New Year, New Pokémon? (Courtesy of Pokémon Writer's Club)
Find and unscramble the hidden message (Ew) for a secret reward. For a while, Junichi Masuda had us believe that the Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Game Freak and Monsters Inc. release a new Pokémon game every year. The public opinion changed when they started receiving backlash for pumping out subpar games and ignoring their fans. With all of the controversy surrounding their flagship game, Pokémon Sword and Shield — commonly referred to as SwSh — do you think we'll be receiving a new Pokémon game in 2021 or not? Let's get into the good, the bad and the ugly.
Image: Pokémon Sword and Shield early route Pokémon featuring Duraladon and Polteageist. THE GOOD: Pokémon Sword and Shield was their first game to display several partial forms of online interaction (prcetse) with your friends, whether that be visiting their camps, having your Pokémon play together, taking on Max Raid Adventures or vs. battles. This leads me to believe that the next game in the franchise will hopefully have online story mode with friends, removing those stupid trade evolution restrictions and making the completion of your PokéDex less painfully tedious.
Image: The friends we made along the way. Pokémon SwSh also brought attention to the competitive scene in a way that was never seen before. With new (reshot) Gigantamax and Dynamax Pokémon forms being released every month, the meta was ever-changing and with the ability to use rental codes you could jump right into the action. This brought Pokémon battles to the forefront of the series for some time until the DLC was announced, then it cemented it's place. And can we just admire Bede's theme music for a second? That can make even the grumpiest Genwunners dance. https://youtu.be/fLir8xB0kKg
Video: Heckin dancy bois and gals. The Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra introduced 10 new legendaries (noispison) and 5 Galarian variants of previous Pokémon. This had a ASTOUNDING reception and if competitive battles weren't your thing, they sure are now. Pair that with some exceptional marketing, two ongoing TV shows, and a movie in the making and you've got the recipe for a turning point in Pokémon history. That being said, it's not all peaches and sunshine.
Image: DLC added to the barebones game. THE BAD: Pokémon Sword and Shield was released in the Americas and the UK on November 15th, 2019 and so the chances of us getting a new game in 2021 are slim, but not impossible. We still haven't received a LOT of Gigantamax forms for Pokémon that should've had them on release and the fans have been very vocal about that. Think about it for a minute. When Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire or ORAS were released, did we need to wait for updates, or was the game already (ecsabeu) finished and sold? The reason I say this is because of something that was missing from the very beginning.
Image: The starters Gigantamax forms. The fact that Mega-Evolutions exist is a giant stain on Gigantamax Pokémon, not because of the intricacies of how they work, but rather the drastically different implementations of the two. Mega-Blazekin, Sceptile and Swampert exist as soon as you buy Pokémon ORAS and create a save file. In Pokémon SwSh, the fans (reew') waited from November 15th, 2019 - June 17th, 2020 to be charged $30.00 for what should've been included in the base game. Yes, Game Freak is a corporation and yes corporations have investors and need to meet their quotas, but this is hard to accept as anything but corporate greed. Many fans were already upset because of the lack of effort put into the game. The national Dex controversy makes sense when you think about it. Why do we need Pikachu and Meowth in EVERY game, but we can't catch Deoxys, Infernape, Staraptor, Manaphy, Leavanny, etc.
Image: Manaphy loathing Kanto favouritism. If you look at the polygons and vertices used, they're almost exactly identical to Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The graphics did not improve, Game Freak just ported 3DS graphics to the Switch. Look at the Witcher and then look at Pokémon, there's no excuse. They released a 3DS demo and charged $80.00 for it. Lastly, the story was way too childish and hand holding. The tutorial of a game made me turn my brain off because they were just telling me what to do the whole time. In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, you topple a crime syndicate, defeat Ghetsis, stop the resurrection of perfect Kyurem, defeat N, uncover franchise shaping plot twists, solve puzzles, discover the saddest lore in Pokémon and all while listening to some amazing music. (lal) Meanwhile Hop can't seem to hold his fragile self-worth in check and Leon's ego is larger than my Pokémon collection. And don't even get me started on these discount, Great Value villains.
Image: This is the physical form of disappointment. I'm not saying that Pokémon Sword and Shield is inherently good or bad. I think it has it's selling points and it's flaws just like any game. But I don't see a new Pokémon game being released any time soon – at least until they finish cleaning up this one. I'll leave you with a soothing OST to listen to as you write your comments. (munha) https://youtu.be/RVdZs8Vh0O0 Thanks for reading and if you made it this far, flex on the lazy by posting the hidden phrase and be the first to win a secret prize.
Yeah, nearly every game for pokemon involves you taking down some big crime syndicate but in Sword and Shield, you just beat up a bunch of fans for a famous singer who does nothing wrong, they don't even work for the main villain.
Did it feel too easy for you too then? Cause I miss the days of trying to get figure out how to get every Regi, catching every Unknown, finding the whole 2nd region after the Elite Four, etc. That was so much fun.
I only have ever played gen 1 firered, gen 3 ruby, gen 5 black 2, and ultra sun along with both sword and shield.
Everything I just said but the 2nd region was in those games. Did you play like I did as a kid and put it down once you beat the Elite Four? Cause there's a LOT of hidden gems you might want to look for. I regret making that mistake.
I never stopped playing the game after beating the elite four. When I was younger i did not know about game specific pokemon and would constantly try to find the elite four while also do whatever i found cool or interesting along the way. However, I was basically forced to replay the games because my brother would restart them. It was fun to beat the elite four with a level 100 samurott in black 2 before restarting the game and getting somethings I missed then repeating what I did before.
I never even finished B2W2 properly and I KNOW they're the best games in the franchise. I envy you. As a kid I thought we all sorta caught the cool Pokémon, beat the Elite Four and just thought "what now?" but apparently I was just a dumb kid lol..
I think Hoenne remakes might come instead of sinnnoh because the Hoenne starters were in the Crown tundra this might sound unlikely but if you think about it why did they pick Hoenne?
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were released too recently for that. The reason why Hoenn starters were added in is because they're superior when it comes to Pokémon battles.
Infernape and Empoleon are ranked in UU (Underused) and Torterra didn't even qualify. Sceptile ranked in NU (Never used), Swampert's in UU and Blaziken is in Ubers (highest competitive tier). Gen 4 was just bad for competitive starters and gen 3 was barely better, but Sceptile has always been bad lol.I want Gen 4 so bad!
A Sinnoh remake wouldn't be a bad idea tbh, since the Sinnoh mega evolutions never had a chance
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