Oh, Come On Nintendo!

Keen-eyed readers might recognize the above shot from the upcoming Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition that still doesn't have a better title because of the clear-cut tactics game layout it shows with Pokemon and a Japanese fan above the X button.  But, apparently Nobunaga's Ambition wasn't the first series pitched to Nintendo for a collab project.  If you guessed the first attempt was KOEI's most successful franchise in Dynasty Warriors, you would be correct, but Nintendo shot down the idea because it was 'too violent' to have in conjunction with Pokemon.  A game all about pokemon beating each other up was too violent for pokemon, a game all about pokemon beating each other up (at their trainer's orders).  Now, come on Nintendo you're not even trying here.

While I see the fact that Pokemon Tactics (that's what I'm calling it now) is likely more marketable to the world as a whole than Dynasty Warriors:  Pokemon and that's likely why Nintendo passed on DWP (either to force KOEI to bring up the strategy franchise of Nobunaga's Ambition or just leave them alone)  I can't accept that logic because it doesn't make sense.  I mean, like I said before, the entirety of Pokemon is built on your character walking atop a pile of corpses unconscious foes that he has made that way on the way to the Pokemon League to challenge the top Trainers in the land who got there by excelling in using their pokemon to beat up everyone else's pokemon.  It is a game all about violence and using it to solve your problems and that isn't changed by the fact that it does so without shedding a drop of animated blood.  There's episodes of the Pokemon anime that are more 'disturbing' for 'violence' than anything in standard DW gameplay for the sheer fact that you just sometimes see Pokemon getting wailed on by humans or other 'Mons.

Regardless, you all know me so the fact that I would buy the shit out of Pokemon Warriors is no surprise, and now knowing of its possible existence leads me to wonder just how it could've played out.  Would it be like Pokemon Tactics with Three Kingdoms dudes having their own Pokemon that they send out into battle to decide the fate of China?  Or would the Three Kingdoms guys themselves be represented by Pokemon?  That might be a little difficult, I'm sure, as I'm not quite sure there's a Pokemon awesome enough to be a Lu Bu analog, nor could I even imagine trying to replace any member of the DW cast with an existing Pokemon.  I can't help but wonder if maybe they'd go with some sort of middle-ground where the Three Kingdoms guys actually used the Pokemon in different ways - the example that comes to mind being Lu Bu riding a Rapidash into battle to replace Red Hare.  Stuff like that, though I'm not quite sure how well it'd work out on that, either.

I mean, I can acknowledge that it's a tough sell, but like I said to my friend, "Scyther's moveset would be awesome.  Can you just imagine Scyther taking down like ten Pidgeys at once with a single swipe?  I CAN.  AND IT'S AWESOME."  It boggles the mind how much awesome there stands to be here if Nintendo had been willing to give it a shot and instead we're left with a Tactics game that doesn't really look like it has a whole lot to do with the Sengoku Era aside from being, well, set in it.  I guess there's not a lot wrong with that and maybe it's just something that's really told outside of battle rather than in it, but I'd like to see a little more.  Though I guess that's what trailers are for!

The trailer shows off a little more gameplay alongside Japanese audio that I have absolutely no idea where to even begin suggesting what it's saying and, as I said, it pretty much just looks like Pokemon Tactics set in the Sengoku Era.  I'm still seeing a bit of the idea that every member of the time has their 'own' pokemon (Newly shown off in 'pairing' was Chosokabe Motochika with Oshawott and some guy I don't recognize with Smugleaf Snivy) as if you notice during the bit that starts at around 0:32, Pokemon are plopped down on the board with different era-members showing up thereafter, notably Sanada Yukimura following the placement of a Tepig (Which could by all means be his 'pairing' as I have yet to really see one for him) after Toyatomi Hideyoshi following the placement of a Chimchar which is the first form of Infernape which has been shown off as Hideyoshi's partner.  (Which might be further evidence to the previous idea of Yukimura/Tepig or, perhaps the Tepig line.)

There's still a lot of questions that'll get answered eventually, I guess.  I'm interested in seeing how it all works out, as I wonder just what degree of control the player will be able to have for the battles; will he/she be able to control everyone on his/her side, or simply his/her Eevee or whatever it evolves into?  How does evolution play up into this whole partner situation they've sort of billed the game next to?  I'm sure, by it's own merits, the game will be a fairly fun game, but I still can't help but wonder what might have been now that I know Pokemon Warriors had been on the table.  Man.