The first Pokémon game, originally called “Pocket Monsters,” was released in Japan in 1996. The adventures in the Kanto region were so popular that they came to the United States in August of 1998, and the video game industry has never been the same. The series’ collectathon gameplay has enthralled millions of people around the world, and the games haven’t had to change much to continue being massively popular for over two decades. The first Pokémon games, “Pokémon Red, Blue and Green,” sold 31.38 million copies and the most recent game, “Pokémon Sword and Shield,” sold 23.9 million copies as of earlier this year.
But, as the series reaches the legal drinking age in the United States, it’s starting to show its age. As we complete a Soul Link Nuzlocke (soullocke) of “Pokémon Sword and Shield,” it feels like a weathered shell of the games that we both grew up obsessed with.
“Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver” were the first Pokémon games that we ever played as kids. The nostalgic value that those games alone hold makes among them the best in the series for us. While Johto is regarded as one of the worst Pokémon regions by many fans, nothing compares to when Professor Elm offers you the choice between Cyndaquil, Chikorita and Totodile in our minds.
Catching a legendary Pokémon was not only exciting, but meant that you could brag to your friends about your accomplishments. This was the golden era of Pokémon for us: “HeartGold and SoulSilver,” “Diamond and Pearl” and “Black and White” were (in our opinions) the greatest Pokémon games ever made. They featured beautiful artwork, unique legendaries that felt exciting to capture, and plots that didn’t make you feel like an infant child being read a nonsensical bedtime story.
GameFreak, the company behind Pokémon, continued to publish these games to massive commercial success. But newer games, particularly “Pokémon Sword and Shield,” have felt hollow when compared to the childhood-defining experiences that generation 4 and 5 were (“Brilliant Diamond” and “Shining Pearl” don’t count as new games in our eyes, as they’re just republished versions of the same game). That said, the same old formula of battling your way through an evil organization, defeating eight gym leaders, catching a legendary Pokémon and fighting for the title of Pokémon champion is still in place, but this Pokémon game feels empty.
The drastically lower difficulty of “Sword and Shield” is apparent from your first Pokémon battle. Hop, your rival, chooses a starter that’s weak to whichever one you choose. In most every other Pokémon game your rival chooses a Pokémon that your starter will be weak to, as this adds a sense of challenge to the game and gives rival battles some semblance of difficulty. But “Sword and Shield” chooses to make the trainer you fight most frequently a weakling when compared to past games’ rivals.
The story of “Sword and Shield” was clearly phoned in, too. After obtaining your starter, you get approached by a funny dog in the woods and then go fight several gym leaders while passing through progressively worse-designed puzzles to reach them. Then, you fight an evil oil tycoon and the funny dogs help you kill an energy dragon before you inevitably become the champion. We may have glossed over a few points, but that’s a relatively complete synopsis of this multi-million-dollar budget game made by a AAA franchise.
Pokémon in this generation are, in general, very crudely designed. The two legendaries are just red and blue dogs that hold different things in their mouths. That is not innovation. There are exceptions, like the apple-mythical-beat-hybrid Flapple or the extremely punny Polteageist, but the majority of Pokémon in this game are extremely sophomoric. There are four Pokémon with the same exact model but different coats of paint. Grubbin, Snom, Pinurchin and Pyukumuku look like the artists had a deadline at midnight and started work at 11:55. So many of the designs in this game seem to have been designed carelessly, and it makes the process of catching new Pokémon so much less satisfying. Players want something new when they go to a new route or a new section of the wild area, not a Grubbin clone.
For the new game, “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet,” we have high hopes. It’s an open-world game with three different story paths, four-player multiplayer and the ability to give your Pokémon another type.
If all of these things are included, “Scarlet and Violet” is shaping up to be the most innovative Pokémon game in decades. That’s not really saying much, but we’re both very excited to see what GameFreak has been cooking up. A return to form, and games that are passionately crafted, is what the Pokémon community truly wants. We can only hope that we don’t get another lazy re-release of past games with a new coat of paint.
