I’ve lamented Pokemon TCG Pocket’s lack of meaningful content recently because I’ve completed all the intro missions and now find myself at a loss. I log in daily for my free packs and maybe a Wonder Pick or two, but there’s little else for me to do.
Maybe this is just the nature of a collecting game. There isn’t meant to be endless objectives or interactive elements. You open packs, you share your pulls, you check out the rad 3D effects, you close the app, you open Pokemon Go.
But if that were the case, why include battling at all?
Battles are vastly simplified in Pokemon TCG Pocket. Your deck is made up of just 20 cards, there are no energy cards, you automatically draw a basic Pokemon in your starting hand, the list goes on. This is not a competitive card game. This is not a well-balanced card game. But that doesn’t stop it from being fun.
My go-to deck includes two Zapdos ex cards and 18 trainers. That’s it. I’m guaranteed to draw a Zapdos in my opening hand, I can quite easily search for or thin my deck enough to pull the second, and the rest of my deck is intended to disrupt my opponent’s plans. The only problem is Zapdos’ attack.
Thundering Hurricane is a slot machine. Requiring three Lightning energy to use, you flip four coins and deal 50 damage per heads. In my experience, this means you either do 200 damage or nothing at all. Thankfully, 200 damage is enough to knock out any Pokemon in the game, including ex Pokemon, so if I hit enough heads, I’m invariably picking up two prize cards and taking a healthy lead.
I don’t mind buying a ticket for the Zapdos lottery. I find it fun. It’s just as good a feeling when you whiff a flip and fail to knock out a Blastoise ex that’s down to just 30HP as it is when you knock out an immersive art Mewtwo ex as soon as it hits the field. But I want my opponent to know I’m having fun with this, too.
I can’t think of anything worse than my opponent thinking I’m sitting on the other end of our wireless connection seething with rage that my Zapdos couldn’t take home the win. I’m not going to get salty about an uncompetitive casual game mode that I’m using one of my favourite Pokemon in. But I want you to know that.
That’s why Pokemon TCG Pocket Needs emotes. What’s funnier than flipping four tails to completely whiff your turn and lose the game? Doing so and then dropping an emote of the shocked Pikachu meme or Gengar pulling a tongue.
Marvel Snap perfected these emotes. There was just enough sass with not quite too much salt for every emote to be funny, whether you were using it or it was being used against you. A final turn Shang-Chi hit feels good, but combining it with a Ms. Marvel thumbs up emote feels better. And, if you’re on the receiving end, a battered Deadpool or honest fistbump shows your opponent that you took the L in good faith.
This level of player interaction is perfect. Marvel Snap’s emotes get across the complex emotions of an RNG-based card game while having the openness to be interpreted in multiple ways depending on the context.
Pokemon is the perfect vehicle for emotes. Aside from the memes already in existence (shocked Pikachu sells itself), many of the mascots are firm favourites. I can see Charmander doing the wink or thumbs up. Snorlax could be snoozing for a sly dig when your opponent is taking too long. Mewtwo is analogous to Thanos.
There’s so much room for creativity; just look at Pokemon Go’s stickers for inspiration. They, too, are a brief way to communicate an idea to a friend. Pokemon has made its monsters into mascots already, all Pocket needs to do is give them some character and turn them into emotes.
This one change would make battles that bit more engaging. It wouldn’t seem as if I was playing against bot after mindless bot. I could send self-deprecating jokes about my meme-y, chance-based deck and my opponent could laugh back. Pokemon TCG Pocket is missing that interaction that’s so crucial to Pokemon at the moment. Without trading or communication with friends other than the lottery of Wonder Picks, it doesn’t feel like a true Pokemon experience of having a laugh with friends. Sending emotes to strangers would go a long way towards remedying that feeling.
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Pokemon Pocket Players Are Screen Recording Wonder Picks To Replay In Slow-Mo
The player base is split over whether the tactic actually works, though.