“Gotta Catch ‘Em All” with ‘Pokémon Go’
July 14, 2016
Ever wonder what it felt like for Ash Ketchum from the ‘Pokémon” franchise to use his Pokéball? Did you ever want to be the one to “catch ‘em all?” Well now you can, with Nintendo’s newly released mobile game “Pokémon Go.”
Released in the US on July 6 this year, “Pokémon Go” is an augmented reality mobile game that brings the world of “Pokémon” to fans’ fingertips. Players, who create an avatar in the game, are able to catch, train, and battle Pokémon essentially everywhere they go in the real world. The game uses popular locations in order to also set up various pinpoints and stops for all players to go to, such as placing a Pokémon gym, where players can battle each other, in a nearby amusement park, or a Pokéstop, where players can get special tools and help, at a local church.
“I think it’s amazing that people are going outside, meeting new people, and exploring the world,” rising junior Lulu Lin said. “And before Pokémon go, meeting random friendly people on the street was a rare occurrence but now it happens every time I go outside.”
Some believe that the craze for the game is a result of past nostalgia.
“Nostalgia in all honesty, we all grew up watching the anime or trading the cards or playing [Pokémon] on our gameboys, and now that we all have phones, we’re just taking it to the next level like we know how,” rising sophomore Pari Parajuli said.
Others are also going to Twitter to express their opinions on the gaming phenomenon.
According to “Pokémon Go,” even though it has been just a little over a week since the game has come out, there have already been an estimated 7.5 million US downloads from the IOS App Store and Google Play. And even with some of the technical difficulties the game has been facing, that number only continues to rise. But where the future of the game goes is up to anyone’s guess.
“I think it would be great if they could make a battling wild Pokémon feature, because right now all you have to do is just find the wild Pokémon to catch them and it doesn’t feel as rewarding,” rising senior Jessie Shen said. “Adding battling to wild Pokémon encounters would follow the spirit of the original games which isn’t just about finding the Pokémon but also having to train your Pokémon and bonding with them instead of a glorified collecting game.”
