You may remember me flipping out about the prospect of a Pokémon fighting game a couple of months ago. Well I’m over it (not really though, please send me to Japan). As fantastic an idea as that is, I just found something that is going to blow it out of the water like a Magikarp being hit with a Hyper Beam.
Let me introduce you to Pokémon Insurgence.
Insurgence is literally a dream come true for every single Pokémon fan, because it isn’t an official Game Freak game. It’s 100% fan-made, which means there is no incentive to hold back on cool features to ensure players keep buying different versions of the games. Normally, special features will pop in and out of the different generations. Insurgence says “Over my dead code” and includes them ALL. Mega evolutions, secret bases, customizations, ALL OF IT. THEY WILL ALL BE IN THIS GAME.
And because it is an unofficial game, the maker can take the story in directions Nintendo would likely push back on in an actual release. From the looks of it, the story revolves around Pokémon-worshiping cults fighting each other to try and control the world. That’s actually some pretty heavy stuff, or at the very least has the potential to be.
My personal favorite little addition is that Mew will actually appear throughout the journey assisting you in various ways, like using its Transform ability to disguise itself and you as cultists. It can also mimic other Pokémon’s abilities in the game world, which means you don’t have to worry as much about having Pokémon in your party who can use Cut or Strength, as there is now another alternative.
This game is also going to have some insane re-playability. Many fans have replayed the game with additional self-imposed rules, but Insurgence actually built them in as challenges, and there’s a bunch. Everything from Solo Run (only using one Pokémon) to the PP Challenge (Poké Centers won’t heal PP) to the absolute madness that is the Nuzlocke Challenge will be actual features in Insurgence.
But really, the best part is that this is a labor of love. It’s being made just because someone loved Pokémon so much they needed to make it perfect. There isn’t an official release date yet, but I’m gonna go ahead and just block off the entirety of 2015 just to be safe.