"Pokémon GO? The graphics look kind of rough. This doesn’t really feel like sothing Gastar Electronic Entertainnt would make."
"It’s a mobile ga. Mobile gas don’t really focus on graphics."
"Well, it’s free anyway. Might as well try it. Still, the idea is pretty novel—encouraging people to go outside, travel around the world, and collect Pokémon. That actually feels a lot like a real Pokémon adventure."
As a loyal fan who had followed Pokémon from the very first generation all the way to the present, Pat was among the first to learn about the newest Pokémon title.
What surprised him was that this new Pokémon ga was a mobile ga.
It wasn’t that Gastar Electronic Entertainnt had never made mobile gas before.
Gas like Candy Burst, Fruit Ninja, and Angry Birds were all classics in the mobile gaming space.
But Gastar had never adapted one of its famous IPs for mobile platforms.
This ti, Pokémon was the first—and it was one of their most iconic IPs.
At first glance, Pat felt the art style of Pokémon GO was extrely simple.
Modern smartphones were already quite powerful, so this ga could clearly have been made more detailed and visually impressive.
Yet it deliberately wasn’t.
The gaplay itself was also very straightforward—essentially a map application with a Pokémon skin layered on top, encouraging people to physically explore real locations to search for mysterious Pokémon.
The mainline Pokémon gas were already being developed with the latest Unreal Engine, boasting excellent visual quality.
Seeing Pokémon GO’s visuals felt like stepping back into prehistoric tis.
Pat couldn’t help worrying that the ga might not be fun.
Still, as a devoted Pokémon fan, there was no way he was going to skip it.
Especially since the ga was free.
So he downloaded Pokémon GO onto his phone.
The total ga size wasn’t large—only about 200 MB.
That was even smaller than Pokémon gas from over a decade ago.
Which further confird that the ga’s visuals weren’t exactly its strong point.
Pat couldn’t quite understand it. Since the ga was personally supervised by Takayuki, shouldn’t it have been polished to perfection?
The 200 MB was just the base size.
As players explored different cities and streets, the ga would load map data just like standard navigation apps.
So the total size would gradually increase the more one played.
Even so, by modern standards, it was still quite small.
One advantage of that was the fast download speed.
After the download finished, Pat lay back on his sofa and tapped to enter the ga.
The ga began with a standard account registration and login process—players with a BattleNet account could log in directly.
Then ca the tutorial.
On the phone screen appeared the image of a Pokémon Master, who would act as the player’s guide and provide help at any ti.
For now, the ntor’s job was to teach the player how to play the ga.
The gaplay was simple, incorporating standard Pokémon battle and collection chanics.
The ntor’s focus at the mont was teaching players how to catch Pokémon.
"Hello, I am your Pokémon ntor. Congratulations on successfully becoming a Pokémon Trainer. From now on, please strive toward becoming a Pokémon Master!"
"Next, I will introduce you to Pokémon capture and battle chanics. Have you played Pokémon gas before? Are you familiar with the basic gaplay?"
A prompt appeared, and Pat didn’t hesitate for a second—he selected the option indicating that he was already a Pokémon Master.
After all, he had been playing Pokémon for over a decade. He knew the series inside and out.
Since its inception, the core gaplay of Pokémon had barely changed.
It had always been turn-based combat.
Yet it was strangely magical—despite turn-based gas no longer being mainstream, Pokémon still retained a massive and loyal fanbase.
The Pokémon ntor continued:
"Excellent. It seems you are indeed qualified to be a Pokémon Trainer. We will skip the basic battle tutorial. Next, I will teach you how to catch Pokémon. To proceed, I need authorization to access your current location so the ga can function properly."
A permission request popped up. Pat tapped "Allow," and the ntor displayed a brief "Please wait" ssage.
"You are currently located at **Street **, DZ City, United States. Pokémon ecology in this area is primarily Steel-type. However, you are not in luck—there are currently no Pokémon appearing in your imdiate area. You will need to find a location where Pokémon are active. Would you like to provide navigation guidance?"
No Pokémon in his area?
So Pokémon weren’t just handed to you—you actually had to go outside.
This was a normal residential neighborhood. To encourage players to venture out, Gastar had deliberately set most residential areas as places where Pokémon wouldn’t spawn.
Pat felt that was pretty reasonable.
Wild Pokémon wouldn’t casually wander into human residential zones, after all.
He agreed to the navigation.
About two seconds later, the Pokémon ntor chid in again.
"I have located an area with Pokémon activity for you. Please proceed there as soon as possible. Pokémon availability in each area is limited. If you arrive too late, other players may catch them all."
Pat raised an eyebrow.
Pokémon could be caught out?
Now that was interesting.
Without hesitation, he left his house and got ready to drive to the destination.
It was about five or six kiloters away—around ten minutes if traffic was light.
The location was a busy comrcial district. Given that it was still work hours, he assud there wouldn’t be many people there.
So he started his car and headed toward the destination.
What he didn’t expect was how badly he had underestimated traffic congestion.
Pokémon GO had been out for about a day now.
And in just that single day, countless shut-in gars across the world—people who rarely ever left their hos—had all suddenly poured into the streets.
They all shared one single goal:
Catch Pokémon.
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