Pokemon Go Is Flawed, But It’s Still One of the Franchise’s Best Games

When Pokemon Go was first announced, no one could have predicted the impact it would have on the overall Pokemon franchise. Debuting in the summer of 2016, the game became nothing short of a cultural phenomenon. Immediately after release, there were countless reports of people playing Pokemon Go when they shouldn’t have been, and real-world locations were filled with hundreds of players gathering and playing together. Those first few weeks after the game’s arrival were unlike anything that had ever been seen for a video game before, or since.

Things have changed quite a bit since then. More than nine years after the game’s debut, Pokemon Go doesn’t have quite the same cultural impact it once had. You don’t see as many news stories about people trespassing on military bases because they were searching for a rare Pokemon, and it’s basically impossible to stumble on large groups of players organically without having to coordinate something through Campfire or Reddit. However, Pokemon Go maintains a large and passionate following around the world, and it remains one of the best games in the overall franchise. There are many potential reasons for that, but the game’s connective tissue with the “mainline games” has made it an important part of the overall Pokemon experience.

How Pokemon Go Has Become an Extension of the Main Series

Admittedly, Pokemon Go lost me as a player for nearly two years. While I was in on the game from day one, I had long dropped it by the time Pokemon Sun and Moon arrived in the fall of 2016. As a Pokemon fan from the days of Red and Blue, it just felt like there wasn’t anything that was keeping me attached to what was, essentially, a fun little spin-off. Over the two years I missed, the game grew and expanded, but nothing caught my interest until the announcement of Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! in 2018. The first Pokemon games on Nintendo Switch promised compatibility with Pokemon Go, and I immediately felt compelled to return. Suddenly, it all “counted,” and that made all the difference.

In the last seven years, The Pokemon Company and Niantic have continued to strengthen the connection between Pokemon Go and games like Sword and Shield and Scarlet and Violet. These days, almost anything you catch in Go can be transferred over to the mainline games (with some notable exceptions). When Pokemon Home added compatibility with Pokemon Go, it even convinced me to finally do something I hadn’t done in several years: catch ’em all. In one single place, I could have Pokemon that I had caught decades ago in Pokemon Ruby‘s Hoenn region mingling with those I caught playing Pokemon Go on trips to places like Hawaii or Disneyland. My quest to catch ’em all was helped by the fact that Pokemon Go has offered chances to obtain extremely rare Mythical Pokemon, which are offered so infrequently in the mainline games.

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Compatibility with the mainline games has made Pokemon Go feel like a true extension of the Pokemon experience. It’s not a requirement by any means; casual fans can pick up games like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet without having to feel like they’re missing out if they don’t play Pokemon Go. However, those that do are often rewarded thanks to events like Community Days, where Shiny Pokemon are easier to find and can then be transferred over. Those incentives are also a nice gateway to all of the other things Pokemon Go does so well, like Raids and character customization. I was also never the biggest fan of Mega Evolution, but the way it was handled in Pokemon Go made me appreciate the concept and overall designs. Compatibility with the mainline games is the single thing that brought me back to Pokemon Go, but it’s no longer the sole hook, because I’m invested in all the other aspects, as well.

How the Game Needs to Continue Improving

While Pokemon Go has a lot going for it, it still has plenty of room for improvement. Niantic makes a lot of questionable decisions in a desperate attempt to recapture the initial magic of 2016. Basically, the developers want a bigger focus on playing the game out in public, rather than from home. When these decisions are additive, they help to make the game better. Elements like Routes and Party Play aren’t perfect, and it can be frustrating when new Pokemon releases are tied directly to them. However, they aren’t nearly as bad as Gigantamax Raids (which require an absurd number of local players), or the Remote Raid changes (which have made the game more difficult for rural and disabled players).

Pokemon Go‘s monetization is also one of its biggest flaws. Over the years, the number of paid options has significantly grown on the Shop, and players feel like elements are being locked behind paywalls. When a new Pokemon is introduced exclusively through Egg Hatches, it comes across as a clear effort to get players buying Incubators, which have no guarantee of having the desired Pokemon inside. Still, as much as the developers continue to add paid elements, the game remains very enjoyable even when players don’t spend real money. Not a lot of other mobile games can say that.

If you said in 2016 that Pokemon Go would be approaching its 10th anniversary with no end in sight, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. However, next year the game will have been around for one-third of the overall existence of the Pokemon franchise. In that time, Pokemon Go has brought countless new fans to the property. Pokemon’s mainline games have seen a huge uptick in sales since Go‘s release, and the mobile game’s popularity led to the fast-tracking of the live-action movie Pokemon: Detective Pikachu. Pokemon Go has some definite flaws, but it’s easily one of the best — and most important — games the franchise has ever produced.

Are you still playing Pokemon Go after all these years? Have you been enjoying the game since it launched back in 2016? Share your thoughts with me in the comments section!