If someone asks about your favorite location in a Pokemon game, you probably won’t tell them the name of the route. After all, what is a route? However, for passthecontroller Retreat Week, I decided to take my time and focus on aspects of the Pokémon world. Whether it’s for scores or design, simply because the routes reflect the growth of the broader Pokemon franchise, there are several routes worth relaxing and praise. At least, I hope to take in the views the next time I walk (or surf or climb) these.
Note: To consider this list, the area had to be defined as the root. This means that places like the Biridian Forest were certainly trails, but they were out. It also means regions like Paldare and Games Legend: Arceusit doesn’t have a defined route, but it was out.
In this week’s passthecontroller, we’re watching a game that feels like a brain vacation with what we call Retreat Week.
The first Pokemon route looks rather old-fashioned today, considering it’s a straight shot between Palette Town and Biridian City. But it is also a great way for new players to adapt to the trips they make later. We receive a safe warning from strangers (“Look at those shelves along the road. It’s a bit scary, but you can jump out of them!”), but a simple array of Pokemon keeps you on your toes. If you’re going north, you can’t actually skip the grass patch. So, a surprising attack by Pidgee and Rattata might rethink which areas will be explored and which areas you want to skip to the past. Although first-generation games have relatively little tutorial time, these things can help you learn the basics on the spot.
Junichi Masuda (his director and leadership role tends to obscure it lately, but there are cases where Masuda is a great composer), the Route 45 initially looks like another straight shot. But just as Pokémon is about creating your own journey, it is about the choices you make on the paths laid out for you. Route 45 offers many options to tackle, from dividing it into the largest northwest dark cave entrance to the northwest to the lane to the left or right. Add a scenic river to split them into remakes Heart Gold and soulsilver And you have a route that makes you consider which route you want to take, as well as the path you choose if you are planning to revisit it.
“Hey! Do you know what you just did? You took your first step to Kant!” Their remakes and the fact that you can travel to both Jot and Kant in the second generation game are well known today, but for anyone who played in the late 90s and early 00s, the news was far more exciting. Still, there are very few fanfares and celebrations for your international trip, especially despite the enthusiastic songs accompany you. Instead, this trip is an almost peaceful shaking that passes through water and parts of the land, and is only interrupted by a short detour through Toho Falls. In a way, it means the continuous nature of the journey. Yes, there is a chance to achieve and become a champion. But true success comes from knowing that there is a path ahead.
Pokemon fans have a romantic relationship with the ocean. It can feel almost helplessly vast, and considering how many tentacles and Wingulls dive into to attack you, it is often that you want even the dryest lands you can take your breath. But it also contains a mysterious moment that you might miss if you are too keen to reach your next achievement. Back in Kant you can skip Route 20 completely, but then they didn’t challenge the Seaform Islands in the back or the legendary Articno.
Hoenn’s Route 108 has its own mystery. It’s an abandoned ship that doesn’t offer real utility in a wide range of games. But if the ocean represents something of a Pokemon, it is an exploration for exploration. And the eerie and dilapidated containers on Route 108 are an attractive side note. I recommend sniffing the roses a little. Or, in the case of Pokemon, you’ll probably jump into a haunted ship, and in real life you’ll be filled with corpses… a bit.
Image: Game Freak/The Pokémon Company, Nintendo
Hoenn is full of cool routes (another candidate on this list is 110. However, Route 113, a quiet road just north of the volcanic chimney, stands out. Though it appears to be snowing at first, young children say that volcanic ash is actually crushed from every step of the grass. Game Boy Advance details of the fun environment made possible by the upgrade, but it also serves as a way to unify Hoenn. The route is more than just a path between important cities and landmarks. They are part of the connective tissue of a vibrant, fictional world.
By the fourth generation of Pokemon games using Nintendo DS hardware, it was able to be on screen. Of course, this was a balanced act. The world of Pokemon that fans imagined in their heads was far greater than what developers could try. But it allowed areas like Route 208. There, players can climb around the mountain path and cross the bridge above the river and the waterfall that feeds it. The Sinnoh area is very rocky, but Route 208 is probably the best use of a particular biome, and I feel it is on scale rather than insurmountable. You can actually feel the breeze in your hair when you climb (or swim). And once again, the features within the rock-walled landscape leading up to the hikers on the cliff are ripe for revisiting.
Located north of Route 216 and the last stop to heal monsters, Snowbound Lodge is one of the most infamous throws of all Pokémon. You cannot ride a bike via Route 217. I can’t run and can barely see it. That said, Route 217 also feels untouched, as it has lost so much of the comfort added to streamline trekking through the world of Pokemon. A few years ago games like Legend: Arceus Drop you into a more merciless realm (why the set of this game and Arceus (set to Sinnoh), Route 217 gave you a taste. Sometimes you have to troll it.
Making Black 2 and White 2 The direct sequel to its predecessor gave developer game freak a unique opportunity. How will the world change in a few years? Previously, this was only really explored when players began to revisit Kant gold, silverand crystalbut Black 2 and White 2 I really ran with that. One of the most enjoyable examples is route 4. black and white It is a barely developed path, unfinished thanks to a huge sandstorm that appears to be infuriated forever. It’s a caustic place, but it’s a good way to combine lore and environmental storytelling. play Black 2 And we can see that much of the development of these Ram Shackle has now ended. play White 2But anything that has been done has been abandoned and left in a state of apocalyptic, crazy devastation.
Image: Game Freak/The Pokémon Company, Nintendo
Pokemon Black and white They have a strange vibe. It feels like a simulated awareness of the series. And that’s more than the fact that you can only capture old Pokemon rear You beat the Elite Four. They try to activate elements that may have been commonplace before, such as the path of victory or the lead-up to the Pokemon League. After a short and easy stretch, you arrive at the badge check gate. At first, all you can hear is the roar of the wind. Then, after viewing the first badge, the drum track is added to the score. Then there’s timpani, then tuba. Finally, you are ready to build on a complete victory road theme and work on growing with that pride.
The route can often feel like a wildlife sanctuary between towns. People are where people have allowed people to settle in peace as the Pokemon pass through. Route 4, on the other hand, thrives when purely care for it. Planted flowers, hedges and large fountains adorn the area, giving it an atmosphere created to attract specific Pokemon (and tourists) rather than being built over or around it. The music theme, the marching band arrangements add a sense of unnaturalness. In a way, it is built to coincide with the public release of Lumios, a huge metropolitan city outside the boundaries of what is still seen in the series. But it gives the Pokemon an interesting look as a botanical garden, not a forest.
It’s difficult to choose a route solar and month. Many of them are short and the game is set in Hawaii-inspired regions, so the entire location is intended to feel like a holiday. However, Route 8, backed by endless ocean views, appears to have a spirit in itself. You will never be able to escape your sight as you round the curves at the top of the island. Pokemon had not yet performed an “open world.” And the emphasis on leading players in a more linear way means what once felt infinite is now draining inland. But its scenic oversights and assortment of strange facilities (Route 8, like a roadside motel that’s visible right off a family trip to the beach, or RV-like route 8, where the man in overalls looks like a pupil who brings life to you, is a testament to all of its beautiful openness and inspirational oddity.
If you rush down the stairs from Galler’s mother’s house, you’ll see as open land as you can see, not only treated to traditional Pokemon homelands. Yes, you’ll be course modified to track some defined paths in many of the games outside the wild area at all, but it’s the feeling that Game Freak tried to recapture them in almost every game (including the latest pairs, scarlet and violet). With Wedgehurst off in the distance, the lush field and the hills over there instantly define the tone of the game and the modern ambitions of the series. What you once imagined was that you were obsessively leaning against the dull light of the Game Boy screen. Does the quality of the game match that range? Now, you need to find it yourself. It’s better to move.
