Retro Wrap-Up: Pokemon Edition 3: The Next Generation

This week’s Retro Wrap-Up is a little different. You see, the Operation Rainfall Retro Commercial Research Team (in other words, me) had this written up on Friday, the day before Pokemon X and Pokemon Y were released. There’s no way I’d be able to get through the new games AND be able to make a Retro Wrap-Up at the same time.  On the subject of Pokemon, it’s time to show you some commercials from Generation III. A generation of Pokemon games that has been somewhat maligned for various reasons. But I’m not gonna get into that mess. That’s an opinion article for another time. For now, here are the various commercials for the Pokemon games on the Game Boy Advance from this awkward generation.

And, since I couldn’t find an English version of good quality, here’s the Japanese commercial for Pokemon Emerald.

Here are the highlights of this past week.

MarvelousAQL has revealed the next installment in the Harvest Moon franchise, Linking the New World. Here are the first images from the game.

New info has been revealed for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, including Eiji Aonuma saying that there may be answers related to Majora’s Mask at the end of the game.

I review Pokemon Rumble U for the Wii U, Jonathan Higgins reviews Devil Survivor 2: The Animation and Will Whitehurst reviews The Wonderful 101 for the Wii U. Angela Hinck provided this week’s Retro Review with Fatal Frame. In addition, Jeff Neuenschwander gives us his first impressions of Rune Factory 4.

Not only is Square Enix bringing Final Fantasy VI to Android and iOS this winter, but they’re also bringing Dragon Quest I-VII to mobile platforms in Japan during that same period of time.

In addition, Square Enix decides to launch a crowdfunding platform called Collective. This doesn’t sound completely cynical in any way whatsoever.

Square Enix has also revealed that Drakengard 3 will be getting an international release.

Justin Graham takes a look at Wicked City in this week’s Anime of the Past review.

Nintendo has updated the Club Nintendo catalog with some new games to redeem, including Super Mario Kart for the Wii and The Legend of Zelda for the 3DS.

Guy Rainey takes a look at the Citizens of Earth KickStarter in this week’s Crowdfunding Spotlight. In other crowdfunding news, Hyper Light Drifter has been confirmed for the Wii U. Also, Cosmic Star Heroine has reached its funding goal with plenty of time left.

32 new games and programs were recently greenlit for Steam, including AdventurOS and Hyper Light Drifter.

Josh Speer takes a look at Dementium II protagonist William Redmoor in this week’s Building Character.

GameStop will soon be accepting pre-orders for the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 once again.

Finally, the Downpour Podcast crew talk about the news regarding SteamOS/Steam Machines, the Tokyo Game Show and more in this week’s episode of The Downpour Podcast.