"The games referencing the Anime is nothing new."

I've seen that the reaction to Ash-Greninja being in Sun and Moon has been pretty divisive, with some people happy and some others rather against the idea. While I understand the name complaint to an extent (but I think between familiarity over the last year and the form likely already being copyrighted as 'Ash-Greninja' changing the name would've been rather pointless from a business standpoint), the one I really can't understand is people livid about the games doing a reference to the Anime. Something that happened many, many times since the very beginning of the franchise.You know the Poké Ball design? One of the most iconic parts of the franchise, repeated on many Pokémon, locations, and the like? Game Freak didn't actually think out how they'd look, imagining them as spheres that open up with a button on the top rather than the more familiar two halves design with a button on the center, and the more familiar design was created by the Anime staff and later adopted into canon by Game Freak themselves once artwork started to be released (a remnant of this can be seen in how Poké Ball work in Gen II by opening from top to bottom: Gold and Silver were already in development by the time the Anime started, and they likely didn't change it in time).We also got Pokémon Yellow really early on in the franchise's life, and that not only gave further improvements to the Kanto games, they also added elements inspired by the Anime: Pikachu following you, Jessie and James replacing some generic grunts in every Team Rocket scheme, some trainers being based on characters of the day, a rare level 9 Pidgeotto in Viridian Forest, some other encounter locations being adjusted to match the Anime, and the ability to get every starter in ways that mirror how Ash got them in the Anime. The Pikachu also stuck around as Red's signature Pokémon, as well, so one can't simply write off Yellow as a one-off even if their other changes to canon didn't carry over.Not only Red was also meant to be called Satoshi (Ash's japanese name and the one of the games' creator, Satoshi Tajiri) before Gen II settled on Red, but his Pikachu in HGSS is actually based on Ash's Pikachu's moveset in the Sinnoh series (Thunderbolt - Iron Tail - Quick Attack - Volt Tackle).There's also the fact Cinnabar Island got a volcano in the Gen II and Gen IV, which as a concept was introduced in the Anime before the games.In HGSS, also, Togepi has a special reaction if brought into Cerulean Gym, a clear nod to Anime Misty and her Togepi/Togetic.That's also not to mention how the event that allowed you to catch Zoroark in BW was roughly based on the events of Master of Illusions, down to the usage of shiny Legendary Beasts to achieve it. Celebi was also required to obtain Zorua, another nod to said movie.There's also the Delta Episode's climax, with Rayquaza facing off against Deoxys, something that happened almost 10 years before in the movie Destiny Deoxys. Plus, Alain is mentioned during the Delta Episode if you happen to still have the event shiny Beldum in your party, with Steven reminiscing to have fought Rayquaza once alongside a boy with a 'black Charizard', a clear reference to the then-recent Mega Evolution Special Act II.Outside of the games, Super Smash Bros. has also taken a lot from the Anime, including Ash being directly mentioned in some trophies, Misty using her Anime design in a Melee trophy, and Mewtwo being heavily based on his first Anime incarnation (even when he obtained the Mega Evolution associated with the second one). I'd not be surprised if the next Smash will give Greninja Ash-Greninja as a Final Smash now.And aside from this, numerous events over the years, in Japan and also sometimes outside of it, have given away recreations of Anime Pokémon, from ones owned by the main cast to legendaries, with the right OT and sometimes also being labelled as coming from the 'Pokémon Cartoon'. Ash-Greninja is basically that as well.And most importantly, by the looks of it, Ash-Greninja will likely just be a one-off element which will only have canonical relevance to the demo, which is never canon to the full game (remember the ORAS demo? I'm rather sure Brendan wasn't renamed Orlando, nor the events of the demo are referenced anywhere) and will most likely not be part of the narrative. It's just a cute nod and that's it, and nobody forces you to put it in your game. They didn't do a full blown crossover with the Anime, it's just a nod.I really find silly that people are fretting about the Anime being acknowledged when said acknowledgement has been part of the series since its inception.TL;DR: The Anime has been referenced in the games several times throughout the years in more or less overt ways, and Ash-Greninja is nothing new in this sense. via /r/pokemon http://ift.tt/2dr3VXv