I think it’s fair to say we've all played Pokémon at some point in our gaming careers.

 

It might have started from Red and Blue back when you were young or recently at the release of Pokemon Platinum. You wouldn't think we would still be playing these games but, god forbid, something fascinating keeps drawing us back to the slog of Pokémon life.

 

 

We don’t usually have to wait too long before we get word of the next Pokémon duo titles coming our way, but so far I haven’t heard anything about a new Pokémon game due in the recent future and Diamond and Pearl have been out for two years now. This leads me believe that the series’ developer, Game Freak, might be going back to the drawing board for the next Pokémon and if so I’ll be cheering them on.

 

The games were getting repetitive by the time Ruby and Sapphire rolled around and this could bring new life to a great franchise. Then again, this is all speculation and Game Freak could have already once more recycled the tried and true formula of old. Either way, the next Pokémon will be a make or break for me—although you no idea how many times I've told myself “This is the last time I buy a Pokémon game”.

With the above in mind I have put together a list of changes that would benefit the next Pokemon instalment.

 

This point assumes Nintendo will put out another Pokémon game on the DS. If so, I’d like to see the game controlled using only the touch screen, a la Phantom Hourglass. I’m tired of travelling around using the control pad and using the touch screen would be a lot more fun. The battles in the DS games did use the touch screen, which was nice, but constantly reverting from Control pad to stylus control was a regular pain. The whole game could be controlled through the control pad, but that method doesn’t really embrace the DS technology.

 

 

Not that I had a problem with the choice of Pokémon trainers in the past, but they seem to look more and more camp every time a new cart is made. Why can’t we create our own Pokémon trainers? This kind of stuff should be obvious, no? The option would be a nice little extra to buy clothing and stuff. I obviously I wouldn’t want it to overflow like it does in some games, but it wouldn’t exactly hurt. It would certainly help when you battle a friend who looks just like you.