DeNA's Pokemon Masters EX recently passed its third anniversary, and a number of events have been released to celebrate. "The Classic Thunderbolt" special event introducing Ash Ketchum to Pokemon Masters makes its return alongside two story-driven activities for anniversary units Ash, Red, and Cynthia. "Poke War Games," "A Pasio Spectacle," and "Lear Takes the Lead" events also make second appearances during this anniversary period, though another new event featuring a costumed Rosa stands out for introducing the game's first generic NPC trainer characters.
In "Super Tour Guide Rosa," the excitable protagonist is approached by Prince Lear - who built the artificial island of Pasio - to serve as a tourism ambassador. This leads to hijinks in which Rosa tries to maintain a fun island tour as some of visiting trainers are pulled away by the notoriously direction-challenged Champion Leon. While the one-off story is charming and many will be interested in scouting Rosa and her new Sync Pair partner Shaymin, a Sun and Moon Sightseer is given to all participating players for free. It's easy to see how DeNA could leverage the rest of Pokemon's extended cast for unique additions to the roster in the years to follow.
Pokemon Masters EX's Focus on Characters
Pokemon Masters has long been a celebration of the multimedia franchise's human characters in the same way Niantic's AR game Pokemon GO celebrates the Pokemon by pulling them into reality. Masters has incorporated characters from all eight generations, allowing players to concoct teams of different Gym Leaders, Champions, rivals, villainous team leaders, and more - with a handful of anime characters including Ash alongside Team Rocket's Jessie and James.
It's not realistic to assume all players will have access to the full sandbox, as the gacha game's design makes it so anyone who isn't a microtransaction "whale" relies on hoarding resources and luck. Yet DeNA has made it more enticing to collect those characters over time, encouraging team builds through Theme Skills that offer bonuses for traits like original region and fashion sense. Some characters even have dialogue when put into one of Pokemon Masters' 3v3 battles together, and each has a specific niche that can be optimized through systems like Sync Grids and six-star upgrades.
Opening new dialogue is a substantial motivator, as Masters takes place at a nebulous point sometime after the canon events of every mainline Pokemon game. Many events offer characters the opportunity to reflect on their previous actions, or come together for a shared love of battling, food, and more. The Trainer Lodge feature introduced for Pokemon Masters EX's third anniversary is a great example that lets players learn more about a handful of popular characters in a dating sim-style environment.
How Pokemon Masters EX can Extend to More Generic Trainers
Named characters like Gym Leaders have been a focus since the beginning, but more generic Trainer classes from each generation have also appeared in the background. A few are unique to the mobile game, like Masters' rendition of the Punk Girl and Collector classes, but the majority are a hodgepodge from Pokemon history. For example, players can run into a team made up of a Cooltrainer from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, a Hiker from Diamond and Pearl, and a Preschooler from Black and White.
Naomi the Sightseer is the first generic Trainer class players can use in Pokemon Masters EX, if not the series as a whole (discounting model swaps in online battles). Her kit is fairly generic to match the free unit status, being paired with a Kantonian Sandslash who serves as a Ground-type Strike pair with a few special attack moves. However, the attention to detail on why Naomi was built this way makes it easier to appreciate DeNA's approach.
In Sun and Moon, each appearance of the Sightseer NPC existed to highlight Pokemon's then-new concept of regional variants. Sightseers would be vacationers coming to the Hawai'i-themed Alola region with Kanto Pokemon like Rattata, Grimer, and Diglett. This allowed players to check out Kantonian forms in their Pokedex, and Naomi serves a somewhat similar function in Masters given her appearance in a tourism event with a different version of Sandslash than was seen with "Summer Superstars" Steven Stone in 2020.
Every generic Trainer in the Pokemon franchise serves a similar purpose, even if their role isn't always that narrow. The aforementioned Preschooler class uses nearly all baby and base-stage Pokemon in Generations 5, 6, and 7, for example. There are also more obvious focuses such as Bird Keepers and Black Belts using Flying and Fighting-type Pokemon, respectively. Plenty of interesting synergies could be drawn up in Naomi's footsteps, such as a Firebreather who uses a Pokemon with Poison and Fire-type attacks to match the class' history with monsters like Koffing and Magmar. DeNA just has to keep up the momentum.
Pokemon Masters EX is available now on Android and iOS devices.