With the release of Tears of the Kingdom, I finally decided that it was time to give the Zelda franchise a go. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised with the level of care put into this title and impressed with how suitable it was to both longtime franchise fans and newcomers alike.
After spending many hours enjoying everything Tears of the Kingdom offers, I’ve found plenty of little details and mechanics to admire. This has led me to consider how similar features may work in other Nintendo titles.
The main franchise that comes to mind as a suitable candidate for Zelda comparisons is the Pokemon game franchise, a fan-favorite Nintendo collection that I’ve been fully invested in since I was just a little kid on my limited edition Pikachu Game Boy Color.
There’s no denying that Pokemon has had several ups and downs when it comes to its video game lineup, from disappointments such as the devastating cut of the National Dex and the buggy, unfortunate release standard of the most recent titles and remakes, to the more positive notes such as the adorable new Pokemon designs and intriguing first steps Scarlet and Violet took towards a new direction and approach to the series.
It seems that with the release of both Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, the Pokemon franchise is taking steps into a much more open-world experience with heavier themes of exploration and freedom than previous generations.
Now that I’m somewhat familiar with at least one title in both franchises, I began to notice even more similarities and possible inspirations from Zelda’s BotW and TotK that the Pokemon franchise had begun to incorporate through Scarlet & Violet in particular.
A few of these similarities include Gimmighoul playing a very similar role to the Koroks hidden around Hyrule, the changing weather and time of day systems, a very similar camera and pose function, and wild Pokemon dropping materials that can be used to fuse TMs, similar to Zelda’s Monster Parts, which are used for cooking dishes and making Elixirs.
However, the more I played through Tears of the Kingdom, the more I found myself wishing that Pokemon games had the same level of care and polish involved in their creation and release. Tears of the Kingdom successfully overpowered the very popular prequel title, Breath of the Wild, enhancing entertaining gameplay mechanics and taking things to a new level. On the other hand, Pokemon games tend to still have very divided and mixed reactions due to their repetitive formula and game-breaking visual glitches that have made more common occurrences in recent titles.
Personally, I really loved the Scarlet and Violet games. However, even as a huge Pokefan, I have to admit that it could never compare to Tears of the Kingdom and that there is so much potential to do more with these games.
Scarlet & Violet was a brilliant first stepping stone, but with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom being Nintendo’s most successful open-world game adventures, there are several things the Pokemon franchise could learn from these titles and incorporate into their own games, or use as inspiration for improvements and new mechanics to give Pokemon games the same high standard that the Zelda franchise currently holds.
First of all, would be the enhancement of open-world areas and exploration throughout the Pokemon Regions. During my time in Tears of the Kingdom, I’ve revisited the same in-game locations over and over and always discovered another little cave to explore or something new to do, keeping each visit just as entertaining as before. It would be great to have something similar occurring in the Pokemon world, with more hidden locations to discover, each holding valuable items to collect or rare Pokemon that can’t be found anywhere else.