The desire for a Pokemon MMO is somewhat mixed in the Pokemon fandom community, for good reason. It would be something of a big undertaking, and no two people have the same idea of how it would, could or ought to work out.

But I was thinking that us older Pokemon fans could form a company, work on the infrastructure and pitch the idea to Nintendo (and/or GameFreak). I figure that even if we don't get the opportunity to make "The" Pokemon MMO, we'll have the foundation set for a pretty good online game anyway. Plus the experience would be helpful, especially on a resume.

I don't have much in the way of computer experience, but I do have some entrepreneurial and writing skill. I have an eye for detail, and a love to see the fandom continue to develop grow and (possibly) mature, over time. If we can get enough hardworking, knowledgeable Pokemon fans together, I'm sure that more than enough would have the expertise, or the connections to make some headway. We'd probably even have loads of fun too!

I have a text file full of ideas that I think would be key in marking a genre change from single player RPG to online multi-player, while still being true to the heart and soul of the Pokemon franchise.

More importantly, I believe that there must be a way to structure a Pokemon MMO so that that handheld games remain lucrative for Nintendo. That is the only way that Nintendo would even start thinking of endorsing an MMO to begin with.

Is there even enough stuff in the franchise to facilitate an MMO? There are less than 500 critters, many of them useless, and the single-player games can be completely beaten in a matter of hours. What could you do to keep people interested?

The worse thing an MMO could do is take the handheld games and shift them into a online, multiplayer environment without the necessary changes needed to keep gameplay consistent, continued and fun. In my own experience, I usually have fits and starts of Pokemon gameplay after beating the Elite Four, simply because there isn't enough to do afterward if you're not big into competitive battling. Most of the side quests are done at that point, and those that aren't are easily finished up in a few hours...

Here are some ideas that I've been mulling over for a while now - stuff that would keep me interested in an MMO sense. I'm not sure how feasible they all are, but you've gotta start somewhere right? (Since this list comes from a text file where I've just been adding idea as I think about them, it's a bit sloppy. Some things may be repeated or worded awkwardly. I apologize in advance.)

* All regions - Johto, Kanto, Hoenn, Shinnoh, Orre, Fiore - including the variety of gaming flavors found in each. (Want to participate in Super Contests? Gotta go to Shinnoh.)
* Having the Underground make a return
* User-made content (trainer appearance, secret bases, personal rooms, etc)
* Crafting system (custom made pokeballs maybe? Seals, ribbons?)
* Different Classes (Trainers, Breeders, Coordinators etc) - Don't want to spend your days and nights simply battling other pokemon? Then perhaps you can be a breeder or a contest goer? Maybe even set up a shop or a wilderness Pokecenter for your other trainers! Farmers = specializing in berries, growing stuff, pokemon herds for crafting materials, quest-related items?

Trainers the general basic job.

Breeders have access to the regional starters, reduced egg-producing time. To "stay" a breeder, you may have to breed a starter for the local pokemon gym.

Rangers - trades the ability to permanently capture a pokemon to be able to freely set up a wilderness Pokecenter for trainers (other classes have to pay in $ and materials)

Coordinators - slightly weakens pokemons' battle power in exchange for increased "Trainer stats" or something

Merchants - Earn more $ from battling trainers, can set up more than a single shop

(More trainer ideas? Professors etc?)

* Make getting legendary pokemon DIFFICULT, needing teams or groups of people working at the same time, though only one will get the pokemon at the end. (That way you have to make friends, trust people and go through certain events more than once.)

* Quests - rewards could be currency, pokemon, "reputation" etc
* Protection against cheating
* Minigames
* Events - seasonal, official Nintendo events!
* Pokemon are given a lot more variety in catching.
* Time based events would have to be worked out differently. A world wide release would be difficult if game time = real time, unless each Region were large enough to encompass various time zones, ie Day in Kanto could mean Night in Fiore
* Trainer levels, "stats" - independent of pokemon stats
* There'd probably need to be a limit on how many pokemon a train can "own" at a given time. I don't think a server could hold 10k players each having over thousand pokemon stored somewhere.
* "Favored" Pokemon system - think Pokemon Yellow's Pikachu, just with any pokemon of your choosing, they get bonuses to their stats, and stay out of their pokeball
* Livable space - for a cost players can buy their own bedroom/apartment (otherwise they have to logout in a POkecenter or some other safe spot to avoid losing a random item, exp, money or something...) Also provides item storage.
(Or perhaps, like the Machoke guy in the Gen 1 games, players can buy land and build their houses from scratch?) Keeping everying pokemon centered, they'd have to hunt down building materials or fight a Zoning Director in a "gym leader"-like battle.
* Players can have a bedroom/apartment, a secret base or an Underground base - perhaps all three after fulfilling the right quests. Can be decorated. May provide instant transportation between the three. (Have a bedroom in Kanto, a secret base in Orre and an Underground base in Hoenn)
* Pokemon Releasing system - Releasing a pokemon makes it live in general area for a period of time (different for each pokemon). If enough of the same sort of pokemon are released in the area, they could become part of the local environment - perhaps even spawn quests if they are deemed to upset the balance
* Random and non-random encounters
* With enough real estate, players could possibly start their own small towns. (Chansey-burg! Pikaville!)
* I'm not sure about 3D gameplay, but I'll include it here.
* Some sort of in game economy to spur on player/player interactions. Sorry folks but the stuff that's typically free will probably need some sort of cost associated with it when shifted to an online context - Pokecenters, accessories, etc
* Players can form Groups (a la DP) which can grow into "unofficial" but League sanctioned Gyms.
* A game flavorful and casual enough for folks who can't invest mega hours into the grind, but can be robust enough for folks who do want to
* PvP - special arenas, a Pokemon League
* PvE - imagine fighting against Lawrence III and his mind-controlled Legendary Birds in a revisioning of the first Pokemon Movie.
* Pokemon swarms, of course
* Shadow Pokemon break outs - perhaps if there's a "world-wide" lake of caring for one's pokemon (or maybe just because Cipher is up to no good) Players may find that a pokemon or two has somehow closed it's heart off. It's more powerful in battle, but can't do a field move, or collect material or help with crafting etc.
* Wii and PC versions, possibly
* Some revamping of Pokemon movesets, battle mechanics...
* Perhaps a DS game that allows some limited leveling of an online pokemon offline (though not in a main pokemon game setting)
* Voice chat or some sort of communication that's more robust than preset phrases
* Upgradability - New pokemon generation? New expansion or (free?) downloadable content for the game.
* Twice a week DS (or Wii?) to MMO transfer - cheat protection though! Trying to transfer a Master ball or the like would net you a berry or a "No Cheating" mail instead.
* Someway to keep the handheld games popular enough where Nintedo would actually say "Yes" to a Pokemon MMO
* Some business model that works, but won't hardship one player over another. Monthly fee? Completely free? Free with a cash-shop?

You'd have to completely redo the base stat system, which is the reason many Pokemon ARE useless. One way to fix that is to have stat growth ratios. 'Weaker' Pokemon can start out weaker but their stats increase at a higher rate and they level faster than normal Pokemon.

Ah the answer to my dreams. I've a lot of MMO experience myself (Non with the actual game making sorry to say). A lot of those idea's are good but the main thing is what Goji said completely redo the stat system; a properly trained ANYTHING should be able to compete with anything else. Example anime wise are the speedy magikarp, Pikachu (duh), Squirtle and Bulbasaur. All those Pokemon could compete with things twice the size and game strength.

I quickly went over the list and I don't think I saw any 'duels'. Yes I have spent a lot of time in WoW, which is extremely addictive so it works to incorporate those ideas generally into this 'Pokemon MMO'. Simple Duels could be added in the middle of anywhere.

I love Pokemon themselves as if they were reality (It works to have that passion in this industry) so personal I could come up with a book of things to do with the Pokemon aside from battles:
* Fly - Use a big flying type to fly! Not a pidgey. (Travel power)
* Dig - Use a decent size Pokemon to dig a hole.

~ To interrupt that a huge problem that would need to be worked out~

The combat system, would it be have your Pokemon have a set of moves (4 like the games or all like normally), would the Pokemon behave as if they were in Stadium or FPS? Could you control them or let the computer do it? (WoW's hunter pets could work like that but it wouldn't be as fun imo)

We've always had turn-based Pokemon so it makes sense to keep it that way but for actual PvP and a more mature even hardcore gamer audience is not going for the whole 'wait while this guy lags for you to actually play'.

Just some things to think about.
EDIT: A huge thing is Pokemon control, that must be solved first before anything else. Because you can have an Onix dig a tunnel to the 'Underground' just fine, but a digglet? But what if you had a diglett that dug a bigger whole because you had its course altered? :O

It's hard to say without a sure-fire way to control them.

Maybe have different rules? So, for official challenges it goes by the games where you can only use four moves but when you're out in the wild you can use all the moves your monster learns.

My suggestions:

- The ability to join guilds, sort of like groups, but more like a team with an agenda. So you join the Dragon Tamer Guild and then you get a sweet cape and gig and some dragon based items, and in turn get more money if you work for them.
- I think this would work even better if all of Japan had a region, that way there would be a completeness to it... Alas.
- The ability to join teams.
- Custom clothing, obviously.
- Keep the Pokemon Centers free. It's basically national healthcare for you pokemon. It may not be top notch, but its free. (Obviously if you ignore that a lot of taxes are going into it).

Guilds are already in Pokemon. They're called gyms.

Though Pokemon Centers are normally free, in a MMO, there's nothing to stop you from just rushing an opponent. There has to be a penalty for losing or getting hurt. In this case, the more damage a Pokemon takes, the more it costs to bring it up to full health. If a Pokemon faints, it can be given a sort of 'res-sickness' where its stats and attribute drop at a particular rate, so the longer that Pokemon is incapacitated, the longer it takes for it to recover its full strength.

The MMO should not be turn-based. Turn-based games are a thing of the past and frankly, they're just so boring and take too long.

As for moves, for a brief time, I developed a battle system for a website named Subartica, and I came up with the following idea. The moves from a Pokemon's movepool are selected when necessary, capping out at four. It is not necessary to select the four moves at the start of the battle.

TMs, though, would be exceptionally rare with the best ones (i.e. Thunderbolt, Reflect, Gyro Ball, et cetera) being incredibly hard to find. The TMs can be obtained at certain prices and only availible to trainers that are ranked a certain level. They cannot be traded unless held by a Pokemon being traded, and if the receiving trainer is under a certain rank, they cannot use the TM at all. Pokemon, of course, will not obey if they're above a certain rank. This is where the breeder class comes in. They breed low-rank Pokemon with high growth rate stats for low rank trainers.

Most water Pokemon have the ability to swim from the start, but require HM Surf to travel across large bodies of water. So while a trainer may be able to cross a calm lake, he wouldn't be able to do the same for a large rushing river. Boats and ferries would be availible for trainers wanting to go from one place to another, for a fee, of course.

A Pokemon's affection will come into play here. The more a Pokemon likes you, the higher its natural evasion and accuracy will be. The angrier a Pokemon, the higher its chance for critical hits. Of course, we're talking slight percentages (no more than 5%). But affection is not gained through winning or losing fights. There could be /pet or /scold commands that offer minor adjustments to a Pokemon's affection, but those will have diminishing returns. Affection would consist of constantly nurturing your Pokemon, giving it massages, letting it play around outside, et cetera. Not doing these things would keep it at a neutral disposition. To frustrate the Pokemon, you would have to do things that are cruel (i.e. chain battling without healing or reward, scolding it when it doesn't do as well as you thought it should, training it by forcing it to withstand brutal attacks from its teammates for an extended period of time).

The HM Fly would be something close to end-game of the MMO. It would be akin to having a flying mount in WoW. Surf would be about mid-late game. None of the other HMs are useful and wouldn't have much a purpose.

The closest thing I've come up with in beginning a project like this is to email Nnooo!, that one company that was publicized a few weeks back for sending a pitch to Nintendo.

My expertise is in storyline and scenario building, so the actual coding and the details of licensing are somewhat out of my reach at the moment.

While thoughts regarding the content of this potential MMO are important, we need more game design and business focused ideas right now.

To expect anything to come out of this, or any, Pokemon MMO discussion on any fan forum is rather naive, I'd think. There's fun to be had in thinking how such a thing can come to light, but honestly, Nintendo has made it clear how they deal with third party developers. Without someone with the experience to actually make something like this work, this idea will remain just that.

Well Nintendo is a big company so pitching it to them would be for purely the money unless we want a E rated Pokemon game where there are no voice overs. Game Freak loves their franchise from what I've seen, there was also another company that requires their employees to have an extensive knowledge of Pokemon before actually working (I forget their name).

I'm saying I'm hopeful but for Veekun to head something like this is a pretty gutsy move.

Well, I wouldn't say it's naive really, a long shot, but probably not naive. The Pokemon franchise has attracted more than just the vapid elementary schoolers that always seem to monopolize the internet. I'm trying to poke around forums to see if there's anyone who really does have the expertise.

Expertise + Love for the Game = high quality, informative and helpful achievements much like this site. Starting a company isn't horrendously difficult, it's just that finding the folks who don't mind working at a loss for a time who will still remain interested in the franchise can be...

But that's just the thing. A lot of the people who do have the expertise don't really have a love of the game. Taking this site for example, Eevee admits that he doesn't play too much. I know that I certain don't play my DS much anymore because of how repetitive it gets.

I have a lot of things to add and discuss with this thread but also a lot of rel life work related things to do between now (11pm) and Midnight. Give me 24 hours. I like alot of Rattata Guys' ideas, but some need tweaking.

Often with MMOs not all the players are on the same server. Imagine parallel universes and you get the idea. Australia would have a server, Japan several. Europe several etc. This reduces lag and eliminates (mostly) the time based problems.)

I disagree. Legendaries should be completely unobtainable. The quests will be just to see a legendary. It's be cool if they behaved in their domains. Like say for example you really are lost in the mountains, Moltres comes down and leads you home.

You're going to have to expand your thoughts here. What possible use would trainer levels have? The gym badges alone qualify as a ranking system.

You're right there probably would have to be. I think it'd make it pretty interesting if everyone was limited to say, ten Pokémon. We'd be releasing and trading much more often. And breeding a lot less.

I dont like the idea of risking losing an item when you logout, (unless you are escaping from a PvP battle you just lost) but I think perhaps you should always have to restart from a designated livable space. I think you should be able to logout anywhere because hey, sometimes real life shit happens and must be dealt with.

While this sounds awesome, This would really, really be pushing the limits of what we can physically do with a video game. I doubt it'd happen. Also leaving the gameworld that volatile to player influence could see it maliciously exploited.

See last one. It's too dangerous giving players that much control. Sure it'd be awesome but impossible.

It is a necessity that the game be three dimensional. 3D graphics allow for fr larger gameworlds from less storage space than 2D. And if we're making a MASSIVELY multiplayer game, it's gotta be large, jut to accomodate all the people. I'd like to see a rendition of the Pokémon world where it takes hours, say 6, to walk from Pallet to Viridian.

Sure will, nobody will just be handing out Miracle Seeds anymore. The more interesting thing is, where will the money come from?

Naaaaaaah.

That sounds cool, but maybe not specifically that event in this context.

I didn't pay enough attention to the ideas suggested, so I'll post additional ideas now.


I've read that Orre is not based in Japan, but somewhere in the American southwest. If we were to remain true to the games, that would mean that Orre would be quite distant and its effects would not have much effect towards the rest of the the game world. It would be better to give all regions a taste of the various flavors to allow for players to journey with their friends in particular regions. It will be impossible for one to fully maintain the games in their current state.


There's no real need for classes. There should be nothing preventing a player from going from training, to breeding, to 'farming' or whatever. Rather, each trainer can have a list of skills that they can choose at the beginning to specialize in. A main skill and a sub-skill, perhaps, with each granting talents as the players becomes more accustomed to the skill.


Like RAB said, Legendary Pokemon should be completely unobtainable. They should be bosses to defeat, at most. The Masterball item should not exist.


Stats should only show general experience gained from doing quests and events. But rank should be based on the sum of skills learned by the player.


The easiest thing to do, in this case, is make catching Pokemon a real challenge. Make pokeballs expensive and give them only fairly moderate success rates on at certain levels of health.


No to the stat bonus.


While I'm sure that would be fun, it really goes against the purpose of Pokemon, which is to move around, exploring, going from place to place.

Hey, some jerk just released a high-level Metagross in to the low-level zone!


Unnecessary, really.


Wii doesn't have the ability. I don't think a popular Pokemon MMO is occur mainly because of Nintendo's online intentions.


I... don't think that'd be a good idea. You'd basically take grinding and put it on a handheld setting.


Again, Nintendo's online strategy seems to go against this direction. People will need to use Ventrillo, Skype or even the 360's Live for voice chat before Nintendo would come up with anything.


Seriously, no. I can level a Pokemon to 100 in a day if I put forward the effort. Allowing this would completely circumvent the entire system. You might as well give players a list and say "Here, pick a Pokemon and its moveset. You'll get it at max level."

So yeah. There's a lot of stuff to figure out. I'd like to see trainer stats as something like this.

Trainer Name:
Trainer Age: (This can be a measurement of game time, allowing the character to age from its set point. So if a player plays for a year and set his character age to 12, it'd show up as 13)
Trainer Gender:
# of Badges: This is a measurement of battling prowess. Each badge will have its own special effect (increasements up to 3-5%).
# of Ribbons: This is a measurement of contest skill. Each ribbon will act like a badge in that it will bestow the owner with small stat boosts.
# of Medals: Medals can be used for breeding skill.
There can be awards for other skills, too.