Good Afternoon students, this is Dr. Cooper. Halloween is just around the corner, but a History-Of-Halloween post just didn't seem appealing to me, so I am writing an OP-ed instead.
As all of you are surely aware by now,
Pokemon X and Y were released this month for 3DS, Nintendo's newest console (which received tepid reviews). Reception, surprisingly, has been overwhelming positive.
Fans are calling it the greatest Pokemon game ever...except me. As a lover of History and Tradition, I do not like major change. This year has been filled with many changes from the (temporary) disappearance of Twinkies, to my favorite SNL actors leaving, to the recent elimination of the McDonald's Dollar Menu. But Pokemon is where I draw the line. Being a person who was an elementary school kid during the age of the Gameboy Advance (and later the original Nintendo DS), I grew up with Pokemon. Though they underwent many changes during the transition to DS from Gameboy, I still loved them. I stopped after Platinum, however, because I felt it was becoming too much. To this day I'm still implementing a one-man boycott of Black and White. When rumors for X and Y started swirling on the Internet, I of course wanted to see what new "improvements" had been made to the franchise. I was not pleased with these "improvements" and here is why.
The Graphics
Pokemon is well known, even defined, for having classic 2D sprites in every generation, defying the 3D transformations of other Nintendo stars like Mario and Zelda. But now in these new games, the entire format has been changed to 3D graphics.
Everything looks completely different.While 3D graphics work well for other games, they are not fit for the 2D world of the Pokemon franchise. You've basically just made an entire new game. While Nintendo probably did this to increase sales and popularity for the 3DS, it is a sad, sad break from tradition.
More Pokemon
X and Y introduces roughly seventy or so new Pokemon. While this isn't nearly as bad as the 156 that were made for Black and White, it's still bad. There are now over 700 different Pokemon, making it difficult for even the most hardcore player to remember all of them, not to mention all the types and moves. Sure, variety is good, but there has to be a stopping point eventually. I was OK with Generation III Pokemon, and even Generation IV, but it has simply gone too far now. We must remember, Pokemon is still a children's game. How can you expect children to know the names of 700 individual Pokemon? Plus if they can, then why can't they remember the names of every president or every element?...
Battles
With more and more stuff to do in X and Y, there's less emphasis on the main component of Pokemon- battling. Now you can play with your Pokemon, feed them, groom them, ride them, make videos or pictures, and go on unimportant side quests...all of which detract from the original objective of training and fighting with your Pokemon. Sigh...
Mega Evolutions
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| The amazing Mewtwo...forever ruined. |
What I dislike most about Generation VI....Mega-evolutions. A new ability has been introduced, which allows certain Pokemon, under certain conditions, to "Mega-Evolve" and temporary change form for one battle. Basically a ripoff of Digimon. I don't like Digimon. Many Pokemon have been revealed to have Mega-Evolution forms, some even have two. For the life of me I simply don't see the point of it. Pokemon are assumed to be the equivalent of animals, so how can holding an item turn them into some freaky monster Power Ranger-wannabe form? It's supposed to make the Pokemon stronger in battles, but that's what normal evolutions are for. Plus it gives an unfair disadvantage to the opposing trainer if they don't have a Mega-Pokemon. Also, some Pokemon just simply weren't meant to evolve. My most hated addition? Mega-Mewtwo. Mewtwo was already epic to start with, not to mention being a legendary Pokemon. Why evolve him?
My reaction to Mega-Mewtwo...
So there you have it, my opinion of X and Y....Undoubtedly 97% of all Pokemon fans will love these new games. But not me. The one positive outlook on this is that Pokemon will not be going away anytime soon. As I look back, I realize that Pokemon has gone on to the next generation, and must adapt to meet their new tastes. I'm not happy with it, but I understand their reasoning. So good luck Nintendo. Live long and prosper.
Sources: http://www.pokemonxy.com/en-us/root/
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_X_and_Y
Pictures: http://www.gengame.net/2013/01/why-pokemon-needs-to-be-3d/
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/10/the-2ds-pokemon-x-and-y-and-nintendos-wavering-commitment-to-stereoscopic-3d/
http://inside.anime-expo.org/games/2013-06/pokemon-xy-vs-pokemon-yellow-2d-or-3d/
http://minterc93658.wordpress.com/page/10/
http://www.3dstination.com/pokemon-x-y-meet-mega-charizard-y/
http://pokemmo.wikia.com/wiki/File:Mega_mewtwo.png
http://www.gifbay.com/gif/just_found_out_the_government_shutdown_means_no_panda_cam-89309/
As all of you are surely aware by now, Pokemon X and Y were released this month for 3DS, Nintendo's newest console (which received tepid reviews). Reception, surprisingly, has been overwhelming positive. 
X and Y introduces roughly seventy or so new Pokemon. While this isn't nearly as bad as the 156 that were made for Black and White, it's still bad. There are now over 700 different Pokemon, making it difficult for even the most hardcore player to remember all of them, not to mention all the types and moves. Sure, variety is good, but there has to be a stopping point eventually. I was OK with Generation III Pokemon, and even Generation IV, but it has simply gone too far now. We must remember, Pokemon is still a children's game. How can you expect children to know the names of 700 individual Pokemon? Plus if they can, then why can't they remember the names of every president or every element?...
It all started around the late 1800's when soda first became popular. Many pharmacies began selling it because people at the time believed that carbonated water was good for your health (then again, they also thought radiation was good for you too). Coca-Cola itself was invented
in 1886 by Colonel John Pemberton, who was trying to find a cure for
drug addiction. Coke was marketed and sold as a medicine, and claimed to
cure headaches, stomachaches, nausea, and morphine addiction. This
might be true, considering that cocaine was an ingredient in Coke at the time. (I'm being serious) Coke contained 5 ounces of cocaine per gallon; it was removed from the recipe in 1903. Afterwards Coke quickly rose to the top in the fiercely competitive beverage market. By the 1930's, it had become a national icon. The famous glass Coke bottle was created in 1916 to distinguish it from other competing fountain drinks. The aluminum cans I dislike came into production in 1955.
In the 1980's, Coke and its rival, Pepsi, became engaged in the greatest battle in economic history...the Cola Wars. Both companies launched massive advertising campaigns against each other, and for a short while, Pepsi became #1 in sales. In 1985, Coca-Cola came up with either its greatest or stupidest idea ever, depending on how you look at it. They replaced the old original Coke formula with a new, sweeter version, and called it New Coke. People overwhelming liked the taste of New Coke better, but for some reason they got mad that Coke had been replaced, so the original Coke came back 3 months later. Sales skyrocketed from this event, leading people to believe that it had all been a marketing ploy to increase profits.
Good Afternoon students, this is Dr. Cooper.
In 1889 Japan a man named Fusajiro Yamuchi founded a small company named Nintendo to sell handmade playing cards. At the time a game called Hanafuda had recently become popular in the country, so the company did fairly well. They allegedly also provided cards for the Japanese mafia (yes, there was a Japanese mafia). Nintendo was noteworthy for being the first company in Japan to make cards out of plastic. Nintendo basically continued on like this for 50 years, until the management finally realized the limitations of a card company (you can only make so much money off cards). So they tried expanding into new markets, new enterprises. To boldly go where no Japanese card company has gone before.
The theory of micronations first emerged around the 1970's with the creation of Sealand (to be discussed later). There are many motives for creating a micronation, including:
The show featured an array of outrageous sketches, mainly parodies of popular shows and businesses of the time, and featured plenty of slapstick comedy that every kid loves. Noteworthy parodies included "Judge Trudy", a kid judge who gives adults nonsensical punishments, and "Blockblister" the movie rental store loaning cheap remakes filmed by a family of egg-loving people with funny accents. My personal favorite was a skit called "Stranded" in which five contestants are "stranded" in a locked convertible (with the top off) in an abandoned parking lot. Whoever stayed in the car the longest would win $1,000,000, which was locked in the trunk. Oddly it took thirty-something days for the last two contestants to find out the keys were in the ignition the whole time. But that's completely irrelevant; now back on to the topic...
No one is completely sure when forks came into
existence, but early records show Ancient Egyptians using primitive fork-like
objects to cook food with. Similar devices have been found to have been used in
Ancient China and Iran. At the time whatever forks there were were used for cooking and stirring food. The modern personal eating fork was invented in the Byzantine Empire (my 4th favorite empire), somewhere around the 4th
century. From then on the fork came out of the cooking pot (or cauldron) and into our hands.
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