GrooseIsLoose
Slickest pompadour in town
Not sure if "counterpart" was the correct word.
For eg Red and Blue, Sword and Shield, Scarlet and Violet etc
For eg Red and Blue, Sword and Shield, Scarlet and Violet etc
ELI5. Why do pokemon games always come with counter parts?
- Thread starter GrooseIsLoose
- Start date
As the main creators of the franchise said before in interviews, the main idea behind dual versions was to increase social engagement among the players.
By having 2 different versions with different pokémon, you'd need another friend to help you complete the dex via trading through a link cable, reinforcing the idea of the pokémon as collectibles.
It's been maintained ever since.
By having 2 different versions with different pokémon, you'd need another friend to help you complete the dex via trading through a link cable, reinforcing the idea of the pokémon as collectibles.
It's been maintained ever since.
Going a bit sidetrack on this topic:
So, basically, for the earliest games, the changes were mainly which pokémon you'd find in each, but ever since Gen III (Ruby and Sapphire) it has also added small changes by giving the legendaries different, often antagonizing, roles. So you can see themes like [Land vs. Sea]; [Truth vs. Ideals]; [Life vs Death]; [Past vs. Future] in their mythology. Ruby and Sapphire (and its remakes) were probably the only ones that really made major story changes, going to the point of changing entirely which villain team you were facing against because of that duality.
But Ruby/Sapphire aside, storywise most of the remaining ones are still mainly cosmetic, with only minor changes in a couple areas and dialogues. That doesn't use their potential very well, but it still exists as a way of giving more personality to each version, differentiating them a bit further.
So, basically, for the earliest games, the changes were mainly which pokémon you'd find in each, but ever since Gen III (Ruby and Sapphire) it has also added small changes by giving the legendaries different, often antagonizing, roles. So you can see themes like [Land vs. Sea]; [Truth vs. Ideals]; [Life vs Death]; [Past vs. Future] in their mythology. Ruby and Sapphire (and its remakes) were probably the only ones that really made major story changes, going to the point of changing entirely which villain team you were facing against because of that duality.
But Ruby/Sapphire aside, storywise most of the remaining ones are still mainly cosmetic, with only minor changes in a couple areas and dialogues. That doesn't use their potential very well, but it still exists as a way of giving more personality to each version, differentiating them a bit further.
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It was a way to incentivise trades on the Gameboy, by creating version exclusive Pokemon and whatnot. Less relevant now due to widespread internet access and trading for whatever you want, but they still do have version exclusives, meaning if you want to play a game at a point where the online services no longer work, you'll need both games (or more) to complete the Dex.
