We all want to be the very best, that no one ever was- as famously uttered for the very first, and very best, Pokemon theme song. But what if I told you that Pokemon was not, 'the very best'? They were not the very best at their own genre of game having been recently outshone by a random go getter indie project so disastrously that daddy Nintendo is having to slit throats in a pathetic display of legal manipulation to supress competition. And now neither have they been the very best when it comes to computer security after suffering a leak so horrific this is has been effectively dubbed the 'Teraleak' in reference to the franchises latest gimmick-feature in Terastallization. Very droll, I'm sure Gamefreak just loved seeing that across the headlines. (I know some others are saying it's because there's over 1 terabyte of leaked info- but that's the boring explanation, live a little- will ya?)
Now this is of course considered a 'Hack', but before you start summoning up images of multiscreen hacker-men typing at three thousand words a minute, cutting through firewalls like paper- let me give you the image. According to the Discord leaker who detailed the incident, this was entirely a failure on behalf of internal security who left a big vulnerability in a very not-secure location that ended up providing a back end into Gamefreak's network. And this leak is bad. Not just for the security of whatever slop Gamefreak are planning to feed us for the next few years, but for the actual employees there because, yes, this is one of those 'personal details leaked' kind of security flubs. Always a stressful time for the people just trying to make good games out there who really don't deserve this kind of headache on them. If they wanted their personal details leaked, all they needed to do was sign up for a PSN account in the UK.
So what did people get? Everything. Literally everything. We now know the production codenames for every Pokemon title across the past twelve years, alongside what is widely understood to be the codename for the Switch 2- whenever that is expected to show up. (At this point it's going to competitively launch with the PS6) We also have the codename for the next mainline Pokemon game and a spin-off which I won't mention a single detail about not to keep it's secrecy clear but because I just don't want to invite that kind of chaos into my life. It's like letting in a vampire from the chaos realm through the front door- better off just pretending you didn't read that stuff. What is much more inline with my own personal interests are the various concepts arts and old sprite sheets that have leaked. Some of the unused art is viscously cool, and another reminder of how hard it is for studios to convey the dynamic excitement of a great piece of concept art into even a 2D animated sprite. Square Enix are the only one's who can reliably put it off, Pokemon's just make me feel sad for the missed opportunity.
Next, good lord above- Game Freak actually has an internal lore diary! I'm not sure why that surprises me but with how haphazardly new conceptual deities appeared to be thrown into Pokemon I just kind of assumed that only the fans were putting in the work to make sense of it all but no- Game Freak literally have a kabbalistic-reminiscent creation graph detailing the inner workings of the universe, including what legendary trios are ranked in the overall Pokemon pantheon. Impressive and humbling. (Feel like Rayquaza should be higher than Kyogre and Groudon considering he literally stands between them as a balance- but I understand why he would be considered betwixt the pair.)
One provision I will never understand from the corporate world is the incessant requirement to hold onto every little insignificant chunk of nothingness that literally no one would ever need to reference again in their lives, which incidentally is how the minutes of various important Nintendo meetings got leaked. One such involved the discussion to end Ash's run on Pokemon and cited the direct reasons why. Declining viewership was a factor- as well as the very reasonable approach of bringing in new characters that a new audience can connect with rather than this weirdo kid who seem to rebirth himself every few years or so. Surprsingly levelled headed of Nintendo here, I was impressed.
But where things get less level headed would be in relation to some of the 'background lore' that people have allegedly dug up. Now I will say that I have not personally delved into the leaks but rather seen several databases that has collated the important and interesting parts, which means I haven't personally seen this Typhlosion lore dump that set the world on fire- but assuming this is as real as the rest of the leak- I can understand both why people are so up in arms and why it even exists in the first place. It's a matter of the context of both the story and Pokemon as a whole- but that doesn't make it any less weird to the literal observer.
For yes, in as-of-yet unreleased Folk-lore regarding one of the dullest four legged Pokemon of all time- (Yeah, I don't like Typhlosion- fight my, Ty-heads!) people have found themselves yet again confronted in horror about how very close Pokemon and Humans actually are. And I don't just mean that personably. Within the Pokemon universe Humans and Pokemon are literally cousin species, both birthed by the first born (first made?) children of the literal almighty god. The four legged Dailga created Pokemon and the upright Palkia created humans, both supposedly in their own image but I think we've seen plenty of bipedal Pokemon who would put that under the microscope. But at least now you know what is meant by 'a time back when the line between Pokemon and human was blurred'.
And yes, within the- honestly messy and confused- story we see Typhlosion impregnate a human girl who then gives birth to... a Slakoth for some reason? The Typhlosion also shape shifts, which fits the Yokai inspiration of the creature but not the actual Pokemon itself who holds no such ability- that's Ditto's gaffe. It's just an understandably off-the-mark addendum to Pokemon lore that never made it to print. And yet remained attached to Gamefreak archives because, like I said, corporations have this annoying tendency to cling hopelessly onto absolutely frivolous junk that no one benefits from. How long as it been since they were actively writing lore for Typhlosion? And yet this story was just allegedly pinging about? Bizzare!
Overall I think the biggest take-away from the Gamefreak Leak is not some crazy reveal about their upcoming schedule. You know like how when Insomniac was hacked and their next decade worth of truly ambitious projects were leaked so we really know the heights they're attempting to reach for over the next generation and beyond? Yeah, Gamefreak have none of that. There's no ambition. No excitement. Nothing grand in the pipeline they're working towards, building up their skills to achieve. In fact, as far we can tell, Gamefreak literally plan their core games only one in advance. And doesn't that just sum up the Pokemon company perfectly? No grander plans, no rumbling ambitions. Just taking the blows as they come and shrugging with the times. No wonder Terapagos sucked so bad.
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