PokéGear · Neo Genesis (N1) #88

4 comments

1. 

   Curtis

   (10 years ago)

   PokeGear 3.0 clearly takes inspiration from the original PokeGear. Although it does lead one to wonder what happened to PokeGear 2.0? Or any of the versions in between.

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     AmbassadorCurtis

     (2 months ago)

     I think it’s also possible that this was (or else was reconned into) version 2.0 and it’s the 1.0 that’s AWOL.

     Some might propose that the PokéNav or Pokétch are to be understood as the 2.0 iteration, but I think that’d be lousy world-building since all the devices in question are meant to be made by different companies.

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       TwylisAmbassador

       (2 months ago)

       PokeGear originated in Gold and Silver and PokeGear 3.0 originated in HGSS (albeit still only referred to in-game as “Pokégear”), which is interesting from a lore perspective as GS and HGSS are functionally simultaneous. It kinda implies the player is using an outdated model in GS. Which is probably reading too far into it, but it’s also not that odd for kids to have older models of things.

       Another way to view it would be from a meta perspective that PokeGear updates were happening in real time from Gen 2 to Gen 4, and a PokeGear 2.0 would thus logically correspond to Gen 3 — but since Gen 3 didn’t have Johto games and Devon is the dominant corporation of Hoenn with their own PokeNav product, we never saw it.

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2. 

   Ambassador

   (5 months ago)

   This is Katsura Tabata’s first work for the TCG (credited alongside CR CG gangs), but wasn’t really an active contributor to the series until Generation 3. It’s fairly unusual for a 3D artist to contribute “2D” artwork, but Tabata contributed a few, including POP1 Blaziken and LM Nuzleaf.

   Outside of the TCG, Tabata was credited with 3D modelling for Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD, as well as work on Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This suggests he’s a staff member of either HAL or Creatures, which bolsters ポケモンWiki’s claims that the “CR” in CR CG gangs is short for “Creatures.”

   Many other CR CG gangs-attributed artwork attributes someone else alongside them – presumably, using this case as an example writ large, Katsura Tabata was the ‘director’ of the art being created, and Creatures’ CG staff were responsible for generating it. CR CG gangs stopped being credited for artwork after the Neo block ended, but, as with a comment I made on Crystal Kingdra, it appears staff from HAL/Creatures were still working on 3D art for the TCG …it’s just that the method of crediting artists had changed (or, perhaps, CR CG gangs had actually dissolved in some way).

   Eventually, however, they appear to have returned to crediting 3D artists as a group for their contributions, with the often-fan maligned 5ban graphics that acts as the successor to the CR CG gangs of the Neo era, with 5ban graphics being comprised of a group of staff members within Creatures.

   https://wiki.ポケモン.com/wiki/Katsura_Tabata
   https://wiki.ポケモン.com/wiki/CR_CG_gangs
   https://wiki.ポケモン.com/wiki/5ban_Graphics

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