Having featured in every release up till 2015, Pokemon’s Game Corners were so widely loved that they were almost revered. From hosting different titles like Voltorb Flip in Johto to being a vital part of the storyline in Kanto, these casinos were every player’s favorite.
However, with the release of Pokémon Black and White, the minigames disappeared. To this day, they are yet to be returned. The big question every Pokemon fan has been asking since then is: Why were the minigames removed?
The reasons are due to the troubles Nintendo experiences in getting its new releases ratified by international bodies. It’s in no way caused by possible dislike for the corners among fans. When Diamond and Pearl got shipped, the minigames were eliminated in the Korean international versions of the game, all thanks to legislation edging to ban gambling.
When Platinum got shipped, these modifications were added to Europe’s version. The publishers had to remove them as featuring slot machines would have got Platinum rated at 13 and not the more preferred three or even six.
The aftermath of European Restrictions
With the minigames redacted in the European build, it simply became a question of time before the slot machine in the original Pokemon game corner was replaced completely across all forms. It’s not very difficult to understand the reasoning behind the board’s decision: it makes more economic sense to cut the feature out once than to keep modifying different builds to placate different audiences.
Nintendo equally placed great importance on Pokemon’s relevance to children’s entertainment. Considering that slots were not in the children’s best interest, it became all the more important to align the people’s perception of the game with PEGI’s recommendations.
These days, players typically find new titles with no slot inlays in new releases. If you particularly love slots and you’d give anything to play, turn your sights on online casinos instead. With Canadian platforms like Caxino Casino, your initial deposits would be doubled, up to C$200, and you’d get multiple shots at making spins to win real money. So unlike the game corner Pokemon where all you get to win are coins relevant only to Pokémon gameplay.
The eliminated minigames inform anybody who cares to know; digital assets like games have their designs influenced not only by developers but equally by the authorities in locations they would eventually be played at. If removing slot machines is in the best interest of all concerned, best it be done.
Pokemon’s BDSP: What’s the Deal With the Game Corner Removal?
Nintendo’s Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pair has kept most of its early features. However, there’ve been some profound changes to some notable in-game oddments. One of such is the elimination of the Veilstone Game Corner. Players often experienced extra gaming thrills by spinning away at Veilstone. And that’s aside from the in-game prizes relevant to gameplay to be won.
A player might choose to redeem their stash of coins with real funds. The coins would ultimately be used to gamble at the game corner slots. There are usually several prizes to be won from the slots, such as rare Pokey and, in some instances, Porygon. The only other way to win a Porygon would be to change and put 9999 coins down at the prize counter.
Nothing – not rare Pokeys, and certainly not Porygon – beats the fun of staking and making wagers with real money. The best Canadian real money casinos are way more thrilling and, in any case, feature more slots games than you would find in any Pokémon build. The trustworthy casinos tend to offer an extensive range of bonuses you’d certainly find interesting.
Software Ratings Boards May Have Led To Pokémon BDSP ‘S Game Corner Cut
Like one finds with Black and White, the removal of corners in BDSP wasn’t the first time the games were removed. The elimination of the minigames in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl trails the same reason as with Black and White: primarily due to casinos facing stiff regulations in South Korea.
However, the refusal of the European authorities to award it a game rating of at least three contributed to its deletion in BDSP. While the Vellstone game corner was retained, the corner of the slot got eliminated. This guaranteed that players could only obtain coins by playing the game to receive a minimum amount in a day.
Pan European Game Information, the central European body for rating original video games, required players to be 12 years old to play games with gambling content. Players all around Europe further experienced this when BDSP’s age rating increased with the release of the most recent versions.
Since kids are increasingly favoring the more compact raspberry pi even over PC games, PEGI’s insistence on an age tag of 18 would only have ensured Pokémon’s gradual withdrawal away from the best retropie games, which would have dealt a serious blow to Nintendo. The developers decided that the new age tag was economically unacceptable and were forced to eliminate all forms of in-game gambling to which game corners lend themselves. It’s only expected that the Veilstone minigames would be delisted from the game features.
Conclusion
Nintendo was forced to delete the in-game slots from popular variants of Pokémon due to growing regulations across several regions. Some regions, notably South Korea, are cracking down heavily on gambling as a whole and would permit no references to it in any form, be it in a movie or PC game.
Other regions like Europe, however, restrict younger children from playing games with any form of simulated gambling. This would’ve resulted in unacceptable financial losses for the company, which necessitated the removal.