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Why do you think the show became so battle-heavy as time went on?

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Cybersai

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One thing that's been noticeable about the show since it started is how it shifted gears to being mainly about the battles than anything else.

The older seasons of Pokemon seemed to be more about the adventure, whereas the newer seasons seem to be more about the battles. As I've been rewatching through DP almost every episode has the gang training in practice battles (they rarely did this in previous seasons), and almost all the main eps, even the fillers now, are about battling.

I suppose the idea to fill the show with mostly battles started during Battle Frontier, as that saga was only 65 eps and most of the eps were centered around Brains/Contests and evolution eps, likely because they were rushed and needed to finish everything before the DP games came out, but it continued like this into DP.

When going back to watch the older seasons you notice that there wasn't as much battling going on in every ep. Sure, there was the TR blast-off and so forth, but battles were a lot shorter back then than they are now.

Is anyone else noticing this?
 
maybe cause the new "Generation" has changed so much... you know were more vilent then smart that explains y i cant spell vilent right
 
I think the reason why the anime has become more battle-heavy is for the new audience. The adventures part I think would be the same thing compared to other anime that kids watch. Battling is essential in Pokemon, it's one of the things that makes Pokemon stand out from other anime types.
 
It's easier to advertise the games when you have the creatures that said games focus on, you know, doing things. Not that the main characters' Pokemon from the pre-AG era got barely any spotlight compared to the ones we have now or anything.



I think another factor is that the writers finally figured out how to write good battles more than once in a blue moon - look at Kanto. Back then, even most of the big battles really weren't that great. Charizard VS Magmar was as good as it got(which was pretty good, but one good battle in an entire season?). It was probably natural for the writers to have more battling in the series as they got better at it, especially since battles are inhertiently more action-packed than Ash & Co wandering around, helping the COTD/POTD, blasting TR off right near the end of the ep...

And of course, with May/Dawn doing contests Ash's role was free to change into something more specifically geared towards the male portion of the fanbase(since as much as I'd like to say otherwise, boys do tend to get more action-packed cartoons aimed at them than girls). If nothing else, Ash battling more helped balance out the different style of contests(which always took up a fair amount of the episode(or two, or three...) whenever one took place, unlike battles which could take as little as 3 minutes of an ep before the show started focusing on them more).
 
Because competitive battling has taken over the virtual Pokemon World, and because in the games, you fight trainers galore.
 
Because crap like Kingler tackling Golem and knocking it out sucked, they realized that they couldn't make a long running show by having sucky battles, and they had more material to work with like moves, abilities, etc.
 
Probably because the "Let's help the COTD and their Pokémon solve some problem of their's" formula got tired after an entire decade and the writers began to grow more and more fond of ongoing storylines as time went on.

It's actually kind of funny to compare the major sagas. Johto was largely about helping people, Hoenn was helping people but with more focus on the main characters, and now Sinnoh is mainly about the main characters with helping people being on the back burner. Makes ya wonder what Generation V's gonna be like.
 
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Well let's be fair. It's not just Kanto. In fact, Kanto had it's gems amongst gyms (Thunder Badge, Volcano Badge, Earth Badge etc...) Each season had it's own, and they also had their poorly done, wtf gym matches. Even AG had it's bombs, as much as some of you may not want to admit it. Battle Frontier seemed to improve a lot of things, and even then, even in the final match with Brandon, I remember they still did the classic "Pokemon does attack with swift lines in the background, and the next shot shows the other Pokemon getting hit in it's own frame."

Sinnoh completely evolved things though, both in graphics and the actual quality of the battle. Some of it seems to really reflect competitive battling in ways in that they're emphasizing speed a lot (albeit sometimes with Pokemon that shouldn't have that focus, I.E. TURTWIG!), and that they're incorporating strategy a lot more, like Chimchar's dig, Buizel's ice aqua jet, etc...
 
Most likely because new kids just want everything so action packed these days. I mean, I don't think many kids who watch the show are quiet, thinking about the new people being met or anything. They probably want to see things use cool attacks and get hurt by each other.

Though I agree, they have been toning down on the tried and true formula(which is good).
 
They probably want to see things use cool attacks and get hurt by each other.
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Think these kids may end up being violent prepubescents? Do other video games have anything to do with this like, first-person-shooters?
 
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Probably not, just saying this since kids are so hyper. Can you reword your last sentence though, it's a bit muddy.
 
Part of it I think is that the writers probably got better writing battles, particularly with the introduction of more moves as the generations went on.
 
I actually like this. They show the group actually training their pokemon. Even Jessie recorded Ash's first battle with Fantina so she could study Fantina's style and base her training on that.

The battles are the best part in my opinion. They managed to do this and still show that most of the characters still care about their pokemon. This is one of the many reasons that I like the newer seasons better than the older ones.

The games really are mostly about battling. I'd say about 97% battles, 3% everything else.
 
Straightforward - to pander towards the appeal and crux of the games forthwith. To be less straightforward and more descriptive, however, I'm in major disagreeance when it comes to battling - I find they're arrant and not befitting of plot elements but rather somewhat contrived and boring events, in my opinion. If anything else I feel the adventurous nature the older episodes and movies are more at the command of an epic and more engaging story rather than the minute and studious statistic of a gym battle, and I find the Pokémon to be more intriguing when abounded in the emotional and unpredictable journies the earlier episodes and movies had. It's also a great way of reminding the viewer that if deadset enough, the spirit is a much greater force and fearsome weapon (on a moral scale) than any sort of data or technology.

However, I do think that at the very least, the newer episodes, however more battle-rooted, manage avoidance of regulating characters to background material so much or throwing away concepts at a whim. The earlier seasons did this. There's the exception of Brock, though, as he's been that way for some time now (in the older episodes he was more satiating in humor than he ever was hitting on any girl on my view). But, yes, I'd say the series has erred more on battles because the games do. But I don't like it that way myself as someone who does enjoy the games but prefers.... less of a game/battle/RPG format for the anime. But then that stems back to the anime being based off a game that's an RPG format by nature to begin with, so to be less round about and more forthright, it's to cater to the games but I myself am not a fan of that. I'd rather watch something more unique (IMHO) in the anime when all is said and done.
 
I think the problem was that in Kanto, it was far too focused on the adventure, which is fine since that's part of the appeal of Pokémon, but most important gym battles and the Indigo League which should be battle focused episodes strangely weren't?!?

Thankfully, that's something that has been corrected in the later sagas.
 
I have the endless games; Stadium 1 & 2, the GB games, the Colosseium games for mindless battles. I'm glad Indigo focused on plot > battles.
 
This Ginga-Dan two parter we're currently in is a great example of a good plot going on. The show may focus more on battles, but I don't think plot has taken much of a backseat.
 
Luxio2k8 said:
I think the problem was that in Kanto, it was far too focused on the adventure, which is fine since that's part of the appeal of Pokémon, but most important gym battles and the Indigo League which should be battle focused episodes strangely weren't?!?

Thankfully, that's something that has been corrected in the later sagas.
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Kanto barely had over 70 episodes. I don't see how it could be "far too focused" on any one particular thing? And it was the series with the least amount of filler. Each episode was either a capture episode, a release episode, an evolution episode, a gym/league match, and the rare filler in between.

It always seemed to me that part of the appeal of it was that it was so balanced.
 
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