothing like the game to its peak.

Like so many people, I am also an excited player, so I thought it would be interesting to come back to the 9th anniversary of the game (I’m weird like that) to see what made him so special, and how it really brought me In in Pokémon in the first place.

The strange origins of Pokémon Go

Nintendo is not used to putting its intellectual property on the platforms it does not have, and yes I know that Pokémon company is its own thing, but it is a third of the partnership that controls the IP, and so far, it has been mainly a Nintendo game franchise.

Nintendo made a little third-party license, especially when they allowed Zelda and Mario on the Philips CD-I.

Frame. Anyway, Nintendo would later publish certain mobile games, as Super Mario RunBut it is roughly the extent. However, a few months before Super Mario RunWe have seen Pokémon Go Hit mobile stores all over the world, and the game has started as an April Fool’s joke.

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In 2014, the deceased Grand Satoru Iwata alongside Tsunekazu Ishihara (from Pokémon Company) proposed an idea called Google Maps: Pokemon Challenge In collaboration with Google for the silly day in question. Google has a subsidiary called Niantic, and this developer has a game called Entrance. If you look Entrance You will see all the Pokémon go bones, and Ishihara thought that the design of the game would work well for Pokémon.

Obviously, they thought that the idea was worth more efforts than a simple farce, so in the coming years (after Iwata was unfortunately deceased), the various stakeholders have collaborated and gave us what is known as Pokémon Go Today.

When he caught fire

On the sixth July 2016, after a long beta period which ended about a week earlier, the match was released and in a few days, it had become a phenomenon. It was in the news, it was on everyone’s phone, and you could see people play everywhere.

Of course, as Entrancewhat did Pokémon Go Different from most other games, you had to go out physically around the world to play it. Although you can catch a few Pokémon in your backyard, if you wanted to get the best, and if you wanted to fight in the Pokémon gymnasiums, you should leave the house.

The best thing for me, at the time, was to meet people and discover that the people who expected me the least to play the game were totally in it. Although this is probably all the media threshing around the strangeness of all this, it really seemed that each person and their dog were walking trying to get a rare snorlax.

Secondary health and safety quests

Pokémon Go was a bit of a double -edged sword. For many less healthy nerds like yours, the game brought me out, take a little sun and take a few steps. I worked as a member of the junior staff on a huge university campus at the time, and as I was still late for work, I had to walk about a mile from my parking lot to my office, and it was much more fun with the potential to capture a mile in my place.

Pokémon Go

Systems

Released

July 6, 2016

ESRB

e

Developer (s)

Niantic, The Pokemon Company

Publisher (s)

Niantic

Engine

Unit

Multiplayer

Online multiplayer

Multiplateform game

iOS, Andriod

Cross

Yes

• 

• 

Even after work, my wife and I went to the nearest park like a strange pair of outdoor people, and we were not the only ones! So, on the whole, this was for the benefit of people’s health, but the other The thing in the world outside your home is that almost all dangerous things live there.

SO Pokémon Go Some people also had dangerous behaviors. Of course, the game itself reminded you that you must be vigilant on your environment, and it is hardly the fault of the game. However, people who are who they are, you have people encroaching, entering traffic, falling things because they did not pay attention and were generally a danger for themselves and for others.

YouTube is filled with “fail” compilations of people who injure themselves by playing, and authorities around the world had to publish declarations and tighten public security.

A game that could not evolve quickly enough

While Pokémon Go Exploded in popularity at the beginning, the players quickly realized that there was not much in this game. Basic features launched at launch, and, of course, the real servers were under immense pressure at the beginning, because clearly neither Niantic nor any of the other stakeholders in the game had no idea that it would be a huge success.

Fanatics players quickly missed things, and the developer rushed to meet the demand for options such as Pokémon PvP battles, which, which, Go on, It is literally the whole premise of Pokémon.

So, even if the game was almost too hot to manage at first, things cooled a little when people reach the limits of the content. All these good things were still happening, but I can only imagine how much the game could have been really huge if it was more complete with launch features.

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The pandemic pivot and the second wind

When the pandemic success of 2019, you would think that a game based on the exit of people outside and the interaction would die from rapid death. However, Niantic pivoted quickly to make the game adapted to the pandemic.

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The company has published a “Play where you are” advice, which you can still see using the Wayback machine, which changed the gameplay to make things safe during COVVID. Mainly, the mechanisms have been polite so that things happened more quickly, lasted longer or dropped the articles more often.

Pokémon will appear more often, and you would have no trouble catching some in your own backyard. The gymnasiums have also doubled the imprint, so that more people can participate in battles from their home. The end result is that, for many people, Pokémon Go was actually a way to keep their mental health during locking.

Where is Pokémon now?

While you no longer see new out of breath on the game or the stamped park, Pokémon Go Always go strong. I think the game is now what Niantic wanted it to be all along – a relaxed experience with a smaller and dedicated fans base.

Although I have not found any truly trustworthy figures, a live statement held by ActivePlayer.io shows that around 127 million people actively participated in the game in the 30 -day windows before writing these words. It is a lot players, and more than enough to support a game like Pokémon Go For many years. After all, as long as there are new events, new mechanisms and new Pokémon, the train can continue to run indefinitely.

Since there is always a new main Pokémon game at the corner of the street to bond, I think Pokémon Go Will probably still be a round for a long time.

The inherited Pokémon go to the left behind

Pokemon Go is a pioneering game for many different reasons. Niantic and its partners may not expect a success, but they still innovated with regard to technologies such as augmented reality and massive cooperative multiplayer games between people who fundamentally live their lives. It was always cool to meet another player during your day, and I have the feeling that the game was the start of many friendships.

In my opinion, Pokémon Go was special for several reasons. First of all, it was something that my wife and I did together. Sometimes after dinner, we just went to get into the car and sail in the neighborhood to catch Pokémon.

Maybe the most important, Pokémon Go This was what led me to Pokémon as a whole. I have never really tried the main franchise, but after we were a little bored with Pokémon GoI bought a pair of Nintendo 2DS consoles – the Pokémon Special Edition, and we both played Red and blue Pokémon together. Since then, we have played all the main Pokémon games excluding Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

The purchase of a 2DS then presented me Fire emblemAnd this is probably the biggest reason why I bought a new XL 3DS (or LL, depending on where you live) and later a Nintendo switch, and now change. I would not be shocked if this little April Fool’s Game ends up causing a similar situation for many people in the world, and brought together the Nintendo of Nintendo in Nintendo.

So, even if I am unlikely to return to Pokémon to go myself, I hope there will take at least nine years!