What Is Pokemon Go And Why Is My Facebook Feed Full Of Tiny Cartoon Lizards
This is why there are packs of children wandering the streets late at night.
If you’re wondering why people have spent the last week running through the streets, peering out at the world through their phones and yelling “I got a Magikarp!” or “Fuck, not another bloody Zubat” then this article is for you. Even if you haven’t witnessed a whole bunch of wannabe Pokémon trainers out in the wild, you’ve probably noticed your Facebook feed filling up with photos of cartoon monster creatures in various different settings. It’s all got to do with the release of a new mobile phone game called Pokémon Go.
Pokémon Go is the latest iteration of a franchise that stretches back two decades. To understand why packs of teenagers have been roaming around late at night shouting chasing “Lures” (Yeah. it’s all a bit weird) you first have to understand the phenomenon that is Pokémon.
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Pokémon Is A Massive Deal
Pokémon is as much a core part of the 90’s as Cheez Tv, Savage Garden and Ocean Girl. In 1995 the first Pokémon game was released for the Nintendo Gameboy. In the game the player wanders around the world encountering creatures known as Pokémon (short for Pocket Monsters). The aim of the game is to capture as many different wild Pokémon as possible, by using your own, trained Pokémon to weaken them and then capturing them with little balls known as Pokéballs. You then use your captured Pokémon to battle other Pokémon Trainers, go on exciting adventures and defeat characters known was “Gym Leaders”, basically the best Pokémon Trainers in each fictional town you visit.
Old school Pokémon
The combination of role-playing and strategy gaming elements, as well as a stack of cute monsters, made Pokémon a fun game to play and a massive success. Dozens of sequels to the original game were produced and an incredibly popular television show was made. The show is considered one of the most popular children’s programs of all time and even withstood a scandal that saw hundreds of Japanese children suffer epileptic seizures after watching a particular episode.
The franchise has become a massive part of pop culture and has been referenced and parodied in shows like The Simpsons and South Park. It’s success is partly due to the fact that people were able to interact with the Pokémon universe on a number of different platforms, including games, television, film and a trading card game that became the bane of school teachers for years.
Never forget
The one thing Pokémon fans have been crying out since the game was first released is some way to harness technology so they could somehow discover and capture Pokémon in real life. It’s always sounded so Farfetch’d (I needed to sneak in at least one Pokémon pun, sorry) but with Pokémon Go we’re finally there. The new game uses augmented reality technology to help make players feel like they are really in the game’s universe. So how does it work?
Pokémon in real life?! Sounds a bit Farfetch’d
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“Go” Is Actually Based On Another Game That Has Nothing To Do With Pokémon
In 2012 developers Niantic released an Android game called Ingress. The game took advantage of a phone’s mapping, GPS and camera functions to allow players to interact with the game universe directly. Ingress players had to physically travel to certain locations in order to achieve the game’s objectives
Ingress uses augmented reality to put players in the game’s universe
Ingress is an example of a game that uses augmented reality. It’s not quite virtual reality because when you look at the screen you aren’t being immersed in a completely different world. Instead, augmented reality uses your phone’s camera to overlay the world you actually see with new visuals. In Ingress the visual overlay was something called Portals that users had to locate and capture. In Pokémon Go augmented reality is used to actually place Pokémon in a player’s surrounding environment, whether that’s a park, shopping centre or their bedroom.
Pokémon Go is made by the same developers behind Ingress. It’s based on similar concept and gaming engine, although obviously it fits within the Pokémon fictional universe. But there are enough similarities between the two, including locations of key in-game landmarks, that hardcore Ingress players are giving out plenty of tips to those getting into Pokémon Go.
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How Exactly Does Pokémon Go Work And Should I Play It?
First thing’s first: You need an Android compatible phone or an iPhone in order to play Pokémon Go. The game uses your phone’s map, GPS and camera in order to deliver the ultimate Pokémon training experience. The good news is that’s it free to download and play. Once you download the game and name your character, you pretty much start catching Pokémon straight away.
What Pokémon Go looks like in-game
The main screen of Pokémon Go is a sort of cartoony Google Maps thing that shows you alongside the nearest wild Pokémon, locations called Pokéstops (where you can pick up Pokéballs and other useful items) and Gyms, where you battle other players. To capture Pokémon you walk around until you find one and throw Pokéballs at it until it’s successfully caught. The game requires players to walk around and travel in order to find all the Pokémon available, so that’s why you’ve seen way more people out and about than usual.
Her: Come over my parents arent home
Me: I can’t
Her: Why?
Me: Snorlax is blocking the road#PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/M9eofYvrsA— ㅤ (@shironeki) July 6, 2016
faihdkfahskdfhjasdjkfhsdkjafsh via @JamColley pic.twitter.com/HORXHrN6dn — good tweets boy (@dannolan) July 6, 2016
People are very excited when they find certain Pokémon and feel the need to take screenshots and plaster them all over Facebook and Twitter. That’s why your feeds have been dominated by weird cartoon bats, lizards and fish all weekend. The game is actually pretty wholesome fun for people of all ages. It encourages people to get out and exercise and has already led to some pretty awesome community building.
Perhaps the best reason it’s worth giving Pokémon Go a shot is that the UK doesn’t have it yet and they are really, really upset. The more Australians that jump online and brag about how fun it is, the more we can rub their noses in it. Sucked in, Brits! That’s what you get for Brexit!
The game is definitely popular. The only question is whether it can sustain it’s popularity or if it will burn out. At the moment there are only 150 Pokémon available to be captured, but given that there are more than 700 in total in the Pokémon universe, it’s likely the developers will continue to release expansions. Nintiac say that they are closely watching how players are interacting with each other and will shape future updates based on that.
It’s pretty clear that Pokémon Go has successfully blended what was appealing about the original Pokémon games with the latest augmented reality technology, immersing players in their own little Pokémon universe. Older fans of the game and newer ones, too young to play the originals, are flocking to it. It’s pretty hard for parents to get angry about “Those darn video games!” given it’s encouraging people to outside and do a bit of exercise. Even if that’s all the game is good for it’s a pretty remarkable and positive use of cartoon lizards and augmented reality.
Just make sure to look both ways before you cross and stop hassling the cops for Pokéballs.