Checkpoint Log #1: Mother (Famicom), Super Mariomon, Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu

In an effort to like, Actually Use this blog I created, I decided to try and do more detailed rambles of whatever game/show/album/whatever the heck I've been getting into. I'm not gonna try and make it super consistent, just after I feel like enough time has passed that I feel as though I can espouse more concrete thoughts hanging around my brain, be it a specific point or something broad - a Checkpoint Log, if you will. Figures the first one to kickstart this would be Nintendo-related....

Table Of Contents

• Mother 1: Lively Factory

• Super Mariomon: Fandom Blend

• Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu: Capture Bonanza

playing through pancakes' Mother Restored hack

Whenever I play a 3rd or 4th Generation RPG, three things stick out to me: a negative stereotype that's completely false, a negative stereotype that's not necessarily true but I can understand how it was formed, and a negative stereotype that's true but in a way that's different from the established belief.

Duncan's Factory is a good example, due to being one of the more infamous points in the game courtesy of its relatively massive layout and enemies there being capable of downing Lloyd, the newly obtained party member required to launch the Rocket at the end, in just a few hits. But... its bark is only as dangerous as its bite if you believe in the illusion; it's heavily encouraged to re-trek unto the now-peaceful Mother's Day,¹ and the imaginative world of Magicant once you get Lloyd, due to starting at a measly LV1. This is largely due to two factors: the enemies are nowhere near as threatening by this point for Ninten himself, and the stores within Magicant hold defensive equipment, the Rings and Coins, whose first or even second tiers can be bought after just a few minutes worth of battles. Give Lloyd the Ring and/or Coin, a Boomerang - either bought from a store, or from a free Chest in one-time-only room over at Queen Mary's Castle - and a bounty of Bottle Rockets from Little Sweet Factory's trash can, and he'll be more than ready.

Once sufficiently leveled and armored (I'd say LV6 should suffice, but you may end up reaching LV8-10 thanks to a certain enemy's bonus XP), the threat level starts to dissipate. The left and right portions of the Factory both lead to the same place albeit with different items available for pickup, so now comes the decision making: Is it worth going through both sides for the items, or just one? How many battles can I do before having to spam the 100% escape tool that is Dimension Warp? After leaving the Bread Crumbs to mark a point of return, when exactly should I pop it, when I need to restock on items or after finishing? The Old Robot and Scrapper rarely use PK Beam α, but is attacking them even worth it regardless? What about using these Def Ups/Downs spells or the Flashdark item, would they be a hinderance or a benefit? It's these little micro-decisions that help give Mother 1 and its ilk flavor, and I'd argue it's especially potent here due to the fact you're literal children, and having to "grow up" in the ludic sense of leveling/item utility/spell management is incredibly exciting!

With that in mind, there's still some troubles. In order to get back to Magicant, you need the Onyx Horn, which takes up a slot in the inventory. It's very likely a Player will deposit it within Ninten's Home once first leaving Magicant, due to all the other items that can be picked up there also taking up room, which will make it a higher priority than exploring Thanksgiving and, therefore, picking up Lloyd and training him. There's also the encounter rate, which has one of the most bizarre tickrates that's only matched by Final Fantasy III DS - battles crop up from as few as two steps, to as many as twenty-five, and while you are able to go several yards before engaging, it doesn't make the backtracking process between these three locales and over to the Factory any less tiresome. There's other quibles, but despite it all... when accounting for Lloyd himself, who's characterized as a meek and physically incapable nerd, only ever specialized in these aforementioned contraptions, and how he "grows" out of the shell through these levels and taking a trip inside Ninten's imagination? Well, I'd say Duncan's Factory does a fantastic job etsablish the Mother series' pathos: the wondernous of Children, and the Joy they're able to bring despite their hardships.

And I'm saying this as someone that thinks Earthbound is Just OK, btw.

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I actually started this from a humorous whim; about a month ago, Psychoplasm did a video about Mariomon OU Bans, which I got recommended about two weeks ago. Seeing the the types of changes, tweaks, and overhauls Too Many Productions have cooked up turned my apathetic interest into a piqued curiosity - which, thus far, has been paying off big time.

Aside from the fact that the Mario series generally has a fantastic enemy roster to contort into Pokemon conventions, the hack itself has a good sense of progression to boot; you go into each World, do a set amount of objectives, face the World Boss, and finally net the Power Star, rinse and repeat. It reminds me of the structure Pokemon Gen 7 has, though there's two distinct wrinkles at play: the first is that, while you sorta complete a "Trial", you typically don't face a dedicated obstacle course that caps off with the Trial Captain equivalent per se, usually just normal trainers or, in World 2's case, Bowser's minions; the second is that, by and large, Mariomon's linearity gives way to usually more battles in small-moderately sized environments, instead of the larger, more open areas within the Alolan Islands, but given the former moreso uses the story as a framing for why you're doing this to begin with instead of synergized theming through ludic/environmental storytelling much like the actual Alola entries, it's fine.

And what a way this does battling! Despite clearly aiming towards the casual end in order to segue Mario-onlies into Pokemon's gameplay, there's more than enough sprinkles to keep dedicated fans of the latter involved, such as Princess Peach having you dabble with three separate Double Battles alongside Luigi as tutorialization for this format, Abilities, and Held Items, or having to go through a smorgasbord of WarioWare alumnis² just to get to the greedy garlic-muncher himself... with a special boss right between the two. This also dips its toes into Pokemon's mechanics-as-story features, such as the first Bowser fight having him use incredibly low-level grunts due to just getting into the Cap Challenge, and thrusting himself into the battle proper out of impatience and stubbornness, or how Luigi's kind-heartedness is shown through him nicknaming everyone on his team. It's small details, sure, but most other Pokemon fangames seem to get even this basic worldbuilding showcase wrong, so it's appreciative this is one of handfuls that actually managed to Get that. I also appreciate making sure there's enough side-offerings to increase the game's flavor - being able to do challenge Toadette after every World clear thus far has been a massive delight.

It ain't perfect - some poor memetic humor, a few asset leftovers from base Pokemon Emerald (one of the first buildings you can enter is literally just Stern's Shipyard, which is both hilarious and obscenely jarring), and lackadaisical envrionment variety are thus far plauging my playtime - but this has been a surprisingly engrossing experience as someone expecting "Pokemon But Mario", and I'm hoping this hack continues to keep on delivering. Last thing I want is another "competently polished" experience plateau into complacency and boredom like some of the more middling Nintendo titles have, though I suppose the upcoming Super Luigimon could (hopefully) answer my lingering quarrels.

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Although I've put the least amount of time into this, I'm still able to get a feel for a major component within this game's systems already - Catching, and what they did to change it.

Instead of using the tried-and-true "battle a Wild Pokemon to yellow/red and start chucking Poke Balls at it", the Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee titles instead utilize the Pokemon Go app's method: time your throw so that it not only connects to the target but also isn't in the middle of its disruption phase, adjust the Ring Color's intensity from Red to Yellow or Green for an easier time, and aim for Greats or even Excellents to boost not only the success rate but also XP output. When detailed like this, it sounds like an utter casualization nightmare of an already simple loop, for a remake whose whole goal was already to be a casualized onboarding of those who mainly play the Go app. What makes it work within this remake's context, however, are two key differences.

The first is that LGPE heavily encourages catching things to begin with. Just because you can't battle Wilds anymore doesn't mean you're now exempt from the level up process, nor does it mean Trainer battles are any less important. Encountery every Pokemon within the grass is still your primary way of matching the competition, and even with the at-the-time innovation of the EXP All system now being baked into the gameplay, you'll have to do a lot of snags to keep ahead of the curve - which, thankfully, LGPE is completely aware of. You won't be completely over the intended level progression even with the catching detours, thanks in part to trainers now compensating for lower levels and/or team slots via the lower capabilities from newly obtained critters, and XP output minimizing the higher something is. All of these are already good shakeups, but continuously going for captures nets you large Stat Candies to help better your team further, which you can net a bounty of thanks to Catch Combos increasing a specific species' spawn rate and incrementally boosts the XP multiplier alongside other factors (if it was your first throw, a Great/Excellent one, a size bonus, etc.), which leads into being able to make a Route's Rare Spawn all the more likely. It's an infectious loop that ensared me more than the mobile app ever did!

The second is that, plainly speaking, there's still a "loss" element; a missed or unsuccessful Ball uses them up as usual, and with the method now being through the interface, you have to physically move the controls around (be it by Gyro, or using the Left Joystick if playing in handheld mode) of something that was normally done vis-a-vis partnership and commands. There's only so many Balls you're able to use before having to find more trainers to get free hand-outs, or buy them up in bulk over at a Poke Mart; there's only so many Berries you're able to use before you have to decide if each one's cost becomes more worthwhile, knowing that the chances of Wilds bolting out slowly increases and Berries being so limited in quantity compared to Balls; a Catch Combo potentially failing by either rubbing against a Pokemon you're not chaining on, or just it running away entirely, gets increasingly more likely. The tradeoffs are still there, just in a different direction, and that's something I've grown to appreciate the more I progress and become enraptured with the act of Catching all over again for the first time in several months.

I had next to no expectations for LGPE, other than I was hoping it'd be a bit better than my last few Pokemon playthroughs, including the other remake, FireRed/LeafGreen. Thus far, I've been heavily enjoying my time, something that hasn't happened since... when I played Ultra Sun back around May, maybe? Either way, despite only just getting the Cerulean Gym Badge, I'm really confident the game will stay strong, especially when compared to Pokemon Yellow, which this is clearly trying to replicate.

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