(The tl;dr companion video to this article):

Millenials have two things to look forward to these days: a new Pokémon game and how much getting out of bed sucks in the morning in your late 30’s and early 40’s.


It use to be: I want to be the very best, like no one ever was!, now it’s more like “Can mornings suck a little less, please?”

Yesterday, we began our grand adventure into the happy go lucky, but achingly addictive, hedonistic chaos that is Pokémon Pokopia, to see what happens when you fuse together the sensibilities of both Animal Crossing (AC) and Pokémon (PKMN), and roll em into one little hell beast of joy. You get what is shaping up to be Nintendo’s newest golden cow, is what it looks like, as fans of the Switch 2 seem to be more overjoyed than kids in a candy store. So what is all the hubbub about, and why does it seem Pokopia is so popular?


Aside from the 100’s of cute little monsters that emanate nostalgia and that grew up alongside millennials in our warmest moments of childhood….

I think quite simply, the combinatoric formula of both aforementioned big N franchises makes easy work of making the whole damn thing so accessible, with oodles of cutesy aesthetic and comfy gameplay for people to sink their teeth into. While extraordinarily light on story, Pokopia follows in the footsteps of AC and PKMN in the same way, as neither have ever been huge on narrative structure, more so just starting the whole game with a flimsy pretense, in the name of moving things along for the sake of the dreamy gameplay.


The Pokedex: the original smartphone before smartphones were even smartphoning

Now, for any of the more ardent PKMN enthusiasts out there, you may be let down by the notion that Pokopia isn’t an RPG like the main games, and in being a more non-traditional spin-off, there is no battling system to speak of. This is a rare moment within the world of Pokémon, where one merely appreciates their presence, spends time hanging out with them, gives them little gifts and feeds them food…treating them much closer to actual friends than relentless battle hounds or some sneering dogs of war.


Like most living creatures on the face of this planet, most Pokémon just want to chill the fuck out, and enjoy some love and attention every now and again

Which is where Animal Crossing comes into the picture, as one of the overarching aspects of the game is to essentially make a little utopia for you and your Pokémon pals…thus the title: Pokopia. This takes the form of cultivating the land, creating habitats, attracting new monz through certain requirements, performing favors for them….keeping in mind: since most PKMN do not talk, the game gets around this, as you are merely a Ditto, who has taken the form of a trainer, which means you are able to understand the tongues of Pokémon as if an old friend not seen in a great while.


They’re little chatterboxes, quite honestly, so for any of you rando’s that always day dream about how cool it would be if your pets could talk, this is probably as close as you’re ever going to get

The game lifts AC’s control scheme almost in a 1:1 fashion, so you have a similar inventory, which is small at first, but expandable, tools to explore the environment…but with a twist (more on that soon), the ability to craft a litany of objects, the skills to build large structures, starting with small houses, but building up to locations that require entire teams and a host of resources to construct, like Pokémon enters. You can track how well your doing not just be how happy your Pokémon are, but also paying attention to what “environment level” you’ve reached, which unlocks a host of new options, unlockables, and general goodies for you to enjoy and continue to explore with.


There are various different challenges a trainer can accomplish through the PC, but also requests from their



Yesterday, we began our grand adventure into the happy go lucky, but achingly addictive, hedonistic chaos that is Pokémon Pokopia, to see what happens when you fuse together the sensibilities of both Animal Crossing (AC) and Pokémon (PKMN), and roll em into one little hell beast of joy. You get what is shaping up to be Nintendo’s newest golden cow, is what it looks like, as fans of the Switch 2 seem to be more overjoyed than kids in a candy store. So what is all the hubbub about, and why does it seem Pokopia is so popular?


Aside from the 100’s of cute little monsters that emanate nostalgia and that grew up alongside millennials in our warmest moments of childhood….

I think quite simply, the combinatoric formula of both aforementioned big N franchises makes easy work of making the whole damn thing so accessible, with oodles of cutesy aesthetic and comfy gameplay for people to sink their teeth into. While extraordinarily light on story, Pokopia follows in the footsteps of AC and PKMN in the same way, as neither have ever been huge on narrative structure, more so just starting the whole game with a flimsy pretense, in the name of moving things along for the sake of the dreamy gameplay.


The Pokedex: the original smartphone before smartphones were even smartphoning

Now, for any of the more ardent PKMN enthusiasts out there, you may be let down by the notion that Pokopia isn’t an RPG like the main games, and in being a more non-traditional spin-off, there is no battling system to speak of. This is a rare moment within the world of Pokémon, where one merely appreciates their presence, spends time hanging out with them, gives them little gifts and feeds them food…treating them much closer to actual friends than relentless battle hounds or some sneering dogs of war.


Like most living creatures on the face of this planet, most Pokémon just want to chill the fuck out, and enjoy some love and attention every now and again

Which is where Animal Crossing comes into the picture, as one of the overarching aspects of the game is to essentially make a little utopia for you and your Pokémon pals…thus the title: Pokopia. This takes the form of cultivating the land, creating habitats, attracting new monz through certain requirements, performing favors for them….keeping in mind: since most PKMN do not talk, the game gets around this, as you are merely a Ditto, who has taken the form of a trainer, which means you are able to understand the tongues of Pokémon as if an old friend not seen in a great while.


They’re little chatterboxes, quite honestly, so for any of you rando’s that always day dream about how cool it would be if your pets could talk, this is probably as close as you’re ever going to get

The game lifts AC’s control scheme almost in a 1:1 fashion, so you have a similar inventory, which is small at first, but expandable, tools to explore the environment…but with a twist (more on that soon), the ability to craft a litany of objects, the skills to build large structures, starting with small houses, but building up to locations that require entire teams and a host of resources to construct, like Pokémon enters. You can track how well your doing not just be how happy your monz are, but also what “environment level” you’ve reached, which unlocks a host of new options and goodies for you to enjoy and explore with.


Trainers can access the PC for daily challenges, but there are a variety of tasks to do that come from all walks of life you will encouter on your journeys

One of the more novel ways they’ve “Pokefied” the Animal Crossing like sensibilities, is that instead of traditional tools with which to explore and cultivate your garden or town with, you are able to learn moves from the PKMN you help throughout your trials and tribulations. One of the first ones you get is Water Gun, after helping a Squirtle get back on itsfeet. With this, you’re able to rejuvenate run down pieces of land, and spray water on its dry, cracked, lifeless surface, and watch the greenery and flower return with full aplomb. Other powers include learning Cut from a Scyther, and Rock Smash from a Hitmonchan, which makes short work of weaker walls, as you pummel/tunnel your way through cliff side walls.


One definitely gets Minecraft vibes during these excursions, as one is able to tunnel far and wide, and you’ll never know what you will end up running into….

Much like AC, you can kind of do your own thing, that is, if you knew what you were doing, but for a lot of first time players, it will be a lot easier to just follow the “quest line” available, to get a better sense of direction. I’d say one major way Pokopia differentiates itself from AC, is that the rampant pacing of dedicated tasks pretty much makes sure there is basically no down time, if you don’t want there to be, as there always seems to be at least five pressing matters at any given time, so you always can forge onto your next mission objective at a moment’s notice. Not to say the game is pushy with a time limit or anything: you can drop everything you’re doing at any single moment, and go off and do your own thing, no worries. I mention the rapidity of tasks that needs accomplishing in such a prevalent way, as I feel as if quite a few of my friends who bounced off of AC hard in the past, did so because they didn’t feel motivated enough to keep playing, as if their sense of direction was too fuzzy, or that the game didn’t point them more obviously in the right direction, to keep them enticed with new missions and new goodies to get, which Pokopia has down to a science, it would seem.


Whether it be intentional, or that great minds just think alike, building habitats and cultivating your garden conjures a reminiscence to how one progressed through Viva Pinata, back in the day

Interestingly enough, even though I mentioned the game is light on narrative, it is big on cameos, call backs, and references, as there are a surprising number of things which have already happened in just my first two days that I wasn’t expecting to stumble upon, and which I would consider pseudo spoilers, due to their nature. This is related to the notion that, in spite of this game being its own stand alone kind of thing, and it being set in this kind of dystopian like future, where for some bizarre reason, all of the humans and Pokémon seemingly vanished overnight, you will discover important locations from the series past, find out about familiar faces from days gone by, and also be treated to run-ins with legendary Pokémon, and usually quite out of nowhere I may add. So in that regard, Pokopia holds a lot of promise for longer time fans of the PKMN series, and I feel as if does a better job than AC, in giving the player a more effective bread crumb trail to follow; definitely in terms of visibility of said bread crumbs, but also in the way of reward of what awaits at the end of the trail, so the feedback loop of satisfaction is far more thoughtfully polished, I’d say.


Even within my first day of playing, I randomly spot one of the legendaries, Ho-Oh, flying overhead, which is a nice reference to one of the earliest episodes of the anime, in which Ash very much gets a glimpse of something he won’t be dealing with for a very long time

Pokémon Pokopia has already surprised me a great deal, and I’m only two days in. The amount of yet to be discovered surprises that remain hidden seems vast in number, and I am excited to see just how deep this rabbit hole goes, in terms of what Pokopia has to offer curious and eager players alike.

~Pashford