It’s a very exciting time for Pokemon fans, with Pokemon Legends: Arceus and the Diamond and Pearl remakes on the horizon. Yet there’s a lot fans don’t know about either, especially the open-world RPG Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and until those blanks are filled in, some key aspects of the game’s identity are up in the air. Namely, fans still don’t know the player’s overall goal or the central conflict (if one exists) that will drive the story. While the game will feature Arceus and see the player create the Sinnoh region’s first Pokedex, this information doesn’t tell fans very much by itself.
It’s important that the game finds a way to balance exploration with a sense of excitement nonetheless. If there were no real motivation to explore ancient Sinnoh, players would likely get bored quickly. This is why the game could benefit by taking pointers from Nintendo’s latest first-party release: Bowser’s Fury, a short open-world Mario experience. That game sees Mario work with Bowser Jr. to defeat a corrupted version of Bowser, known as Fury Bowser. By looking at the way Mario explores the setting of Lake Lapcat, balancing self-paced exploration with an urgent race against time, Pokemon Legends: Arceus might find a way to make its world especially immersive and compelling.
An Outward Calm Hiding Fury
Bowser’s Fury is driven by Mario’s conflict with Fury Bowser, a gigantic version of Bowser throwing everything he has at Mario (and Bowser Jr.). Every few minutes, it will start raining on Lake Lapcat, and Fury Bowser will appear. At this point, Mario must shift focus from exploring to finding shelter or countering Fury Bowser in one of several ways. This means Mario can never kick back and relax; he always has to be on the lookout for a strategy to deal with Fury Bowser.
The reveal trailer showed that Pokemon Legends: Arceus is filled with beautiful vistas populated with Pokemon, and it could be tempting to simply get lost in exploring the world. Yet without a key motivator to drive the player forward, this could end up hurting the game’s pacing. If some sort of monstrous Pokemon - perhaps even Arceus itself - would periodically pursue the player, then players would need to carefully examine Sinnoh for places to hide or counterattack. With this framing, any part of Sinnoh could become a battleground at a moment’s notice, keeping the player invested in knowing Sinnoh as well as possible.
What makes this strategy work especially well in Bowser’s Fury is that Mario sometimes needs Fury Bowser to attack in order to open up new areas and collectibles. Therefore, not every Fury Bowser appearance is an obstacle; rather, sometimes the player wants Fury Bowser to appear, as it gives Mario a way to keep moving forward. By making Fury Bowser necessary for some collectibles, the game incentivizes the player to learn Fury Bowser’s patterns alongside the layout of the game’s levels. This turns what might otherwise have been a chaotic barrage of fire breath into a tool the player learns to use through observation.
It would not be hard to adapt something similar into Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Many of the Pokemon games’ most memorable moments involve a Pokemon warping or distorting space in some way, from Pokemon Platinum’s Distortion World to the use of Dynamax in Pokemon Sword and Shield. If the appearance of a giant Pokemon opened up hidden areas, it could help the player feel more engaged. Rather than just running away from the monster, the player would have to manipulate its behavior to open secret areas.
Plus, there is a core aspect of the Pokemon franchise that could provide a unique twist: the type-advantage system. In Bowser’s Fury, Bowser attacks with fire, plus jumps, rolls, and so on. If something similar were done in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, perhaps this could interact with differently-typed Pokemon. For example, perhaps using Water Pokemon against a fire attack would keep the player safe behind a veil of water, or an Electric-type Pokemon could counter jump-based attacks. Since non-Water Pokemon can learn Water moves, for example, the player wouldn't always need a Water-type Pokemon on hand. In turn, this would still allow the player flexibility in team composition.
The Satisfaction of Overcoming a Powerful Foe
If Bowser’s Fury simply forced Mario to run from Bowser, it wouldn’t empower the player. What makes Bowser’s Fury work so well is that Mario gains the power to fight back against Fury Bowser, transforming into the Super Saiyan-esque Giga Cat Mario in order to do so. It is very cathartic to finally turn the tables on Fury Bowser after hiding for so long. At first, these fights can only hold Fury Bowser at bay, but once Mario has completed 50% of the game, he can defeat his foe for good. Plus, once Mario achieves 100% game completion, Fury Bowser powers up for a tough rematch that caps off the game in a satisfying way.
In a similar vein, Pokemon Legends: Arceus should let players either defeat or capture any monsters that torment them in the style of Fury Bowser. Perhaps each in-game region could showcase a different pseudo-Legendary Dragon Pokemon, which would terrorize the area until the player became strong enough to take it down. This would allow the player to then use that Dragon Pokemon in future areas, a satisfying reward that pushes the player to keep exploring new areas. As every Pokemon faced in this way could introduce new attacks, it would continually present the player with new challenges to overcome. Rather than just levelling up Pokemon to succeed, the way the player understands Sinnoh would have to level up, too.
Establishing the right balance between tension and exploration is critical for Pokemon Legends: Arceus to find a unique niche in the ecosystem of Pokemon games. A focus solely on tense battles would bring it too close to something like Pokemon Stadium, while a focus solely on exploration would bring it too close to the upcoming New Pokemon Snap. By giving the player the chance to evade and eventually defeat increasingly monstrous Pokemon, the game would take what makes Bowser’s Fury so good and evolve it even further.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus will release on Nintendo Switch sometime in early 2022.