In the Pokémon games, catching ’em all is one of the main goals, but they might be better if it was harder to accomplish. While the idea of it being more difficult to catch players’ favorite monsters isn’t a very fun one, making certain ones harder to acquire can carry certain benefits. Hopefully the next Generation of Pokémon games, Scarlet and Violet, will make changes like this and give players more of a challenge in capturing their strongest Pokémon once they release on November 18.
In the world of Pokémon, there are a great many creatures for players to collect, and their rarity differs. Some aren’t particularly special, but only appear in certain spots, such as Feebas in Gen 3 or Gen 4’s Munchlax. There are also the rare pseudo-Legendaries that only appear in the late-game. Even rarer Pokémon include the Fossils and Legendaries, of which there are only one each in the games, and Mythicals, which can only be obtained with Mystery Gifts. Rarest of all, however, are the coveted shiny Pokémon, alternate-colored forms that only have a 1/4096 chance of appearing in any given encounter.
The most powerful and rare monsters of the Pokémon series may seem difficult to obtain, but they aren’t overly so. Once players reach the areas where rare Pokémon can be caught, it’s nothing more than a matter of throwing Poké Balls at them until the RNG works in the player’s favor. Some rare Pokémon are even given away as gifts to the player, leaving no challenge in obtaining them whatsoever. However, some games have had monsters that are incredibly difficult to obtain, such as Spiritomb in the Gen 4 games and the Pokémon Legends: Arceus spin-off, which isn’t ideal either. Future Pokémon games should strike a balance between their best monsters being too difficult to capture and not enough, so that players can take some pride in catching ’em all.
Rare Pokémon Aren’t As Hard To Get As They Should Be
The problem with powerful and rare Pokémon being too easy to obtain is that it takes all meaning out of catching and raising them. Making a team out of the best Pokémon in every Generation may be fun, but without any kind of real challenge involved in catching them aside from a lot of RNG, it doesn’t feel like a real accomplishment. Even Legendary Pokémon, which are supposedly on the level of deities, are incredibly easy to catch since players usually receive a Master Ball guaranteed to capture them instantly right around the time they’re supposed to confront them. If Pokémon‘s most powerful monsters such as the pseudo-Legendaries and a few others were more difficult to capture, then they could actually give a sense of accomplishment when players get them.
There are a couple of ways that Pokémon can make its strongest monsters more difficult to catch, and therefore more meaningful. However, simply lowering the capture rates may not be effective, as there are a litany of ways to tip the odds and make it less hard to catch players’ favorite monsters in Pokémon. Other existing ways of making powerful Pokémon more difficult to obtain such as only evolving through trades have their own problems, and thankfully more recent games have been less strict about them. If Pokémon were to raise the difficulty with its current battle features, a good way could be to give wild Pokémon the ability to flee from battles. Optional difficulty levels that decrease the capture odds and make methods of making captures easier less effective could also help to add more of a challenge.
However, there are other ways of making Pokémon‘s best creatures harder to acquire, ones that go beyond what the series has done in the past. Some of them may even lie in the upcoming Gen 9 games. One of Scarlet and Violet‘s rumored 105 new Pokémon, the pre-evolution of Ceruledge and Armorouge, supposedly requires players to capture 10 of it in order to evolve it into its next form. Small challenges like these can make obtaining good Pokémon more of an accomplishment. Alternatively, if future Pokémon games feature side quests like Legends: Arceus, they can require players to complete small ones in order to capture or evolve certain powerful monsters like the pseudo-Legendaries for the same effect.
