Pokémon Legends: Arceus, a new game that Pokémon fans are looking forward to, was released on time at the end of January, and without any surprises, the game performed very well, selling 6.5 million units in its first week, setting a record for the fastest and most sold units in the first week of the Switch console's Pokémon series! In addition, some innovative elements in the game have also been well received by players, which is a double harvest of word-of-mouth sales!
We know that Pokémon Legend: Al Zeus is a "prequel" to Pokémon: Diamond/Pearl, set in the ancient Shin'ao region, inspired by the real-life Hokkaido region of Japan. In fact, in Pokémon Legend: Arzeus, there are still many elements related to the real world, such as: the action of an NPC throwing a poké ball is exactly the same as a classic action of throwing a baseball in reality!
Doctor here is a friendly reminder: the following content is slightly spoiler-based, so those who have not yet played Pokémon Legend: Arzeus should pay attention. On the player forum, a Japanese player discovered that the game's character "Mora" was ready to fight the player head-on after explaining his plot, and the way he threw the poké ball was very unique, so that baseball fans were extremely familiar with it, which became a hot topic!
Baseball is quite popular in Japan, and players can fully understand the above developers' homaging behavior of baseball elements. The action of Muro throwing the elf ball reminds everyone of the "two-stage pitch", that is, when the baseball pitcher throws the ball, he will freeze in the air for a few seconds after raising his foot to pose, and then throw the baseball. The player who is good at using this action is the retired Japanese professional baseball player Myashi Iwakuma.
Of course, the above "association" is the wishful thinking of players, and neither Nintendo nor Pokémon has yet confirmed that this is a small Easter egg that intends to join the game. However, the doctor felt that the two were basically exactly the same, and there was no objection. It is worth mentioning that in 2006, the Japanese professional baseball officially banned the "two-stage pitching" action, and Iwakuma Hisashi and some other baseball players were forced to change the pitching action, which became history.
The doctor is convinced that the above action is a game egg because it is not the first time that the Pokémon series has secretly added a tribute to Japanese baseball players in the game, and previously in Pokémon: Sword/Shield, the character Hepp's pitching method pays tribute to Hero Noshige, and the fire owner Kawu's pitching method pays tribute to Murata Akiharu.
It's a lot of fun to mix popular games with popular local sports culture, and many of the Japanese players are baseball fans, so the above design can resonate with everyone. If the Pokémon game was designed by a Brazilian, then the Poké Ball is estimated to have been kicked with a foot; if the Pokémon game was designed by Chinese, then the Poké Ball is estimated to have been played with a ping-pong board! Well, the doctor is just blind to think, when it is not true.