Five On One... In The Sky?

There was more news than I thought. A bunch of new Pokemon, and some styles of battle. First, the Pokemon.

As I expected (and many of you have too), Fletchling evolves into a Fire/Flying type. Now, this is pretty good news. The last Fire/Flying introduced was back in Gen II, so it's a welcome return for me. I know, it's terrible against Stealth Rock, but you gotta admit, they Charizard, Moltres, and Ho-Oh look pretty cool.

I have one problem, though. The name. People seem to like it, but I think it's as uncreative as Seel. Ready? "Talonflame". Literally two words to make one name. Not even a conjoined name like "Skuntank". That at least has something.

Another new Pokemon with an old typing not seen since Johto: Skrelp, which is Poison/Water. It looks like shriveled seaweed mixed with a seahorse. Points for creativity.

Less exciting is Clauncher, a Water crustacean. It's like a cross between Corphish and Kingler painted blue. Hope it becomes something less generic.

Vivillon's pre-evolutions were also introduced, the middle stage being Spewpa, and the basic stage something no man can pronounce in English. They are less fascinating than Vivillon.

Two more Pokemon with no current English names: A Fire/Normal lion, and a Fairy. Both are cute, but the fairy is disgustingly so. It's actually the lightest Pokemon in existence. No chance it'll evolve into a DEATH FAIRY? Fun fact: Not a real thing.

But let's get to the most interesting aspect: Two new modes of battle. Well, okay, one is for wild battles. Still, it's something. The first is sky battle. It seems a trainer can ask you if you want to have a sky battle, and if you say yes, any Flying type or Levitating Pokemon can battle each other in the sky.

Yeah, okay. I have a problem with this. I don't know the details fully, but isn't this a bit limiting? Furthermore, how is this type of battle actually different? Double, Triple, and Rotation battles have different strategies. From what I can tell, all Sky Battles do is whittle your team down.

However, it's too soon to tell, so let's go on with Horde Battles. I approve of the idea. Five wild Pokemon battling one of your Pokemon. I'm disappointed that this doesn't seem to be for trainer battle use, but it will certainly help with stuff like raising EXP.

But I'm sure you already knew all of that.

Fairy Type Pokemon Outed

Game Freak clapped its hands and brought Fairy type to life, folks! Yes, Sylveon is a Fairy type. But not only that! Other Pokemon have been in the proverbial closet about their real type for years! This includes Gardevoir (no big shock), Marill (a little surprised), and... Jigglypuff? I mean, I always thought Clefairy fit the bit. IT HAS FAIRY IN ITS NAME! But it probably will be later.

So they are now dual-typed Fairy Pokemon. Glad they're finally comfortable with themselves to admit it. It seems Game Freak forgot about history and said, "Ehhhhh... Jigglypuff is a dual-type, Mewtwo can change form! What else can we change?" But I'm actually excited to see what other new changes there are.

Speaking of changes, there's a new mechanic! Tired of using your Pokemon as objects? Why not play with them? Yes, it seems all Pokemon can be played with now face to face. THAT IS AMAZING. This also seems to support my theory that Spinda's dots will be no more. What, billions of different designs on a 3D model with tons of different facial features? Give those guys a break.

Oh, there's two new Pokemon. Ready for this? The left is Noivern. It's a Flying/Dragon. Um... yay? Flying is going up in the world, I guess? It's a scary looking bat, so that's a plus. The right is Vivillon, and UGH. It's a Bug/Flying butterfly. Really? Gosh, there's just not enough of those! Unova was so nice about not repeating unwelcome types like this. Why is Kalos?

Still, most of the news is excellent. Way to go, Pokemon!

Is Pokemon Art?

Lately, people have been asking if video games are art. I think so. However, is Pokemon?

Someone argued validly that Pokemon can't be art because it has no atmosphere. Which I guess is kind of true. Pokemon isn't well known for stunning visuals. In fact, Pokemon in the first generation is very bland when it comes to atmosphere. Every location looks practically the same. In fact, a lot of the locations are just cities.

Later games improved on this with quiet snowy areas, serene forests, threatening volcanic mountains, frightening haunted houses, gorgeous bridges, techno towns, and bustling cities. Islands are usually hit-and-miss, but there's something there.

Still, does it have atmosphere? Does atmosphere even qualify Pokemon as art, or anything? Well, I think X & Y might finally be onto something. There's diagonal movement, which means more exploration. In fact, the ways to explore have been changed. Instead of simple running and bicycling, we have rollerblading and Pokemon-riding. In fact, you can change your own character to better reflect you. It's too soon to tell, but from what I've seen, Pokemon might finally be nearing that atmosphere it so needed.

Actually, two games come to mind when discussing Pokemon as art. For me, at least. Pokemon in Gen V really tries to bring the beauty of the Pokemon world to the player. Zoom outs and ins are prominent while traveling, in order to let the player perceive the amount of detail that went into the game. For once, I actually don't spend my time flying everywhere. Sometimes, I just run around enjoying the scenery. In that sense, I think Pokemon really captures the meaning of art.

Before that, one game DOES capture the atmosphere it tries to portray: Pokemon Colosseum. It moves diagonally, so again, you can travel more. But it goes beyond that. The tone of the game is dark, and the loneliness of the scenery really captures that. So if there's one game that captures art, it's Colosseum.

But I don't feel that atmosphere alone says what is and isn't art. Choosing a Pokemon team is art. It shows what choices you make as a person, and the preferences of what you feel makes a good companion. Art is more than good looks. It's about personal connection, and Pokemon really manages to capture that, no matter how lousy people feel each passing game may be.

Well, this got kind of preachy. Hopefully next time will be an update on X & Y. Watch out for that Table Pokemon!