Pokémon TV (iOS) Review

As Nintendo has embraced online features and the possiibilities of what to do with them, it has started to use them for promoting its IP in clever ways. All the way from Pokémon TCG Online to create a renaissance in the Trading Card Game stakes, through to clever and playful advertisements where people are actually waiting to watch the likes of Cat Mario Show and the giant Nintendo Direct, both followed by the Press and fans, alike.

Pokémon TV is one such smart marketing feature to help push the anime by making episodes, especially earlier ones, widely available for people worldwide to watch for free. With this, Ninteno has succeeded well. The best feature of the Pokémon TV app is how it is possible to watch it in your native language, almost no matter where you live.

However, there is one flaw. Only ten episodes at a time, per Pokémon region, are available. This bypasses one of the best features of online streaming, namely that fans can watch it whenever they want to. This results in, at the very least English speaking fans, going to look elsewhere for the episodes in question rather than using Nintendo's limited service.

This could easily have been made in a way where it was possible to see all but the latest one or two seasons aired in a specific country, so that the company could still sell TV rights to channels, and all the while outperforming the often copyright-infringing anime stream sites. It has been proven again and again that people prefer to support the original creator if the choices are at least giving a close to equal experience.

Nintendo was painfully close to hitting a home run with the Pokémon TV app. While it still is very good and the fact that it offers the possibility to watch shows in languages that are often forgotten or overlooked, most people who know English are going to prefer watching the show at their own pace, which is why people stream anime to begin with.