8 Features That Could Keep the Pokemon GO Hype Alive

According to Niantic’s CEO, this feature is a top priority and could be joining the game soon.

Pokemon GO’s most impressive feat so far, aside from the millions of dollars in revenue, is its power to bring people together. You can hardly step outside without running into another trainer, and it would be nice if we could add them to some sort of friends list.

Not all of us can be globetrotting Pokemon trainers. Trading can keep the more tied-down players in the game and give them a fighting chance at catching ’em all.

Right now, the only way to face-off with other trainers is at a Gym. Perhaps in the future, we’ll be able to challenge anyone, anywhere.

Nobody’s disputing the perfection of the OG 150, but we’re going to need more eventually. The more recent Pokemon rosters aren’t too popular, but earlier generations will keep us all catching down the line.

We are all going to get sick as hell of our outfits. That day will come. So hopefully a day will come where we get to don the Red, Blue, or Yellow in even cooler ways. At the very least, we’d like the option of changing between the outfits already available. No doubt color alliances have gotten more extreme since our Level 1 days.

Bases first appeared in Pokemon Sapphire/Ruby, letting players find special spots in the world and deck them out with toys and rugs and other fuzzy things. That system in Pokemon GO could be a grand opportunity for customization while also creating new social hubs out in the world.

Maybe Niantic and Nintendo never saw the intensity of Valor vs Mystic vs Instinct coming, but they cannot be ignored. There are three kinds of people in the world now, bursting with competitive spirit that could be leveraged in more than just Gyms.

The turn-based battle of the original Pokemon games may never make its way to Pokemon GO, but it would be nice if we got a more satisfying battle system in the future. Madly tapping and swiping is a battle oversimplification for most of us, and maybe with some time, Niantic could find a way to beef up the system.