Character Limit Extension

[winstein]

In the main Pokemon games, there is a character limit in the Pokemon names, character names and move names. Basically, because of the limit, players are not able to exceed 10 characters for Pokemon (5 in Japanese) and 7 character for player characters (not sure about Japanese). It might be sufficient in most cases, because many people don't need long names.

However, the limit might also be a hindrance in some cases, like people who have long names (like Garfield and Rachelle) or Pokemon whose names would make more sense if more characters would be added, like Feraligatr and Victreebel. Move names fall under the same category, as there are certain moves that lack a space due to having a 12 character limit (6 for Japanese), so we have things like PoisonPowder and ThunderPunch.

It is a possibility that there might be a point in the future where the character limit might be extended, although it does not necessarily means it would happen. However, given a choice, would you have allowed the character limit to be extended, so that some names would make sense (Poison Powder) or more room could be given for longer names? Or would you rather still have the character limit as it is because extra space might not be needed for longer names or that the name "Feraligatr" would still be relevant?

Thanks for reading.

 

[Hammerite]

I would love to see them extend the character limit, particularly for player names. There's surely no longer a need to restrict to only 7 characters for the player name; at least make it 10 characters like for pokemon names. It would only add 6 bytes to the amount of storage required per pokemon.

 

[Composer]

Both character and Pokemon names would profit from extending,but I would more like to see longer Pokemon names so things such as Feraligatr wouldn't happen anymore.

Plus it would give us more options when nicknaming.

 

[Sneaselz]

It would be great to have an extension on nicknames, otherwise I'll think of a great one and be one character short and it will not make sense no matter how I rearrange the letters -_-

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

Pokemon/Character name extensions will be really helpful for my nicknames (ex: nicknaming Blitzle "Thunder Horse").

 

[ravenclaw1991]

I'd love to see this happen for character and Pokemon names. I have a short name, but look at people with long names, they can't necessarily use their name in the game, if they do, it has to be shortened. I don't particularly care for longer Pokemon names, they've done a good job shortening the ones that are too like.. like Feraligatr. Nicknames should be able to be longer though definitely.

 

[Bikini Miltank]

The possibility of an extension to the character limits did occur to me when the names of the B2W2 version mascots were released. Black Kyurem and White Kyruem don't fit within the character limits in either English or Japanese. However, in this particular case, I suspect that in-game, the relevant Pokemon will simply be called "Kyurem", with the names simply referring to forme differences.

Personally, the only time I've really run into issues with the character limits is for the player character's name. Seven letters is kind of limiting. The twelve letter limit on move names seems to be problematic for certain languages: in some versions, many of the move names have to be awkwardly abbreviated to stay within the limit (I think the Italian games have the worst cases of this).

 

[Joshawott]

The problem with names like Feraligatr and Victreebel, is they would cause inconsistency in relation to past games and media and the newer extensions (like Feraligator and Victreebell) would also have to be trademarked. I would however, support it being increased for future Pokémon names.

I'd say a nickname limit of 12 would be a lot better (yes it sounds like a small difference, but it's actually quite big in terms of names xD)

 

[~ Z ~]

Only thing I'm asking is to use following three letters: å, ä, ö.
For long long time now I've wanted to name my player or pokémons as Åke or Håkan.
Also dying to have Bidoof called Väinö or male Kricketune called Väinämöinen.

EDIT: I forgot to mention Escavalier called Yrjänä.

 

[SaixBanana]

Extending the character limit to 12 for players and mons is definitely a fantastic idea, and something I can definitely see happening in Generation VI. (Better hardware = more storage space, so why not?) However, I do think that suddenly seeing official names like Feraligator and Victreebell would be a little unsettling.

 

[Silverwynde]

I would dearly love to see extra letters for nicknaming Pokemon. My poor Palkia is named VectorPrym because VectorPrime was too long. Just adding two extra letters would really be helpful. It would also be great if the PC name could be extended a little; my hubby's stuck using Prime as his nickname and he'd rather use something else. His first choice happens to be a letter or two too long, which really sucks. =/

 

[Meyneth]

my nave is 8 letters long, and there's no short way of saying it, so Character names would be great for me and pokemon names why not?

 

[Infinity Mk-II]

Yes, extending it to 12 would be an excellent idea. It would allow for a pokemon with an ominously long name to exist, too.

But mainly because one thing pokémon has done that really bothers me is carry over mistakes from previous games across generations, never changing them simply because of "consistency".
As much as I'd like them to be Victreebell and Feraligator, they'll probably never be with such a mentality. Heck, they even changed the TMs, made pokémon learn HMs naturally... but HMs still exist and are undeletable, as an undesiderable artifact of the first gen that got rendered obsolete in the second games.

As for moves, they've been giving them names to avoid it, but it'd be really helpful too so we don't get silly abreviations. (Though I'd rather have them rename moves altogether...)

 

[Georgie Pie]

I personally don't feel like an extension is necessary... U.U

...and if they did extend the limits, I don't think they'd retcon the spellings of 'mons like Feraligatr. Feraligatr would be Feraligatr, even if the limit was extended to thirty characters.

 

[Almonds]

Extra space would be great. I wanted to name my pokes after characters, but the space was too limited. 20 characters would be fine by me

 

[Te-em]

I want longer names for my Pokemon. I had to name a Pokemon Napoleon instead of Napoleon XIV and one パプルヘズ instead of　パープルヘーズ (Purple Haze). I don't know why there are so few characters. You have to shorten the names like in an old NES game, which usually have few characters because of little memory. I seldom have trouble with the Trainer name though, because I often use the exact number of max characters for some reason.

 

[Torterrius]

Changing Player Character limits makes sense to me. I mean, some people legitimately have names longer than seven characters in English. I'm lucky to have mine equal exactly seven.

But as for Pokemon and Move/Ability names...I kinda like the stylistic differences afforded a Pokemon with a forcibly shortened name. Like Feraligatr or Victreebel. The fact that their names aren't perfectly out there makes them Pokemon and not just stylized animals from our world. It's the one-letter difference that matters.

As for move names, I get ThunderPunch. The fact that the names must be combined makes the technique a Pokemon move, not just something a Pokemon can do that happens to be called...

It's all about the style of Pokemon I guess, and how the lack of characters in the latter two cases makes it Pokemon. Not based on nostalgia, but based on style.

 

[Karisse]

I'd love to see extensions for all of them, really. But the one I think takes priority is character names. I mean, think about it. There are names like Victoria, which is relatively common (I think, at least), and is just one character over the limit. So, that means that the players with names like that will never be able to name their character after herself or himself because of it. I mean, a nickname for a 'Mon is one thing, but a name for a player character (or even NPC Trainers, for that matter) is a lot more important.

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

Yes, there should be an extension. Some people have longer names. They should be able to use their name as their trainer name. Also Ability names, attack names, and Pokemon names could have more veriety if there was a charater limit extension.

 

[chimera]

Character names? OMGYES. I would really appreciate that, even if it was just to 10 characters like Pokémon.