by Chris Vellucci

PokÃ©mon has been a crowd favorite for ages: Iâ€™ve been playing it for over 15 years now. Â Versions Red/Blue came out and it was the most amazing, addicting, adventurous game I had ever seen. Â But itâ€™s been 15 years… and not much has changed. Â I just finished PokÃ©mon Black version 2 and it was a little disappointing. Â Nothing was wrong with it; it was the same great formula with a new world, new pokÃ©mon, and new adventures. Although it was fun to play, it left me wanting something more.

Thatâ€™s when I had a brilliant idea that got friends saying, â€œYou need to contact Nintendo NOW!â€ Â Unfortunately, I donâ€™t have the necessary connections. Â I know, putting IP on the internet is basically just giving it away, I have RTFM. Â However, if this gets made into a game then itâ€™s totally worth it. Â I only ask for $ 0.05 on every dollar, Nintendo â€“ just for the record.

Ladies and Gentlemen, hold on to your pokÃ©balls because this is PokÃ©mon A/R.

PokÃ©mon A/R stands for â€œAugmented Realityâ€ because, instead of you diving into the Unova region or the Kanto region, the pokÃ©mon come into your world. Â This would ideally start with a smartphone app. Â I know Nintendo isnâ€™t interested in the mobile phone gaming market, but hear me out. Â A PokÃ©mon app is downloaded depending on if you bought version A or version R (more about this later). Â This app would use location services to note when you are moving. Â When you go for a walk to the grocery store or while you jog around a lake, the app will track your movement and have you run into pokÃ©mon based on your movement and location. Â This means you would also only run into pokÃ©mon that live in that area. Â You wouldnâ€™t exactly be running into Magmar or Slugma running around your local lake, but expect a psyduck or two for sure.

The ability to track your movement will mean that you wonâ€™t run into pokÃ©mon when sitting still (unless in the car or on the train â€“ an â€œon/offâ€ switch will be available for these instances), giving a more realistic feel to finding pokÃ©mon. Â Your phone vibrates and sounds off the â€œyou just ran into a wild pokÃ©monâ€ music , you open the app to see a wild pidgey RIGHT THERE on the ground (augmented reality) and now your phone is a pokÃ©dex telling you all about the pokÃ©mon and giving you the option to fight or leave it alone. Â Pick fight, and you have yourself a battle on the ground in front of you. Â For those who donâ€™t want to hold their phone a certain way, there would be a feature for â€œphone onlyâ€ where you would just have the battle on your screen like you would any olâ€™ gameboy/DS/3DS PokÃ©mon game.

It doesnâ€™t stop there, though. Â Say youâ€™re waiting for your lunch at a restaurant. Â Another trainer walks into the room and your phone will alert you that there is a trainer with the app and within proximity for a pokÃ©mon battle. Â You can send a challenge invite and, BOOM, pokÃ©mon battle right there in the middle of Panera. Â Again, augmented reality is an option, or you can just use your phoneâ€™s screen.

It gets better: Â So say you ran into a Gyarados or Ash Ketchum himself and he messes up your entire party. Â Now you have no pokÃ©mon, no money, and youâ€™re ugly. Â Time to go home. Â You walk in and turn on your Wii U to play the disc based PokÃ©mon game you bought. Â Depending on whether you got version A or version R, youâ€™re given a unique code to download the full app from your phoneâ€™s app store. Â The disc isnâ€™t just that though, this is home base; Your Wii U is where you go to plug in your phone via USB to update your party information (whoever has leveled up or learned a new move). Not only this, but your Wii U will also be the PokÃ©center, PokÃ©mart, and stadium. Â Heal your party, deposit and withdraw other pokÃ©mon from Billâ€™s PC, and buy some supplies so that next time you go out, youâ€™re not without some revives or full restores.

Once youâ€™ve gotten all your supplies and party members organized; head over to the stadium to hang with other trainers. Â Here you can trade with other trainers around your region and even around the world to get your hands on a Geodude (since you live nowhere near a mountain). Â You can also challenge other players to pokÃ©mon battles at the stadium. Â Stats are recorded and put on a leaderboard so you can see who is top dog in your region and the world. Â Any battle that takes place outside of the stadium is logged on your personal account, but not the leader board. Â This is also where Gym Leaders (NPCs from the game) are available to be challenged to earn badges.

Well, there you have it: Â My idea for the next PokÃ©mon game. Â Now, you can leave the house and experience the battles in the real world but have your central hub to return to for healing, training, and trading your pokÃ©mon. Maybe even add some DLC for new pokÃ©mon or a story mode code to download from the eStore. Â Iâ€™d be excited because this would be the first time ever that the main character is YOU. Â Not an avatar, a customizable character, or some sort of Link into the world. This game would bring the pokÃ©mon to the real world rather than you into the Johto world. Â So, Nintendo…if youâ€™re listeningâ€¦I think I got an idea for you.