Wednesday, January 18, 2023

1000 Species Is Real!!

Nearly five years ago, I had posted about my wonderings if and when the number of Pokémon species will reach or exceed 1000 species. Now, thanks to a video posted on the official YouTube channel (and replicated across sister channels for different regions), it is recognized officially: there are over 1000 of them - 1008, to be exact - according to their National Dex number assignments and lumping regional forms as one. Because of this, I just had to look back on the earlier post and see how the present achievement pans out in relation to that.

But first, it's helpful and interesting to discuss the content and structure of that video. Instead of going in order by National Dex ID (at least, for the most part), all the Pokémon species are presented in "themes" that relate to the identification of certain groups of species, for example starters and those obtained by unique methods all the way to Legendary and Mythical Pokémon; this also allows the "regional forms" to be sequestered as a theme by itself. All the while, a running tally keeps track of how many species there are, and the "golden moment"  (literally) takes place as the species from the Paldea region are displayed, culminating in the current grand total of 1008. That's enough explanation from me, though; I recommend watching the video for the full details and impact.

As for the previous post, I did note numbers, and that's where I'd like to go next. Prior to the ninth-generation games, the grand total was 905 all the way through Legends: Arceus and the Hisui region, whose new species belong properly as the eighth generation. That means Paldea adds 103 new species, nearly on par with the "running average" of about 100 as I described then, and the eighth generation made approximately the same contribution. I also wasn't off the mark in supposing that the milestone could happen with the ninth generation, though I was also minorly pessimistic in mentioning the tenth generation as well. That is now due to occur, just like I supposed that 1000+ species can occur and indeed does.

The milestone has definitely been reached, faster than previously thought. As such, it has made the "gatekeeping" reasons that I detailed in my previous post rather moot. One way to think of that is that the fans and the games by now may be considered ready to deal with 1000+ species, not to mention all their forms. The main series games, as I posited then, is now on the Switch and has the leverage, though recently it did come with a performance cost. As for other games, they have to follow suit - with the most important now being Pokémon Go, which is setting itself up to be a Pokémon "archive" of sorts.

It may be considered that Pokémon always has the power to "amaze", and now with a grand total of over 1000 individual species, the amazement is definitely real. This is definitely true, considering that some quarter-century ago, the number was only one-sixth of that, and yet the fans were still attracted as they are today. Now, much amazement is still to be felt from all those Pokémon species, however they may come.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hi folks! Feel free to comment, but know that I'll be selecting only the most appropriate and relevant comments to appear. Think before you post.