Do the Pokemon series have controversy?! What do you think?

So Pokemon Sword and Shield was one of the most anticipated games of this year for the Nintendo switch. Being the first mainline Pokemon game for a home-console, there were many expectations for it to be the best in the series. 

But as more information was given, more and more people second-guessed their purchase.

Its developers, GameFreak– revealed that not all 800+ pokemon would be included in the game. Meaning that they won’t be including a National Dex. The National Dex is referring to an index within the game that shows and catalogs all pokemon that will be featured. Said news sparked uproar among fans. For a game on the switch, they expected much more. Other fans didn’t see it as a big deal. 

“Well, we’ve had games without most of them in the pastâ€,

is one argument to defend this decision.  But an expectation was put in place since the Switch is much more powerful compared to the Ds-being its previous exclusive console. It was argued that the Nintendo switch has the capacity to have that many pokemon,  among other things. People then started to call the company lazy.With this news, fans felt disappointed. Their feelings fueled them to find and criticize discrepancies by GameFreak. It was promised that they would improve on animations and graphical quality. But again, people felt lied to. They didn’t see any different animation-wise in trailers. Claiming that they were re-used animations from Sun & Moon. Although, it is shown in trailers that graphical quality has improved for characters and the world. Except for the look of specific tree fans caught in the trailer.

Game informers have already touched on this topic. Many of them are long-time fans who’ve played these games since its creation 20 years ago. What all these controversies are about is best summarized by Gita Jackson on Kotaku, 

“Mainly, this drama is about the tension of a desire to indulge in nostalgia against a desire to experience more complexity…it’s hard, especially when the franchise in question is beloved around the  worldâ€

The Pokemon series has been on a high pedestal for a while. All this jazz has the chance to hinder the game’s success. But since its release this month, critics and reviews have been praising the game to a degree. User scores, however, have been the opposite. Despite those who were turned off in buying the game-those who did put all that controversy behind, loved it. Pokemon Sword and Shield may have “issues†with hard-core fans. But that won’t stop people in falling in love with its new region, pokemon, lore, story, character, features, and its reassurance of more games yet to come. What to do now is accept what’s been given and make the most of it.