N64 Do you think that a full Pokemon RPG could have worked on the N64?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I remember people being really disappointed that there was no proper Pokemon game on the N64, getting things like Snap and Puzzle League instead (fine games for sure, but not what the majority of gamers had come to expect and wanted to have).

I actually don't think that a full RPG on N64 tridimensional graphics was in the cards at all, but seeing just how well the console could make 2D graphics and sprites look, I think it'd have been a pretty cool (even brilliant) effort.

Maybe they could have gone for a less ambitious (yet deeply satisfying) approach, handling it like that same console's version of Harvest Moon (low-poly models over simple backgrounds) and have it all look and feel quite awesome, while keeping the battles confined to the Gameboy style. I think that would have been well-within the system's capabilities and result in something truly memorable, maybe even "restoring" the parts of G/S/C that were cut due to cartridge space when combining Kanto and Johto.

What do you think? Would this have worked at all or were they wise not to attempt it?

 

[moonbits]

Perhaps It could've been feasible if they used a 64mb cartridge. The original Pokemon Stadium was 32mb and I assume that most of the space was the voice lines from the announcer. If we removed that we have left 32mbs or more for the game, it sound's feasible to cram an adventure. Perhaps a simple 1:1 conversion of Pokemon Red/Blue in 3D.

Having the Expansion Pak to have more available memory to load/unload instances.

 

[zacharinolongpants]

Honestly I could see Pokémon 64 as a 3D RPG. Quest 64 and Aiden Chronicles were both full polygonal. Not great games but the template for an RPG using 3D on the 64 is there!

That being said, I would prefer that they used some kind of 2D look like Ogre Battle 64. Hell even a gimmicky presentation like Paper Mario would look good for it.

Now all we can do is daydream about it, sadly!

 

[gastd]

Yes I would play it but that will probably just remain wishful thinking!

 

[Zeo]

The reason they didnt made a "Pokemon 64" is because of their original market idea of "catch monsters anywhere you want" with the portable consoles in mind. Stadium games are more an expansion for those who already completed the main games and wanted more challenges even with Pokemons at level 100

The close thing we got was the colosseum and XD games, but those are their own thing

Also, that was part of the golden age of videogames where devs put their ips in every possible genre. But in pokemon case, a full main game for console wasnt part of their plans

 

[Luxfin]

It would honestly be impressive for it's time. But considering the amount of problems that it took for Red and Blue to be made, I would honestly image that would have been a nightmare to program and design on the N64.
But that would have been a dream come true, I honestly imaged a hypothetical Pokemon 64 to be a more expanded version of Red and Blue with some aspects of Yellow mixed in.

 

[moonbits]

To think that Pokemon Stadium has better animations than the newer Pokemon games
It wasn't made by GameFreak

 

[Zeo]

Problem is, there wasnt any moment or time a main Pokemon 64 could come out with

Pokemon Red/Blue/Green was hell to make and almost didnt made it. And lets remember that Gold/Silver had the issue where Iwata needed to create a code for part of Kanto be in the game and it was planned to be the ending with Red as the final boss

But then, money started to rain and we got where we are now

 

[Mordovah]

Mainline Pokemon games also focused heavily on trading with other people, which was far easier and already established on a handheld that could travel with a person rather then on a stationary console at a person's home.

 

[Eclipse14]

There was something close to it that existed. In Japan only. Go figure, that's the case.

The title is Zool: Majuu Tsukai Densetsu, for those curious. It's also notable because it was the only turn-based RPG (Ogre Battle 64 is a Strategy RPG) that made extensive use of 2D stuff. Arguably, it's the closest thing to a PS/Saturn RPG the system ever got.

Of course, no translation yet because everyone's kinda focused on the Saturn, console-wise. Time will tell when this one gets its due. I plan to talk about it in my work, eventually, regardless of when that happens.

 

[Ikagura]

No, the entire point of Pokémon is to go outside and share your monsters with your friends.

Home console games defeat the point.

 

[HarmonieGirl]

I dreamed of it back in the day, but now it's quite clear to me that GameFreak wasn't ready for 3D game design. They took baby steps from Gen IV on and still struggle to this day.

 

[Ikagura]

They took baby steps from Gen IV on and still struggle to this day.

I think Gen V still looks gorgeous visually.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

Yeah I would think it could have it they wanted to. But well it´s Nintendo or should I say Ninten don´t wanna do shit and always have to do it their way.

Man I wish Game freak had any spine maybe we could get pokemon on anything but nintendo consoles I mean Nintendo did not own them back in the 1990s nor do Nintendo own them today well they don´t own them but sadly they have a significant stake (around 54%) In the company but man Imagine Pokemon game on PS2 how epic they could made it.


But nope instead im force to see the downfall of a company that made my childhood I mean look how they butchered ZA and how broken Violet was............

 

[Zeo]

They got to the peak of Pokemon in Black/White 2 for the sprite era and again in Ultra Sun/Moon for the 3D era and from that all the way down

Sword and Shield was the start of the fall that may take a while to recover

 

[Ikagura]

Man I wish Game freak had any spine maybe we could get pokemon on anything but nintendo consoles I mean Nintendo did not own them back in the 1990s nor do Nintendo own them today well they don´t own them but sadly they have a significant stake (around 54%) In the company but man Imagine Pokemon game on PS2 how epic they could made it.

Sorry but why would the PS2 have something consequentially different from what we got on the Gamecube if a Pokémon game were released there?

Also remember that the audience isn't the same so it wouldn't have sold the same since the PS2 was aiming to a more adult market. This is why they got SMT on it.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

Sorry but why would the PS2 have something consequentially different from what we got on the Gamecube if a Pokémon game were released there?

Also remember that the audience isn't the same so it wouldn't have sold the same since the PS2 was aiming to a more adult market. This is why they got SMT on it.

Oh but the PS2 has SOOOOOO many child games even silly rpgs. SMT was not the only main rpg. Heck it was not until years later persona got big as it is today: P3 sold estimated combined lifetime sales of roughly 1.4 million units by early 2024 and around 127k on it launch in japan.
The orginal SMT games where bigger on the nes/snes era.

Let not forget about the most adult game on PS2 Monster rancer or River king or the Sims games and so on I can keep going with kids games as the library is over 4344 games

Also not being stuck to nintendo they could make a darker pokemon game if they so wished.

Not saying it would be better than we got on game cube but a pokemon on the PS2 would proboly be bigger for one. Game cube disc could hold 1.5GB while a PS2 4.7 or a dual layer 8,5GB so could make a bigger game proboly even better looking.


Then imagine A PS3 and PS4 pokemon hell even on PC we could seen something akin to Palworld before Palworld.

 

[Ikagura]

Oh but the PS2 has SOOOOOO many child games even silly rpgs. SMT was not the only main rpg. Heck it was not until years later persona got big as it is today: P3 sold estimated combined lifetime sales of roughly 1.4 million units by early 2024 and around 127k on it launch in japan.
The orginal SMT games where bigger on the nes/snes era.

The PS2 had some family friendly games (although many were kinda shovelware-ish when it was a cheap console) but the main audience was still more adult and while things like Ratchet & Clank were sold well they were still niche compared to the userbase of the console. Xbox and PS2 tried to appeal to a growing gaming base and wanted to make it seem like something not just for kids.

The orginal SMT games where bigger on the nes/snes era.

And were Japanese exclusive, it wasn't until Persona on the PSX that the west got SMT (and it wasn't even a proper mainline entry). The SNES entries got re-releases on the Playstation IIRC.

Let not forget about the most adult game on PS2 Monster rancer or River king or the Sims games and so on I can keep going with kids games as the library is over 4344 games.

Monster Rancher was a nice game but also following the monster collecting craze of the era alongside the Digimon games. 4300+ games is a big number but of varying quality.

Also not being stuck to Nintendo they could make a darker Pokémon game if they so wished.

Once again I don't see the need for Pokémon to be "darker" to be good, we should stop acting as if darker equates better either.

Not saying it would be better than we got on game cube but a Pokemon on the PS2 would probably be bigger for one. Game cube disc could hold 1.5GB while a PS2 4.7 or a dual layer 8,5GB so could make a bigger game probably even better looking.

Even if the disc size has some influence it doesn't mean that the game would necessarily look better (RE4 on the PS2 is a prime example that sometimes the hardware itself can influence on the visuals). Wind Waker, Mario Sunshine and Twilight Princess don't look bad even compared to PS2 titles (sure, the late life ones may look better but that was several years after the first two I've mentioned).

Then imagine A PS3 and PS4 pokemon hell even on PC we could seen something akin to Palworld before Palworld.

Palworld isn't a RPG so I don't know if it would've still been a good idea.

I'm not asking pokémon to become a crafting/survival open world kind of game, that would not fit the series nor its core mechanics.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

The PS2 had some family friendly games (although many were kinda shovelware-ish when it was a cheap console) but the main audience was still more adult and while things like Ratchet & Clank were sold well they were still niche compared to the userbase of the console. Xbox and PS2 tried to appeal to a growing gaming base and wanted to make it seem like something not just for kids.


And were Japanese exclusive, it wasn't until Persona on the PSX that the west got SMT (and it wasn't even a proper mainline entry). The SNES entries got re-releases on the Playstation IIRC.


Monster Rancher was a nice game but also following the monster collecting craze of the era alongside the Digimon games. 4300+ games is a big number but of varying quality.



Once again I don't see the need for Pokémon to be "darker" to be good, we should stop acting as if darker equates better either.


Even if the disc size has some influence it doesn't mean that the game would necessarily look better (RE4 on the PS2 is a prime example that sometimes the hardware itself can influence on the visuals). Wind Waker, Mario Sunshine and Twilight Princess don't look bad even compared to PS2 titles (sure, the late life ones may look better but that was several years after the first two I've mentioned).


Palworld isn't a RPG so I don't know if it would've still been a good idea.

I'm not asking pokémon to become a crafting/survival open world kind of game, that would not fit the series nor its core mechanics.

My point is look at pokemon it´s been the same shit for decades it could been different on PS2 or and still be a banger and still be family friendly. Reason Palworld became so big because some one dared to make something different with monster catching make something new and refreshing and look even better than the switch pokemon.

That´s why people loved that game it was pokemon esk but diffrent refreshing. Last time Pokemon did something very diffrent was when they combined pokemon with nobungas ambition or the ranger series But when was the last time we saw that 2010 ? well sure we got new Pokemon snap in 2021 but comon it´s was just and upgrade of the N64 games.

People want modern games to be modern if they wanted old pokemon they just emulate it or play on their old GB or GBA or DS or 3ds.

I same the same thing for the Xenoblade chronicles and Bayonetta 2-3 if they where not stuck up Nintendos ass they could maybe sold better been better of yet be a bit diffrent. I mean look at poor Xenoblade 3 manage to sell 1.9mill I bet a PS4-5 + PC version that could maybe even sold at least 5+mill.

And we all know what happens with game franchies that don´t sell well they become obscrue EXPENSIVE as fuck and maybe never even return what so ever.

My point is I belive pokemon could be equally as big not being locked to nintenddo and maybe we could get the change in the series.

 

[PhaseJump]

Any RPG would have worked on N64. The fans from the SNES moved over and waited for a flood of games that never showed up.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Any RPG would have worked on N64. The fans from the SNES moved over and waited for a flood of games that never showed up.

Not getting Final Fantasy really was the dagger to the N64's heart.

 

[PhaseJump]

Not getting Final Fantasy really was the dagger to the N64's heart.

The mainstream FF7 TV ad campaign eviscerated Nintendo. People saw those commercials and started jumping ship.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

The mainstream FF7 TV ad campaign eviscerated Nintendo. People saw those commercials and started jumping ship.

I'm not all that well-versed on the system, but I recall there being an uproar when they managed to get Resident Evil 2 ported into the console (cutscenes and everything!), because people were now questioning whether the excuses not to have FFVII in there as well were BS, specially since Nintendo had been teasing that "drive" add-on hard.

What a wild, wild era of gaming.

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

Any turn based rpg could’ve worked on the N64 as long as it doesn’t have that “overkill” cutscene that the 3 FF games on the PS1 does. Ogre Battle 64 is a prime example there’s Paper Mario and that Super Robot Wars 64 which is graphically on par or even better than the PS1 counterparts.

 

[Crosser19]

I think the Custom Robo games on N64 is a good example of how they could have went about a full Pokemon RPG on the N64. 2d Character sprites on the overworld, and 3D battles akin to the Stadium games. Could've also done stuff transfer wise with the Game Boy transfer pack, and N64 memory card between all the games just to keep the catching and trading systems similar and consistent with the handheld games.