The Recent Ups and Down of Pokemon Games
Pokémon is the highest grossing media franchise in the world. We live in a world where Pikachu is more recognizable than Mickey Mouse.
With that knowledge you would think the Pokémon Company and Game Freak would take their time and put great quality games for their millions upon millions of fans.
They don’t.
Ever since Pokémon X and Pokémon Y came out on the Nintendo 3ds in 2013, fans noticed they didn’t have as much content as they did back in the “prime” of Pokémon games.
The games still sold great obviously because it’s Pokémon. The Pokémon company definitely took advantage of that because ever since then, Pokémon hasn’t been the same.
The next generation of Pokémon games to come out were Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon on the 3ds in 2016. People hated these games.
But for the first time in a while, Game Freak and the Pokémon Company did something new. These games took place in the fictional region of Alola, based off Hawaii.
Most of the hate comes from how linear the game is, and the immense amount of annoying dialogue. I feel like if the Pokémon company took more time on these games, then maybe they would be enjoyable.
These games were received so poorly by fans that the Game Freak was forced to make upgraded versions of the games earlier than expected. These games were called Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon.
These games were received very well by fans. But the fact that the Pokémon Company had to fail first before they started trying still shows they don’t care.
After making another Gen 1 remake. The Pokémon Company released Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield for the Nintendo Switch.
These games were hated even more than Sun and Moon were. Most of the complaints were that graphics were bad, the story was extremely boring, and not all the Pokémon were in the game.
I personally enjoyed Sword and Shield, but I agree that the game didn’t look that great and the story was linear and boring. But I was able to look past all the Pokémon not being in it.
Sword and Shield still ended up selling over 26 million copies and as of right now is the 6th best-selling game on the Switch.
After the backlash from the Pokémon Sword and Shield. Nintendo announced they were releasing DLC for the game–one part coming in June 2020, and the other pack coming in November 2020.
The Isle of Armor was the first part, and I loved it. The story wasn’t bad, and it introduced a new legendary Pokémon in Urshifu. The whole story mode revolves around him.
I also enjoyed how much replay ability they added in this expansion. You have the option to find and collect all the digletts on the Isle of Armo, and you can upgrade a lot of items in the dojo if you have the funds.
The next expansion pack to come out was the Crown Tundra, and this is the one I go back to the most. This pack brought back all the legendaries from previous games while introducing a new one, Calyrex.
The story was interesting, and most of the area was snowy and appealing. My favorite thing to do is play online with my friends and other fans of the game, and try to battle and collect every legendary Pokémon, this adds so much replay ability to the game.
Game Freak and the Pokémon Company stepped it up when it came to the DLC.
The next game released was called Pokémon Legends Arceus, more of a spinoff game, but had a story like a main story game.
The main gimmick is that you can catch Pokémon in real time instead of battling them to catch them.
This is the best feature that Pokémon has ever added in a game. I still haven’t beat the game but I go back to it every once in a while, to catch Pokémon in real time because it’s so satisfying.
This game didn’t get any DLC sadly. But this game was more of an experiment to see if the fans would like this new take on Pokémon. And from what I see, the game was received very well.
Now the most recent games that came out, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. I can’t speak too much about it because I could barely get through the beginning.
These games weren’t received well at all. They’re extremely rushed, and it shows because the games look hideous. That’s the main reason I quit.
The whole game is open world, a feature I didn’t like but a lot of people did. I felt that after the tutorial, they sent you out there with no direction of where to go. I felt overwhelmed and quit.
This game may be my least favorite, but I’ve heard that a lot of people enjoyed it. If you’re able to look past the horrible graphics, you might have a good time.
Even though I ended up saying some good things about the Pokémon Company, I still believe they need to stop rushing games out and start taking their time.
