Why didn't they remake any of the third version games?

[Kathylikestoread]

Sorry for being dumb, but why is it that when remakes come out, third version games are almost never remade, with the exception of Yellow? And why did they retire third version games after Gen IV?

 

[beasttrash]

You're not dumb for asking this! This is definetly a valid question to have.

Honestly I'm not really sure why they only decided to remake Yellow. My thought is the nostalgia value of Yellow to a wide range of folks that perhaps the other third versions just didn't have. Also probably to introduce the main series games to kids who first discovered Pokemon with GO. Its a nice inbetween for that game and the rest of the mainline games.

That said, I feel like the third versions have been referenced in remakes and other games. HGSS includes the Suicune story as a subquest, The Delta Episode is all about Rayquaza and Deoxys, and copies Emerald's storyline a ton. And the endgame of PLA references a whole bunch of stuff that happened in Platinum's endgame.

Heck, I remember that HGSS was released on the 10th anniversary of Yellow, and some disucssion that walking Pokemon may have been a reference to that!!

As for why they stopped making third versions, I think its just the advent of DLC. DLC has kind of taken the place that third versions have in the last few years. And the DLCs we've gotten w/ SWSH and SV add extra story content that would have been in a tradtional third version and probably more if you ask me.

 

[RichestAirPirate]

That question's easy to answer, at least to me. They don't remake third versions because they can't make an opposite version of that third version to sell alongside it. HGSS remade Gold and Silver because Gold and Silver were opposite versions. Crystal wasn't remade because Crystal didn't get a counterpart version at all. As a compromise, the remakes try to include some content from the 3rd version in them. Keyword is TRY. They don't always succeed but they try.

Yellow got remade because Pikachu gets mascot privileges, Game Freak always likes a little gen 1 pandering, and Eevee is actually another very popular and recognizable Gen 1 Pokémon, so making a Yellow remake starring it instead of Pikachu would bring in similar appeal. In fact, ever since LGPE, Eevee's become a sort of secondary mascot to the franchise, essentially the Luigi to Pikachu's Mario. Hey, Eevee even got its very own year just like Green Stache, so I guess it works.

As for why no more third versions? DLC. Why make another version of a new game when you can just expand upon the original and charge money for that instead? It's also worth noting that third versions also sold less than their older brothers overall, so maybe that played a factor too.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Third versions don't get remade because they're generally redundant and having a third version of a remake is a tough sell. Why remake a third version when you can just include the third version content in the remake like HGSS. They only remade Yellow as a pretense to have a re-remake with Go mechanics.

As for why we stopped getting third versions after Gen 4, it's probably because everyone was getting tired of them, especially the players. Paying for another full price game and going through basically the same campaign all over again just to access the handful of hours of new content feels like a complete waste of time and money. DLC is a much better system for this.

 

[Kathylikestoread]

That question's easy to answer, at least to me. They don't remake third versions because they can't make an opposite version of that third version to sell alongside it. HGSS remade Gold and Silver because Gold and Silver were opposite versions. Crystal wasn't remade because Crystal didn't get a counterpart version at all.

What do you mean? Couldn't they have remade Crystal alongside Gold and Silver? They made Gold, Silver and Crystal together after all. If they remade the third version games, we could have had things like MindCrystal, Delta Emerald and Dazzling Platinum (dumb names I know but I had to yap that out).

 

[BugMite]

What do you mean? Couldn't they have remade Crystal alongside Gold and Silver? They made Gold, Silver and Crystal together after all. If they remade the third version games, we could have had things like MindCrystal, Delta Emerald and Dazzling Platinum (dumb names I know but I had to yap that out).

HeartGold & SoulSilver included enough of the added story elements from Crystal (Eusine and the like) that they might as well have just been considered remakes of Crystal, with elements of Gold & Silver, rather than just being straight remakes of G/S, honestly. I'd say they already could count as being third-version remakes as it is...or even just remakes of all three versions for the entire generation.

Also, Crystal was actually released after G/S, not simultaneously.

 

[Kathylikestoread]

Also, Crystal was actually released after G/S, not simultaneously.

Couldn't they have just released a Crystal remake along with HeartGold and SoulSilver or just released a Crystal remake after HeartGold and Soulsilver? How would it have been unprofitable?

 

[RichestAirPirate]

What do you mean? Couldn't they have remade Crystal alongside Gold and Silver? They made Gold, Silver and Crystal together after all. If they remade the third version games, we could have had things like MindCrystal, Delta Emerald and Dazzling Platinum (dumb names I know but I had to yap that out).

First off, no. They didn't make Gold, Silver, and Crystal all together. Gold and Silver came first, then Crystal came in.

And second off, they can't remake Crystal alongside Gold and Silver because HGSS already have some content of Crystal in them. That was a compromise of sorts for not being able to do so. In other words, HGSS gives you Gold/Silver stuff, some Crystal stuff, and some completely new additions. It gives you some of the best of both worlds overall instead of just giving you Gold/Silver again. But even if they did remake Crystal, which many would consider superior to Gold and Silver, then it kinda defeats the purpose of remaking Gold and Silver in the first place outside of the ability to trade version exclusives.

TLDR: Remaking Crystal makes remaking Gold and Silver a little redundant.