Pikachu can devolve into Pichu, but what about the other Pokémon?
The little companions present couldn't help but be curious, so they all eagerly asked to be bitten.
Charmander devolved into an even smaller Charmander, with the name annotation below reading [Little Charmander].
And Bulbasaur devolved into [Tadpole Seed].
Squirtle devolved into [Baby Squirtle].
There were none of these in the Pokémon of the previous life; these contents were all newly created by Pokeni.
The main reason was that starting with Pichu as the initial character seemed a bit mismatched with the three starter Pokémon, but if Pikachu could devolve, it would be unreasonable for the other Pokémon not to have corresponding devolved characters.
So, on this basis, a lower-level form was added to maintain the consistency of the game.
However, this operation also brought good results, making the children laugh heartily.
"Little Charmander is so small, look, so cute!"
"What are yours? Look at mine, Bulbasaur's appearance completely changed after devolving."
"Hehehehe... it really is like that."
The children burst into laughter.
The most magical among them was Bulbasaur, but on second thought, turning into a tadpole made sense too.
Tadpole Seed has a big, round head, with a fan-shaped wide tail trailing behind, and there's a small seed on its big head, even smaller than Bulbasaur's, looking truly adorable.
Moreover, after turning into Tadpole Seed, even its way of walking changed, becoming a back-and-forth wagging of its tail.
Of course, there was no change in speed, so it felt like this guy was swimming back and forth on the grass.
Seeing the Pokémon turn into this, the children let out sharp, squealing laughter.
Their stomachs were almost aching from laughing.
"But..."
Uesugi Noboru was a bit worried now.
"How do we change back?"
In the game, they knew that if they got hit by an enemy again after shrinking, they would die.
And after dying, the [Shared Pokémon Revival Count] on the left would decrease by one.
The initial revival count was only 15 Times in total; once it reached 0, it would be GAME OVER.
The problem was that they didn't know how to change back after shrinking.
However, everyone quickly discovered the secret of [Evolution]—
Each player's Pokémon has two bars above its head: one is the health bar, and the other is the energy bar.
Whether you attack enemies or obtain items, you can increase the progress of the energy bar; as long as the energy bar accumulates to full, the Pokémon will naturally evolve.
Moreover, the energy required for evolution will increase with the number of evolutions.
To evolve from a small form, such as Pichu to Pikachu, it might only take eating two Apple.
But to evolve from Pikachu to Raichu, it would require eating 5 Apple.
After discovering this fact, everyone was incredibly excited, bouncing back and forth on the ground like little rabbits.
Biubiubiubiu!!!
In the game, Uesugi Noboru's Pikachu's energy accumulated to full, and then the screen gave a close-up: a silhouette of Pikachu appeared in a white background, and then this silhouette rapidly expanded into Raichu's silhouette.
When the screen returned to the game, Pikachu had already completed its evolution, turning into a larger Raichu.
The reason for this was that the current program could not yet achieve smooth transition changes between models with significant differences, and if it were implemented through real-Time rendering in the game, it would consume a lot of console performance. It was better to use silhouettes directly to achieve this, meaning a 2D animation for the transformation, and then replace the Pokémon's 3D model during this process.
This both saved resources and gave players a familiar sense of closeness.
After all, in the Pokémon anime, many Pokémon have a "guess who I am" segment.
Even if the evolution process is shown in 2D, it is enough to make players' dopamine levels surge.
The several young players now were in such an extremely excited state, with their brain's dopamine levels through the roof.
"Wow, my Pikachu evolved!" Uesugi Noboru jumped up excitedly, almost dropping the controller.
"It's true!"
"Wow, then can my Charmander evolve too?"
"I want to evolve too!"
"Me too!"
The children all shouted happily.
After Pikachu evolved into Raichu, not only did its appearance change, but its size also almost doubled.
At the same Time, its skill changed to Thunderbolt.
Thunderbolt can throw a thundercloud, from which a powerful lightning bolt quickly strikes down, with astonishing power.
"Did you see!?"
"Did you see, my skill is so powerful!!!" Uesugi Noboru shouted.
The other companions were too busy to be envious, only caring when their own energy bars would be full, so everyone played the game more actively, searching for items.
...
After a while, Uesugi's mother knocked on the door.
"Ah ah ah ah ah~~~"
"Hehehehe..."
The children's shouts inside could only be described as deafening, and Uesugi's mother couldn't help but frown, feeling like her head was about to explode.
After knocking a few Times and getting no response from inside, Uesugi's mother finally pushed the door open.
Only then did everyone turn their heads.
"I just called your parents to confirm, you can sleep here tonight."
"That's great!!!"
The children cheered!
"Uesugi's mother, I love you!" Reiko shouted loudly, wishing she could pounce on Uesugi's mother and give her a good kiss.
"Oh, this child, what nonsense are you saying!"
Uesugi's mother's cheeks instantly flushed.
She quickly walked out and closed the door.
However...
She seemed to have forgotten something.
When she reached downstairs, Uesugi's mother finally realized, so she went back upstairs with hurried steps.
She continued to push open the door and reminded them:
"It's almost 9 o'clock now. You'll have to go to bed after playing for a little longer."
"Okay, Mama."
"Okay, Auntie!"
Everyone had no Time to pay attention to her.
They were playing with rapt attention.
Uesugi's mother couldn't help but sigh, then silently walked out of her son's room, not forgetting to close the door behind her.
...
The fifth level was a mini-BOSS battle.
The BOSS was the second evolved form of Honey Sweet, named—
[Queen Bee].
Honey Sweet's first evolved form is Combee, and then Combee evolves into Queen Bee.
Queen Bee had a pair of squinting wings on her back, wore a long skirt, and had a pair of red compound eyes.
In terms of size, she was more than twice as large as the Raichu Uesugi Noboru was currently using.
Standing in the hive-shaped BOSS level, she gave off an oppressive feeling of looking down on them.
During the BOSS battle, in addition to Queen Bee's own attacks, she would also summon Honey Sweet and Combee.
The entire scene, apart from the cheerful, fast-paced BGM, was filled with the buzzing of bees.
Queen Bee would throw out a glob of venom every once in a while.
The venom would remain on the ground for a period of Time; if hit by the venom or stepped on it, it would count as taking damage, and the Pokémon would automatically devolve.
So, this level was actually quite challenging, because you had to constantly dodge the venom on the ground while also attacking and dealing damage to Queen Bee, much like playing a 5-person dungeon in world of warcraft in the future.
The several companions were highly tense throughout.
Soon, everyone turned into their cute, devolved forms.
"Ah ah ah ah!" Uesugi Noboru shouted anxiously; he was a Raichu before entering the level, but now he had turned into a Pichu.
Although shrinking made it easier to dodge, the damage output also decreased significantly.
However, as an earlier level, Pokeni's design was still humane; it didn't raise the numerical difficulty too high, but rather gave players some pressure.
Queen Bee's venom attack frequency was actually not high, but the scene looked a bit chaotic, and it was easy to make mistakes in the rush, coupled with the surrounding buzzing and stimulating fast-paced BGM, giving players a strong sense of pressure.
In addition, there were also some items in the arena used to counter Queen Bee—
Large Apple.
Each Apple was as big as a Raichu; you needed to pick up the Apple and throw it at Queen Bee or the other small bees.
Finally, after using up 3 shared revival opportunities, the four children worked together to defeat Queen Bee.
Thud!
With the final blow, Bulbasaur threw an Apple at Queen Bee, and her health bar dropped to zero.
Then the screen froze and entered the ending animation—
Queen Bee covered her head and fell down spinning.
The defeated Queen Bee devolved a step, turning into a Honey Sweet, buzzing on the ground with a dizzy UI spinning around her head, showing how annoyed she was after her defeat.
Afterward, a clear interface for passing the level popped up.
The Pokémon returned to the world of warcraft map, and just then a prompt panel appeared.
[After defeating the Queen Bee, the Pokémon successfully purified her with a Purification Stone.]
[From now on, players can use Honey Sweet as a character.]
[Every player can press the menu button to switch their Pokémon left and right.]
After this UI popped up, the Honey Sweet's avatar flew like a meteor to the upper left corner of the main interface, joining the Pokémon avatars.
"Huh?"
The friends were all stunned for a moment, looking at each other.
"What just happened?"
"It seems that after defeating the Queen Bee, we can now use Honey Sweet!"
"Ah ah ah ah!"
Everyone reacted at the same Time, letting out exclamations.
"We can use Honey Sweet as a character!"
"Ah! I didn't expect there to be such a setting!"
Uesugi Noboru and his friends initially thought this game was just about adventuring with the original three Pokémon plus Pikachu as characters, but they didn't expect such a big surprise here.
In other words, the enemy Pokémon encountered in the game could all potentially become one of the characters they use in the future.
Oh my goodness!
Not only does it have the fresh feeling of a side-scrolling game, but it also retains a strong Pokémon flavor.
Where in the world could there be such a happy thing!
Ah, Reiko covered her forehead, feeling like she was about to suffocate from happiness.
The friends were incredibly excited and quickly scrambled to request the right to choose the Queen Bee.
"I want to play!"
"I want to play too."
"I want to try the Queen Bee!"
"No! Rock-paper-scissors!"
...
In the end, Reiko got the Honey Sweet character.
The friends were convinced, partly because she really won rock-paper-scissors, and partly—
She's a girl, and the Honey Sweet's evolved form, the Queen Bee, is also a girl, so it's really suitable.
Reiko was very happy to get Honey Sweet, and she even seemed to take on a queenly demeanor.
Honey Sweet comes with a flying function, so even without a balloon, Reiko could reach some normally inaccessible high places, which brought great convenience for subsequent level completion.
After Honey Sweet evolved into the Queen Bee, her size was similar to Raichu, not as exaggerated as her BOSS form.
"Why was the Queen Bee so big when she was a BOSS, but now she's so small?" Reiko asked, puzzled.
"Hmm..."
"Ah ah, I know!"
"It must be because the previous Queen Bee was corrupted, so her body mutated after turning bad. Now that she's been purified by the Purification Stone, she naturally returned to normal." Skinny Monkey said.
"Wow, Skinny Monkey, you're so smart."
"So that's how it is."
"Mm-hmm, it must be like that."
Pokeni made this design to maintain the consistency of the players' characters, and at the same Time, as a BOSS, she needed to have the oppressive feeling of a large body.
The children's logic was also very self-consistent; in their view, the Queen Bee's BOSS form was so much larger mainly because she was infected with a virus, and being corrupted had an effect, changing her size.
If Aoki Haruhi were here to hear their discussion, he would be very touched.
Because Aoki Haruhi himself hadn't thought that much.
...
After a while, the mother pushed the door open again, calling out with some dissatisfaction:
"It's too late, you must go to bed."
A glance at the Time showed it was already almost 10 o'clock.
Normally, everyone would have been fast asleep by this Time.
Although they hadn't played enough and were still immersed in the game, Uesugi's mother's attitude was particularly firm, and the children had no choice but to reluctantly put down their controllers and go to bed.
Urging them to leave the room to wash up, Uesugi's mother shook her head.
These children were too unruly.
Without adult supervision, they would probably play all night.
...
As expected, Reiko was given a separate room by Uesugi's mother.
That night, Reiko lay in bed, feeling particularly happy.
The levels she played today were all related to bees and farms.
Her dreams that night were sweet.
And in her dream, Reiko even dreamed that she had become the Queen Bee.
...
The next morning after breakfast, the children started playing the game again.
The first floor had a total of 10 levels, with the last level being [Tsareena].
Tsareena evolves from the fruit-type Pokémon [Bounsweet], and its final form is the cool and sassy [Tsareena] wearing red thigh-high boots and having long green hair.
Its skirt-like part still clearly resembles a mangosteen, and its multi-strand vertical hair-like part is actually leaf-like, which is also Tsareena's hard shell, with yellow granular patterns on it.
Tsareena also has prominent slender legs, and she is also a master of kicks.
This official residence BOSS on the first floor throws seed bombs, and where the bombs explode, small mangosteens will grow, increasing the difficulty slightly compared to the Queen Bee.
However, the friends now had experience, and their operational and reaction abilities had greatly improved, so they quickly defeated [Tsareena].
With Tsareena defeated, the entire first floor was completely purified.
The color of the grass also changed from its original light yellow to dark green, and small flowers grew on the ground.
And [Tsareena] also joined the new list of selectable characters.
...
As the first floor was purified, a long ramp leading to the second floor appeared on the right side of the screen.
The four children danced with joy.
"Oh yeah! We've entered the second floor!"
"That's great. I wonder what the second floor will be like, and what kind of Pokémon are waiting for us."
"Mm-hmm, let's go quickly, I can't wait!"
The second floor has an ocean theme, so it's basically water-type Pokémon and levels centered around water.
However, the current Sony PS machine's performance cannot support good water effects, so it looks a bit strange; the water itself is an opaque material, and it has a very old-fashioned, extremely rustic blue effect.
Although Aoki Haruhi found it incredibly distasteful, considering the limitations of this Time, he could only make do with it for now.
Each floor has a different theme.
The first floor is farms and forests.
The second floor is the ocean.
The third floor is the desert.
The fourth floor is the snow mountain...
And each floor is paired with corresponding Pokémon, giving players a sense of realism.
The levels are also designed according to the different themes of each floor, for example, in the ocean levels, there are surfing sections.
And in the desert, there's sandstorms, slow walking, and if you stay in the sand for too long, you'll sink in.
And so on...
Of course, these visual effects are very simple and crude; for example, the water is a large flat water surface, which looks more like moving blue fabric than water.
And the desert is the same, a large flat surface with sand texture effects drawn by the artists.
But even so, Pokeni had already pushed the Sony PS console's performance to its limit.
The result was that while it didn't achieve Aoki Haruhi's ideal effect, it won the hearts of the children.
Uesugi Noboru and his friends had a great sense of novelty and game fun playing each level.
...
After playing for two and a half days, by Sunday evening, the friends finally completed all the levels.
They successfully defeated the final big BOSS Pokémon Lucifer, thereby purifying the entire Potela world, and everything returned to tranquility.
And Pikachu and their mission were complete, finally able to bid farewell to this strange 3D magical world.
The game came to a perfect close.
The screen also began to display the production staff credits:
[Producer: Lisa Asano]
[Script: Ishino Mika]
[Lead Artist: Kitajima Gocho]
...
When they saw the credits, the four friends hadn't reacted yet.
7 layers of levels, with a total of 70 levels designed. After finishing, everyone still felt they hadn't had enough.
"Ah~ Is that it?"
"Yeah, it's too little, isn't it?"
"I feel like I haven't played enough yet."
"Yeah, yeah, it feels like we just played for a little while and then finished the game."
The friends had expressions of regret and melancholy, feeling they hadn't had their fill.
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