User:Kung Fu Man/Meltan

Electabuzz
Pokémon character
First game	Pokémon Go (2018)
In-universe information
Species	Pokémon
Type	Steel

Meltan (/ˈmɛltæn/; Japanese: メルタン) is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon media franchise.

Conception and development

Raichu is a species of fictional creatures called Pokémon created for the Pokémon media franchise. Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, the Japanese franchise began in 1996 with the video games Pokémon Red and Green for the Game Boy, which were later released in North America as Pokémon Red and Blue in 1998. In these games and their sequels, the player assumes the role of a Trainer whose goal is to capture and use the creatures' special abilities to combat other Pokémon. Some Pokémon can transform into stronger species through a process called evolution via various means, such as exposure to specific items. Each Pokémon have one or two elemental types, which define its advantages and disadvantages when battling other Pokémon. A major goal in each game is to complete the Pokédex, a comprehensive Pokémon encyclopedia, by capturing, evolving, and trading with other Trainers to obtain individuals from all Pokémon species.

Critical reception

Meltan's sudden appearance in Pokémon Go was met with surprise from its player base, who quickly went to social media websites such as Twitter to express their confusion over what exactly they had encountered in-game. As the company behind it did not respond initially regarding its appearance and several other glitches occurred, some players assumed it was a bug in the game. Media outlets also commented on the subject, with TheGamer suggesting it might have been a new evolution for Ditto, who had originally been intended to receive an evolution in Gold and Silver. Bleeding Cool's Gavin Sheenan meanwhile was critical of its appearance, stating "by all accounts, this looks like a creature that didn't get finished in the design phase" due to its perceived mishmash of elements.

Though Niantic did clarify the matter three days after its initial appearance, Yuma Yamamoto of Gizmodo.jp found the whole event to be an exciting experience for the game, not only providing a sense of entertainment but also tension. Yamamoto compared it to the discovery of Mew, the series first "Mythical" Pokémon, and how players found it in the first games in the series by manipulating the games' code. He observed that Meltan's sudden appearance coupled with the real-world interactions of Pokémon Go as a game created a different atmosphere for the reveal, and coupled with the company's silence allowing the internet to come to their own conclusions not only made for a good gaming experience but a memorable one tied to the "cute" character. Israel Mallén of MeriStation meanwhile felt that it helped bring back some sense of wonder upon players initially discovering Mew's existence, allowing one to "recover the innocence of yesteryear" and some of the mysticism that surrounded Mythic Pokémon in the franchise as a whole due to its unique status.

Emma Schaefer of EGMNOW made similar observations, finding that the air of mystery around the character helped it immensely. Though she noted early teaser reveals of Pokémon were not uncommon to the franchise, often showcased in anime or film media prior to their debut or in Japanese magazine previews, the community had come to expect them and would instead quickly dissect and document the information. As a result she felt a lot of the major element of discovery that brought players to the franchise and was a significant part of its charm had been lost. She cited an example with the Pokémon Zeraora introduced after the release of Pokémon Sun and Moon, observing that while it had a strong design and was popular in fan communities, due to data mining it had been discovered in the games long before its debut, and by the time Nintendo did reveal it "nobody cared". Meltan's sudden reveal by comparison not only created confusion, but interest and attention for the game over the "weirdest-looking, most expressionless Pokémon we’ve seen yet", and as a result not only did it become far more popular than Zeraora but Schaefer felt it made players look forward to the upcoming games it would appear in.

In 2018 Pokémon Go's revenue saw a 37% increase, which Variety felt Meltan's debut significantly contributed to. 'IGN's Dale Bashir in a retrospective of what Pokémon impacted the franchise the most described Meltan as "legitimizing" Pokémon Go "as a valid way of playing Pokemon" by its exclusivity to the game, and was furthermore special in that unlike previous Mythical Pokémon in that anyone could access it. Gavin Lane of Nintendo Life meanwhile felt it helped broaden the franchise's audience by how it linked Pokémon Go to the Let's Go series of games.

After its full release, Comic Book Resources writer Aaron Fentress felt that Nintendo was still intentionally vague regarding the character, particularly in regards to what region of the game world it originated from. This in turn caused confusion within the gaming community, which often defined each "generation" of games by the region they were set in and release date, and as a result it is debated as to whether it should be associated with the seventh or eighth generation of Pokémon games. Fentress suggested this vagueness might have been intentional, comparing it to fan reactions to Mew or the Red and Blue glitch MissingNo., and that the lack of an official answer may have been Nintendo's way of keeping discussion regarding Meltan active.