‘Pokémon GO’: Popular YouTube Channel ‘Screen Junkies’ Parodies Popular Game With ‘Honest Trailer’

F0r those who thought Nintendo’s Pokémon GO train would eventually go off the rails before the end of July, the locomotive just continues to run at full speed. More users find themselves joining daily; more features are coming to the game, and a movie has even been announced for 2017 thanks to the game’s success. Now, what is arguably the most popular mobile game since Paper Toss has received the ultimate award.

No, it’s not a plaque from the ESRB commending them on the inclusion factor that the game has brought as people meet over a simple hunt for digital creatures. No, downloading an app that is supposed to save your battery won’t save your phone from dying within fifteen minutes of launching Pokémon GO at one hundred percent full battery.

The actual award? An “Honest Trailer” from Screen Junkies and Smosh Games on the latter’s YouTube channel.

Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

Of course, this was likely done in good fun as most “Honest Trailers” are, but all the points made in the video are valid from differences between the trailer to the real product, and how much of a drain it is on the device’s battery. Credit has to be given to the Screen Junkies guys for taking up issues with real problems that the game has and not just bagging on the product because of its success.

One of the better points that the video brings up is that for a game that talked so much about trying to replicate the style of the original games, there’s just so much difference between the two games, including the tactics and style. It’s not that Pokémon GO is a lie or a quick money-grab by a company that has made more than enough money to ever worry about going broke, but it’s that, to quote The Walking Dead‘s Rick Grimes, “stuff and thangs” aren’t what they were in the games that we all fell in love with on long road trips and during boring class sessions.

If Pokémon GO was just a game that involved standing around and doing absolutely nothing, that’d be one thing, but a game that involves standing around and doing absolutely nothing while your phone quickly drains is essentially a sin in the year 2016. All Pokémon GO is, as the video points out, is Google Maps, plus you pick one of three random teams, Team Valor, Team Mystic or Team Instinct (names that mean absolutely nothing), and stand looking for weak digital creatures to just keep on our phone.And so, Pokémon GO is set to undergo a name change. Goodbye, Pokémon GO and welcome, Pokémon GO Recharge Your Phone.

Again, fantastic. Released earlier this month, Pokémon GO has been met mostly with positive feedback, although it only boasts a 3.9/5 rating on the Google Play store and a 3.3/5 on the Apple store. Interestingly, the ratings come from fans and critics alike. Later this year, Pokémon GO Plus, in which players will be able to use the games functions via Bluetooth without having to always look at their smartphone, will be released. Pokémon GO Plus is currently set for a September release.

Screen Junkies was started in February 2012 by Andy Signore and Brett Weiner, and the YouTube channel done “Honest Trailers” on everything from all six films in the Star Wars trilogy to The Walking Dead (twice). Currently, the channel has close to 5.6 million subscribers and could realistically hit 6 million by the end of 2016.

First formed in 2003 on the popular Newgrounds website, Smosh came to YouTube in 2005, becoming one of the most popular channels in the website’s history with over 22 million subscribers. The Smosh Games channel was launched in 2012 as part of the group’s expansion and desire to explore different ventures and categories.

[Image via Nintendo]