Pokémon is without a doubt the biggest blessing Nintendo received. Generation after generation, games bearing the name of this behemoth of a franchise have broken sales records worldwide. Thanks to the success of these games, millions of Nintendo consoles have been sold worldwide and Nintendo consoles continue to be the only place where the unique mainline Pokémon experience is available.
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
But with every release, “fans” of the series perform the same old song and dance. Pokémon games have been accused of being the same basic game with every new iteration. No one can deny the similarity in structure in these games, but the reason behind it is incredibly simple. Pokémon games are to be enjoyed by people of all ages. Making an accessible, yet sufficiently challenging RPG for such a wide demographic needs a formulaic approach.
EASIER TO COMPLAIN THAN APPRECIATE
Basically, Pokémon games need to feel like Pokémon games. Ignoring the innovations and the introduction of new elements in each release is easier than appreciating the work of developers that have the brutal task of balancing an ever-expanding list of pocket monsters and making hit after hit. The fact of the matter is, the games are fun. GameFreak has to make a record-breaking game every couple of years. That’s a lot of pressure. But they nail it every time.
MISINFORMATION
More recently, some people tried to smear Pokémon Sword & Shield, the latest entries in the franchise for the Nintendo Switch. Before release, I saw countless YouTubers and Twitter “experts” describe their reasons why the developers are lazy. They criticised the game’s art style, texture work and overall visual look, casually glossing over the fact that the developers are not exactly incredibly familiar with developing for an HD system. Pokémon games have been, for years, exclusively portable experiences for weaker handheld Nintendo systems.
MORE FAKE NEWS
Not only that, but a few days before the release of Sword & Shield, people that managed to illegally obtain early copies of the games released some of the scummiest fake news videos I have ever seen in my experience in covering video games. Bad quality videos focusing on a bad texture or two, zoomed in footage exaggerating character pop-in and even complaints that the game doesn’t look like ‘Breath of the Wild’. These people never had the intention to buy these games. They’re not concerned consumers trying to help fans decide whether to purchase a game. They’re just people with nothing better to do than hate on the latest popular thing online.
IT’S GOOD
Guess what? I purchased Pokémon Shield. It’s one of the best games on Switch. The art style, environmental design and sharp effects are all GameFreak’s best work. Draw distances are good and pop-in is never an issue unless you sift through footage looking for it. Most importantly, the game is fun and traversing through the Galar region is an absolute treat. The games colourful atmosphere, paired with the excellent soundtrack give you that Pokémon feeling fans know and love.
“IT DOESN’T HAVE ALL POKEMON!”
For once I’m happy I can complete the Pokedex without worrying that I have to play for hundreds of hours in order to catch nearly a thousand Pokémon. Whether it was done to avoid crunch or release the game just in time for the Holidays, the reduced number of Pokémon in the region gave us a more balanced, more accessible and ultimately more fun game.
Do you still hate Pokémon games? If so, why? Let me know in the comments below while I sharpen my debate knife.
Read the previous article in the series titled ‘Games you love to hate’.