~obscure Pokémon NPC appreciation post~

Geez. Battle Subway patrons say the darnedest things. I love them so much.

(Cosplayers? In my Pokémon game? …Seriously, Maid Cyanea is my hero.)

(Not to mention the potential for hilarious partner matchups on the Multi Line.)

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Depot Agent Furze • Waitress Terra • Nurse Kikuri • Maid Cyanea

(Policeman / Roughneck) • Lady Sasha • Clerk ♂ Henrik

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…Also, honorable mention goes to Pilot Phyl. Besides the amusing fact that every single Pilot in the game claims to be the #1 pilot in the world, a professional man uttering the word ‘pwned’ is just fantastic.

In fact, if you’re ever incredibly bored, you should just scroll through every patron on the list on that site, and their quotes will surely brighten your day.

_{(Or y’know, actually go ride the Battle Subway and see them — but whatever.)}

NPC dialogue is pretty much my favorite part of any game, if it’s done as well as this. Sure, Pokémon NPCs are a mass of copypastas of same handful of trainer classes, characterized by a mere two or three lines each. Yet, both inside the Subway and out, they actually manage to be extremely diverse, and often quite charming and memorable. Some are delightfully punny, some surprisingly insightful, and some outright defy their image in the most amusing ways.

It gets even better when it gets self-aware, as so many lines are clearly winks and nudges to the real-life Pokémon fans themselves. I don’t know whether it’s supposed to be alarming or heartwarming to hear the characters echo your own sentiments as a fan… About how Pokémon-training is obsessively taking over their lives, how they turn to Pokémon battles as a sweet escape for all ages, how they’ve been with Pokémon since childhood and consider them part of their family…

In any case, I take it as ‘heartwarming.’

…And, here’s one last line that I particularly like:

Frankly, I suck too much to stay alive on the Super Line where she hangs out; otherwise I’d try to get a screenshot.

Would serve as a perfect /endoftopic for all those arguments that break out over what constitutes a “true” Pokémon fan, don’t you think?

I’d bet all of my Pokédollars that Generation 5 will deliver the long-awaited sequel to Pokémon Snap.

_{This guy. This guy is the key to everything. Why give the BW rival a camera of all things!? That’s not any sort of unique character trait. There was already a picture-taking character in the series who was OH YEAH THE PROTAGONIST OF THE FIRST SNAP GAME.}

_{I am sure of it: Trip is gonna do a Heel Face Turn (or maybe not; maybe it’ll be fun to play as a jerk) by the end of the next anime season so that he can be the protagonist of Pokémon Snap BW. In this game, set in Unova or an unnamed parallel place much like Unova, we’ll have entered the digital age. Some Pokémon will only be visible in photographs through enhancements, enlargements, etc. And perhaps instead of mounting the ZERO-ONE at Professor Oak’s request, Trip will be on a personal picture-taking journey aboard a tour bus that takes him around to the different courses, which include Desert, Mountain, and City!}

_{Another piece of evidence: Just look at the current series’s name. “Black and White.” …BLACK-AND-WHITE. WHAT OTHER GENERATION COULD EVER HAVE SUCH A PHOTOGRAPHIC NAME? Of course, not every photograph you take in the game would be black-and-white; that’d get boring. But maybe, just for thematic effect, your top-scoring photo will be on display set in monochrome like all the most excellently artistic and deeply classy pieces on DeviantART.}

_{… *sigh* Okay, so that’s hardly “evidence.” But I can dream, can’t I?}

_{Shoot, I’d buy the heck out of this game.}