There was a time when nothing thrilled me more than the announcement of a new Pokemon game. My earliest memories of the series were playing alongside my brother in the backseat on the way to school. Since then, I’ve poured countless hours into exploring regions, filling Pokedexes, and battling friends. It wasn’t just a past time—it was a phenomenon that captured both my and my friends’ imaginations. Something that brought us together as we played through each mainline game together. We’d share our journeys, the nicknames we gave to Pokemon, and participate in countless replays and nuzlockes of older games over the years.
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But lately, my excitement for Pokemon has withered. The Pokemon Company seems increasingly unwilling to respect its legacy or innovate in meaningful ways. Even worse, it’s doubled down on greed, nickel-and-diming long-time fans and children alike with overpriced DLC and locking features beyond additional requirements. Now, I find myself looking at upcoming releases like Pokemon Legends: Z-A and even the unannounced Generation 10 mainline game and feeling nothing at all.
Why I Fell in Love With Pokémon in the First Place
When I think back to why I fell in love with Pokemon, I am reminded of the sense of wonder, thrill of discovery, and the feeling of adventure each region gave me. Pokemon Crystal is to this day my favorite game, but I have so many fond memories of the games that came before and after it. As I grew, the series grew with me, culminating in Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, the most challenging games yet. And over the years, I bought every mainline game, eager to see where the journey went next.
One of the best feelings in gaming is booting up a new Pokemon game and choosing your starter. From there, I’d step into a living world full of charm and choices. What team would I build? How would I explore the region? The world was my canvas and I could paint it however I wanted. Some games I focused on building strong teams, others I went with a single type, like Bug, my favorite.
It was also the growth of the series that made me fall in love with it. Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver blew my mind with the addition of real-time clocks, day-night cycles, and their postgame returning to Kanto. Ruby and Sapphire introduced weather, abilities, and more. Diamond and Pearl started the online era, and the series has continued to evolve since then.
What made Pokemon special wasn’t just these mechanics, though. It was the heart that carried a spirit of curiosity, friendship, and adventure. Discovering a shiny Pokemon or seeing your partner survive an attack with a sliver of health had so much emotional weight. Bonding with each Pokemon in my team brought so much joy and kindled a feeling of wonder and connection that no other game could match.
Drifting From the Spirit of Pokémon
All these feelings are what make the current state of the series so painful. The series has always balanced accessibility and imagination, but lately, The Pokemon Company has shown an unwillingness to adapt while expecting more from its customers. Pokemon used to be a juggernaut that innovated with each entry. It would push its creative ceiling both in designs and mechanics. But now it feels like the series has shifted its focus to a bottom line and corporate greed.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A is the latest example of this. While it’s priced fairly, The Pokemon Company has compromised the joy this title should bring. Announcing DLC before the game is already out feels wrong and leaves many with the feeling that this content was cut from the main game, possibly leaving it feeling incomplete. And it is asking $30 for it, a price almost equal to both DLCs for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
That’s not even taking into account how barebones these DLC felt, or the fact that the Mega Dimension DLC seems similar to the Space-Time Distortions, a feature included in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. While not confirmed, one has to wonder why The Pokemon Company didn’t include this in the base game. One also has to wonder why Mega Evolutions for popular Pokemon like Raichu, Greninja, Chesnaught, and Delphox are locked behind the DLC or online battling. Putting these in a post-game mission would be fine, but asking players to pay additional money for Megas that are for Pokemon in the base game betrays the spirit of Pokemon.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A aside, the downward slip of Pokemon started earlier. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were a mess on Nintendo Switch. They ran poorly, had numerous bugs, and sacrificed so much for an open world that feels pointless. While the Nintendo Switch 2 improves performance for these games, there is nothing to solve the empty world. Large ugly tracts of land separate the points of interest, many of which can’t even be interacted with. It’s almost as if The Pokemon Company went as far as it could in the opposite direction of Pokemon Sword and Shield’s extremely linear worlds without realizing the lifelessness of the Galar region was the problem.
Then there’s the fact that fans have yet to receive classic titles as Virtual Console games. Both the first and second generations of Pokemon were added to the 3DS Virtual Console catalog, but have not been released on the Nintendo Switch. These are some of the most iconic games in the series, and the only way to play them now is on outdated hardware or by paying a small fortune for old cartridges. The technology is there, and The Pokemon Company has to be aware of the demand, so it’s baffling that it has yet to release them.
What It Would Take to Win Me Back
I don’t make these criticisms lightly. Pokemon was once the series I anticipated most in the world. Where once I was excited for Pokemon Legends: Z-A, that excitement fades with each new trailer. Not even the new Mega Evolutions can capture my interest. This also extends to the eventual Generation 10 games. Right now, I couldn’t care less about these titles, and I don’t know if this feeling will change. I hope it does, and I do believe The Pokemon Company can make meaningful changes not just to win me back, but also restore the series to what it once was.
The first thing it has to do to get Pokemon back on track is implement meaningful innovations. New features can’t be half-baked like the poorly running Tera Raids or unstable online play. If Pokemon goes open world, it has to be worth exploring. Pokemon Legends: Arceus showed how experimentation could work, but even The Pokemon Company has even backtracked on this. Scarlet and Violet watered down the open-world experience, and Pokemon Legends: Z-A looks to be doing the same by locking players to Lumiose City.
The Pokemon Company also needs to respect its legacy and long-time fans. The technology exists to release classic games on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, so locking these foundational titles away feels like a slap in the face. If it continues to do this, then it needs to relax its stance on emulation. Punishing fans for playing nostalgic games isn’t a good idea and discourages new players from experiencing the start of the series.
There needs to be fair pricing and transparency. DLC is fine, but it needs to feel meaningful and worth the price of entry. Every DLC The Pokemon Company has released feels barebones and like a rip-off. The areas and activities added are short or uninteresting. Looking back at games like Pokemon Crystal, Pokemon Emerald, or Pokemon Platinum, these are essentially DLC that are complete games. Or the Kanto region being post-game in Generation 2. These show that The Pokemon Company can make good content, and it needs to look to its past for future DLC and games.
Finally, the games need to better balance accessibility and depth. While Pokemon may be aimed at kids, fans who grew up with the series are adults and still play. For these players, the hand-holding tutorials feel insulting and should be optional, especially considering how little the core gameplay changes. This extends to the series’ depth and difficulty as well. Pokemon games rarely feel like a challenge, with the only real way of making them harder being self-imposed rules. Expanding on the series’ depth with difficulty options or gameplay modifiers would go a long way toward fixing this.
Regardless of what Pokemon does, it is too big to fail. Even patenting basic game mechanics hasn’t been enough to topple the giant. Its games will continue to sell and captivate fans, even if many are losing interest. But I dream of the days when The Pokemon Company makes Pokemon shine again. I’ll be waiting and hoping that the day comes, but I do not think Pokemon Legends: Z-A or even Generation 10 will be that day.
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
