#pokemon swsh expansion

[scraftyisthebest]

More Rambles on SV DLC News

Anyway, now that I've had a day to let everything sink in from yesterday's Pokemon Presents, a bit more of a ramble on SV DLC.

Seems we are getting more new evolutions, including a new alternate evolved form of Applin in Dipplin and surprisingly, a Duraludon evolution called Archaludon. They seem like pretty cool new additions. Dipplin is a candy apple, which is an interesting spin on Applin's apple theme. Stat-wise I'm curious how it will differentiate itself from Flapple and Appletun.

Duraludon is not what I expected to gain an evolution, though Archaludon admittedly looks pretty cool, being a bridge. Duraludon already possesses a naturally high base stat total so how Archaludon changes from that is going to be interesting.

We also have two new Paradoxes, Raging Bolt being Ancient Raikou, and Iron Crown being Future Cobalion. Seems Suicune and Virizion weren't the only ones to get them. Raging Bolt's long neck is something though...kinda goofy there. Entei and Terrakion will have Paradox counterparts of their own as well I imagine at this rate, to complete them as trios.

Seems the mysterious turtle we saw from Liko's pendant in Horizons is just Terapagos itself, in its Normal Form, while the bigger type-shelled form is its "Terastal Form". Notably this isn't necessarily a Terastallized state, and since Terapagos is implied to be the harbinger of the Terastal phenomenon that raises some interesting ideas for what role it may play in the story. Terapagos may have even more forms that we don't know about which I look forward to seeing.

Ogerpon seems to have a different appearance when Terastallized, in this case it seems to have special ties to Terastal itself.

From a story structure standpoint this DLC seems to be mirroring SwSh's DLC in terms of how the halves are placed and structured. The Teal Mask being Part 1 seems to be like the Isle of Armor, being able to be accessed as soon as the main story kicks off and being an additional side story intended to be slotted into the main story while expanding on the original base story and lore in a way. Kitakami like the Isle of Armor will be its own mini-storyline with the festivals and whatever we do there on the field trip much like how the Isle of Armor was a training quest in the Master Dojo that ends with raising Kubfu into a great Urshifu.

Meanwhile The Indigo Disk being Part 2 is like the Crown Tundra, being intended as a post-game quest after completing both the main story and DLC 1, only this time it's actually hard-locked to only being unlocked after completing both. It seems it's a post-game quest, while with the Crown Tundra it was a legendary catching expedition, this time we're an exchange student at the Blueberry Academy and we're taking part in the BB League and the tests to challenge each of the BB Elite Four. Like Galar's Crown Tundra it seems to be looping back to mainland Paldea for the finale of the overall story, and as we all know it'll be Area Zero, and returning to there for the final story segment, akin to how the Crown Tundra looped back to Wyndon Stadium for the Galarian Star Tournament. In both cases going back to where the base story's finale ended, with SwSh it was the Champion Cup and beating the undefeated Leon, in SV it was exploring Area Zero and taking down the Zero Lab, and for SV's DLC the final Area Zero visit may be something related to Terapagos and a finale we may not know about.

Based on the above speculation this also ties into how the anime and Horizons, with Liko's story, may build up and what its finale may be. While both Journeys and Horizons are multi-region and doing their own thing, they do take story elements and plot beats from SwSh and SV respectively, especially with Ash's and soon to be Liko's finale. Ash's finale in his Journeys story (and his story overall) was the Masters 8 Tournament in Wyndon, ending off with a grand final battle between him and Leon with Ash emerging victorious, mirroring SwSh. Liko's story already has the pendant, which we now know is Terapagos, as a major plot point, and the finale of her story in Horizons may have its climax take place in Area Zero, especially with Liko taking down the Explorers and maybe AI Sada/Turo will be involved as well alongside Koraidon and Miraidon, and of course Terapagos, in some sort of climax that will establish Liko as the new hero of legend and a legendary herself, much like how Ash himself ended off his story becoming the World Champion, the strongest battler who ever lived. I'm definitely very interested in how both SV's DLC and Horizons will pan out in that regard and what kind of story they're trying to tell with Area Zero and its mysteries in both the games and the anime at present.

Lots of rambling but there you go.

[tadpoledancer]

I'm actually furious that gamefreak only fixed the bugs we've been complaining about since the games release (some of which were gamebreaking) now that they want people to forget how bad they are and buy their dlc

[mlarayoukai]

Pokemon tcg needs better reverse holos. It peaked in rse era when they had unique holos to each expansion and actually striking reverse holos. I really don't like the polished metal/mirror reverse holos from swsh/sv era

[cookieblobber]

what the fuck | Y Pokémon Legends Z-A is an Xtremely Important Game

how

HOWWWWWW

EVERYONE THOUGHT THIS WASN'T EVER GONNA HAPPEN...THE FRANCHISE MOVED ON SO QUICKLY FROM GEN 6, XZ AND YZ WAS ALLEGEDLY CANNED WHEN 3 YEARS PASSED, ZYGARDE WAS SO HAPHAZARDLY FORCED INTO SUN AND MOON

WHAT DO YOU MEAN POKEMON Z IS A REAL TITLE????? IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE JUST A LEGEND (haha see what i did there), A PLAYGROUND RUMOR, LIKE POKEMON WATERBLUE, POKEMON GRAY, POKEMON DELTA EMERALD....ARE WE NOW GETTING SUPER MARIO 64 2 WITH A PLAYABLE LUIGI???? IS SONIC AVAILABLE IN SMASH MELEE NOW??????? IS MEW ABLE TO BE FOUND UNDER THE TRUCK???????

ALL THE RECENT RUMORS DEBATED ON GEN 2 OR GEN 5 REMAKES HAPPENING, SV DLC HINTED AT GEN 5, THE PRESENTATION THAT HAPPENED TODAY HINTED AT GEN 2, HOW WAS THIS NOT LEAKED PRIOR?!?!???!!?!?!?!!?!? AND IT'S A LEGENDS ENTRY!?!?!??!!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

----------------------------------------

The fabled Pokémon Z

Backstory: After BW2 was made, Game Freak had to start working on X and Y. X and Y was the first mainline Pokémon games to fully be in 3D, but it also came with the cost of a potential "definitive version" not being possible. Now, I'm not too familiar with what Pokemon would do after Gen 4 (not cuz I wasn't interested, I just never had the money to keep up with this franchise fully), but from my knowledge over the years (and watching a bit of DYKG), there were plans for a "definitive version" being like Black and White's, where it's not just only an expansion of the two games, but it changes the story and characters so much that it's practically a sequel to the story that was already made.

They wanted to do similar with X and Y for this fabled "Z Version" possibly titled Pokemon XZ and YZ. Of course though, it never happened. What remains are the fact the anime calls itself “Pokémon XYZ” and having episodes involving Zygarde, the fact Zygarde and it’s whole ordeal got shifted into Sun and Moon, and two random new X and Y games hidden in the source code of X and Y. They would eventually get to do it again with Sun and Moon ala Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the DLCs for SWSH and SV would serve more as epilogues of the stories that came along (less full experiences worthy of being sequels and more so add-ons to the initial games), and that’s about it. X and Y…left in the dust, no expansion or anything….until now.

———————————————

Pokémon Legends - Awkward Position

Pokémon Legends was introduced with Pokémon Legends Arceus, and it looked to be the massive change up the franchise was desperately needing after how lackluster SWSH felt, showing that Game Freak does want to actually do greater things and take advantage of this new hardware (contrary to a lot of popular belief). Many agreed it was a little rough in some areas but, that barely mattered when the game just felt so refreshing and fun to play. A lot of worries still were afoot with this franchise, mainly if it will truly pave the wave for a new way to enjoy Pokémon.

Legends Arceus released on January, a month after the Diamond and Pearl remakes, which those games were clearly saved for holiday releases (and we all know holiday releases mean easy money from parents wanting to get gifts), so theoretically a lot of people into Pokémon or wanting to get a new Pokémon game for their child probably would’ve spent some money already on BDSP in time for Christmas. The game would also then…basically be forgotten as it would receive its last update next month and on top of that, the new generation of Pokémon was revealed for this holiday year (not to mention since both games were huge projects developed by Game Freak and BDSP was from ILCA, it only put the quality of SV into question).

You can guess after the release of SV, it made many skeptical about what’s next for the franchise. While SV offered some great ideas, Legends Arceus felt like it was truly a brand new foundation to look into for the franchise going forward, and it seemed like it did really well for what it was. As of right now it’s reached 14M sales, to put that into perspective: SWSH made 25M, theoretically both versions making around 12.5 each, so Legends Arceus may have made just as much, if not more, sales than a version exclusive title, which really shows how hyped people were to see what this game had to offer. So suddenly having the franchise move on from it, almost as if they weren’t confident in the game to begin with, it seemed a bit worrying.

Until now

————————————————

Pokémon Legends FUCKING Z-A

this is a real title. It is insane they pulled a Metroid and just revived a well known canceled name to make something completely new out of. I think what’s most wild is how not a single rumor or alleged insider ever hinted at this being a possibility, it was either claims of Gen 2 remakes ala Let’s Go style, or Gen 5 remakes because obligatory remakes of games from half of whatever generations we have now ago. I mean Gen 9 hinted at constant relations with Unova, especially in the game’s DLC iirc. And as we all saw, they kept teasing constant Gen 2 Pokémon and events in the Pokémon Presents, all to just throw a massive curve ball and introduce Gen 6. All those jokes about Paldea being based of Spain, being near France (which Kalos is based on) implying Gen 6 remakes were coming were just suddenly true I guess??? It’s almost as if within the team behind all this they made up the idea of Gen 2/5 remakes just to mess with potential leakers.

Now, confession: …I have yet to still play Legends Arceus. Again, not because I don’t want to, I just don’t have the money, so take some knowledge on gameplay and the like with a grain of salt if brought up 🥲. However, I am certain there’s still plenty of other stuff to bring up in other ways, starting with: What kinda game is this?

Many assumed if Legends was ever going to be a series, it was supposed to involve exploring past of a region. Many people making their “Legends Celebi” or “Legends Kyreum” mock-ups would believe it would give us an interesting look in what Johto/Unova respectively used to look like back then. Makes sense since speaking of legends as a word usually involves the past, what was widely believed long ago and the like. However, nothing about the trailer of Z seemed to imply this is supposed to be the ye olden days of Kalos, it all looks more like our times.

I think Tahko put it the best

They’re essentially remixing these games old themes in a fascinating new way. Usually when we see the inevitable Pokémon remakes every 2 generations, they’re obviously made with the intention to port an old almost barely accessible game to modern consoles (When Gen 3 came out, you couldn’t trade Gen 1/2 Pokémon. When Gen 4 came out, you couldn’t play GameBoy games in DS so you couldn’t migrate Pokémon with the GBA slot. When Gen 6 came out, GBA Pokémon games were not playable on 3DS). They have their own merits and reason to exist, they’re usually sorta reimaginings of these older experiences with a modern take on them with new features and such, and honestly that’s all they need to be: familiar, yet still new enough to be worth experiencing all over again.

These Legends games on the other hand seem to be attempts at revisiting these old regions and themes but put them in a completely new perspective/world and having a bigger focus on a possible legendary Pokémon that didn’t get enough time to shine. The reason why Pokémon Legends Arceus was all about time travel and the past wasn’t because “Legends means past,” rather Gen 4 had themes of time and space, so ofc it makes sense for this game based on Gen 4’s region to have a plot line involving well, time and space. Similar to how Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers, the PMD games that came out in Gen 4, were about time traveling and saving the future and the fabric of space and shit, Legends Arceus follows suite and is supposed to be viewed as if it’s an entry to the Gen 4 titles. Honestly, this is a really great thing, as while it’s nice to explore the lore or history of these different locations, it could get a little boring and possibility limiting if every Legends games was solely about Pokémon history and the like. It’s a concept worth revisiting sometimes, but not as the defining identity of the Legends series.

————————————————

The themes of Gen 6 seem to have a focus on Life and Death. It’s not easy right now to determine how exactly these concepts will be involved for Z, but seeing how this game will take place entirely within a massive more in-depth version of Lumiose City, the best I can assume is how there will be more focus in the lives of Pokémon in a more domesticated setting ala Ryme City from the Detective Pikachu series; the polar opposite to being out in the wild and seeing how feral and savage Pokémon can act towards humans back in Legends Arceus. The death side…is unknown, maybe I need to play the X and Y games to get a better idea 💀

Ah yes, I forgot, it was announced the main setting will be Lumiose City

And as shown in the trailer…it is definitely way larger than what X and Y initially had.

I’ve seen some people feel a little worried that this game will take place solely in this one city, as Pokémon is well known for having to travel setting to setting, and being stuck in one city could maybe make things feel boring with little variety in environment. But, if games like GTA and Yakuza can be city games so well beloved by many, I don’t think it’d be hard to pull off making a really compelling environment with just one city for Pokémon, it just needs to have interesting and varied landmarks, which shouldn’t be any different from practically any other Pokémon game ever, it’s just making a whole new region but surrounded constantly under this one city.

Again look at Detective Pikachu, specifically the movie, it’s whole setting was based on this one city, a lot of the plot was able to take off by exploring this city, and the climax and final battle took place in the city. I feel like they can really pull it off if they play their cards right and just make Lumiose this wonderful bustling town, and plus I’m sure there will be some parts of the region that will still offer open wild areas to find Pokémon and the like. Hell, the Pokémon themselves might carry everything if they make some really adorable or fun interactions, seeing them just living a calm lives with their trainers/human partners.

Again, a lot of this is still hard to discuss since we’re going off of simple city and title reveals, so we’ll have to further wait and see what else is planned here.

———————————————

There’s been claims too that they’re completely skipping over Gen 5 in the remake department, since again it seemed like it made the most sense to make Gen 5 remakes now due to SV hinting connections with it, but…….nah bro 💀. Everyone was out here sighing relief that they’re not gonna have ILCA butcher the Gen 5 games when, they’re probably just being saved for Gen 10 since again, this happens every 2 generations (minus the Gen 1 remakes).

To be honest though, even if ILCA is brought back for it or they once again don’t really attempt to make these Gen 5 remakes take advantage of new console hardware, like they don’t turn Unova into an entirely different region with open world setting and want to stay as close as possible to the original game’s layout and all…personally I wouldn’t mind it. Ever since the jump to home console, expectations and products of the mainline games have evolved significantly, they’re WAYYYY different from what Pokémon games actually looked like. At least back on the 3DS, games were still relatively linear, so being able to remake RSE in the way it is with the XY engine didn’t seem to out of place, it didn’t risk a whole lot. We now have more focus on open zone/world and shit, while something like Diamond and Pearl was more tile/grid based and really limiting; imo trying to remake DPPT in this sorta open zone type deal that the SWSH engine offered would’ve possibly compromised part of DPPT’s identity, some might argue that DPPT being compact and linear is what makes it enjoyable. Now, this isn’t to say BDSP was a massively faithful remake, it’s considered to be worse than the original games in many ways and a lot of it felt like they went way too far in trying to be “faithful” to the source material, they could’ve easily just made the game akin to Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee. But again, some fans would’ve still been disappointed that it doesn’t seem like Gen 4 is getting some proper treatment in using the hardware and play style that the recent title now had to offer.

This is where the Legends series comes in, where one series of games can continue being considered faithful to what they’re based on, while the other can just do whatever the fuck they want with old material while also using what current hardware is capable of. BDSP and Legends Arceus were a great showcase of this sorta decision making, do you want the game that you easily recognize the moment you boot up (something more simple in power)? Or do you want the game that uses stuff you remember in whole new ways that it’s practically a completely new game (something that takes advantage of what kinds of games are possible now)? The same sorta deal might happen with the Gen 5 remakes.

Plus, I don’t think Black and White’s whole look can even be ruined, like I really think it’s impossible. BW aged pretty well due to its usage of 3D environments and camera angles and the like, so if this next faithful remake were just basically port the game and upscale the graphics and all, it would still look really great, if not better upon getting to see these 3D environments in HD. With the game already look great visually form the get-go, people won’t really have much problem with how the game looks as a lot of the 3D world environment would already be done for them. Does that make sense?

As for Gen 2 remakes ala Let’s Go Pichu and Togepi or whatever……………nah……nah that shit ain’t happening 💀

Let’s Go was made as a way for new fans from Pokémon GO (which came out a year prior and was widely successful) to be able to get into the rest of the franchise, with the Switch finally being out, it was a brand new beginning for a lot of fans. And ofc, it used Kanto cuz that’s what most people remember Pokémon for. I’m not sure what the point of Gen 2 remakes of the same style would be for, and as far as I know there isn’t much reason for Gen 2 to be relevant at the moment outside of certain Johto Pokémon making a somewhat noticeable appearance in the recent SV games. Sure, it could be argued it’s just like what I said earlier, it’s done to make these games that are not at all playable on a current console more available, but the usual remakes just seem like tradition at this point, Let’s Go remakes is still unknown if they’re necessary. Especially since yk…we have that one new feature of the Switch that allows us to play old retro games, and they’ve been allowing GB/GBC/GBA games to be playable as well……I’m just saying they could easily just work on there instead…

—————————————————————————

With all that being said, why Gen 6? Besides I guess Kalos being next to Paldea according to their real world counterparts, there hasn’t been much brought up about Gen 6 lately. Just like Gen 2, it hasn’t had much relevance, and it’s not the next generation that needs a remake compared to Gen 5.

How I see it, I think it’s less about monetary business reasons/series synergy or tradition or whatever, and more of a symbolic reason.

Gen 6 felt like a missed opportunity according to many people. Now, sure you could say that for a lot of recent Pokémon games, but like I said earlier, at least they had their opportunities to expand their stories and lore and such. Gen 6…did not get that special treatment. It was the first 3D Pokémon game and it set some stuff up for possible expansion in the usual third version or sequel games, only for time constraints to get in the way. Hell, some people consider Gen 6 to be where Pokémon started to have its downfall, the whole “[franchise] had a rough transition into 3D”, due to the game lacking features and the like that Gen 5 had in spades, or being the start of showing how flawed the franchise is and how it’s starting to fumble trying to manage itself. Having to make brand new games with a whole new region, new set of designs, new gimmicks, everything that will be the identity of the franchise for the next 3 years, until they start over again? This plan was not started to seem viable anymore, especially when Gen 8 rolled around. And as of lately you see people stupidly suggesting Pokémon needs to return to 2D and only stay as a 2D franchise, cuz that’s totally a great mindset for a franchise.

To me, this is Game Freak feeling confident that they can manage this, they have more experience in how they want to create these titles with this new home console hardware and massive expectations. Gen 6 was the game that started a new era for Pokémon, it only makes sense to use that era defining title to prove this new formula of Pokémon is indeed a new series to dive into now, one that shows off what they’re capable of now that they’re not held back by being on portable consoles for another 20 years. This is them giving a game that deserved more attention a new look and the expansion it deserved, possibly a way bigger one than any other generations that came after.

Seeing how this game is being saved for 2025 (presumably for the Switch 2 or whatever), if this truly is being worked on for another year and a half, being saved for the next holiday season maybe, then I think this means the franchise is finally starting to slow down and take it’s time. However, only time will tell what’s in store for the franchise.

[smilingperformer]

Why is Nintendo releasing Pokemon SV + Expansion physical pack before the dlc is fully released? That's stupid. The point of physical copies is to not need to do downloading. So wtf is the point.

Was SwSh + Expansion physical pack like this? Edit: It was NOT like this. End of Edit. Yes I know some other games do this but Nintendo shouldn't fucking follow that because it is still stupid.

[daily-pokemon-trivia]

In the SwSh dlc expansion, the character Mustard can occasionally be seen playing pokemon Quest

[yusuke-of-valla]

Legends Arceus was such a breath of fresh air. No version exclusives, no trade evolutions, you could catch pokemon without having to battle them... such a great game.

Although I guess it did rely on SwSh and BDSP for Darkrai, Shaymin, and that one sidequest for Manaphy and Phione that was solved in a book in the Canalave Library.

Yeah but you didn’t need Darkrai and Shaymin to complete the dex and

Well yeah you did have to google Manaphy and Phione so even THAT one isn’t perfect but it was still a ton less work than this shit right here.

I swear the main reason Legends Arceus didn’t get DLC was because it couldn’t be used as a competitive format. If that shit had had online battling we’d have gotten an expansion.

Then again if that shit had had online battling it probably would have been two versions to force competitive players to get both, since their official policy is “yes we have all the resources for trading with anyone online including random strangers but if you want to be competitive you should avoid trading because you can’t be sure if the Pokémon you’re getting is hacked or not. Oh? Want to fill up your dex? Two Pokémon you want to use on your team are version exclusive? You want to get the Glimmering charm so grinding for Tera Shards isn’t tedious? Haha! lol better buy both games and the dlc which will never go on sale :))”

[kob131]

... How the fuck is anyone supposed to respond properly to something like this?

7 hours. 7 fucking hours. If you don’t agree with what this person says, does, acts or sounds in any way- you will not be able to sit through the entire fucking thing.

You know what, fuck this. If you’re going to rely on the sheer mass of your argument to look good, I’m just gonna cut one of them out and use it to represent the entire thing. Don’t like it- be concise.

The ‘National Dex’ section covers how including all the Pokemon in the games wouldn’t actually increase the file size of the game all that much. Which I can see.

What I can’t see is the ‘justification’, which is ‘mOnEY!’ Which is actually pretty fucking stupid if you think about it.

See, the justification is that Game Freak/Pokemon Company/*Insert Company Bad Guy Here* sees Pokemon Home as being more profitable than just giving the Pokemon to you. Even trying to cite the Expansion Passes as ‘selling them to you.’ But wanna know what’s even more expensive and profitable than a $16 subscription and a $35 expansion pass?

$40 game and $100 game system.

See, the thing is that this method isn’t actually all that new. Ever since Gen 3*, you have NOT been able to catch all the Pokemon available in the games. Gen 3 had many of the Johto AND Kanto Pokemon being completely unobtainable until Fire Red and Leaf Green/Emerald brought them back. Often being spility among all five of the Gen 3 games, since Emerald (the definitive edition of Gen 3) EXCLUDED a few version exclusives like Zangoose so you STILL needed one of the other older games to get them. So it wasn’t just a $40 game, it was TWO $40 games. 

Well, that’s a misnomer.

It’s more like four $40 games.

Because technically, you’ve never been able to catch every single Pokemon available in the games. Because Pokemon has these things called ‘version exclusives’. While you could trade them with your friends to help complete the Pokedex-

If you don’t have friends or they don’t have the opposite game(s) as you, tough shit. Fork over your cash.

There isn’t even really an excuse for this in the early gens. The games ALWAYS had the data for the Pokemon, you just couldn’t access them. This included Pokemon you couldn’t get even with BOTH versions of the game and thus needed a remake version or something else. And the same logic applies to his issue with the Legends Arceus example!

‘Oh you like Blazekin? Well, did you know there are other Pokemon like it called Charizard and Typholsion? Oh, they don’t exist in this game. You need to buy this remake I’m selling at full price and this game that’s basically the same as the one you got! Better buy another one too since you can’t get Swampert or Sceptile without restarting your save and losing all your progress. Hm, better buy another gaming console too.’

So when you compare $16(more like $3 because you can just buy a 1 month plan and transfer all your Pokemon when you’re ready and just renew when you need to do it again)+$35 (More like $0 because the SwSh expansion passes weren’t necessary to transfer them from an older game) vs. $40+$100 minimum...

Yeah, kind of looks like a steal huh?

Now, you would think that a video like this would address this to showcase that this has been going on for too long and that Game Freak/The Pokemon Company/Whoever needs to knock it off.

... But no. Not even considered. Which is strange, given ignoring this blatant disconnect drastically weakens his argument.

Unless of course the subject you’re talking about is such an acceptable target that things like ‘consistency’ can be ignored so long as you pander in the right way.

Gee, I wonder where that can apply to...

[frauleinandry]

tbh I think I've really got to stop buying main-line pokemon games until they stop getting churned out every second year... I feel like I'm mainly still getting them day 1 due to autism brain, which. isn't a super great reason lmao.

I enjoyed swsh, and what was there was good, but it was pretty clear they cut like half of what they were planning to implement. meanwhile, sv's kinda the opposite - it's a lot more expansive than swsh, but it's so unpolished. playing it I can't just help but feel that it's Fine, but I'd rather just be playing legends arceus? like, they've taken out everything that made that game fun, while all the janky aspects from legends are still there, but on acid.

like, I'm still having some fun, and there's nothing wrong with people enjoying it, but... I'd find it absolutely unacceptable if any of the other major franchises I played released a game in this state, and I can't keep giving pokemon so much slack because the games have never been graphically fantastic.

[dalighteevee]

Pokémon Retrospective - A series

The Pokémon series is a franchise that is near and dear to my heart. It is a series that I have grown up with starting with the anime and playing Fire Red & Leaf Green on my GBA. In fact the photo below is of my Gameboy Advance, DS, 3DS XL, Switch (the Pikachu and Eevee edition) and Switch Lite (Sword and Shield edition). Each of these consoles is at least 5+ years old with the DS and GBA still being the originals I had as a child.

When I started the playing the games I originally would only play for a certain length before giving up. This pattern happened between generations 1-5. Then, gen 6 happened with the arrival of X & Y and I changed my approach. This was the first game I completed and is the main reason why X & Y are my favourite games to this day. From this first completion I began to aim to complete a game from each generation along with collect every game physically where I could as pictured below. At this current moment I have collected all switch and 3DS games while I use an R4 card for the DS titles.

From that introduction it is clear that nostalgia has a large hold on my view of the franchise. It is from this nostalgia that I want to do a retrospective of the series, a discussion of my experiences and perspectives when engaging with this series. I plan to go by the games one by one in reverse order, from the current generation to the first. But first, what do I think of Pokémon as a whole?

I have had great enjoyment with the series and can easily praise it so much. I enjoy the stories both the simple and complex and the messages that they include. So many characters in this series are some of my favourite characters in gaming, such as Penny and Wally, and characters that I look up to such as Cynthia. Being able to explore a vast land with various expansive regions with some of my favourite regions being Paldea and Unova. But of course the best part of Pokémon to me is the pokémon themselves with their range of designs and the adventures you share together.

However, I believe that one of the series' biggest flaws is their own success. While I am happy that Pokémon is still around to make games and is successful, it has led to unfortunate consequences. The crunch time and extreme time restraints to match games with other releases from the franchise such as merchandise and the anime has led to occurrences such as Scarlet & Violet's state of release. A lot of us fans ask for more time to be spent to producing an amazing game, something I feel is finally being heard with the release of LegendsZA releasing in 2025. I feel that the current approach is a good compromise, if handled correctly. Both gen 8 and 9 were given dlc to their games as a change from a new game a year which I feel is a good step. To me a dlc is to expand an already completed game and provide more. I feel this was achieved with Scarlet & Violet's dlc, but not with Sword & Shield's. Sword & Shield felt rushed and incomplete to me with the dlc, rather than building on SwSH, instead more made it a full game and completed it.

As mentioned before, the biggest praise I can give to the Pokémon series are the pokémon themselves. Everyone has their favourite pokemon; mine is Eevee. However, not everyone gets to enjoy their favourite pokemon consistently. 'Dexit' is used to refer to the decision the Pokemon Company made when gen 8 was announced that they would no longer have a national Pokedex, leaving some pokemon to have never been included in the jump to switch. Pokemon such as Furfrou and the elemental monkeys. While this was delivered under the pretense that this was to improve models and animations, some have argued that this was a weak excuse. As the games have progressed there is a gradual improvement to the models and animations of the pokemon, Scarlet and Violet being a good example. But not enough to warrent never giving some pokemon a chance. Even some starters had been neglected before SV's Indigo Disc such as Fennekin and Popplio.

Pokemon's success is both its strength and weakness as it feels apathy has almost been approached by the series. A feeling of just getting by without taking chances. Features loved by fans ignored for the next shiny feature to attract attention. I say this out of love for a series that I hold so close to me, that is a part of who I am. I will always love this series and I want the best for it. I hope LegendsZA can bring us in a new direction. Scarlet & Violet was a first step, let's hope ZA doesn't trip.

I thank you for reading and I look forward to being able to dive into every game and share stories from this series. Remember to catch 'em all and to keep moving forward :)

[junipaca]

I LOVE talking about poikemon swsh characters specifically hop and Leon cause I have so many thoughts and personal characterizations I love them dearly and what’s implied from the Very Straightforward story given because I can expand on feelings and thoughts and life and perspective and struggle on the gala region its my favorite for characters I can freely rotate like Ever  I also enjoy palled with a good good set of characters too, though in a more controlled school environment one can go wild and just. Expansion. You get some reconnected social bonds with the teachers which is SUPER COOL cause I can learn a bit more about them and their relations with one another slightly and I really hope in the future games theres more characters to explore and get some good story WEIGHT and worldbuilding off of it is my lifeline I love love love it  if u want me to ramble about a character I WILL cause im absolutely Pokemon-piled I love characters I have read pokes up to bw2 (I WANNA CATCH UP) I love replaying games I love little moments I do dearly yes I do

[the-flying-beetle]

i honestly love avery so much more than expected,, and his rare league card, oof,,, (also…ot3 potential?? imagine the champion getting a haircut AND an extra boyfriend for summer)

please remember that likes do absolutely nothing to actually support me, but reblogs help!  

[mlarayoukai]

Since sm and swsh era had expansions focusing on shiny pokemon sv will have one too, I desperately hope they get artists to draw unique alt arts instead of recolored 3d models like in shining and hidden fates. I can't really think of a good enough reason not to get good artists to design full arts other than to save time and money

[azureinai]

I think I've reached enlightenment thanks to this. Anyway I love Avery and everyone else should too I'm sorry I don't make the rules I just follow them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Please credit me if you post this anywhere else, thanks!♡

Also bonus longer Avery rant version ft kinda spoilers so view at your own risk

[lilbit-of-kizzy]

Hey has uh...anyone else noticed that the Isle of Armor looks...really familiar?

Like...the pics in the dojo....

Am I tripping or???

[alolomololomola]

I’m in heaven