It's Kotaku, so unfortunately a little idiocy and hardcorez revisionism comes with the territory.

Smash on the 3DS works because it pretty much looks as good as a console version. Pokemon isn't the same. It doesn't look like a console game, so making the top down mediocrity in HD worldn't work. They'd need to make the 3DS version look as good as what a possible console version would look like, only scaled down, just like with Smash.

There's more to come.

I think Nintendo's bankruptcy card would be to port many of their 80's/90's properties to mobile gaming... Seems like they'd be the largest mobile gaming developer overnight.

That's the path they keep having to talk their shareholders out of, at least.

Not sure but isn't Pokemon on handhelds internet-enabled as well? Just add a LAN option to home consoles and let players decide if they want to play online with voice-chat or local with other players. What's so hard about that ... it's not even anymore different to the handhelds then. It's not like you magically meet people when you own a handheld and a Pokemon game.

It is Internet enabled, though there seem to be benefits to having friends that play. I played Pokemon Y recently (my first since the gen 2) and there was this "Friend Safari" feature at the end that sounded quite fun but you needed to know people who also played to use it (I didn't).

I guess what I find confusing is why the handheld version can't continue as the competitive version with the in-person tournaments and the like while also having some home console take on the game. I know it wouldn't dissuade me from playing the true handheld release and lord knows those competitive types and the people already in the community would not suddenly abandon all of that because there's a Pokemon game on the Wii U.

As was said before, I wouldn't be surprised if they're just waiting for that (possible) next system that was rumored to link the handheld and console in some way... I don't see why we should have to wait for that, though, as it seems a console take on the franchise would not compromise his vision for it.

Yeah. It's so stupid. They could do it now with such ease. Just limit the amount of Pokemon that can be obtained on the some console game or something. That's literally all they'd need to do. Just make it so that many Pokemon simply can't be obtained without the handheld version, and they'd be able to justify having the handheld. As soon as someone figures out that their favorite Pokemon is unatainable on the home console version, they'll get the handheld version.

Even more, they could make it so that version X is only on handhelds while version Y is only on consoles, meaning that more people would double dip. They could make it like the Zelda Oracle games where transferring save files between both unlocks the "true" ending. It's so simple. There's no good reason not to do it now, but next gen there are no excuses.

The point of dual versions isn't to get people to double-dip. It's to encourage (or necessitate, if you're interested in completion) social play. Each Oracle game was completely distinct. They were not two slightly changed versions of the same game. It was worth buying the second game for its own merits, the extra content accessed by linking them was bonus material.

I have the answer to Mr. Masuda, to enable people gather with each other with home consoles to play(appart of online only options of corse like cloud saves etc), they're:
Amiibo (like what happens with SSB4, it "saves" or progress);
Pokemon Bank (another way to make you need/want to pay those 5$/€ year)
This way I could easily meet with my friends homes and play with my game or trade without the need of having to get my console... It's easy...