Pokémon Needs to Evolve: Cassette Beasts Review 

What I enjoy with cassette beasts is that its so abstract. Almost dreamlike in its tone and vibes. The monsters have a more toylike and plastic distinction to them rather than organic animals and i think it ties back to the theme you mentioned of ideas made manifest. In a sense it actually reminds me more of digimon rather than pokemon in its themes and this implied surrealism. As various digimon media loves to throw in imagery or electronical devices where they wouldnt be normally. Like the iconic phonebooths or the subway trolley in the anime, or random wires and wirepoles in digimon world next order or any of the more glitchy imagery in Digimon Cybersleuths espicially in the dungeons. Cassette beasts focus on the train stations in particular made me think of this a lot.

One of the things a liked about older Pokémon games, that I think Legends Arceus captures is that, while the world is filled with amazing creatures, the world also felt dangerous. Like there was some risk to exploring forests filled with giant bees and dark caves with sleeping rock monsters. Even the first episode of the Pokémon anime has Ash almost dying to a flock of angry Spearow. Newer games focus too much on the "kitchy pets" aspect of Pokémon rather than monster partners who work together with humans in order to become stronger. There should be some risk to becoming a Pokémon trainer and leaving your home to explore the wilderness.

Yknow as much as Cassette Beasts does feel like it's more "grown up", there's still nothing that you wouldn't see in a kids show. Well. Maybe *one* thing, at the end of Kayleigh's personal quest... but even that is in such a fantastical context that it's really not a problem. It's just that the emotional context has more nuance for older audiences to enjoy, while a younger player would likely focus more on the larger stories.

I believe that the lack of cohesion between different story threads is intentional. From a story perspective, while everyone on the island has the shared goal of getting home, they each have individual struggles that they need to deal with. From a gameplay perspective, it prevents the focus of every interaction being focused on that shared goal and allows the smaller stories to exist in a vacuum

8:44 I remember there is a small bit of info given at the end of the main story about how the cassette transformation works but it’s more of a “why are cassette players needed to trigger transformation?” than a in-depth explanation about how it works.

I really like Cassette Beasts, and this is an amazing video about it. The ending was particularly pretty emotional for me, just as the game's ending was when I had to return home, leaving behind all the friends I had made. I haven't completed many video games, but Cassette Beasts was the one where I got most attached to the companions, by far.

I’ve heard about Cassette Beasts here and then before but never considered it, watching your video has changed my mind and I really like what you had to say about it and especially how you presented it, this is a great video and you deserve a round of applause!

If pokemon can be riddled with issues, then I will overlook the couple of issues cassette beasts have. It's nearly perfect and that is more than you can say about pokemon.

I don't think there has ever been a game that I have craved more people knowing and talking about more than Cassette Beasts. Honestly, from the moment that I heard the lyrics to Wherever We Are Now, I knew this game was something incredibly special to me. I'm kinda scared to actually finish it, so I've just stayed away from the ending, not willing to say our final goodbyes and watch the credits roll. This game is complex, but the themes of friendship and personal power are very important to me, as naive and pathetically unrealistic and childish as the real world seems to find them, the notion that we can change reality, and that the combined power of multiple people working together is limitless is something that I will never ever let go of.

Honestly, Cassette Beasts is currently my favorite all-time game. For me, different from you Mr.Horton Cassete Beasts, gives me what i really want in a game. A sense of adventure, a sense of wonder and excitement as i turn into a giant monster to beat the shnowzow out of other monsters in a absolutly wonderful and amazing combat system wich im suprised u dident get into that much. The combat is amazing that as u start to master it really allows you to do some insane things. With my Aeroboros (my favorite beast!) Can gain 6 ap in a turn and then next turn blast everything 4 times. thats 4 attacks against every enemy. and thats easy to do,its gets wilder when u start abusing elemental reaction and glitter. But the combat, the mystery, the adventure, the bosses and special creatures that roam the island. Its a basic premise i felt actually executed right. And honestly i wont leave. i still havent left. Atleast with my character i stay. I dont need to leave and thats ok. i dont need to see that ending, thats not MY story. Il continue doing my daily quests everyday. Im a ranger captain and i have my duties. Thats MY story. Honestly the island is a paradise for some. And for me its just perfect!

Absolutely love your videos. It's a shame, but I find myself really falling out of love with Pokemon as time goes on, but also falling in love with a lot of the spinoffs. There's something about the creature designs I can't get away from, but the gameplay misses for me. Stuff like Pokemon Snap on the other hand draws me in like no tomorrow

As a Pokémon fan who loves Cassette Beasts, i want to defend Pokémon on the “dog fighting” issue? There is a level of communication between humans and Pokémon that is far beyond humans and most animals; Pokémon can understand humans clearly, and most if not all pokémon have ways to convey their own thoughts and feelings back. Ash to Pikachu, for example; Pikachu CLEARLY loves to battle, there is no misunderstanding there. He is not a slave to ash? where i feel Pokémon shines is in that each pokémon can be its own character. while they are still animals (most of the time), they share social traits like humans do that set them apart; They’re vastly intelligent (and also powerful.) If a Pokémon did not want to battle, there is a chance that it has more say in the matter than YOU do, and it will be very sure to let you know. So unless you’re going out of your way (and you have the power) to treat pokémon like slaves, like for example an illegal crime organization who steals Pokémon from other people, you probably will be on very good terms with your Pokémon lol (also my favorite Cassette Beast is Kirikuri, and my favorite Pokémon is Furret)

I damn near cried my way through the entire final boss. The sheer climactic majesty, the positive message about human will, the music, the thematic resolution of the entire game... it was beautiful.

I have beaten Cassette Beasts.. such an amazing game with a great art style. This game is in the running of ny fave game of 2023. ❤

this one has been on my radar since you first brought it up, but after this video it's shot up my list! i'll pick it up for sure

Thank you SO MUCH for turning me onto this game. Played it all night lastnight and am still playing it. It's truly a joy to play!! ❤ And OMG THE MUSIC! Every track that has vocals has brought me to tears. It really touches my heart! ❤❤❤ Hats off to Shelby Harvey! She knocks it out of the effing park!!! Her voice adds a beautifully radiant facet to the already great music. Needless to say, YES, I feel it!

Due to a trial I got 4 months xbox gamepass so I got to experience the base game for free, safe to say I own the game and the dlc now, amazing music, a nice overworld, concepts that feel explored and leave an open tied story, along with a nice visual style with strong colors (just wish I could find the dlc ost anywhere)

One of the best RPGs, it's a mixture of Pokémon Platinum and Persona + Shin Megami with the puzzles of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Now do Chained Echoes, Signalis, Gravity Circuit and Pizza Tower.

You deserve more views, this analysis is amazing and made me want to give it a try (once I finish some games I am playing now)

Cassette Beasts has gotta be my second fav monster collector. I like Shin Megami Tensei more, but, Cassette Beasts fucking rules. It's got that digital devil saga in its DNA and it's really neat.

I'm playing the first Monster Hunter Stories on my 3DS and I finally got that 'AHA!!!' moment and now I get what many people love about turn based monster catching games. I'm 20 hours in and I just can't stop playing it. It's soooo addicting, it has interesting monsters and the battle system is simple but exciting. Can't wait to play the second one on my Switch. 😊

On a somewhat unrelated note, thanks for linking to the article on Sea of Stars. I have similar gripes and conflictions about Sea of Stars as the author of that article did, but never heard of anyone else who commented on it until now. Oh, and Cassette Beasts is excellent. I played it (and other Monster Collectors) on XBox Game Pass and I'd honestly say it's the best Monster Collector I've ever played.

One thing that really ties cassette beasts together is the underlying feeling of existential dread and mystery, yet still somehow begging you to explore. It's a delicate balancing act of optomistic wanderlust and horrifying existential crises, and it's beautiful. Also, I'd say that the game doesn't come together to say one specific thing- however, each character and each archangel, I've found, have a lot of interesting morals; [SPOILERS] Heckahedron tells that the universe should define logic, not the other way around, and that letting logic spiral out of control is insanity. Meredith and Nowhere Monarch tell the value of accepting life as it is, that continuously wanting more and more will only lead to emptiness. Mourningstar and Kayleigh tell that religion fouls when it becomes less about the religion itself and more about the preacher, about selfishness.

The way you transitioned between into the lyrics version when you explained fusion just like in the game was SO Good.

The way I personally see the ending is that this world we find ourselves in, it's a fantasy. Despite how much we may want to stay you have to move on. There are small elements that kinda help prove my point, like Meredith's quest and the king of nowhere, saying that we can't always be consuming media and that we have to face reality. I don't really have much else that strongly surrports my point, but hey this game especially is one that can definitely be left up to interpretation. Edit: I realized that the achievement for getting the ending is Real Life Awaits. So that definitely means something.

I think that keeping the tape selections to the standard 6 but then giving those 6 lil dudes a massive amount of moves adds some leeway for more utility or even multiple passive abilities. Waiting for energy each turn makes me feel like Wizard 101 decided to collab with pokemon, and I've been helplessly binging this game until I'm too tired to ignore my spine pain in my chair n gotta sleep. 10/10, playing rn edit: I would like to add, the game feels scarier at times due to missing things like u-turns or volt switche which are honestly a little busted. Additionally, since you're a ranger pulling a ben 10 you can't switch status off by switching in and out: which is a little disappointing at times

I wish the dlc was longer the game is so good and the fact the dlc wasent long enough for me is a testament to the games quality

Wow great video!!! I definitely agree that the ending just didn’t quite work for me, after all the talk about not being able to leave the island and all that time I spent getting to know the characters it didn’t feel good for it to end like that. Maybe it would have interesting to like, convince some characters to stay depending on how much you interacted with them or something. Or maybe I shouldn’t get so attached to them lol. But that’s hard. Still a fantastic game though that grabbed me wayyyyy more than like any game I’ve played since Risk of Rain 2. I just love me some games with soundtracks that go hard. Love the battling way more than stuff like Pokémon.

This concept reminds me of Chaotic and I love it when I was a child

Pokemon no longer has soul

yea I absolutely adore the style they went for in the overworld with the abilities and the camera. It's just perfect

This is one of my favorite videos I've ever watched on yt, and I have yet to play Cassette Beasts. New sub, love your style of explaining things, wishing you the best.

There is a point in the story where a character gives another reason as to why the fusion is possible in new wirral, maybe spoilers so dont read if you bothered but all the monsters are considered ideas/creations by countless people or characters from stories told across multiple dimesions/universes. The theory is that once an idea or creation is made it is no longer the property of the person who thought it up and new wirral allows those ideas to manifest and be interacted with.

I played cassete beasts earlier this year and had a lot of fun, it doesnt scratches the same itch as pokemon for me in the combat, but I really liked the traversal/platforming and monster design

I'm just glad that there is a game that threatens the pokémon company. For too long they've been making subpar games and fans in denial have been buying them and rewarding their behaviour. Cassette Beasts has potential to improve further, they've just gotta pace themselves.

It's fun how different your view of this game is to mine. I'm usually a gameplay-first kind of guy and while I enjoyed the stories in the world, I truly fell in love knowing how many ridiculous move combinations are possible with the 2v2 scenario. It is in at least in some form, the best of both worlds if two views that start so differently agree that it's fantastic :)

The Soundtrack reminds me so much of Persona. The same comfy vibes in the Hub areas, cool atmospheric music while exploring, a banging battle Theme, tense "shit is going down" music and ofc the Boss themes ;D

As an adult who has loved Pokémon ever since picking up Pokemon Red when I was a kid, this review was so great. You absolutely sold me on Cassette Beasts, and it is going on my list of games to play. Thank you :)

It's very rare that rpg's like this keep my attention but this one did with the unique battle mechanics alone, I also like the freedom this game gives you right off the bat (after the tutorial at least) and the monster designs are very unique as well as the "archangels" and the music is AWESOME

Played this game loved it seeing it again makes me want to play it again (I also love isekais tho that might be something else that drew me to it)

This is how i feel about Monster Sanctuary

Idk, I like the interesting fail-state of damaging a pokemon too much to capture them. It was literally the only gameplay mechanic that kept my attention in scarlet/violet. Yeah, it's frustrating, but walking that tightrope is interesting to me. It's the mechanic that sets pokemon apart from every other rpg i've ever played. It adds tension to battles where there usually is none. it makes useless moves useful. It makes me use pokemon I otherwise wouldn't. It's a simple strategic requirement that effects almost every other mechanic in the game. It's why the most memorable parts of every pokemon game I've ever played have been catching them all, which is appropriate. When I scored a critical hit on a dragonite in violet when I was trying to catch it, it made for the most memorable moment in the game. Kind of sad since I could say the same of a game made almost 30 years ago, but it is what it is.

Today I beat this game and I loved it! Best part was the characters

Digimon is an Isekai?! I literally never considered that!

I'm here for the fuckin' vibe. Buying now.

6:13 BARKLEY NO

Also s I have played the game it is amazing it's not like all of the popular games right now where you buy the game and it's not even finish this game is complete and they're just going to add more stuff to make it a bit more fresh honestly if you just want a game that you can just chill this is the game for you and if you just want to play games that have good ots this is the perfect game for you

Pokemon wasnt even the first monster taming rpg dragon quest had taming monsters first and shin megami tensei before that but pokemon fans always say everything "rips off pokemon" and try to make sure every indie monster rpg dies off and its completely unfair

do you have a favorite monster tamer?

Human Monster fusion? Getting some Digimon vibes

Cassette Beasts is so much fun, it is easy so the same, but different from Pokemon! Same with Coromon! My Favorite Pokemon game is Pokemon Uranium!

I think one of the things that gets me with Pokemon is that its turn based battle system is surprisingly deep and complex... if, and only if, you get into competitive play. The game has layers and layers of mechanical depth that rarely become relevant within normal, single player gameplay, where the most clever and elaborate strategy is still probably less efficient than "switching to a type advantage and clicking the move with the biggest number next to it." And with their weird refusal to do anything interesting with Battle Tower or heaven forbid any other Battle Frontier format, there's no avenue to explore this within the base game, or even "the entire double battle format" in most cases. It's the officially-supported competitive standard, and in normal play it's treated as a throwaway gimmick. Bizarre.

This small game is one I wish more people played.

One of the biggest things for me is that it's 2 player. Are there even any other 2 player games like this?

Loving this video so far, but next time please try to keep footage to earlier in the game to avoid spoilers. Visually spoiled 2 great reveals I would have liked to see for myself!

more than a review

"It's Jubilife, Matt" 😂

didn't Ianthe explain transformations in the end as stories being brought to life

This fusion also happened in digimon. So if you want adult Pokémon just watch digimon and turn that into a game.

I did buy Cassette Beasts but it really did not keep my attention long and I went back to playing a ROM hack of Pokemon B&W 2. At some point I may go back to Cassette Beasts but I really didn't like it anywhere as much as Coromon and even Tem Tem.

I really tried to love this game but I can't get over the writing & artstyle

If you could make your own harem here this game would be good

It looks awesome!! But honestly, in my case it wasn’t I grew up and Pokémon didn’t, it’s I never grew up and neither did pokemon lol. So I never really had that issue. But this does look like a great new take on it! Better than digimon at the least.

What's the music? Can someone tell me any?

music is about one of the few thing pokemon is really good at the moment, but yeah those other things be sour

I feel like monster rancher should have got mentioned here

REAL

Monster design is subjective

“More seriously, like Steven universe” bruh what

Pretty sure the player character in legends arceus lost their memories.

Tokusect gang rise up!

Pokemon eh, cassette good

devils advocate. pokemons battle systems are really deep but the games campaigns don't push you at all to learn the battle system outside of "attack, attack, attack" the AI could be smarter to keep you on your toes but game freak keep it dumb. the trainer pokemon could have competitive stats and move pools. but the stats are kept as low as possible and the move pools are generally kept simple and free of any challenge so even the most brain dead can A mash to victory (outside of like a handful of battles which are largely post game). and yeah i pirated scarlet and i still don't want to play it. i got to the part where i chose my starter after booting it up a second time and then got fed up with the over all low quality and soullessness of it all. and truth be told i only played after gen 5 because i discovered wifi battles and the competitive scene. i just want more challenge from the franchise I grew up with. im convinced the monster design staff are the most competent employees working on pokemon. but yeah cassette beasts is fantastic. got it yesterday and already have 15 hours. it has some flaws and rough edges (for starters it would be nice if i could see what the level range of each explored map square was at a glance and it would be cool if there was a quest to gather all the movement monsters because i still dont know what i need to get to some of the areas of the map. not going to sit here and say its my game of the year but its probably really close. (imho the music is bad. and its hard for me to describe why the only thing i can say is that it feels too inde. like its really really low budget but trying to sound high budget... also the singer needs singing lessons because shes bad. cant even understand 99% of the lyrics.

Please don't blend the Singer in. I can't explain it well, but i don't want to always have her stuck in my head as soon as i start hearing rhe song. I could image that to happen^^

I really like cassette beasts a lot but i have some issues with it especially the switch Version. There is to less content for my taste , no real post game content, no multyplayer and i really dont like the most designes of the beasts. There is literally no single beast i would call "great" but i like the fusions tho.

Digimon

Spoiler warnings!

Lol This game is like Pokemon and DigimonFrontier Had Sex And their kid CassetteBeast came to be!!!!! Holyshit!!!!

There was no playstation release which is just idiotic.

Skip to 3 min 30 unless you want to hear about Pokémon

I really wanted to enjoy it like I do pokemon but its too different from pokemon

Pokemon Legends Arceus is THE most overhyped pokemon game in history and not to mention the worst pokemon game. it's still the SAME combat system as in the original games just with a new gimmick like they've been adding since gen 6, in this case being the style system. while also removing half of what makes pokemon fun which is testing your metal against others, and need i even mention the ripping off of everything shit of the wild did?. cassette beasts is just a superior game to everything pokemon has been doing since gen 6. a diverse combat system, catching mechanics that are actually interesting and not just throw ball at creature like the entire point of arceus was, an open world with ACTUAL Secrets in it (like magikrab :D), it dives into themes pokemon hasn't dived into since gen 1 through 5, and an entire main dex to collect that isn't cut off into DLC and resold too us later. this game and digimon story are the two best monster taming games too exist in modern day in my eyes and for good reason, they don't treat their audience like babies. don't get me wrong, i enjoy pokemon from time to time, i even enjoyed gen 9, but there's better monster taming games that exist and cassette beasts is head and shoulders above pokemon.

...thumbnail might benefit from getting a 3rd word.

To each their own, but please can we move on from that age old BS idea that Pokèmon Battles are like dog fights? If you know and understand the pokèmon world, than you would know that it is not the same thing at all, whoever thinks that never really decided to go beyond the surface of pokèmon games and explore its world a little.

My take on the ending is that it's telling you to go outside and touch grass. New Wirral is an isekai, a place of fantasy and wish fulfillment, where the ability to turn into monsters and the archangel demigods themselves are powered by human imagination. Eugene's arc reminds me the most of this - wanting to come out of his experience on New Wirral with the ability to make a difference in his life. So when the power of the imagination wins out in the end, and the portal home opens, it's over. No more role-playing about the importance of imagination, time to actually apply it to your life, and prove that whatever emotional experience this or any other game has given you, that you impact the world with it. Your fantasy video game world dating partner can't come with you, you must do this by yourself. The thing that really touched me was, Cassette Beasts does not end with you going back home. It ends with you leaving New Wirral. You have to decide what's on the other side of that portal. It's maybe a little wishy-washy of a theme, or lesson, but in my opinion Bytten was able to give me a humbling experience with it, just by crafting an amazing video game. The gameplay is engaging and challenging. The designs and soundtrack are great. There is so much to collect and there are so many quests to complete. This is the kind of game that could easily take over someone's life. So I think that makes the ending all the more stronger, telling you to put it down. You didn't turn into a monster and go to another world, and date a redheaded guitarist, but you still had to give up something comforting to get home.

Pokemon Violet and Scarlett was straight ass just beat it and traded it in, go fill the dex hell nah or shiney farm aka waste of time i rather mod shineys then do that heres hoping digimon resurrects itself cause pokemon is dying to me....

I know I might be in the minority here, but if you get the spare time, I suggest you revisit Violet. I admit, it doesn't have the hook that Arceus presents, but it does improve upon something that Arceus seemed to lack, which is phenomenal characters. The characters in Violet are much more engaging and so well written and the ending of that game is one of the greatest/wildest things I've ever experienced in a video game period, which definitely blindsided me for it to come out of a Pokémon game. I understand if you can't be bothered to go back through, but if you get the chance, you really should revisit it. The game admittedly has a few grindy spots (University Courses especially really need an overhaul) but do yourself a favor of experiencing that game in it's entirety and the journey of the characters within it. I also feel the music in that game is insanely good (ty mr. fox.) Also, the game has a better sense of having it's entire game world "feel alive" than any other Pokémon game, by far, imo. If you can look past the small graphical oddities in the game, you find a world that is full of trainers and Pokémon and they all have stories and really make the world feel complete, especially given the massive scope of the game world. There are still plenty of empty areas, but even in the most remote areas you'll usually find a hidden item or a gimmighoul hiding out there, or sometimes even a trainer with a whacky story/dialogue to share. And this is all coming from someone who hasn't been hooked enough on a Pokémon game to complete it since Pokémon Yellow. (Also, you've convinced me to give Cassette Beasts a go, as I've been on the outset of trying it. So do me a solid and give Violet another chance, will ya mate?

This review…geez. 4 1/2 minutes in and they’ve said nothing of substance about the game. I now know how much they enjoyed arceus though.

I Hate it, many things are left "Open to interpretation" and youa re just told "loool don't bother finding out about this" even for stuff that should be explained, that is very lazy writing

Nice review but due to too many plot spoilers I couldn't watch it till the end. WTF, man? 👎 You can't just tell me the background story of each protagonist in a review.

POKÉMON has been underrated recently. Don’t grow up, keep at a younger audience. Based off of the footage In this video, the creatures are wacky looking. We need a more straight forward plot is POKÉMON again. Real time fights are sometimes hard to focus on, especially if you have a busy life. COROMON, TEMTEM, and Monster Hunter Are the good ones. POKÉMON doesn’t deserve the hate it gets. It’s not animals abuse, they want to fight. ISN’T is annoying to not get answers. The art isn’t even 3d, there’s not as much quality. Then your not really trying to capture it, it’s to easy this way. Your HYPERBOLIZING this game and hypobolizing POKÉMON. It’s magical, you don’t need to explain it. Games arn’t supposed to be relatable, there supposed to be an escape. Even dark stories can be made for kids. I think in the lore you do go back. POKÉMON does explain it’s characters. Well I expect respect for famous things, not undeserved hate.

so basically you say what you dont like in pokemon and you like in casette beasts, fair enough, not applying to everyone, which makes the purpose of this video entirely pointless.

I find it hard to look past that I’m not actually collecting monsters, I truly don’t want to transform myself, I want to form bonds with cute monsters! I think this game is a like a hidden gem that I do t want and will give away to someone else lol