The Ups and Downs of Showdown

This is actually a nearly two-year old topic that I wanted to discuss back then, but I didn't have much reason to discuss it then as I did now. The reason is the post I wrote up yesterday, which came out of another post I wrote two days ago. In the former post, I discussed "battle client" games that could be used as a "proxy" or even "simulation" of actual Pokémon battles in the main series games, and I mentioned the existence of an unofficial one. That one is called Pokémon Showdown, which I've already alluded in the title of this post.

This "battle client" or "simulator" runs over the Internet in a Web browser, in contrast to similar others that run as standalone programs, though what applies to this is similar to what applies to others of the kind. It is possible to select Pokémon and create teams to battle others through different formats, including the one popularly used for VGC. Pokémon are customizable right down to their particular facets - moves, stats, items, and so on and so forth. It becomes a highly versatile way of battling with a great deal of convenience. But in my view, it seems to also have some relevant issues.

The great thing about this convenience is that one is able to possess a team of prepared Pokémon with perfectly set facets as above. One can then opt to battle them against another ready opponent and immediately find out how a team fares against another possible one. The referencing is also well-established and can be used to change facets at will and almost instantly. The ease of archival and freedom of use only adds to the convenience, something that seems to be of utmost importance for a "battle client" or "simulator" such as this one. It's no wonder that this has actually been used in some (very) casual tournaments, even of the VGC nature.

However, the downsides seem to be as many. For those who are serious about VGC on the actual main series games, which is the only approved manner, the information gained may not be directly translatable to the games; in other words, one still has to "work" for it to realize it. As well, since it is unofficial, there is a concern that some things may not exactly work out as the actual main series games, even if for the most part things are reasonably accurate. Then there may be the concern of disclosing good teams, since after all some things are recorded, including matches with said teams. This last point was in fact a consideration for writing this post back then.

"Battle clients" or "simulators" like Pokémon Showdown remain an interesting matter because they are highly intertwined to the main series games, allowing them to almost be used in place of one. "Almost" seems to be also quite the keyword based on my two earlier posts, which definitely affirm that the actual main series games is the way to go no matter what. It is still neat to think of this as the "maker game" and "different experience" for Pokémon, though there may still be ways to go before much can be truly affirmed, even officially.

One year ago: A Mew Pouch
Two years ago: How Do I Live, Without You?
Three years ago: Two Pokémon Notebooks