"Greetings," Arceus said, "Today, in honor of it's four year anniversary of release in Japan, I would like to do an editorial about a topic I've talked about to the point of ad nauseam; Pokémon Conquest."

The Alpha Pokémon ignored what sounded like pre-recorded groans coming from the hallway, his eyes glancing upwards in nostalgia instead. "Ah, Pokémon Conquest; the wonderfully bizarre strategy-oriented crossover between Pokémon and Koei - often equated as Pokémon meets Fire Emblem - that both captivated and confused most of the people who played it."

The Normal Type's expression shifted into deadpan. "And four years later, it's mostly been forgotten, leaving behind a small cult-following of fans almost devoted as Star Trek's and many more, and less fanatical, fans wishing for a sequel, along with near-universal praise from critics."

"Now, this editorial won't be joining that before-mentioned chorus of previous critics who lauded it - surprising as that may be - but instead examining a more quiet topic deserving of attention," Arceus nodded. "And so, in the spirit of the thin neutrality of the previous assessments, I will instead be examining why Pokémon Conquest didn't quite succeed as well as it could have."

Arceus the Critic

Why was Pokémon Conquest not that successful?

"On paper, it seemed like it would have been a big hit," Arceus glanced down at a few papers scattered on the desk in front of him. "It did have quite a few things going for it; near-universal critical acclaim, beautiful artwork, an interesting premise, deeper strategic and tactical gameplay than the main series, and characters other than the player that use Legendary Pokémon."

The Normal Type looked up and blinked. "Oh, and a Shiny Rayquaza."

"Regardless," Arceus cleared his throat. "There were multiple, more subtle, factors that were running against it and would ultimately prove to be an insurmountable hindrance. So why don't we take a look at them?"

1: 3DS Being Out

"This was probably the big one," Arceus began. "While Conquest wasn't doomed to fail from the start, it unfortunately wasn't given much room or opportunity to succeed either. The 3DS had been released the previous year and, even with multiple complaints, gained considerable popularity and already Nintendo was beginning to shift the entirety of their resources away from the DS - the last Pokémon games to come out on the DS, Black and White 2 - would be released only a few months after the North American release of Conquest."

"Had Conquest been released on the 3DS, perhaps it would have garnered more attention," the Normal Type let out a 'hmm'. "Despite having arguably the best artwork ever made in a Pokémon game, it's graphics were otherwise not all that outstanding. And being a sidegame it would not have to build off the graphical structure of a previous game like Black and White 2 had to; had it's release been delayed a year or a half, it could have gone the route of Gates to Infinity and provided updated graphics complete with Pokémon's first foray into 3DS compatibility - not that that would have necessarily improved the game, but it certainly would have garnered more attention."

"And, ultimately, as quite a bit of the attention was on the 3DS - ironically, it was Fire Emblem: Awakening that would be one of the main reasons for the 3DS's rise in popularity - DS games gradually faded into the background. Even Black and White 2 did rather poorly in comparison to their immensely successful successors and predecessors, despite arguably being better than both. And so, even from day one, Conquest had a rather large obstacle to overcome," the Alpha concluded with a solemn nod, eyes closed.

2: Side Game Effect

"Ah yes, perhaps an even bigger handicap; the dreaded Side Game Effect," Arceus remarked dryly.

"While everyone knows what the Mystery Dungeon series is; arguably being almost successful as the main games, the rest of the side games Pokémon makes have always been... less than successful," the Normal Type's eyes drifted over to the side. "Perhaps this is best exemplified in the presumably now-defunct Ranger series, which have received a fair deal of criticism from fan and critic alike for both their stories and gameplay; Shadows of Almia focused on the former, while Guardian Signs dealt with the latter, but it never seemed to strike that proper balance the Mystery Dungeon games had."

"Then there were the Orre games, which, while quite good, never really garnered much attention due to a combination of how stark a departure the mechanics were from regular Pokémon games... without really changing anything - as impossible as that might seem - and a lack of advertisement that usually accompanies a side game. And we could talk about many of the other more-forgotten side games that Pokémon has done, most of them being even less than successful for any number of reasons - but they usually boil down to the simple fact that, by inherently being a non-Mystery Dungeon sidegame, it's not going to do as well as it would otherwise."

"To further complicate matters, this was not only a side game but a surprise crossover," Arceus' eyebrows furrowed. "A crossover with a game series, I might add, that most of the western audience would most likely not be familiar with - although, ironically, Conquest can be attributed as causing a resurgence in popularity for said series with that very audience."

"In short, Conquest had two problems inherently working against it; being a DS game when Nintendo was moving onto the 3DS, and being a side game with an unfamiliar crossover, but these would not be the only things working against it," Arceus let out a short sigh. "And so, why don't we take a look at the issues that could have been resolved by Nintendo?"

3: No Anime Special

"Ah yes; we all remember the classic Rescue Team and Explorers specials that gave the series a bit of a highlight on the big screen. And then there are the episodes, arcs and even the occasional movie that featured a Pokémon Ranger," The Normal Type's eyes slightly narrowed. "It's also no coincidence that these happen to be the two big side franchises in Pokémon; take a look at the Orre games, that, despite arguably being of higher quality than Ranger, got little more in terms of associated media than a short cameo in the greater magna, and have mostly been forgotten by the greater fanbase."

"Perhaps it's simply because certain fans go crazy every time they see a certain character on screen, or that watching a television show is simply less involved and expensive than playing the media that spawned it, but it's an undeniable fact that almost anything that has an anime will get more attention than something that does not," Arceus rolled his eyes. "And the biggest irony here is that the larger franchises are less in need of an anime special than the smaller ones; after all, practically everyone who's played Pokémon knows what the Mystery Dungeon franchise is, and a good deal have played a ranger game and even more heard of them. As a result, a special for them for the purpose of attracting more attention to them would be rather superfluous. But for the smaller titles, such as Conquest or the Orre games, they would be a vital way of drawing much needed attention."

The Alpha Pokémon nodded. "After all; even four years later there are still a good deal of fans who have never even heard of Pokémon Conquest and an even larger amount who have little or no idea what it was; an anime special, be it a tie in with the regular one like Ranger's or an independent episode like Mystery Dungeon's, would have drawn interest to it from a much larger crowd and undeniably served to have bolster the game's popularity because more people would have known about it and what it was."

4: No Magna Translation

"Now, there actually was one piece of media that was made for Pokémon Conquest; a six-chapter, episodic magna, known as Ransei's Color Picture Scroll. And, much like the game it was based off of, was a success in Japan, but was never translated - and only actually attracted attention in the west after a mostly-complete fan translation of it surfaced nearly two years after the fact."

Arceus glanced over to the side. "It's also interesting to note that the magna fails to give any names to the playable characters, meaning the Hero/ine are the only playable characters in Pokémon history without any default name."

He then cleared his throat. "Regardless, the magna - and the guidebook complete with an artbook to a lesser degree - not being translated was another loss to the potential popularity Conquest could have had."

5: Age Group Indecision

"Nintendo didn't do itself any favors by not deciding which audience it wanted to appeal to," Arceus said with a resigned nod. "And, ultimately, I think it went with trying to make it simple enough for kids to enjoy and understand, but complex and engaging enough that older players could still appreciate it."

"That's not to say they didn't accomplish that goal - they did, and I think quite well - but unfortunately they misread their potential audience," the Normal Type made a motion akin to shrugging. "After all, the majority of the audience they did attract was primarily older than the one they had in mind, and while most could enjoy the character and depth already in the game, there were still many complaints that it was too easy or otherwise simple on some parts, and they would be right in that respect."

"Ultimately, had Pokémon catered to the older crowd over the younger one when designing Conquest, it probably would have left a much larger impression and gathered more attention - as out of all the games Pokémon has made, Conquest probably had the most untapped potential given its nature, and unfortunately it looks like it will stay that way. But by trying to walk the middle ground, Conquest failed to make that decidedly exceptional first impression that any side game series would have to make to be successful."

6: One Move Per 'Mon

"This plays into the above, I suppose," Arceus commented reservedly. "While this isn't inherently bad - it's good from a game perspective, actually, as it forces you to think about your army composition and where you move your Pokémon - unfortunately, the notion of limiting a Pokémon to only one move caused many people to break out in hives."

Mew was furiously hammering away at the buttons of a cardboard cut out made to look like a 3DS when she stopped, eyes bulging and mouth going agape.

"One move!?" she cried out in shock, dropping the prop as she took a sharp breath and clutched her chest. "But my Lv. 100 Shiny Lucario with max EVs should be able to know more than four moves, not less! Even if I'll only just spam two of them..."

The Psychic Type's eyes then rolled into the back of her head and she fainted with an audible sigh.

"Right..." Arceus said slowly. "Regardless of the benefits of it - and, admittedly, the move cap probably would have been better at two instead of one so Munna and Musharna wouldn't be dependent on one another, amongst other things - the idea of only being able to use one move discouraged many people from actually experiencing the game and it's unique battles and challenges beyond that simple glance."

7: General Confusion

"Another thing that did Nintendo no favors was their own indecision about Ransei itself," the Normal Type said with a small nod. "Is it medieval, or is it modern? Why are there so many kingdoms? Where did the legend come from? What is the extent of character x's relationship with character y? How, exactly, do links work? Why is x Pokémon here but not y? Where is Ransei in relation to the rest of the Pokémon world? And so on and so forth."

"When you have Ieyasu dressed in a full suit of armor but commanding a castle that behaves more like a factory - complete with fully operational cranes, security cameras and a blimp service - it's needless to say you'll end up with more than a few people remarking that it's confusing," Arceus deadpanned.

"This could have, of course, been resolved with more dialogue and events - what does exist at the start and end of every character's story does hint or otherwise imply many things, though it's still rather scarce - but the lack of it certainly was another blow to those interested in it; as it's generally not a good idea to force your audience to make sense of the world they're playing in because you haven't."

"And so, in conclusion," the Alpha Pokémon began with a sigh. "Pokémon Conquest was an incredible side game that had arguably the largest amount of potential since the original Mystery Dungeon games debuted, but was sadly not given much opportunity to make use of it. Still, even for its few shortcomings, it was overall a very good game that is sadly, more often than not, overlooked by the fandom as a whole."

Arceus blinked as he turned away. "Hm. Rather short. I was under the impression that there would be something el-"

And then light filled the room.

"Must I do this?" Arceus asked with a drawn-out sigh, wishing he could take the off eye patch that the New Species Pokémon had put on him. Mew, floating underneath him, only crossed her stubby arms and leaned in, eyes narrowing menacingly.

"I wore a powdered wig for you, Arcy!" Arceus took advantage of the eye patch to roll his eyes while Mew straightened. "Hold on, there's still something missing..."

The Psychic Type produced a notepad, quickly drew a heart with an arrow through it, and ripped out the piece of paper and taped it on the side of one of Arceus' hooves with a dopey smile. "There! Now, the sooner-"

Arceus just sighed and hung his head in shame. "Welcome to the Salty Spitoon, how tough are you?"

"How tough am I?" Mew replied indignantly. "I played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky!"

Arceus' eye narrowed. "Yeah, so?"

"Without any tears!"

"R-Right this way, ma'am..." the Alpha stuttered before floating aside. The two then floated off-screen, but not before Arceus' eye flashed, causing a banner to materialize from nowhere.

Coming eventually; our review of Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon

Note from the Author:

I remember first seeing the commercial for Pokémon Conquest back in the summer of 2012 when I was still a kid and, while still not having a firm idea of what it was exactly, wanting to get it immediately afterwards. Pokémon? With a more tactical/strategic element in a vaguely medieval setting? And a Shiny Rayquaza!? Must... get...

Needless to say, I'm just a wee bit disappointed it didn't attract that much attention.