Pokémon Sun

I enjoyed Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! so much that I ended up returning to Pokémon Sun to play through the postgame content. It took me 45 hours to finish the game, and I think I did just about everything I can do after that (not counting the competitive battle systems), bringing me to a total of 53 hours.

I only caught 115 pokémon. I’m sure that I could spend many more hours filling my pokédex, but I think I’m good. Up until about five years ago I would log close to a hundred hours on each of these games, and never once did I ever complete a pokédex. You need a solid management strategy and an extended support system to do something like that, and that’s not why I play video games.

I don’t have anything new or interesting to say about the game. It’s still reasonably fun but needlessly complicated, and my cute team of cute animals is still very cute. The main characters are still loveable, the villains are still fantastic, and the teenage lesbian love story is A++++++ forever.

Also, the strategy guide for Pokémon Sun and Moon is really nice! I appreciate that the Pokémon Company (which publishes these guides directly) is putting effort into making handsome books that include character art, creator interviews, and peripherals like bookmarks and maps. I usually don’t go in for game merch – I don’t even have that many amiibos – but I think I’m probably going to order the shit out of a special edition guide if they release one for Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Speaking of which, I was planning on spending some time in the UK this summer, but I’m going to have to cancel everything if the assholes in charge of Brexit don’t figure out what they’re doing. If the next set of Pokémon games is the only way I’m going to be able to visit the UK for the next couple of years, then I might as well make the best of it. Even though the real world is terrible, I’m heartened by the fact that we’re at least capable of imagining what a functioning utopia would look like.

Link’s Awakening

During the past week I finished another playthrough of Link’s Awakening. I now have two Nintendo DS systems, one Nintendo 3DS, and one Nintendo 3DS XL, all with Link’s Awakening downloaded onto the console and three perfect save files on each version. I’m not self-actualized enough to be able to say whether Link’s Awakening is my favorite Zelda game, but wow I sure do play it a lot.

Shigeru Miyamoto has said (as quoted here, for instance) that he intended for the Zelda games to resemble miniature gardens that you can visit anytime you like, and that’s exactly what Link’s Awakening is for me. The game is a lovely green space that’s relaxing to wander around while following any number of branching paths, and it’s almost meditative in that I often find myself thinking about other things while I “walk.” As much as I enjoy the stories of the various Zelda games, I think it’s nice that you can play most of them without having to bother with too much text or context.

And honestly, although I’ve probably overanalyzed the game halfway to death, I play Wind Waker for the same reason, to chill out and clear my mind. I’m looking forward to the day when Nintendo releases the game for the Switch (or another portable console), because it’s exactly the sort of digital garden I’d like to be able to walk through the next time I’m stressed out on an airplane or in a hotel room.