The Pokémon story, in case you didn’t know, isn’t really a story at all. I’d be forgiven for thinking it was, with all the Pokémon merchandise on sale now. My son is absolutely crazy about any Black and White Pokemon right now, including Pokemon Plush Toys (those are Pokemon plush toys) and especially Pokemon Black and White Game Cards (Holofoil cards are especially valuable). He definitely wants the Nintendo DS game Pokemon Black and White (I think he’s dreaming about it, and he’s just going to have to keep dreaming because he won’t get it for a while).
With all the Pokemon products, characters, and descriptions, you’d think there’s a great Pokemon story behind it all. In fact, there isn’t. Every Pokemon merchandise spin-off you see, whether it’s a plush toy or a full Pokemon movie, comes from ideas and concepts developed by Nintendo for the game. Pokémon was never a story in other words, it was and still is an idea for a game.
If you’re like me, that annoys you because I see great potential in Pokémon characters for a great adventure story full of heroism and idyllic romance. It’s a bit like Harry Potter, a bit like Star Trek, and a lot like taming dragons. What bothers me the most about Pokémon is its mysterious origin. They are here and have always been here. It seems that something happened, for example a DNA mishap, but it is not explained. There are no regular animals in the Pokémon world either, but all Pokémon appear to have the DNA of a regular animal. Humans are regular, why aren’t they mutated too? The Pokeball is a useful device for catching wild Pokémon, but how it works is never explained. There are scientists and labs in the world of Pokémon, but the Pokeball is just the really significant piece of technology that we actually see.
Pokémon live in zones and Pokémon species are restricted to specific zones; in other words, they do not exist in other areas. There are cities in the world of Pokémon, but society and technology are minimally described. Above all, there is no overreach in Pokémon. Becoming a Pokémon Master is the only achievement mentioned in Pokémon.
All of these narrative shortcomings can easily be explained by the fact that all Pokemon derivatives are limited to the game. Whatever is in the game will appear in a movie, but nothing revolutionary will appear in a movie that is not in the game. This is because fans will expect to see in a game what they see in a movie, which probably wouldn’t be easy to do. It all depends on the game. In a computer game, the objective and the tools to achieve that objective are usually simple and clear (even if they are hidden). No explanations are required and players are impatient with long narratives. They like the scenarios. And that keeps Pokémon frozen in the now.