Had an anime series that ran for 1 or 2 seasons, maybe a handful of merch, and then was just quietly forgotten by the general public.

Considered cult classics by hardcore gamers, that decades later make hours-long video essays with titles like “Pokémon: A Forgotten Classic” and “Why Didn’t Pokémon Take Off?”.

A small but dedicated fanbase that regularly discuss what a “Pokémon 2” could’ve looked like had there been a sequel.

  • graymess [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    31 分钟前

    Kind of how it felt as a kid playing Dragon Warrior Monsters, wondering what happened to that nifty little monster catching game years later, before learning how fucking gargantuan Dragon Quest has always been. Currently playing the 3DS remake of the original Monsters and it absolutely feels like something from an alternate universe.

  • The_Filthy_Commie@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    11·
    8 小时前

    Hello, I’m typing from the universe where Pokemon doesn’t exist anymore. We’re survivors of what came to be known as the ‘‘Monster Wars’’, when various franchises developed paramilitary fanbases. Without Pokemon monopolizing the concept it became a contested idea with the Digimon Collective being among the largest. The Shin Megami Tensei Revolutionary Corps was another notable force, claiming many victories with their Persona Youth Brigade, which consisted of high-schoolers trained in Maoist guerrilla cosplay tactics. One of the most famous skirmishes took place in Shibuya, when newcomers like the Yo-kai Watchers and the Bakugan Battlers engaged in timed card battles that decimated the prefecture. Some smaller orgs dedicated to sabotaging the stronger ones also formed, like the Mon-Hun Corps, which was a small group of saboteurs from the Monster Hunter franchise that felt excluded. After decades of conflict with the fall of the SMTRC due to long term development problems unable to maintain fan support, the entire craze died down. Only one franchise remained, surviving thanks to a dedicated and cozy fanbase who invested in old tech like CD’s. After the dust settled, the only mon game that survived was Monster Rancher.

  • h0ll0w5p4c3 [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    13·
    10 小时前

    It would have been seen as large failure if the 6 year development had panned out like this.

    The real alternative timeline is they would have kept the dark and edgy stuff like the whips and scarier monsters to become a cult classic similar to how SMT is.

  • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    11·
    10 小时前

    In that alternate universe, games like TemTem and Cassette Beasts are seen as a nostalgic revival and loom larger in current gamer culture than the original.

  • Damarcusart [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    32·
    12 小时前

    Also alternative timeline where it took off in Japan but not the west and it is considered a fun and quirky franchise by weebs who wear their pokemon knowledge like a badge of honour.

    Also also alternative timeline where Digimon got really big and pokemon didn’t do nearly as well and people just see pokemon as a lame digimon clone instead of the other way around.

    • Chronographs@lemmy.zipEnglish
      11·
      9 小时前

      Funnily enough digimon came to the west a little before pokemon so when I was a kid I did actually treat pokemon as a digimon knockoff

    • Mindfury [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      11·
      10 小时前

      world in which Dragon Quest actually took off in the west, Pokemon became a niche japanese untranslated cult classic and Final Fantasy actually did die after one game

      also Digimon is the superior Anime

      • Tabitha ☢️[she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        1 小时前

        world in which Dragon Quest actually took off in the west

        I’m under the impression it did? I played the first 3 and the next 10 seem pretty popular

    • Lussy [he/him, des/pair]@hexbear.netEnglish
      8·
      10 小时前

      Digimon was great, i remember being so hyped for that movie that made no sense. It left on a massive cliff hanger even though the story was complete nonsense, did they ever make a sequel?

      • Damarcusart [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        14·
        12 小时前

        First run is pretty good, second run is pretty meh but has its moments, third run is pretty good again and has that one furry bait digimon that gets a lot of art drawn of it, if you’re into that. I don’t know what the later ones are like.

  • Dort_Owl [they/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    24·
    12 小时前

    I love bulbasaurs red and blue sprite. He looks like a french bulldog

    Also they were going to turn it into a baseball game to appeal to westerners. I wonder what that timeline is like