The next few Pokemon iterations from Game Freak tried to address these issues to varying degrees of success. The Ruby and Sapphire remakes combined the best of their old selves with improved versions of generation six features, though fans were annoyed by the refusal to bring back Emerald’s beloved Battle Frontier postgame. Sun and Moon broke away from the standard Gym Challenge successfully, even if some thought the story’s pacing was poor and Z-Moves were another one-off gimmick. Most recently, Pokemon Sword and Shield made the first Pokemon generation leap onto a home console, but stumbled through the whole process. The best thing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet can do at this point is avoid repeating the mistakes that defined Sword and Shield.
RELATED: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Legendary Trio Should Learn From Sword and Shield
The Pokedex Controversy
The first Pokemon Sword and Shield controversy has defined all discussions regarding the games since its announcement. During the E3 2019 Nintendo Treehouse stream, it was announced that only Pokemon in the Galar region Pokedex could be imported from past games. This immediately sparked a wave of controversy, and the reveal that 465 total Pokemon were cut did not sit well with fans. Even after 221 species were added by the DLC, Pokemon collectors and veterans with an attachment to their old favorites fear that the franchise motto of “Gotta catch ’em all!” is dead. Scarlet and Violet bringing the full Dex back may be unrealistic, but having the majority of Pokemon at launch and adding the rest in free updates would please most players. Emphasizing new Pokemon during the main journey like Black and White would also lean into the novelty of the experience.
Pokemon Visuals
The other big issues that plagued Sword and Shield since their announcement were their graphics and performance. Given how much hype there was around mainline Pokemon finally leaving handhelds, fans went in expecting more from these titles than they were able to deliver. From the textures to the frame rate in the Wild Area, the games were covered in rough patches. The simple and reused battle animations did the games no favors either. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will not be able to escape from the Switch’s low hardware specs, but they are working with a new art style and lessons learned from the open-world Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Hopefully, that will be enough for this generation of Pokemon.
Pokemon Game Mechanics
A couple of mechanics present in Sword and Shield drew players’ ire as well. The strength of the full-party EXP Share has been contentious ever since it was introduced in X and Y, but Sword and Shield forcing it to stay on was too much. An option to turn it off or return to a single-target use would fix it, but the Galar-exclusive Dynamax and Gigantamax won’t be so lucky. These are another one-off gimmick that felt like a standardized approach to merging Mega Evolution and Z-Moves with only some of their charm. They also posed balance issues in PvP, though their severity is up for debate. If Pokemon Scarlet and Violet introduce another major mechanic to their battles, it would be nice if it could be something that could stick around like a new elemental type or the return of Mega Evolutions (as unlikely as that is). Either way, these gimmicks should be properly utilized.
Pokemon Sword and Shield Story
The story of Pokemon Sword and Shield went back to basics, which wasn’t a bad thing. The Gym Challenge being framed like public sporting events was a nice touch, and the player got to know the core cast and gym leaders fairly well. Things started falling apart when Chairman Rose finally revealed his well-intentioned but dangerous plans in the endgame. Rose’s motive of averting a Galar energy crisis in a thousand years is ludicrous, and the fact that the plot only focused on him once he directly interrupted the Gym Challenge made it feel like his character and villain team had no build-up. Scarlet and Violet need to at least be a little more tasteful in inserting their storylines throughout their runtime.
Pokemon Game Structure
Speaking of which, Sword and Shield also had problems pacing their content. Despite having three rivals, the games throw a huge number of Hop fights at the player while leaving Marnie’s seemingly important storyline underdeveloped. There are barely any dungeons to make use of the improved Escape Rope, and the Wild Area fails to impress due to only taking up part of the map and the story being very linear. Sword and Shield felt like they had a lot of ideas they just couldn’t fully execute on, and hopefully the experience developing them and Pokemon Legends will allow Scarlet and Violet to have a more compelling open world and progression.
Postgame and DLC
Part of that progression is sticking the landing, and that’s something Pokemon has had trouble with. The postgame content of Sword and Shield, like the last few mainline titles before them, is devoid of content. A repetitive sidequest ending with the chance to catch the box Legendary and difficult gauntlets of competitively-minded trainers are all the new content that the base games offer. The DLC areas bolster the postgame a lot, but players who dropped out in the middle of Sword and Shield wouldn’t really be motivated to come back. Scarlet and Violet should still have DLC in place of upgraded re-releases, but addressing issues with the base games should also be a priority. At any rate, if buying one piece of an expansion DLC unlocks it for both versions, then Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be able to easily avoid at least one of Sword and Shield’s complaints,
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet will be released in late 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
MORE: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Should Learn from Sword and Shield’s Max Raids
