Pokémon is a franchise that, due to its enormous fan-base, popular culture appeal and core premise of collecting lots of 'mon, has the potential to be an even bigger money spinner than it already is. We've previously highlighted amiibo as potentially being key to this, and would be surprised if amiibo cards aren't a prominent part of Pokémon Sun and Moon, but The Pokémon Company also seems to have other tricks up its sleeve.
Joe Merrick over on Serebii has picked up on a sneaky detail from last week's info dump on Sun / Moon that was somewhat overlooked. The new games will have a QR code scanning feature, and it's already been confirmed that it'll tie-in with an upcoming arcade game in Japan. Pokémon Ga-Olé is out in July and is replacing Pokémon Tretta - if you're unaware, this is an arcade machine for which you collect discs that represent different 'mon, and you place these discs on the machine to trigger battles. If you win you get more discs, and it's a loop that can certainly be fun for kids and big kids alike, but also potentially expensive for those wanting a full collection.
In any case, the Pokémon Ga-Olé discs have QR codes on them, and apparently some of those codes will be compatible with Sun and Moon. No further details are available, but you don't need to be an industry analyst to figure out that having tokens that unlock Pokémon or smaller extras in the 3DS games could incentivise players to get involved with the arcade machine.
That arcade aspect is likely to be largely limited to Japan, unless The Pokémon Company makes a play for the West with the machines. Alternatively QR codes could be distributed in various ways, and the likelihood of people scanning them and sharing them online for free also seems very high.
It's another interesting development for the upcoming games; they're due to be showcased in less than a week at E3, don't forget, so we'll certainly stay tuned to see what the Nintendo Treehouse team has to share.
[source serebii.net]
Comments 18
Hm.. This could be good and bad. I remember a while back before they patched it someone found a way to exploit it so you can scan hackmons or just any shiny/regular Pokemon you wanted. Someone just had to make the code and it worked. I mean an update patched it but still. I took advantage for a sturdy shedninja
@Zoda_Fett That was somewhat different iirc, scanning the QR code also loaded a file you had to place on the SD Card in order for it to work
In an email I got from EB Games Australia, it detialed features in Sun and Moon. It mentions using QR codes to add Pokemon to the dex so you can find them later.
Gotta scam 'em all!
I'm not keen on this. It breaks the immersion of the game if scanning QR codes is involved.
QR code abuse, here I come. Gimme those infinite shiny Mews!
(Like Game Freak is ever allowing that to happen.)
@crimsontadpoles I like your profile pic. Articuno is awesome.
If they're smart, they'll make a home NX version of that arcade game like they did with Pokken. Not sure how the home and handheld will interact, but Nintendo really needs to do a better job at interactivity and make people want to own both systems. They used to do a better job with this - Gameboy player for Gamecube, Link cables, DS demos on Wii. 3DS and Wii U have SSB controls and that's about it. How about Monster Hunter 5 on both systems? I do know that's on Capcom, but Pokémon is on Nintendo.
@Zoda_Fett It wouldn't really matter anyway because eventually Powersaves will allow you to get any Pokemon you want.
You can already do it with Pokemon X, Y, Omega Ruby, & Alpha Sapphire so there's no reason to assume you won't be able to do it with Pokemon Sun & Moon.
Hmm... I can't really think of a reason for why they'd have us scanning Pokemon with QR codes, but it oughta be a good surprise for when we see why.
Eh, it could be interesting. Let's just hope it doesn't end up involving hacking.
They are INSANE. And than they will have complains about hacked/cloned pokemons...
They call themselves that they use brains...
People are complaining about hacked pokemon and stuff... the website says explicitly that QR codes are for scanning in order to learn where you can catch that pokemon in-game.
It will likely be like: "You got an eevee in Pokemon Ga-Ole, now scan to learn where you can capture one in Sun/Moon."
Also, it seems scanning for one you have already caught would show its info. I feel like the QR codes on the Ga-Ole plates are more for a quick and easy way to read a pokedex entry of that pokemon you just received, as if you were scanning a pokemon standing in front of you in the games/anime.
It could open that Pokemon to appear to your world or safari. Or we could get 750 odd more amiibo.
I think they'd be smart to port it to android/ios and use qr codes that way. It'd probably integrate the 2 well without hurting the 3ds's market.
So ....Pokémon Sun and Moon will use QR codes.
That's potentially great news for hackers !
The current primary exploits for 3DS use QR codes in Cubic Ninja and Freaky Forms Deluxe.
Any such exploit for Pokemon will be great news on the scene as its ubiquity means hax for everyone.
I am sure Nintendo are aware of what's going on and are doing their best to avoid such a situation.
Reminds me of the e-readers back in the day. I hope there's a little more support for the west than what they had with the e-readers
So pretty much like what Yokai medals do currently
@kenzo It's not a level editor type deal, so I doubt it will be able to be exploited. Same with YW.
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