Yaw Amanquah

As described by Know Your Meme, "Genwunner is a pejorative term used within the Pokémon fandom to describe those who only appreciate the first-generation of video games for Game Boy, namely Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow, and tend to bash the sequel titles and monsters in the franchise." Under this definition, I wouldn't be a genwunner because even though I think the first generation of Pokémon is the best, I still have an appreciation for the other games. However, even though I haven't drawn the ire of the Pokémon fandom I disagree, with the notion that it is unreasonable to prefer the first-generation over the others.

Progression systems in video games are not something exclusive to RPGs, but it is one of the genre's defining features. While twitch-based genres like fighting and rhythm games develop the player's reaction time, RPGs have progression systems that improve the player's avatar. Unfortunately, most RPG progression systems don't make the player feel stronger in any meaningful way and instead have arbitrary numbers that increase as you level up. An engaging progression system has significant growth that substantially affects the avatar and custom growth that allows the player to decide how their avatar grows.

The most fun I've had playing video games are instances when I can share that experience with other people. These instances don't only include multiplayer games but also single-player games that encourage interaction between players. I often refer to these games as CoroCoro Comic games because the manga magazine regularly promotes toys and video games that build active communities. Video game franchises that have frequently graced the pages of CoroCoro Comic include Pokémon, Mega Man Battle Network, and Boktai. After flipping through several issues of CoroCoro Comic, I was able to determine the qualities of these games that inspire a sense of community among their players.

One of my favorite video games of all time is Boktai for the Game Boy Advance. Now make no mistake the Boktai, I am referring to is the original game in the series Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand. While I still enjoy the sequels, I believe they stray too far from the original to deliver a satisfying follow-up. So, to explain where I feel the Boktai series went wrong, I need to recount what changed throughout the series.

With its long history and many games, the Mega Man series may at first appear to be a wildly successful franchise up there with Mario and Sonic. However, this isn't true of the Mega Man series as a whole with, only a few games selling more than one million copies worldwide. This fact made me wonder how the Mega Man series could be so well known but rarely be the success we would expect from a long-running franchise.

An early 2000s cross-over fighting game that is the second installment in a long-running series, very technically demanding, and has a meta-game dominated by a few top tier characters. Given that description, what fighting game comes to mind? If you answered Marvel vs. Capcom 2 or Super Smash Bros. Melee, you would be partly correct because I was thinking of both. At first glance, these fighting games don't appear to have a lot in common, but upon further inspection, they have quite a few similarities. The most significant commonality being the survival of both their competitive scenes more than a decade after their original release.