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

One thing is very clear, after spending enough time occupying space within the Pokémon community….Pokémon fans are fucking crazy.


In a world where people go on the internet and tell terrible lies on a near constant basis, my gut instinct maintains the feeling this random meme, is in fact, true…because Pokémon fans are fucking crazy

As is often the case here on Active Time Event, what once was a fantabulous creative endeavor in the form of an amorphous article, quickly devolved into existential dread and mass mayhem, as I took a hard left turn while talking about Pokémon Pokopia, in all of it’s utopic ubiquity. Not that any of my sentiments about the industries dreadfully precarious, edge teetering insanity that is their nearly failed balancing act of demanding outlandish profits, continuously ruinous layoffs, over reliance on AI, and flummoxing financial strategies were off the mark, I’m just minorly taken aback at the notion such infamy haunted my subconscious so severely, in being able to effectively overrode my sense of wonderment for all the silly little lads, goofy gals, and cute critters that littered my Poke Paradise…


…and Trubbish

Tangents happen, however, and I dare venture to say some of my more amusing prattlings on the notions of all that is digital have sprung from my meanderings into the realm of the wretched and random. As long as one finds the silver lining to such attention stealing moments, I feel as if there is a lot of value to extract from such profoundly distracting derailments. In this case, it seems that what was unspoken within me cried out for such creative catharsis, so let the phantoms fly freely, I say. With all of that said, my originally intended focus from yesterday was not to speak of Pokopia in direct reference, but to explicate upon some design methodology implemented within the title, and one that I’ve seen used regularly as of late, and the machinations of which seem to center mostly around Nintendo developed or published games, so it peaks my interest something fierce as if there is some kind of unspoken rule of stylistic effort that is going into said pattern or if it is complete coincidence, but the similarities are hard to deny.


As I look upon the monumental number of tasks I have to do at any given time while playing Pokopia, I always just have to remind myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day…

Usually with pattern recognition, I want to say the rule of thumb, within some neurologically related studies/observations on the matters at least, related to the idea that a pattern can only become so, after a repetitive number of times of its occurrence. In this way, a pattern can begin to develop after a mere three times of occurring, as there then seems to be something of a more solid cause and effect happening to create such a regularity of events continuously happening so similarly. Fittingly enough, Pokémon Pokopia was the third game on the Switch 2 that I had noticed such consistency of design within, and it seemed interesting enough to mention it now, as I feel as if it is an idea that will likely be able to continuously be built upon as time goes on, and sometimes my own theoretical musings involving the metaphysics of games hold some truth to them, and when it is only a sliver at times, instead of a more accurate and totally concise observation of worthy note, even getting it only kind of right and mostly wrong, still adheres to a great thought experiment, at least where philosophy is concerned, and follows along the very notion of the scientific method itself in the realm of experimentation and hypothesizing…so win/win, really.


Imagine Aristotle saying something like this?

Keeping in mind, what I’m about to elaborate on doesn’t hold any inherent qualitative measure, as it is rare any design philosophy is ever all good or all bad, and as always, I’m a big fan of the stipulation that context is key, so the varying effectiveness of said methodology’s mileage will be completely dependent upon the game that is utilizing it at the moment. After some considerable thought of what to call this approach latent within some recent Switch 2 titles, I refer to it as the “Deliriously Distracting Design Dichotomy” (DDDD), as what seems to be the point of said dichotomy is to completely overwhelm the player with so many concurrent objectives, there is this absolutely overbearing sense of options at hand, one could blindly turn in a circle, and release a rock they had in their hands, and hit some kind of sidequest or mini objective without even trying.


Seen here: Meowth looking on horrified, as Piplup destroy’s his prized mud collection

To wit: this kind of hyper-activity of interest helps to reinforce the notion that one will never run out of “stuff” to do, and a near limitless number of tasks confront them, which is both good and bad. Bad for those easily overwhelmed, if that person happens to be either OCD in nature, or even a perfectionist/completionist in another way, as the discomfort that might be conjured may well drive them to mini bouts of madness, in attempting to take care of everything as quickly as possible. However, I do think that the DDDD serves many other gamers and enthusiasts well, on a theoretical level anyways, as it is most likely a response mechanism that services the current media landscape, and attention economy that apps like Tik Tok have so effortlessly helped to create, where 5 to 10 seconds of content of insane randomness is all one needs to feel the most infinitesimally small amount of nearly instantaneously evaporating joy, one has no choice to be co continuously consume said content in order to keep this ridiculously micro-sized high going, when in fact all they’re really woofing down is the equivalent of low grade fast food for the brain, put another way: mind numbingly putrid garbage in digital format, or if you prefer, getting shit faced on stupid juice


Pictured: what the average Tik Tok user is essentially saying to the algorithms every time they start using again

Obviously, or at least, in my own musings, within the realm of video games, the feelings of fleeting fun will last a little longer due to the inherent nature video games bring with them, but the same idea applies, and what makes the DDDD so relevant, and maybe in many ways, successful, is in that very notion of keeping people constantly engaged and relentlessly hooked, hence its repeated usage. Forgive me for not having drawn attention to what exactly DDDD entails with an IRL example as of yet, as the setup needed to explain such methodology was needed, but to provide proper a citation, three even, you may have already guessed the first one I bring to the fore is indeed, our beloved Pokémon Pokopia, which was the nail in the coffin that represented “the pattern becoming” I mentioned earlier, as it was the third game on the Switch 2 it became apparent to me as a seemingly intentional contingency to the design of the game itself.


Seen here: Exeggcute getting a head start on his dad jokes…

Here’s where the context is key thing comes in, as the DDDD’s usage within its implementation for Pokémon Pokopia works its magic astutely, as the player always has a sense of constantly emergent “and then…” in their ongoing gameplay feedback loop, as outside of exploring the wilderness, as soon as a player completes one challenge, or helps one of their Poke Friends with a pleasantry or favor, it almost immediately leads to another happening one can follow up on. In the rare moment this doesn’t happen, the player probably still has an active laundry list of current objectives that they can easily default to, and the ebb and flow of the DDDD here is one of profitable encouragement, as there is a near constant trail of bread crumbs one can follow, something I eluded to before, and thus be rewarded for in due time. So, in the realm of Pokémon Pokopia, the DDDD works a treat, though perhaps this sentiment can be extended to the cosy genre, now that we have a reference point of success.

Keeping in mind, if one is strong of will, and can block out all of the chaotic subterfuge of notifications that demands their attention, one can still laze about, wander off, and do their own thing within Pokopia, so one isn’t utterly drowned by the DDDD in this regard…at least, in this case…

The second time I ever noticed the DDDD maintain relevance on a Switch 2 game was Donkey Kong: Bananza, where it was much less appreciated within my purview, though I may be within the minority here, as the game had an overly positive and warm reception when it launched last year. For me anyways, the gameplay felt too…nihilistic, quite honestly, as one of the big themes was destruction, so one was setup in the environment to just go apeshit and destroy everything in sight. Not that being destructive can’t be fun in video games, but when it feels as mindless as DK did, with such middling forward momentum thrown into the mix, and mind numbingly objectives to complete, it felt demotivating and kind of hollow when all was said and done. Add in the notion that it was low key a spiritual successor to Mario Odyssey, which represented an excellent high of design prowress, translating into a litany of amazingly bombastic ways to traverse the landscapes and complete any number of over the top objectives, and DK: Bananza’s usage of the DDDD dragged the game more than it complimented it, so not a total flop, but certainly lacking in many ways.

DK: Bananza- more style than substance, with the DDDD concept caving in on itself

The first time I noticed the DDDD was in Mario Kart World, and luckily for this game, it only plagued its open world ‘Forza Horizon’ inspired free roam mode, while still maintaining the classic formula that has kept MK on top all of these years. To the point of free roam, however, the DDDD made a complete nothing burger out of said free roam, as the mode completely lacked a narrative, more elaborate interactivity, a greater weight to the goals or challenges involved…with even the bare minimum that were the collectables feeling flimsy and unworthy of hunting. The DDDD kept one busy, sure, as I’m quite certain that was Nintendo’s goal, in trying to pad out the time of free roam, to keep the players endlessly engaged to make the game seem bigger than it was, and make the only worthwhile launch title seem like it had a ton of (overly bloated*) content to discover, but Mario Kart World’s free roam ended up equating to a complete bomb as a result of the DDDD implementation, and perhaps even an early end to what could have been a new promising dimension of the Mario Kart franchise.


*Cue the Hulk TV shows ending theme*

I’m sure I will develop more thoughts in relation to the DDDD as time drags on, especially if it continues to stick around as it seemingly has for the past year on the Switch 2, but I have about run out of time for the day, and must depart.

Till next time.

~Pashford