Pokemon Go – Why is Everyone Talking About It?

14 July, 2016 — Charlotte

You may or may not have noticed that your social media feeds have been showing up all sorts of content related to a certain app called Pokemon Go. You may or may not also be thinking to yourself ‘Why are all of my friends suddenly obsessed with Pokemon again? That was so the 90’s.’

The truth is, anyone who grew up in the 90’s will have fallen for the craze that is Pokemon. We all had a Gameboy with Pokemon Red (except those really dedicated Pikachu fans who insisted on Pokemon Yellow so it would follow us around). We knew the theme song and watched every episode as we cheered Ash on to become the Pokemon Master. I loved it, and I wished that Pokemon were real so that I could stop going to school and start catching these monsters and training them.

Then, over time, Pokemon fell from the mountaintop and has been floating in a popular area for awhile, without excelling like it did back in the 90’s. All that changed when Pokemon Go got released.

The idea is simple, using some technology called ‘augmented reality’, the app using your GPS and camera to add any of the 151 original Pokemon creatures to your real world. You could be walking to the shops and then *BAM* there’s a wild Pidgey that needs to be captured! The species you find all vary too, if you’re in a park then you’ll find a lot more bug type Pokemon, night time brings out the ghost types etc.

 
You can purchase items which help you attract different kinds and your map will help you find where to go. The best part is it is getting loads of people more active because you physically have to walk around to discover them. You could travel the world and along the entire way you’d find them popping up. One could be sitting next to you right now, one could be sitting in your bath. You get the idea. It’s bringing a real sense of nostalgia back to the people who once dreamed of venturing outside and catching their favorite Pokemon. Pokemon Go is taking the world by storm. You can even battle gym leaders, which helps you discover rarer kinds of Pokemon to find and catch.

The downside is that the battle system isn’t anything like what we are all used to. There isn’t a turn-based system where you choose one of four attacks. There also isn’t any kind of multiplayer feature in place, although this is expected to be added in the future so one day you should be able to battle your friends too.

All in all, it’s a fantastic addition to your Android (or iOS) device that brings back memories of the good days. And this is just the beginning, as Augmented Reality continues to advance we can expect to see it integrated even more into our apps and games in the future.

Now stop reading and go and become the Pokemon Master!