Tabletop gaming has seen a huge resurgence in recent years with the growth of titles like Dungeons and Dragons blurring the line between tabletop and video game franchises. Now more than ever, the Pokemon series is primed to capitalize on this surge in popularity for the tabletop medium riding off the recent release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and its upcoming TCG expansion. It has never been a better time to give the Pokemon Master Trainer series another shot.
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A New Pokemon Master Trainer Game Could Be the Next Big Tabletop Hit
Pokemon Master Trainer first released in Japan in 1997 under the title Pocket Monsters Board Game, produced by Tomy. It was translated and released outside of Japan in 1999, this time being distributed by Hasbro and Milton Bradley. The game offered a simplified take on a trainer’s journey through the Kanto region, battling and collecting monsters along the way. The game relied heavily on luck as opportunities to capture monsters were based on dice rolls, leading to often frustrating gameplay.
A sequel to the game was produced in 2001 that featured the Johto region and new Gen 2 Pokemon for players to capture. Gameplay in this version remained largely unchanged, involving simple battles and dice rolls to catch new creatures. Another game under the same title of Pokemon Master Trainer was released in 2005 with Gen 3 mons, but this game was vastly different from its predecessors with an even more linear path and a spinner to determine elements of chance. Overall, the game was more convoluted yet lighter in content, which is likely why another entry in the series has not been made in the 20 years since.
Despite the shortcomings of its predecessors, the foundation for a new Pokemon Master Trainer game has already been laid. With over 1,000 monsters to choose from, a new entry could easily pull in new players by including any number of fan-favorites. There are also a variety of popular regions the game could be set in, with more diverse, non-linear paths available. The Paldea region is an obvious choice since Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s open world is a main selling point of the games. Aside from Paldea, the Kalos or even Alola regions could be featured and make for interesting routing options.
The biggest change a new Pokemon Master Trainer game would need to make is to its gameplay, eliminating some of the more random and convoluted elements so it can appeal to a wider audience. In the time since the original games released, the Pokemon franchise has grown exponentially and is more than capable of using its talents to redesign the limited gameplay of previous entries into something fit for modern fans. While there is no indication that the Pokemon Master Trainer series will be revived any time soon, the pieces are there to create a hit board game out of this massive media franchise.
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