At some point in Pokemon, you always end up coming home. Whether it's to say hi to your mom or use Surf to get that last TM, sooner or later you'll have to tread that old ground. Walking through that familiar grass, you happen upon one of the low-level Pokemon you meet at the start of the game. And that's when you realise your super-powered team of fighters has become a deadly unit. What chance does a level 2 Pidgey have against your level 67 Dragon-type Pokemon?

'It isn't very effective' says the game as you destroy said pokemon with your team's first attack. We know it says 'fainted', but let's be honest, there's no way it survived that. And now we feel bad.


The problem here is that the death is so murderous and comes from overwhelming numbers of your Pikmin. This is the angry mob lynching of gaming, only with cute graphics. Just as ants will bring down a slug and then carry it away (we saw it on TV), so the Spotty Bulorb is surrounded in its sleep, worn down and then killed. While its children watch! Or maybe you killed them first? OK, so it's just like nature. But nature is so cruel.


Above: This is the boxart for Pikmin. Cute, isn't it? But look closer - the bug's being murdered. Not so nice now, is it?