Pokemon's Friend Areas are PEAK

[@greenhat8978]

Legendary Island is supposed to be a reference to the pokemon movie 2000..... The one with Lugia, where Ash had to go to Fire Island, Ice Island, and Lightning Island. It's supposed to look like the 3 islands that the birds dwelled on in the movie..... Which is why all 3 islands also have their own little shrines.....

[@mawdewile]

Ok. That’s pretty dope

[@fragmentofself]

Idk why, but this video makes me think that mawile is shopping for a home, and they're going to every open house they can find, taking copious notes on the aesthetics and layout. What a responsible pokemon 😂

[@jellycore1316]

I love this so muuuuch XD This gives me story writing inspiration, thank you for the inspiration! ^^

[@fragmentofself]

@@jellycore1316 Lol. Glad to help

[@ryninja5788]

19:37 yeah, I believe it’s the mangrove tree. Tho mangroves usually have a bunch of tall roots that eventually go into a singular trunk, so it’s possible this big tree does that too offscreen.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Yep, some types of strangler vines (?) Can also give the same aesthetic, sans the trunk.

[@StarshadowMelody]

... Okay, the movement from the viewers assumption that that is random gibberish to "Neodymium Iron Boron" is amazing.

[@BSNull]

I would love to see a sprite artist re-create these areas for a part two this vid is so chill

[@porygonlover322]

this, Rayman 1, Neopets, and the old Humongous Entertainment point and click games all feel like they share a certain aesthetic sensibility i've always liked

[@DarkSlayerJ]

When I was a kid, I'd spend a fair bit of time just going to friend areas and looking at them and enjoying them. Glad to see that wasn't just me.

[@fishsticktheneat9611]

9:17 I think you had a point about Deep Sea Current looking like something abstract. I personally sea the shapes of the slips of lights (could be currents however) and they kinda make me see Lugia’s face (or the details of their face) in a way.

[@jellycore1316]

Oh, that's cool! Thanks for sharing! ^^

[@kanrakucheese]

Wobbuffet line is echo/sound based because their Japanese names (and thus anime dialog) form a dialog loop ("That’s the way it is!"/"Is that so?"/"That’s the way it is!" / "Is that so?"). Don’t know why Nosepass or Dunsparce are there though.

[@aer015]

I like that the Power Plant friend area is quite literally a reference to the Power Plant from the Kanto games. It's even home to all of the pokemon you can find in the games; Magnemite line, Voltorb line, and Electabuzz/Elekid. And then Decrepit Lab can be seen as a reference to the backstory of Mewtwo. The pokemon available being Ditto (failed Mew clone), Porygon line (created by Team Rocket), Abra line (found in routes 24 and 25 outside Cerulean Cave in RBG/FRLG), and Mr. Mime.

[@mawdewile]

Oooo I like the way you think

[@Air21Man]

Red Rescue Team has always been my favorite of the series precisely because of its friend areas, with Darkness Ridge is a personal favorite of mine.

[@kubyrubosawa9263]

I'm glad YT recommended this video to me and that someone gave one of the best features of the first PMD games justice

[@rycuda5146]

That was a fun watch! Refreshing to see someone discuss the friend areas, they've always been one of my favorite things about this game. I really like the editing as well as your style of commentating. Keep it up man!

[@cherrytree3400]

kyogre's got a bit of bisexual lighting going on, very based of them

[@mawdewile]

Thank god this is the first thing I’m reading in 2024, Definitely a marvelous comment to start off the new year 🎊✨

[@helfire14]

Every time you choose a different topic for a video, it turns out to be something I'm intensely interested in, how do you do it? I love the Friend Areas so much, I used to spend so much time in them when I was younger, it's a shame they removed the ability to walk around in them in DX. I used to like Flyaway Forest and Mt. Moonview the most because of the way the areas were segmented up. Also, went and filled out the tier list in the description with my thoughts in full!

[@pupcreature]

i think you could probably add some pizazz to zapdos' little island with some fulgurite pillars, maybe giving the impression of a branching tree trunk or even a pipe organ if you wanted to be a little camp with it. anyway, i've always absolutely adored most of the underwater friend areas from rescue team, as well as many of the bug-themed areas. they feel like they'd be such cozy places to take a nap or have a cup of tea with a friend.

[@darkbright2100]

20:44 they could possibly have a mountain that looks like a lightning rod or have a giant tree like in the energetic forest area?

[@mawdewile]

I like the mountain idea. Maybe it should also have a some yellow sparks around it with a cluster of lighting at the top

[@darkbright2100]

@@mawdewile how about some electric rediue that sparks from the top of the mountain to the base so it looks like the island is perpetually in a thunderstorm.

[@mawdewile]

Yes

[@darkbright2100]

@@mawdewile there is also no reason to have a small fountain of sparks that come off the tipps of the mountain.

[@GMRMDE]

The fact they took the friend areas out of the remake killed my want to play it. The whole enjoyment is collecting teammates and seeing them in the various beautiful areas with chill music along with the great story obviously. Looks like its time to replay red rescue.

[@MrNovascar]

40:51 in my headcanon, these flowers are actually berries. They look very much like early stages of Pomeg/Magostberries from Gen3. Sadly, there aren't any other berry trees in the game.

[@LightningZBolt]

I would spend literal hours just walking around these things as a kid.

[@jellycore1316]

SAME HERE AHHHHH Especially Southern Island, Latias having almost always been one of my favourite Pokémon (and been my favourite for years now), RPing as Latias there and in Pokémon Square, sneaking back and forth without being seen and stuff! XD Even though you sadly can't run around in them anymore, I'm so happy the remake still gave all the Friend Areas remade designs and MUSIC ARGHH ESPECIALLY THE MUSIC

[@Roman_the_black_cat]

​@@jellycore1316Omg another Latias fan 😊 Ive loved her ever since I saw the pi...I mean completely legal copy of the Latias/Latios movie back when I was like 2 years old

[@isenokami7810]

I think you nailed why the friend areas feel so great in your intro. The areas mostly feel nice to chill in already, and that gets even better once you liven them up with new recruits. I also like how on the friend area world map, some of the land based clumps like the mountains and forests have little depictions of each individual friend area within them, kinda nice. All that said, not only do I agree with all that, I think they’re mechanically better than how the later PMD games did things; I’ll use Explorers as my comparison example, since it’s otherwise arguably the best game (agruably, since OG Rescue Team has major merits like this over it), and yet it’s probably the PMD that I think did managing your recruits the worst. Let’s start with the big one: the friend areas are almost objectively a better way to set up a team for missions. You can still get a Pokédex ordered list, but if you hold R to go to the world map instead, it’s really quick to visit and add the guys you want. When I’m getting ready in Rescue Team, I just grab my guys and go in, like, 10 seconds. Explorers only had the menu: it gave you tools to sort things a bit better, but it still reduced team building to sifting through a tedious list of names that got longer and longer as you filled out your roster. Explorers also didn’t disband your team after a mission, which I find more of a con than a plus: Rescue Team disbanding you made it easy to swap in a different team for the next dungeon, and you could just slap the old team in if you wanted thanks to friend areas, whereas every change in Explorers mentioned thus far made team management more tedious. For a more arguable point, I like how recruitment is locked behind the friend areas. Granted, I honestly find all of Rescue Team’s recruitment limitations fun-having to work your way up evolution lines feels rewarding, I enjoy the planning that comes from only being able to recruit three Pokémon max on any one trip, having to escape with the recruit to lock it in feels like a good test of managing your allies-but I feel there’s a lot of good stuff that comes from this restriction. In the short term, it gives you strategic decisions on how you spend your money, particularly in the postgame: there are seven friend areas available, you only have the money for two, which ones do you think will be most relevant in the near future, and which possible recruits are you willing to put off unlocking for a bit. In the long term, the slew of areas locked behind the postgame breathe new life into old dungeons. Maybe you’d recruited everything you could on Mt. Steel during the main campaign, but you just bought Mt. Cleft, and now you can snag those Arons (ignoring that they show up in Buried Relic at higher levels, that happens with a lot of these examples…). While the true recruit ‘em all experience of later games isn’t bad (except for getting to snag a later stage Pokémon, as someone who played Rescue Team as one of my first Pokémon games, that bothers me a bit), it’s certainly devoid of this kind of depth. It was shallow in Rescue Team, but shallow is more than nothing. TL;DR: Friend areas are just a better way to manage PMD teams than how later games did things. Take notes if you ever make another one of these, Nintendo, this is better than selecting mons with menus. Please don’t make me build teams off a list again.

[@IosLocarth]

It's weird because I kind of agree with you but there are actually some things that I feel kind of also make me not want to agree with you. The biggest one is how limiting the friend areas are in, well, the limit of how many Pokemon you can have. You're limited to just one of each Pokemon type so if you want multiple of the same Pokemon you have to sacrifice something else. There's also the issue of not being able to distinguish between the same type of Pokemon so you have to check each one to find the one you want. There's also the slight tedium of finding them within the friend area which usually isn't too bad but it certainly adds up. I do agree that Explorers didn't work out too well with the giant menu but there weren't any loading screens or transitions (another issue with friend areas in my opinion) to select which Pokemon you want. Super really did it the best with having the multiple presets and not having any screen transitions. DX was a nice middle ground in functionality and aesthetics so I do prefer it though

[@s4n1tz3dtoxins]

i have not played a single mystery dungeon game but this makes me wanna hop on now with all this scenery this is beautiful

[@chackbro1]

Wobbuffet and Wynaut are in Echo Cave because they reflect their enemies' attacks right back at them just like an echo, just more painful

[@masterofchaos7282]

This was really fun to watch. I played Red rescue team as a child and loved just walking about the friend areas sometimes so this video was a big nostalgia bomb. Was kind of disappointed that we couldn’t walk around in them in DX. Curiously, you think you’ll do anymore mystery dungeon videos (you could probably do a tier list on either the starters or the dungeons)?

[@mawdewile]

I was thinking about doing a weak Pokémon run like, idk I be a Rattata and my partner be a zigzagoon, something along those lines. I’d like to do that sometime in the future

[@masterofchaos7282]

@@mawdewile That sounds cool. If I may offer a suggestion, how about you be a sunkern and your partner, a weedle. Main reasons are that both are weak and both are week against the majority of the bosses.

[@mawdewile]

…… I like the sound of that….. I’ll definitely consider it

[@isenokami7810]

@@mawdewileI’m surprised you didn’t consider a challenge run as a Mawile. Yeah, it’s considered a weak Pokémon, maybe not as much as route 1 mons or Sunkern, but also…I mean, your brand. You have to.

[@mawdewile]

You know, I was planning on doing a Soulsilver solo Mawile run sometime in the distant future… 👀

[@hi-ougidemonfang]

The symbol in lugia’s friend area looks like lugia’s outstretched wings. Like lugia’s chest, wings and neck. So think they were going for depicting psychic chakra at the center of oneself, onto the ocean because for whatever reason this psychic bird loves water.

[@librathebeautifulwarmonk1283]

This is a good video. I actually did a prohecy where i assigned every non legendary pokemon gens 4-9 to one of these friend areas Also thay tree in Jungle is a called a mangrove tree. They usually spawn in swamps since they grow in shallow (sometimes salt) water

[@alsomawdewile]

The Pokémon Crystal and Ranger transitions were clean af Respect

[@StepperBox]

13:20 huh. I would have thought "sound" as in "echos" and you get those a lot in caves. I think it works kinda

[@Bananazu2411]

*Mawde Wile walks up to Wigglytuff* "Allow me to destroy your gallery."

[@Kyata101]

I know that in text 30 seconds into the video you gave a mention to it, but im a bit let down that we didnt get to also hear your thoughts about each of the friend areas' artistic touch ups with their "friend camp versions". Im guessing, though, that there wouldn't be too much to say about what the friend camp art in relation to each friend area, but i felt that with alot of them, they made them look real nice if not better, especially whenever the friend camp artwork changed the perspective so you were looking at the area from another angle. Id say they fixed up alot of the bland areas and even showed a different more visually appealing look on magnetic quarry. Though Safari, even in the friend camp artwork still looks really.....blech.

[@mawdewile]

If I also mentioned the rescue team camps, this video would be well over an hour. And I don’t think I can say much about them. They all undoubtedly look stunning and most of them are glow ups, but if they all look incredible, i probably can’t think anything new to say about each of them

[@Blastosie_Offical]

But what about Ice Floe Beach's redemption arc? It looks absolutely beautiful in the remake!

[@mawdewile]

Ikr it had the glow up of a lifetime

[@greengaming2604]

Its a shame the remake didn't do friend area like this imagine the graphics and detail on switch. Also great vid 👏👏

[@Abykitty06]

I hate the fact youtube forgot to notify me that you uploaded, absolutely love your content

[@SoggieWafflz]

MAWILE IS MY FAVORITE HOW ARE YOU RUNNING AROUND AS MAWILE

[@mawdewile]

Whenever you beat the main story, you can change who the leader is

[@SoggieWafflz]

@@mawdewile thank you!!! going to go play right now lol

[@JackDout]

Ah at last, Mawde Wile's true form... (Readies Dusk Ball.)

[@JackDout]

This is a joke, don't take it for serious.

[@mawdewile]

Nah I new you were kidding. Besides you’d never be able to catch me >:)

[@nathanblackburn1193]

While it is disappointing that Rescue Team DX made friend areas just menus, the art of each area is still utterly gorgeous, I even use the Mushroom Forest one as my desktop background

[@mawdewile]

Ice Floe Beach looks absolutely stunning with the auroras in the background

[@nathanblackburn1193]

@@mawdewile Not to tell you what to do or anything but it'd be cool to have a sequel video where you rank the DX artwork, does the art convey the area better than the original and stuff like that

[@mawdewile]

I thought about that, but… how do I put this… almost every single one is an upgrade from the original in terms of visuals. Most, if not, all of them would be B or higher. I just think I wouldn’t have very many things to say about the DX artwork aside from ‘this looks better than the original’ or ‘oooo it’s so pretty’ without repeating all of my points from this video

[@nathanblackburn1193]

@@mawdewile Yeah true I suppose

[@dash_dash_eevee]

Well it seems like KZbin recommendations are finally doing their job, recommending obscure videos on a niche topic I have never played PMD so I this whole video I was hust admiring the editing Also, playing as Mawile? Based choice

[@armythecat]

For the Rainbow Peak I honestly wish they would have gone with a waterfall and lots of natural lighting so rainbows would be popping everywhere, it would look amazing and also keep the idea of a very high mountain for a bird legendary

[@Antifrost]

My friends were recently talking about the Mystery Dungeon series, and one of them brought up how much they enjoyed the Friend Areas. Weirdly enough, I completely forgot they existed. It's probably because my more recent memories were of Gates to Infinity and Super Mystery Dungeon, but going through this video was a very welcome blast to the past. I can see why you feel the way you do about Sacred Fields, and I have a different idea for how they could have spruced the place up. With the way the grass is colored, I get the impression of a breeze blowing through it. However, the graphics are static. I think adding movement would've been a nice touch, since the Legendary Beasts themselves aren't known to stick to any one place for very long. It could be a place they might stop by to rest, but the second you turn your back, they're off to whatever calls them. With that detail, it wouldn't need to have any special signifiers to make it unique to them, though it might not be as visually appealing.

[@mawdewile]

I like the way you think. That would work wonders

[@isenokami7810]

Man, I need to go back and replay GTI and SMD. I still very much prefer the older sprite games, but the 3D ones have merits. I was doing a series revisit a while back that stopped halfway through GTI because I got sidetracked; might want to start that step of it over at this point, but I would like to return to it someday. A big reason why I even wanted to do a full series revisit is that I feel like every game in the series has reasons for me personally to play them: Rescue Team: my favorite Explorers: the best GTI: the technical worst, but unfairly underrated for that and still worth playing; interesting story once it gets going SMD: one I never finished, barely got past school prologue, get the feeling I missed out on

[@ailingstar8856]

I think one of the best things that I can say about the friend areas are how encompassing they are. Out of curiosity I've tried to figure out how I'd place Pokemon from future generations into the friend areas, and I think it says something that, other than the legendary exclusive areas, I only needed to make a few new friend areas for every pokemon to fit. The ones that already exist cover so much range that not much more is needed. That being said there were a few weird choices for some of the placements. I think the most egregious is Nosepass being in Echo Cave instead of Magnetic Quarry. Nosepass's whole deal is magnetism, and while it made some sense for Dragon Cave to be exclusive to its Pseudo Legendary because of how it was designed specifically for Bagon, the same can't be said for Magnetic Quarry. It's kinda baffling.

[@angryasian1998]

Ending the year great

[@UnknownInflux]

I never knew those two lower paths in Boulder Cave existed!

[@PriestOfTheHelix]

Peanut Swamp my beloved

[@isenokami7810]

13:00 I need me an obnoxious Exploud singer now.

[@darkhorse744]

Great video, also if I had to guess why the Friend Areas were removed, it's probably because they might be somewhat of a pain to navigate if you're looking for specific Pokemon and don't remember where they are? Haven't played the game in the longest though, so not sure.

[@isenokami7810]

I can see that being the reason they were removed, but I disagree if that’s a case. I’d much, MUCH rather have the ease of walking up to a Pokémon and sticking them in my team after only a short time learning who goes where, as opposed to just getting a Pokédex style list and having to work out where they are every time. I left a longer comment along these lines already, but I might as well stress it while I’m here. Explorers might be an improvement in a lot of ways, but from a mechanical standpoint-the loss of friend area charm aside-team management in Explorers f$&@ing sucks compared to in Rescue Team.

[@darkhorse744]

@@isenokami7810 While it would be more work to make all the assets for the friend areas and program them to move around, if they did that, they'd probably be able to do both. But personally as someone with limited time, if I had to choose, I'd be fine if the friend areas didn't return. I'd feel a little bad, but I both didn't miss em in EoS and from a budget standpoint, they seem like more work than they're worth. I can completely understand wanting them back though.

[@parkersmith9821]

Missed you Mawde!

[@GaybrohamStinkton]

Shoulda filled them all with pokomen

[@isenokami7810]

Decrepit Lab as a friend area earns its A rank, but I pretty much never use anyone who lives there. XD

[@BSNull]

Dank mushrooms, can someone tell that terrifying gentleman, where arch thyn maddens That one friend:(whispers) don't tell him I must post this online

[@benevolence4246]

35:15: is that the batter from off?

[@mawdewile]

This is a Machoke Mawile fusion from that Pokémon fusion game. I had no idea that was based off of something. Oh my goodness. Yes it is the batter

[@diogodifrente4283]

Never heatd about these areas before but hey Im here for it.

[@StarshadowMelody]

Deep Sea Floor, AKA Deep Sea Current but good.

[@darks_arts]

i think power plant should be boosted up a tier but otherwise agree with ya takes ! ver fun video, this is a niche topic I been wanting to discuss since I was like 10 but never had an outlet for it. Legit feel a lil sense of release in the back of my brain where kid me still resides after watchin this!

[@vixtheexistent6390]

Missed opportunity with the outro to have mawile do the default dance alongside the piranha plant. Lol

[@mawdewile]

My original plan was to have Mawile do the dance by herself. The problem is that I wanted to get this video out before the year was up and ran out of time :/

[@vixtheexistent6390]

@@mawdewile ah, oof. Still a good video though!

[@darkhorse744]

What Pokemon live in the Decrepit Lab? Cus that seems like it would be for Mewtwo imo. Maybe Magnetite family?

[@mawdewile]

From memory, I believe the Abra line, Mr Mime, and the two Porygons live there

[@darkhorse744]

@@mawdewile Oh, the Porygons seem obvious, but Mr Mime and the Abras are weird, I guess it's because they're smarter/more human? But just slapping them in a lab makes it seem like they were strapped for time and just put them where they felt made most sense.

[@aer015]

@@darkhorse744Ditto also lives in the decrepit lab. The lab is like an homage to Mewtwo's creation.

[@darkhorse744]

@@aer015 How did I forget about Ditto, it lives in the burnt Mansion in Cinnabar Island too. So no surprise it "follows" Mewtwo. Edit: Grammar.

[@kylegaymer]

Will you do a tier list of the illustrations of the camps in Rescue Team DX?

[@mawdewile]

I thought about it, but I decided not to. They are all absolutely gorgeous… and there are so many ways that I can repeat that

[@kylegaymer]

@@mawdewile they certainly are, plus they have made improvements on a good amount of the camps

[@Nilon241]

I have no idea how the power plant fits with the rest of the PMD world lol You're telling me a society that still uses fire torches had electric turbines???

[@darkhorse744]

This'll be fun!

[@B.L.U.S]

I never noticed you had mawile hidden on your name so I was kinda taken off guard when you became one

[@jojonono2679]

Very nice video

[@Superseidguy]

OH NO IM LATE FOR A MAWDE UPLOAD SORRY

[@mawdewile]

Nah it’s all good. KZbin doesn’t always like it when we try new things, so I wasn’t surprised the algorithm didn’t pick it up.

[@angryasian1998]

Rainbow Peak? More like Rainbow Mid!

[@mawdewile]

EeeeeeeHEHEHEHEH

[@NotOrdinaryInGames]

Sorry my man, but cutting this at 6:43 When I play Blue/Sky I will see the areas for myself.

[@mawdewile]

Is all good (Only Red and Blue Rescue Teams have them. Time/Darkness/Sky took them out)

[@NotOrdinaryInGames]

@@mawdewile Well, that means I will not be missing anything. I'll be emulating Blue since I do not like when a remake fundamentally changes the gameplay.

[@Zero_de_Nova]

Great Video.

[@kyrroti]

Where did you get all the low poly models? They’re a nice touch.

[@mawdewile]

Those are the Pokémon Rumble models. I just downloaded them off of google

[@pyrostorm1700]

2:06 should’ve been “Mawvelos” smh smh

[@mawdewile]

Ahhhh you right you right

[@thelonleygengar]

WHAT IS THE MUSIC FOR DECREPIT LAB PLEASE

[@mawdewile]

It’s the ‘Kalos Power Plant’ from Pokémon X and Y

[@thelonleygengar]

@@mawdewile thank you

[@mawdewile]

Np fam

[@erugurara8235]

@mawde wile talking about stuff not much people talk about, what do you beleie of how a pokemon trainer lives in universe?, like how would a person live to cath pokemon in world?, also what equipment would be good for tat?, there is strangely no videos on that idea by itsle, only the roleplay videos some people make who center more on the having a pokemon that in trainer equipment.

[@mawdewile]

Mmmmmm…. I’m not sure…

[@Ocranix]

nah bro change that thumbnail. The only reason I clicked it was because it's you, but I didn't even NOTICE it was there until I looked at every video on my home page individually.

[@mawdewile]

So I just changed it… this was the only other idea I can think of for the thumbnail. How do you like it?

[@Ocranix]

@@mawdewile Wow that looks better fs, but I would add an outline on the pokemon because for layering purposes (and so it can stick out more.) Btw thank you for taking my thoughts into consideration!

[@mawdewile]

No problem fam. And thank you very for the input! I reeeeeally wanted to keep the original one cuz I thought it looked really cool, but I kind of knew the other was better for video. I think I just need enough people to say that I should change it lol

[@Rowboatsalot]

based mawile ranking the cool and comfy areas?? subscribed

[@Dragon_named]

3:55 hey yo am I colorblind or what because that looks mf purple not blue 😭😭

[@StarshadowMelody]

40:25 haha emerald coast

[@kingzak13]

Wait Sea Floor Cave has pink, purple and blue as it's colour scheme. Bisexual Kyogre confirmed.

[@thomashanson9173]

Maybe you could take a BITE out of ranking Dungeons and how they look too. Albeit you would have to choose only one games at a time and it would take much longer but I think the aesthetic of dungeons is something to look foward to.

[@antiquaemblem]

Why is the thumbnail pic so blurry

[@mawdewile]

Gonna be honest I have no idea. I just changed it to something else

[@sharzinlalebazri5673]

For a place called rainbow peak it looks kinda... rainbow mid.

[@Tailsbot98761]

Hi Ezio!!

[@Magikarpador]

5:34

[@BSNull]

If I was a pkmn I would be pure malicious hating everything and myself commenters go nuts I have nothing but time let's give the algo an absolute "menta"l meltdown 😂

[@BSNull]

(snaps fingers) AnnihilApe be me: After getting so pissed I died I feel at peace at last....until I open my eyes and see that same asshole child that caught me as a mankey ugh this is my life isn't it...welp I'll try to enjoy it where the durgon, fairy, ghost and pycho type(I call them that, don't gove me any shit I'm ded remember)

[@apokelink]

I disrespectfully disagree

[@mawdewile]

That’s cool. I wasn’t expecting everyone to agree with it.

[@BSNull]

RAINBOW mid