Viva Piñata Is A Lot Like Pokémon, But Fluffier
Viva Piñata may have never met the critical success of Pokémon, but the two games share a lot of important similarities, including cuteness.
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The original Viva Piñata was released in November 2006 for Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. Developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios, many assumed it was Microsoft’s attempt at directly competing with Nintendo’s highly successful Pokémon franchise.
To be sure, Viva Piñata has had its own commercial success – the first game spawned two console sequels released in 2007 and 2008, as well as an additional game made for the Nintendo DS. It also inspired a successful animated series of the same name. Still, all of this is still difficult to compete with the level of success the Pokémon franchise has received in the last few decades. Pokémon has resulted in countless T.V. shows, movies, anime, books, and of course, video games. Pokémon is still going strong, too, whereas the Viva Piñata series hasn’t seen a new game or television season in over a decade.
With that in mind, it wouldn’t be accurate to call Viva Piñata a direct competitor to Pokémon, but the series does borrow a lot of elements from the Japanese franchise. Given their similarities, players who enjoy Pokémon stand to enjoy Viva Piñata’s selection of games, too, even if the titles are a bit dated in this day and age.
Pokémon & Viva Piñata Share A Lot Of Similarities
The core concepts of the two games are the same – to collect and care for a series of creatures. In Viva Piñata, players are tasked with restoring a neglected garden on Piñata Island. Once the player meets specific requirements, piñatas will be attracted to the garden and can eventually become a full-time resident. Piñatas of the same species can even mate, resulting in a piñata egg that players can hatch or send to other players.
Pokémon, on a basic level, is very much the same. Players collect Pokémon both for competitions and to fill out the regional and national Pokedex. Granted, Pokémon is less about attracting the Pokémon and more about capturing them against their will to use in combat. But players must still take care of and train their Pokémon so that they can evolve. Piñatas in Viva Piñata can also evolve but only in the sense that they are directly impacted by their environment, not so much the relationship they have with a ‘trainer.’
Similarly, both games allow creatures to fight each other. With Pokémon, the whole point is to advance to the next round of battles and to collect and train more powerful Pokémon. In Viva Piñata, there’s less emphasis on fighting and more so caring for your animals while attracting new species. Piñatas can still engage in fights with each other or Ruffians, but the game discourages such head-on conflict by typically leaving Piñatas sick when the conflict ends. Players are also able to stop Ruffians or Sour Piñatas by constructing a fence around them to tame them. This is pretty harmless and wholesome, especially considering the epic battles that Pokémon and their trainers can participate in, explaining why Viva Piñata attracted a younger audience in its heyday versus Pokémon’s attraction to people of all ages.
While the two games are similar, Viva Piñata is a bit more childish than Pokémon, and it certainly has never matched its critical success. Still, it could be worth unearthing an old copy of Viva Piñata, particularly for fans who love the nurturing aspect of Pokémon.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/viva-pinata-pokemon-catching-trading-growing-caring-animals/