The Badge Arcade Hit Its Limits

I've discussed about the 3DS Pokémon badges on the Home screen and where they originate, which is the Nintendo Badge Arcade game/app. Every app or game on the 3DS, however, has limits, and unfortunately the Badge Arcade has just hit that limit. Coincidentally, the Badge Arcade now has 8800 badges - or rather will have that many in three days, on June 22^nd. That will also be when the effective final update on badges for the Arcade will be delivered.

What does this mean for Pokémon badges? It means there won't be anything new past this point, which is a given, and a bit regrettable, since Pokémon that haven't received badges now never will, and those that already have badges can't be taken in new directions. Even so, there's the realization that not all Pokémon can have a badge and certainly not in all art styles. If that happened, then of those 8800 badges, at least a third would be Pokémon badges, as a rough estimate considering the hundreds upon hundreds of Pokémon species and stuff, including objects like the Poké Ball, and a myriad of art styles. All that would make an incentive to create a "Pokémon Badge Arcade", but this would be a pipe dream as well, given the limitations.

As for the Badge Arcade itself, the effort by Nintendo is certainly laudable. We get to rake in badges, and Nintendo gets to rake in some cash - remember, if you want more badges quickly, you'll really have to pay for them by your eShop balance. The only problem is that "Nintendo" as a whole is broad, so everything including Pokémon has to have a fair share, and the result is those 8800 badges for everything. Again, a subset like "Pokémon Badge Arcade" would be simple to conceive to deal with this but hard to execute and manage, so it's not a really desirable solution. What does exist is pretty good, though, and that is at least what matters.

All that's left is to say "thank you" to the Badge Arcade for providing us with the seeds of inspiration to help to make our Home screens totally unique, totally pretty, and totally who we are. And who I am is Pokémon, which has been quite accommodated with the badges from the Badge Arcade. The glory of the Badge Arcade lives on in the badges we collect and the Home screens we decorate.