OK...now usually when we do a post about something, we try to do it on-the-day, but when ya got yourself multiple things in one day and are already busy dealing with other situations, it's kind of an overload to do two at once, as nice as it might sound. SOOOO...picked one to do a week earlier than the actual release.

Just couldn't hide the excitement heh heh?

Not really, I might not grab it at first chance, see how it goes, but ehh, there was something different about it....

*prods* I think you just wanted to try being a Pokemon again heheheh.

Oh yeah, last time went SO well.

You broke that Scraggy's nose...

He deserved it.

Ok, then maybe it's the theme. You like a good mystery right?

*cough*

Come on....it was fun! Besides, in the simulator, you could breath fire like humans think dragons can.

Lets just get this started...

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So, a couple years ago, an adventure game in the Pokemon franchise popped up in Japan. It was...a strange one to be sure, but like many who aren't Japanese, it was once again an exclusive. But, like everything, everyone wanted a piece of it, they wanted a worldwide release of the thing. And even more so, people wanted Danny Devito of all people to voice the main character.

Guy who did the Lorax?

Yep, and I guess people thought with a little more yellow, the Lorax would look enough like Pikachu that it somehow fit.
But anyway, despite Devito, it turns out the new game is getting a worldwide release after all, and is actually much bigger in scope than the original game was. For those who wanted the game, it's good news, but for those who had this one under the radar, it's a strange one for sure.

While there is a human as a main character, the main star is the Pikachu. A TALKING Pikachu!

At first glance, Poke-vets know that a talking Pokemon isn't too strange, albiet a near-non-existent thing. From the start we had Meowth, Team Rocket's out-of-pokeball Pokemon that could talk. Heck, the series was even nice enough to give us a tragic backstory on how Meowth learned how to talk to impress a gal.
I mean honestly, seems like people might forget that it seems like getting Pokemon to talk may not be too hard if one can do it on their own like Meowth did. It's like one of those unattended circumstances that gets left in the dust.

Like how Mew has the DNA of every Pokemon, but that Arceus created everything, so how does that work...?
Or why age 10 is considered the "right" age for somebody to get out of their hometown and start trying to tame creatures FAR stronger and more powerful than they are?
Oooh oooh! Or the possibility that...Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny are 6th-Day clones!?
Or...how many female Marowaks ARE there if Cubones use their skulls?
Or how come Hau'oli City doesn't have their Pokemon diapered or something inside the shopping mall?

*glares*

...What? Oh! No no, nothing with you bud. What's...with that look? It's an actual question! Look, here....*shows image*

....is that REAL?

In the research we looked over for the other bit on the Sun and Moon entries.

....wow...I'll have to give you that one then.

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Back to the GAME. We are, of course, talking about the soon-to-be-released Detective Pikachu game for the 3DS..The story of a somehow-talking Pikachu that teams up with the only other person that can hear him, Tim Goodman, to help him find the boy's father, solving cases along the way. It's an adventure game with puzzles and the like...which is honestly a nice change from the normal entries of the Pokemon franchise.
I should also note, while I can't confirm if it's his voice or not, the MOVIE of Detective Pikachu is coming out next year, with Ryan Renolds as the voice of the titular electric mouse. Not sure if he's also voicing the GAME Pikachu or not though. Not sure how I feel about Deadpool being Pikachu..................but the idea just makes smile for some reason heh heh.

While the mystery surrounding this talking, detective Pikachu are the center of things (How can he talk? How come he seems to indicate that HE understands humans (noting that possibly other Pokemon can't)? Why can only Tim understand him? Why does it seem like he doesn't know any combat moves, etc.)....but what drew me was that the game WASN'T about trainers and their Pokemon battling.

Honestly, that's what Pokemon has been about for so long, catching and fighting Pokemon. While the collecting thing is nice, the fighting bit eventually becomes a bit messed up no matter how many iterations you create (You beat the crap out of an animal, capture it, and force it to fight for you. Give it all the love you want, it's just to forget how jerky you were.).
But what world this Detective Pikachu thing is digging into is the everyday sort of thing. It's not about trainers, it's not about battling, it's about humans and Pokemon and interacting in the world of that (sure, the anime might give bits here and there, but that's not the forefront of the show, it's the battling). There's so much more that the Pokemon World can offer, and Detective Pikachu might give a gleam into that. Sure, maybe it's not exciting as fighting temporal-making, wish-granting, god-powered creatures...but it's a nice reminder that there is an "everyday-yet-modern-life" world that has Pokemon granted into it.

Take Pokemon Go (I said take, not play, put that phone down), for instance. One of it's draws was making people think they could catch Pokemon in the real world. Think about how that would all be, with Pokemon in the world. Instead of exploring one aspect (collecting, battling) for the most part, it's expanding to cover a sort of everyday format to it. It's refreshing to have a game with some unique twists like this in all honesty.

Sooooooooooo?

Yes...so, intrigued...me and Rigel hopped into the demo version of Detective Pikachu with a few variations to let us actually in on the case. I'll admit, I have a small liking for mystery and intrigue. Originally I was going to be heading the case, whatever it was, but the program still decided to have the actual characters in lead...

Yeah...they mistook us for junior detectives...well at least the Pikachu did. Az....wasn't...happy about being referred to as a junior anything...

No, it was the fact they were talking about me like I wasn't even there....

Well...thanks for not losing your temper Az!

The steam coming from under my hat and the Flamethrower going out through my Holmes pipe didn't clue you in did it?

Oh I dropped my fingerprint kit when I noticed...but I'm glad you didn't blow up the room heh heh.

I was on the verge of turning an investigation into a homicide...

Well...you...do kinda stand out...which is why I brought up that Pokemon Sun bit, make ya feel better.

I still can't believe that's actually real....

Yeeeep. Hopefully that Ryme City starts investing in...what were they called? Pokepoofs?...with all the Pokemon running amok in it. Then you won't feel singled out!

I'm feeling rather ambivalent about that...