Over the Moon
The Pokemon craze in Malaysia continues with the launch of two new titles.
SO a little something called Pokemon Sun and Moon just hit store shelves.
Pokemon fans young and old have been waiting with bated breath for the latest addition to the series.
And with the surge of new players from the mobile phenomenon that is Pokemon Go, this year’s entries attracted much more mainstream attention than ever before.
Here in Malaysia, the current “Poke-craze” caught the attention of the bigwigs over at Nintendo.
As such, the game giant gave its blessings to organise the first official Pokemon launch event in the country, with Nintendo’s official South-East Asian distributor Maxsoft standing in for the Japanese game company at the two-day do at KDU College’s Damansara Jaya campus.
As of writing, official sales have not been confirmed but Nintendo has reportedly shipped 10 million copies globally and videogame pundits are predicting Sun and Moon to become the highest-selling games for the Nintendo 3DS console. The record is currently held by Pokemon X and Y with 15.64 million copies sold worldwide.
During the event, gamers were given hands-on time with the two games, as well as the opportunity to compete with each other in tourneys.
Event director and local liaison to The Pokemon Company International (which handles the franchise’s marketing and licensing), Wilson Choong, whom many in the local scene affectionately call the “Professor”, said that reception for the new games was “phenomenal”.
“The games are roughly selling three times more than Pokemon X and Y on launch day. We didn’t expect the reception to the game to be so positive,” said Choong.
He added that even grown-ups are picking up the titles – the result of childhood nostalgia and renewed interest due to Pokemon Go.
Ethan Wong, manager of Impulse Gaming’s Sunway branch, said that initial reviews for the game were very positive.
“The gameplay and story have been widely praised. Sales are very good and the numbers were above our forecast. To be honest, it was quite a mess for us retailers. The pre-order numbers were crazy,” said Wong. “I’ll admit we were overwhelmed!” He added that he ran out of stock on release day and had to scramble to find stock for the event itself.
Long-time fan, 25-year old writer Adrian Chan, who picked up Pokemon Moon on launch day, said that he was quite pleased with the game so far.
“The new user interface is newbie friendly. Moves that are ‘super effective’ are finally highlighted in battle. Previously you had to remember which type were effective against what,” said Adrian.
Growing competitively
Besides welcoming the newest addition to the family, the event also promoted other aspects of the hit franchise.
Many are familiar with the videogames – spin-offs included – and the older generation probably remembers blowing all their pocket money buying booster packs for the Pokemon Trading Card Game. And, of course, the anime which features everybody’s favourite electrical rodent Pikachu needs no introduction.
But other, more niche aspects of the series were promoted as well – for instance, the arcade game Pokemon Tretta made an appearance too.
However, many were in the dark that Pokemon had a more eSports side to the videogame.
While games like Street Fighter, DOTA and Overwatch are recognised predominantly for their competitive side, Pokemon too has its feet dipped in the eSports world.
The best of the best meet annually at the Pokemon World Championships – this year’s event was held in San Francisco in August.
The championship features the card game, fighting videogame spin-off Pokken and the original videogame series. Players compete regionally in officially-sanctioned events to qualify for the big league.
Malaysian competitive player Aqlif Putra, who competes in the 3DS game section, was brutally honest on the current “fog” over competitive Pokemon.
“Pokemon has always been downplayed as a child’s game. Most don’t see that level of skill needed to play the game. There are hidden values in the game that you need to be aware of. Team cohesion is imperative. You can’t just have a team filled with Fire types,” said the 19-year-old player.
“The simplest way to describe it is that competitive Pokemon is like playing chess and rock, paper, scissors at the same time.”
He added that the element of luck in the game made for an exciting watch for viewers.