7. Pokémon - Skyrim
Ok, so this one is a little weird; two entirely different properties with zero to do with each other. However this is another one that I dont see literally crossing-over but a fusion of the two ideas to make one great game. I had been trying to think of a possible cross-over for Pokémon, while realising the obvious choices of Animal Crossing or Kinectimals but I wanted something a little more serious. Pokémon, in my eyes, has never received a great open-world, 3D, console game. There was a Gamecube iteration which attempted this, Pokémon: Colosseum. This was by no means a bad game, under-rated and overlooked is more accurate. It had the right formula and mechanics but the technical limitations of the time period meant it couldnt be truly open-world. Now that gaming has evolved much further and open-world RPGs are becoming massive and also more impressive graphically and mechanically. Therefore there is no reason there couldnt be a great, open-world RPG Pokémon game. The original Pokémon Gameboy games were incredible, even today theyre masterpieces, and the idea of having something of that calibre on next-gen systems with great graphics, semi-serious story and great gameplay. Imagine Pokémon in a world like Skyrim; a serious, huge world with customisable characters and role-playing. Instead of sword-fighting or casting spells, youd throw Poke Balls and square off. Instead of levelling up your character, level-up and evolve your Pokémon. Instead of cottages, farms and castles, youd venture into towns, Pokémon Centres and Gyms. Instead of Dragons soaring through the sky, thered be Charizards. Itd be a spectacle to behold and one Id be hugely excited to get my hands on. Part of the problem of Pokémon: Colosseum was the battles, they worked fine but they occurred often and required loading to take the player to a battle stage where Pokémon squared off. This somewhat took you out of the experience, whereas nowadays there could be no loading and no real battle stage, simply allowing two Pokémon to be threw out and battled. The battles wouldnt just randomly occur in grass but the Pokémon would be like they were in the cartoon, real animals with ecosystems that travel in herds and stick to areas that benefit them. Imagine jumping into a lake and coming face to face with a Gyarados, or scaling a mountain only to meet a Snorlax at the summit or entering a cave and being attacked by a Machamp, rather than a troll. Id want to limit the number of Pokémon to the original 151, as that would be an ideal starting point and provide more than enough to populate the world. I became jaded with Pokémon when it began to add more and more Pokémon, which dont really resemble animals anymore. The games and show were at their peak when it was Ash, Brock and Misty and Pokémon like Squirtle, Pidgey and Onyx, as opposed to Helioptile, Spewa and Honedge. Not least of all imagine the possibility for the online mode. Thousands of players travelling around the region, battling, earning Gym badges and taking on the Pokémon League. The same gameplay of the campaign mode but without the story mode, I honestly cant imagine why that wouldnt be awesome. A better suited game than Skyrim may be Ni no Kuni, the incredible JRPG that received critical acclaim. Ni no Kuni is an open-world game, has a cartoon-style aesthetic and features gameplay of a young boy exploring villages, forests, dungeons etc. and a battle mode in which the boy can fight himself or use creatures to fight for him. This is pretty ideal for Pokémon but I feel the size and seriousness of Skyrim is better suited to a modern Pokémon game for its old-school fans. I get that this wouldnt be for everyone but I imagine any old-school Pokémon fan could see the massive potential in a game like this, itd be tricky but entirely worth it. The reality is such a Pokémon game coming to PS4, Xbox-One or even Wii-U is very unlikely but we can dream nonetheless.