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Beyond the Portals: A Retrospective on Disney’s Old Pokémon Rival.
Pokémon was lightning in a bottle. Nowadays, it's the highest-grossing media franchise in the world, surpassing even Mickey Mouse and Star Wars. But when it launched in 1996, expectations were low. Game Freak, then a small inexperienced team, worked 6 years on Red & Green. The games were littered with bugs, and the Game Boy was already over seven years old—nearly ten by the time Red & Blue hit the West. It had all the makings of a 'dead on arrival' title, but against those odds, it became a massive hit.
Kids all over the world fell in love with Pikachu and the gang. Pokémania swept the world—twice—and the series’ prominence and legacy were secured. Such success naturally invited imitation, as others tried their hand at creating kid-oriented monster-catching games. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Digimon is the most well-known example, though it's more of a coincidence than an imitation—and not the one I want to write about.
No, as you’ve already read, I’m going to talk about Disney’s swing at the concept: the late 2000s series, Spectrobes. Back in the day, I was gifted an R4 card. Spectrobes was one of the games downloaded onto the card. While it was visually rough, I played my way through it. I wanted to know what all the other boys on the playground were talking about!
I didn’t hate it, but it
wasn’t until its sequel that I understood what the hype was all about. I must
have played that game at least six or seven times to completion back in the
day. I liked it that much. I can also vividly remember a classmate teaching a
group of us how to fold paper to create our own Prizmods, and we ran around
with those silly things on our arms all summer. Ah, the memories...
Anyhow, this earned the
series a place in my heart— a place big enough to actually buy myself copies of
these games and that writing about it was one of the first ideas I had when I
started this blog 4 years ago. But as you can see, that didn’t happen. Why? I
couldn’t decide what to write. Should I do another "Rise and Fall"
post like I did with Yo-Kai Watch? Or should I review a game first to
set the stage? Perhaps a marathon in the style of SomecallmeJohnny? Okay, I
still want to do the latter, but that’ll take a while. These are RPGs, after
all.
So, I kept pushing it
forward. Until now. What changed? Well, I started a post that featured Spectrobes.
The intent was for it to be an article that scratched the surface of half a
dozen Pokémon-like games, but I hit writer’s block, not before writing quite
finishing the Spectrobes section though. Now that I have something
written down, I might as well go all the way.
Enough introducing. Let’s talk about Spectrobes, Disney’s cool and fun Pokémon competitor from years gone by.
The original pitch
Way back in the early
2000s, Disney wanted to invest more in the booming video game market (history
truly does repeat itself). They aimed to go from a licensor to a publisher and
developer. They wanted their own hit IP, and the head honchos at Disney decided
they wanted not only their own Pokémon-like gaming series, but a true "Pokémon-killer". Pretty sure money was
involved in that decision.
Regardless, creative duo
Fil Barlow and Helen Maier were brought in to come up with the concept of the
game. What they pitched was vastly different from what we ended up getting. It
was already called Spectrobes with Rallen and Jeena as your main
characters flying around the galaxy with these magnificent creatures but that’s
where the similarities end.
In that pitch, Rallen
worked as a courier who delivered artificial lifeforms—Spectrobes—from planet
to planet. The idea was that if people colonized a world, they could order a
shipment of Spectrobes seeds to populate the planet with. The nefarious Kroll
would attack Rallen’s ship, forcing him to crash land on Jeena’s homeworld and
scattering the seeds across the planet. The game was about the two collecting
all the Spectrobes seeds before the Kroll could, as they intended to mutate the
peaceful creatures into aggressive and dangerous tools of war.
![]() |
Concept art of the original pitch. Looking a lot more Saturday mornign cartoon like, no? |
Speaking of this mutation
mechanic, the Kroll wouldn’t have been the only ones to influence the
Spectrobes. It was something of a core mechanic, in fact. Rallen would focus
more on action and getting stronger, while Jeena would spend more time on
exploration and item gathering. Based on which tamer they had, and thus what
activities they partook in, the Spectrobes would look and act differently.
Also interesting to mention is that the name 'Spectrobes' has its origins in this pitch. Originally, the Spetrobes (seeds) would be made by splitting white light into a spectrum of seven coloured species. Each coloured species was genetically programmed to adapt to different environments. Jungles, tundras etc. The term 'Spectrobes' is a combination of "spectrum" and "microbe", an indication of their synthetic nature and this original awakening process.
This original pitch
sounds interesting, but I can’t say I’m unhappy Disney went in a different
direction. I like that direction, faults and all, and I must say this
original pitch gives me Spore vibes—which isn’t a good thing.
Jeena as just a side character is a loss though. Disney undoubtedly made the
decision because the game was for boys, but it’s a dumb exclusion when you
consider that Pokémon had already let you choose between a male and
female protagonist for years.
Speaking of these
changes, they weren’t Barlow and Maier’s choice. After giving their pitch,
Disney effectively strong-armed them off the project. In an interview on the fan-run Spectrobes Discord, from which I got a lot of the above, Barlow mentioned that many changes Disney ended up
making were to make it more like Pokémon.
Remember this. It’ll
become important later.
The original game; a rough start
After ousting the
original creators, Disney put the Japanese studio Jupiter to work. In 2007, the
results of their efforts were released into the world—Spectrobes for the
Nintendo DS family of systems.
The plot of the final
product is that an evil, alien race—the Krawl—destroys every galaxy they come
across. When a survivor of such an attack, Aldous, crash lands in the Nanairo
System, he is found by Rallen and Jeena, Junior Officers of the Nanairo Planetary
Patrol. He teaches the two about the Spectrobes, a prehistoric race of
creatures that only Rallen can awaken from their fossil forms and control to
defeat the Krawl.
The three jump from
planet to planet, finding and reviving more Spectrobes to battle the Krawl with
while uncovering an ancient secret buried in the Nanairo System that could
either be our heroes’ salvation or their doom.
The game was not
turn-based. Instead, Rallen and two Spectrobes would run around in an arena,
capable of attacking the Krawl when you’re close enough to them. An element not
present in the pitch but which became a large part of the game is excavating.
Spectrobes come from fossils now, not seeds. Digging up these fossils and other
resources such as minerals was surprisingly fun and deep, arguably more
enjoyable than the combat itself.
That’s not just because
of how strong the digging mechanics are. It’s also a testament to the failures
of the repetitive battle system. To be blunt—and while I admit it’s been years
since I played this game to completion—I don’t think this first game is all
that good.
What I remember most
about it is how rough it is. The graphics were, honestly, outright ugly.
They’re so jagged, and it’s hard to make things out And that battle system? It
just didn’t work. Rallen commands the Spectrobes and fights alongside them—a
neat concept on paper, but in practice, it amounts to nothing more than doing
your best to slide close to the Krawl in a very slippery arena and try to hit
them. All the while, you’re praying the Krawl don’t hit you, or that you’re not
left with only Rallen who can barely do any damage.
I also vividly remember
some very steep difficulty spikes, which are not helped by the fact that
battles are better avoided because of the problems mentioned above. On the plus
side, the story is pretty cool for what it is—the atmosphere and world design
do some heavy lifting there—and young me liked the title enough to see it
through to the credits.
As you can read, Disney
kept the core ideas and characters but went in a very different direction with
them. Exploration was still here and even elaborated somewhat by the
archaeology and fossil aspects, but there’s no denying that Spectrobes
was a lot more of a 'cool' action game with its aggressive design, atmosphere
and that marketing campaign that all screamed, "Look, aren’t we
cool?"
I can remember that marketing well. Ads in every commercial break on every kids-focused channel. Posters on billboards and bus stops. Lots of coverage in boy-oriented magazines, complete with articles, previews, and reviews of the game. The latter would even include paper-printed versions of the input cards as a way of cross-promotion.
You couldn’t get around Spectrobes, and that marketing blitz worked, especially here in Europe. And especially here in the Netherlands. I was both surprised and not surprised when I read that the Netherlands was singled out in a sales report by GameIndustry.biz as a place where the game sold particularly well.
Beyond the Portals; an improved experience
While Spectrobes did
not sell as well as Pokémon Diamond & Pearl—about a million copies
compared to the combined 18 million sales of Diamond and Pearl—hitting
that million mark with your first outing is not a bad result and enough for
Disney to greenlight a sequel. This game, Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals, came
out only a year after the original in 2008.
Development on this title
went much smoother than the first. There were more people working on the game,
and the teamwork between the American and Japanese offices improved after
learning from the challenges of such cooperation. During this time, emphasis
was placed on appealing to the Japanese market. Spectrobes underperformed there
so the plan was to relaunch the series in the Land of the Rising Sun.
I find it ironic that
Disney really wanted to make this series appear Japanese to make it more
similar to Pokémon and repeat that success, the reason they chose
Jupiter as the developer, only for it to not perform well in that market.
There’s a lesson in there.
Jupiter was able to
incorporate both internal and external feedback to improve this 2nd game, and
it shows. In my opinion, Beyond the Portals is what the original
should've been. The visuals were cleaned up, the battles were reworked so that
you now directly control the Spectrobes with Rallen only fighting the small fry
in the overworld. The level of exploration was expanded with more hidden areas
and stuff to find and there was more content such as customization options and
a spaceship minigame.
It's, as I already said
in the opening, the game that made me fall in love with the series. Beyond
the Portals is the game that made me understand why all the boys on the
playground were talking about it. I (used to) know this game like the back of
my hand, for all the reasons I mentioned above, plus the better story and my
interest in the idea of all the portals and all the different star systems you
travel to. I even designed my own star system back in the day, though these
drawings have sadly been lost to the dust of time.
Last but not least, Beyond
the Portals has introduced my favourite Spectrobe family. The moment I set
foot on Nessa, I always spent as long as I needed to excavate the fossil of a
Ryza. This blue, fox-like creature with a razor-sharp mohawk that evolves into
a six-legged, winged beast of legends is just one big chef's kiss. I'm glad the
developers decided to keep Ryza around in Spectrobes: Origins.
While Beyond the Portals is the better game, receiving better reviews, it didn't sell as well as the original—about half a million copies total. That’s very disappointing to me, as it’s my favourite game in the series. From what I’ve played, Beyond the Portals is the Spectrobes game I recommend you hunt down for your DS/3DS if you want to get into the series.
Origins; a new platform
And that brings us to the
final game in the series - 2009's Spectrobes: Origins, which stands out
compared to its predecessors in a variety of ways. The biggest difference, the
one responsible for all the other changes like a series of dominoes, is that
this game is not a Nintendo DS title. This one is for the Wii.
This change came about
during the development of Beyond the Portals when series producer
Kentaro Hisai saw the potential in the Wii’s motion controls and stopped by
Genki's head offices to discuss this idea. Yes, Genki and not Jupiter. Jupiter
was still knee-deep into the development of Beyond the Portals and
didn’t have the time or resources to also start working on a Wii game. So,
after a crash course on the series, Jupiter handed over the keys to the kingdom
to Genki.
With the extra power and
the motion controls the Wii offered, and with a different studio at the helm,
many changes followed suit. The focus shifted from an RPG to anaction-adventure title with RPG elements. Players control Rallen or Jeena
(finally) directly with one Spectrobe at his side. Rallen/Jeena is mapped to
the Nunchuck, while the Spectrobe is assigned to the Wii remote itself.
This control scheme
reminds me very much of how Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
lets you control Cereza and Cheshire simultaneously with each of them mapped to
a different joy-con. Going to be interesting to experience that one once I get
to Origins.
What I find most
interesting about the changes made here aren’t all the stuff you'd expect with
the switch from a handheld to the Wii, like better graphics and presentation,
but the changes made to the type system or "properties" of each
Spectrobe.
In the DS games, there
were three properties: Flash, Corona, and Aurora. Those names mean very little
to a kid, but they are colour-coded and arranged in a rock-paper-scissors type
of deal. Once you realize that, it’s not difficult to understand and utilize.
Origins replace this with a
five-properties system comprising Fire, Water, Earth, Plant, and Sky, with one
property being advantageous over another in a wheel-like manner. Yes, it’s
easier to understand and latch onto, but I’ll be honest: the original had a lot
more personality. There are also some weird decisions here, like making the
Earth property super effective against the Sky one. Somebody, please explain to
me how that's supposed to work.
With me falling in love
with the series with game 2, you might be surprised to learn that I’ve never
played Origins. I do own the game nowadays but never played it more than
the first 10-15 minutes to test if my spiffy new Wii to HDMI adapter worked a
few days ago (time of writing).
Why, you ask? Well, the
answer is simple: I never saw any promotion for this game. I can’t remember any
trailer playing on TV or seeing any magazine talk about it. I never saw it on
store shelves or heard anyone talk about it. As far as I knew back in the day, Spectrobeswas
a two-game affair. I only learned of Origins in 2012/2013 when I was
already in high school, thanks to the internet.
Even if I had known about
the game in 2009, I wouldn’t have been able to play it anyway I only got a Wii
in 2016 I think it was. That’s when I bought the game. My first trip to a
2ndhand game store and boom! There it was.
I wasn’t the only Spectrobesfan
who didn’t buy Origins. It had terrible sales numbers. It’s currently
listed on VGC charts as having sold 190.000 copies in total. That’s a very poor
performance for the third game in a series that made a big jump to a more
powerful console—one that was released when the console in question was at its
peak.
Why did it fail?
All of this brings me to
the key question. Or the ham question, as the saying goes in the Netherlands.
The post-mortem of this retrospective: why did it fail exactly? Man, that’s a
loaded question, but I think that a lot of the things that held this series
back are due to how Disney handled Spectrobes. I think they were so
focused on creating their own Pokémon that they made this disingenuous
half-clone that didn’t offer enough for it to really stand out.
Take the switch from PS3
to DS, for example. It was doubtlessly done because the DS had the higher
install base with lots of kids attracted by Pokémon and whatnot, but it
also meant that they were fishing in the exact same pond as Pokémon. It
was a one-on-one battle between the two for kids' time and money in a David vs.
Goliath scenario. A battle Spectrobes lost.
The first game sold well,
but I think that’s more a testament to all the money Disney threw at that
marketing campaign, not because of the quality of the game, which, again, was
rough, or the staying power of the IP. I can’t help but think that if the series
had been released on, say, the PSP, it would’ve stood a better chance.
Yes, you’d have the smaller install base, but instead of going after the exact same audience as Pokémon, I think they should’ve gone after a slightly different one. Spectrobes is "cool," right? With its space setting, sharper and more monstrous creature designs, and more mature story. Why not lean into this and market the games to a slightly older audience? The ones that have grown out of Pokémon because it’s "for little babies" and those who can’t play Pokémon but want to because they don’t have a DS?
Yes, you’d have a smaller
install base, but I feel that they would’ve had a higher chance of finding an
audience. To build up better foundations, so to speak.
The game department
wasn’t the only area in which Spectrobes mimicked Pokémon and
failed. Just like Pokémon, it had animated episodes. A series of 4-5
minute episodes that were released exclusively online (view them here) and did little to expand
upon the series. It also had cards like the Pokémon TCG, only it wasn’t
like that at all. These were the plastic "input cards" I’ve mentioned
once before. Lay them over the DS’s touchscreen and press the holes in the
correct order, and you’d unlock a new Spectrobe, a mineral, etc.
Very neat functionality,
but you couldn’t get them anywhere. They were packaged with the games and
bundled with certain promotional material but you couldn’t outright buy them in
stores. You can imagine how this approach seriously hindered their availability.
They also had no use outside of the game—no TCG or anything like that. They
were plastic toys for the game and not much else, all of which greatly limited
their appeal and, in turn, the appeal and visibility of the franchise they were
made to promote.
All of this just confirms the image in my head that Disney tried to make Spectrobes as similar to Pokémon as as they could, hoping its success would translate over to their series. They copied many elements of Pokémon without understanding what makes that franchise work. No wonder those decisions didn’t pan out.
Final thoughts
Yeah, looking back at the
life and times of Spectrobes, while I still have fond memories of it and
want to play these games again soon, I can't say I'm surprised the series never
really went anywhere. These days, it’s more of a fun bit of trivia that you can
tell at parties: "Did you know Disney tried to make its own Pokémon competitor?"
and not much else.
That Spectrobes petered
out doesn’t mean it’s not fondly remembered by a few. While working on this
article, I came across a small but passionate community of Spectrobes fans
that keeps the series alive all these years later.
They’re the owners of
that Discord I mentioned where I found those interviews, and there’s even a
GBA-style fangame that was released last year. If you’re interested or an old
fan of Spectrobes, I recommend checking that stuff out. They’re cool,
and the effort put into it is admirable.
All in all, Spectrobes was fun while it lasted, but you just can’t catch lightning in a bottle twice regardless of how hard you try or how much money you throw at it.
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