6 features 'Pokemon GO' should take from other Pokemon games

Right now, the only way to pit your pocket monsters against those belonging to other players in "Pokémon GO" is through battling at gyms. One-on-one friendly battles are coming later, but that's still combat.

All Pokémon are unique creatures with unique personalities, so let's allow them to show off their stuff without hurting each other for a change! Some Pokémon games have optional talent contests, where your chosen Pokémon's moves are judged based on how cute, cool or clever they are, among other traits.

I'm not saying "Pokémon GO" needs to have that specific mechanic, but it'd be neat if there were community events where players could get together and win prizes for doing things other than just having the strongest Pokémon.

In "Pokémon GO," you evolve Pokémon by simply capturing dozens of that same Pokémon in order to obtain enough candy to make them evolve. This is vastly different from the other games, where they evolve by leveling up through battles.

However, some Pokémon in those other games could also be evolved using stones — no grinding necessary. There are different stones for each type (like water and fire) and using the appropriate stone on the right Pokémon will make them evolve immediately.

If stones could show up in "Pokémon GO" (albeit extremely rarely), it could solve the issue where you have a Pokémon that you can never evolve or power up because of where you live. I chose a Charmander as my starter, and I literally have not seen a single Charmander since the game came out, for example.

The augmented reality option that makes it look like Pokémon are right in front of you in the real world is cool, but every serious "Pokémon GO" player turned it off after a few days because it makes catching them more difficult.

One way they could make the AR option more interesting (and give players who don't want to catch Pokémon something to do) is by emulating the best Pokémon game of all: "Pokémon Snap."

Yes, I want to be able to take creative photos of the Pokémon I find and have the game judge them based on composition and other qualities. Everyone loves "Pokémon Snap" so this is a no-brainer, as far as I'm concerned.

"Pokémon GO" allows you to choose the gender and skin color of your player character at the start of the game, but that's it. There are no options for hair or clothing or anything else, which is a bummer.

The more recent Pokémon games have had options for different outfits, but "Pokémon GO" could at least offer some different hairstyles alongside that. It's pretty disappointing as it is right now.

By far the biggest disappointment in "Pokémon GO" is the combat. It eschews the series' traditional turn-based fights in favor of mindnumbingly simple tap-fests that require zero skill or thought.

Honestly, I'm not sure why they didn't just go with something that resembles the combat players have come to know and love for 20 years. I can see the argument that it's a little slower, but the average one-on-one encounter in a "Pokémon" game lasts about 45 seconds. They can make it work.