I know I'm chiming in a little late with this one, but...
I'm another one of those really long term pokemon players, who watched the series evolve from the good singleplayer but unbalanced multiplayer incarnation of the Red/Blue/Yellow generation (hell, I even remember when it was called the chromatic generation), to the unbalanced singleplayer but good multiplayer incarnation of the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. My concern with the series is, the team design just doesn't feel elegant anymore. I'm of the opinion that the elegance of team planning peaked with the second generation, when the overpowered psychics were balanced out by the special split and the introduction of dark types. After that, things just got needlessly complex. For example, one of the changes between the third and fourth generations was that every individual move can now be categorized as either physical or special, while they used to be categorized by their elemental type. At some points, the classifications feel pretty arbitrary, and I find you have to memorize too many possibilities, which leads to a general sense of frustration and information overload.
The best thing Nintendo could do with the Pokemon series, I feel, is to take the series down a tangent with the combat mechanics and try to build a simpler, more elegant system where you can focus on the big picture in team planning, where the strength of your overall strategy is more important than memorizing very specific tactics like electric baiting with a Gyarados and an Electivire.
Super World Cup Fighter II: Championship 2010 Edition
