Pokemon Players: Do You Usually Buy Multiple Versions of the Same Pokemon Game?

[Sampson]

By same game, I mean Red/Blue, Gold/Silver, Sword/Shield, etc. (The subsequent third version is another discussion -- I bet double dipping there is far more common, but more defensible given the improvements/changes that are usually present.)

Inspired by this topic. Are the two versions just a scam to rake in money from serious fans? Or is it a legitimate gimmick to encourage trading? I'm curious to see how common it is for people to buy both versions.

When I was a kid, I always bought both versions. This had nothing to do with trading -- even though I had many friends in school that played Pokemon, and I would sometimes take my Gameboy to school and battle/trade with them at recess -- it was mostly because I could only have one save file and wanted to replay the game without losing my collection. I stopped playing it seriously around Diamond/Pearl, and since then, I've only bought one of the games because I haven't cared to replay them.

 

[chrominance]

Didn't vote because I haven't actually played many Pokemon games, but I did buy both versions once: Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, because I couldn't decide. I ended up playing only Eevee and still haven't really touched Pikachu. I also didn't feel any compulsion to go back and buy the second version of the 3DS games I owned, so I think from here on out I wouldn't bother buying more than one.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I've been out of the Pokemon game for a long time, but every time I bought one of the generations I only ever bought ONE version.

My roommate bought the Sword/Shield two-pack and I didn't realize anyone did that.

 

[Atheerios]

People who buy both versions are a very small minority. The two versions are what makes Pokémon a social experience. Without it Pokémon probably wouldn't be half as popular as it is today.

 

[KartuneDX]

Nope, no reason to, nor is it ever implied you need to for completion/a "full experience". People like to insist playing one version of a generation isn't the "whole" experience but that's bull.

People who buy both versions are a very small minority. The two versions are what makes Pokémon a social experience. Without it Pokémon probably wouldn't be half as popular as it is today.

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Also this.

 

[mopinks]

I won't even buy the third versions

 

[SJUG]

When I was a little kid, I got Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald because I thought they were different games. Haven't done that since, though.

 

[Sampson]

People who buy both versions are a very small minority. The two versions are what makes Pokémon a social experience. Without it Pokémon probably wouldn't be half as popular as it is today.

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To be fair, this forum is full of a certain type of video game fan, but if 30% of this board buys both versions at least some of the time, that's not insignificant.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

You think im made of money?

 

[Kamiyouni]

One copy guy. Very glad of the turn they're taking with what's essentially Pokémon suit.

 

[LazyLain]

People who buy both versions are a very small minority. The two versions are what makes Pokémon a social experience. Without it Pokémon probably wouldn't be half as popular as it is today.

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The trading is what makes Pokemon a social experience. You can achieve that without having to sell two different SKUs of the same game.

The dual release model might've been vital from a marketing perspective in the early days, to let people know that trading to obtain otherwise unobtainable Pokemon was an important aspect of the game. But nowadays, people know what Pokemon's about.

 

[It’s Time To Go]

Yes, I have done since I could afford it, gen 4 or maybe 3.

 

[Atheerios]

The trading is what makes Pokemon a social experience. You can achieve that without having to sell two different SKUs of the same game.

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No. You can't. Because there won't be a reason to trade if everyone had the same Pokémon in every copy of the game.

It's the most effective solution to encourage a social experience.

 

[diakyu]

I have a group of friends who all play the games so there's always someone with the other version. I used to buy both versions for collection sake but I got over it.

 

[dom]

No. You can't. Because there won't be a reason to trade if everyone had the same Pokémon in every copy of the game.

It's the most effective solution to encourage a social experience.

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The starter you choose determines the pokemon that can spawn. OMG you didn't have to sell two version to encourage trading :O. Why didn't anyone think about this before.

 

[Zen Hero]

I don't understand why people buy multiple versions. Trading is so easy... even if you don't have friends who like Pokemon, you can connect with people online (like on this very forum). And for Sword and Shield you don't even need to do that, you can just join random raids on y-comm to get Pokemon from the other version. And to top it all off, Sword and Shield allow multiple save files so buying another version doesn't even give you that.

 

[Atheerios]

The starter you choose determines the pokemon that can spawn. OMG you didn't have to sell two version to encourage trading :O. Why didn't anyone think about this before.

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That would make things much more complicated and confusing for a lot of people, specially young kids, it's better to keep it simple.

 

[dom]

That would make things much more complicated and confusing for a lot of people, specially young kids, it's better to keep it simple.

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Ah yes, the whole young kid defense force.

 

[youwei]

i think for me personally , in the 3DS era i will buy both versions cos local trading is defintely safer as evil people can 'cheat' you of your rare pokemon online

Sadly for Switch era , 1 version is enough as suprise trade can sometimes give you unexpected surprises

 

[Atheerios]

Ah yes, the whole young kid defense force.

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So you don't have any more arguments then. Got it.

 

[Empyrean Cocytus]

To be fair, I do buy them both,but specifically so my wife and I can play simultaneously.

 

[Deleted member 3465]

I bought both from gen 1 - 5. I liked having one complete version and one version where I would experiment with different teams because beating the game from scratch was fun for me as a kid. Especially gen 1 - 3 I must have collectively ran through the main campaign about 50 times or so.. I was obsessed with these games. None of my friends actually traded anyways so it was much less hassle to do it amongst myself

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

People shouldn't have to make their friend pick a completely different starter they might not want just to be able to trade one of 3 pools of exclusive pokemon. Thats so fucking obtuse and useless. 2 Versions being mostly the same lets players experience the same game without that kind of shitty limitation. What an awful idea lmao.

 

[criteriondog]

I would either buy the vanilla version or wait for the third one. But in general, only one copy per gen.

 

[Deleted member 35077]

No. You can't. Because there won't be a reason to trade if everyone had the same Pokémon in every copy of the game.

It's the most effective solution to encourage a social experience.

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Nah, this isn't true, you still have limited pokemon like starters or fossils still left to encourage trade, also pokemon with trade only evolutions. Excluding that, we have a mode call Wonder trade that people frequently use despite most of the gets being pokemon you can easily capture in your game.

 

[dom]

People shouldn't have to make their friend pick a completely different starter they might not want just to be able to trade one of 3 pools of exclusive pokemon. Thats so fucking obtuse and useless. 2 Versions being mostly the same lets players experience the same game without that kind of shitty limitation. What an awful idea lmao.

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So the setting of certain pokemon being able to be encountered based on the starter you choose is obtuse and useless but the selling of two near identical versions isn't? LMAO

 

[Sandfox]

Last time I did that was with Diamond and Pearl and the latter was a gift.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

So the setting of certain pokemon being able to be encountered based on the starter you choose is obtuse and useless but the selling of two near identical versions isn't? LMAO

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It means there are only 2 pools of players making it easy to trade, especially with a friend or significant other. Involving the starter choice in the few exclusive Pokemon that spawn unnecessarily changes the most important choice at the start of the game.

Imagine you both want charmander as your starter? one of you is going to have to choose something else just to trade a few pokemon later on.

 

[milkyway]

Gold/Silver were the only games I ever bought both of. And when I first got a Gameboy Color for Christmas I got Red/Yellow and my brother got Blue but I kinda hogged them all lol. At that time I certainly got my mileage out of infinite replays (aided by that yellow save file thing I forgot the name of), after I hit puberty I was no longer concerned with having both games (didn't play a lot of RSE/FRLG, from then on Wifi was a thing).

 

[Altered]

heartgold and soulsilver because The johto games have always been my favorite.

 

[dom]

It means there are only 2 pools of players making it easy to trade, especially with a friend or significant other. Involving the starter choice in the few exclusive Pokemon that spawn unnecessarily changes the most important choice at the start of the game.

Imagine you both want charmander as your starter? one of you is going to have to choose something else just to trade a few pokemon later on.

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How is that different if both want the same legendary? It isn't.

 

[Kalnet]

Nope. 1 per gen for me. It's more interesting and fun for me sharing with friends who chose a different version from me.

- Yellow
- Silver
- Ruby
- Platinum
- White
- Y
- Shield

 

[Quinton]

I only ever buy the one.

 

[IIFloodyII]

Me and my Sister would usually just get 1 version each.

 

[Firestorm]

Why are people attacking the two version thing as if it personally offends them? Who gives a shit? Just buy one version.

I won't even buy the third versions

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Same. Well, I guess I did buy Ultra Sun to play in tournaments and then ended up not touching the game or tournaments... Otherwise, Black 2 is the only "third version" I bought and it was an actual sequel.

 

[srtrestre]

I only buy the one version and then trade for the version exclusives.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

How is that different if both want the same legendary? It isn't.

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You're asking for a requirement of having 3 people playing 3 separate starters just to be able to trade everything. Its illogical in every sense.

 

[Nickgia]

Most of the time I only buy one.

 

[DPT120]

No, I only buy one.

 

[Vito]

I would either buy the vanilla version or wait for the third one. But in general, only one copy per gen.

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Only 1? What about Gens 5 or 7?

 

[dom]

You're asking for a requirement of having 3 people playing 3 separate starters just to be able to trade everything. Its illogical in every sense.

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What's illogical is how you want to defend any criticism of these games. They could easily just have a toggle when you start the game if you want to experience the sword or shield path. One version of the game, same result.

 

[ZeroCDR]

When I still played the games seriously, yeah. Dropped off after Diamond/Pearl. Still bought Soul Silver, that encapsulated everything right about Pokémon.

Mostly because I was a big video game collector during these times, and I especially adored Pokémon.. until I just couldn't honor the time commitment these demand for playing competitively.

I made really good bank selling them in a lot, had all the boxes in great shape. So, well worth it in the end. Soul Silver remains the only Pokémon game I kept.

 

[Poppy]

god no

only time that happened is when i imported heartgold early and bought soulsilver in english

 

[LazyLain]

There are countless ways you could handle a single-version Pokemon besides basing the catchable pool of Pokemon on which starter you pick, no need to get hung up on that particular idea.

 

[Keyouta]

Just one. At times I'll buy the third version but I haven't since B2W2.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

What's illogical is how you want to defend any criticism of these games. They could easily just have a toggle when you start the game if you want to experience the sword or shield path. One version of the game, same result.

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Having 3 separate spawns based on starter preference is more complicated and forceful. Its not hard to understand why.

 

[Undeniablybiased]

The arguments that crop up over Pokémon having two versions is the weirdest "this is resetera" shit. I've got a lot of issues with Pokémon, but this is straight up not a problem and never has been.

It's not scummy. It's not anti-consumer (third versions and other such stuff might be, but that's a different argument). It strengthens the social aspect. People like it. People like talking about which version they're gonna get just Ike they enjoy talking about what starters they'll pick. It's a simple, effective, fun gimmick that harms no one and enhances the social aspects.

Stop buying both and then complaining about it, you weirdos.

 

[Papertoonz]

i buy both but i have a brother and he usually plays the other version

 

[Garcia el Gringo]

Gen One I begged my parents for every version including imports when I was about 8-years-old. By Gen Two I was burnt out on the idea of keeping up with all of the versions when Crystal was announced. After Diamond, it hasn't even been a given that I participate in a gen, even though I remained fond of Pokemon.

How bout falling for multiple versions of the many Pokemon clones on GBC? Heh.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

Is there an Option to say I buy one of the 1st 2 versions, and then the 3rd?

Edit: Whoops, I shoulda read the OP.