Looking Back at Cycling Roads

The discussion about the beta version for the third-generation games also prompts me to think about a particular section unique to those games: the specifically-designated Cycling Road. Then, it also prompts thinking about similar places in other regions, whether or not they were specially designated as such. The special designation for the places certainly comes from when bicycles were a specific mode of travel between places in the main series games, one that would be fast but not as fast as just flying to places directly.

For the implementation in that region, a notable "racing" aspect was involved, in that if one traveled in a certain direction and used a specific bicycle, one would be timed for the duration one took to progress on that specific path. The "racing" aspect may or may not have appealed to some, but it might have been nice to make a mark on the aspect every so often. Regardless, the special Cycling Road was still a neat "expressway" of sorts for those who did travel using a bicycle, particularly to cut down on travel time.

Meanwhile, the first region's designated Cycling Road had a hilly aspect to it that really only facilitated speedy travel in one direction and not the other, as well as no external aspect like the above. In a way, only the "adventure" aspect was really there, and this would apply well to other places that aren't specifically designated as a Cycling Road but one could go through with a bicycle comfortably and at a certain clip. That may be just all that matters in the games as their primary focus is more on catching and battling.

Bicycles may now be considered as a "legacy" form of transport (in a way) in the games, but their influence still persists, including in the places that are specially designated as a "Cycling Road" and others that resemble them and allow for comfortable transport with bicycles as implemented in the games. In looking back at these places, a certain adventure was still to be had with them, even as an auxiliary one to the main Pokémon adventure of the games, and one with a certain speed to it.

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