Minecraft... but with Pokémon.
Pixelmon is a popular Game Mod for Minecraft that includes the many features of the Pokémon games, from the RPG battle system, to the hundreds of different Mons, all incorporated into the Survival Sandbox setting of Minecraft.
Created since 2013 by user Daniel Philips, Pixelmon has endured multiple cease-and-desists from the Pokémon Company throughout its years, yet still goes strong to this day.
This mod contains the following tropes:
- Adapted Out:
- Typical mobs found in vanilla Minecraft no longer naturally spawn to make room for the Pokémon (or in the villagers' case, NPCs), although you can edit the configuration file to enable them to spawn. To prevent certain items from being unobtainable as a result, defeating a Pokémon in battle will reward you with items thematically tied to the mon in question.
- In earlier versions of the mod, normal mobs could be spawned with the Creative mode eggs. This has since been updated so that equivalent Pokémon spawn from the eggs instead (e.g. the Voltorb line spawning from a Creeper egg).
- Another Dimension: At random intervals an Ultra Portal will open up across the over-world, which upon entering, leads to Ultra Space, a dimension of Floating Continents, more exotic world generation and lower gravity. While plenty of other Pokémon that spawn in the over-world exist here, one of the more rare spawns allow for the Ultra Beasts to show up.
- Anti-Frustration Feature:
- If a Pokémon is knocked out for a lengthy period of time while in the party with no bed or healing station to restore their health, they'll automatically get revived with one hit-point left, and will eventually heal back up to a quarter of their maximum health. Downplayed, as this only works out if you happen to have something on hand to heal them directly, otherwise they run the risk of fainting again.
- There is an option in the mod's config to make wild Pokémon to be closer to the levels of the player's own Pokémon, which helps make wild Pokémon encounters a little more fair.
- Disk One Nuke: With the right apricorns and resources, nothing is stopping you from crafting the best kinds of Pokéballs early on to easily capture strong Mons. Furthermore, you can throw Pokéballs at wild Pokémon outside of battle, meaning that with some luck, you can catch wild Pokémon that are too strong for you to fight.
- Early Game Hell:
- Averted in regards to standard Minecraft fare. Hostile mobs no longer spawn naturally, having been naturally overtaken by Pokémon, which, while capable of battling your Pokemon, cannot directly harm you.
- In regards to your Pokémon, you start off with a level five Starter Mon of your choosing, which can be easily outmatched depending on the circumstances of the spawn. Furthermore, Pokéballs have to be crafted, which requires you to have iron and apricorns. The first quest naturally encourages you to find a village to overcome the shortcomings, as they usually comes equipped with a Pokécenter and Pokémart, the former with a station to fully heal your Mons with a chest containing medicine, while the latter sells anything from TMs to medicine to Pokéballs. Doing so even gifts you a bed for your trouble.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The Pokemon were originally (and some still are to this day) depicted in the same voxel art-style of Minecraft, with the direction shifting to depict the mons akin to rips of the 3D models from the official games, albeit of lower polygon count.
- Freak Lab Accident: To encounter and possibly capture Mewtwo, this must be deliberately Invoked. By capturing Mew, creating a cloning machine and putting Mew into the machine, Mewtwo will be created, subsequently breaking out of the glass casing to spawn in.
- Power Up Mount: If the Pokémon is large enough, one can ride them across the lands faster then the average player, through the ocean for the aquatic kind, or in the skies if they can fly.
- Quest Giver: The NPC Villagers can randomly assign different quests for the player to complete, indicated by an "!" above their head. The quests range from relatively simple fetch quests (get ten red apricorns), finding a specific Pokemon, to typical Minecraft endgame (finding a fortress, getting to the End, finding an End Fortress).
- Random Drop: Defeating certain Pokémon awards you with items, with resources dropped from them typically being specific to certain kinds of Mons (Bug-Types drop string, Rock-Types drop cobblestone and flint, Psychic-Types drop Ender Pearls etc).
- Your Soul Is Mine!: In order to summon Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, you need to get a corresponding orb of souls (Orbs of Frozen Souls, Static Souls, and Fiery Souls, respectively) and then fill it with souls by defeating wild Pokémon.
