Ah, Sword and Shield. What was once one of the most anticipated sets of games in 2019 (or the only anticipated set because no other games come out in a set) has now turned into a minefield of anger and vitriol. With all that anger and disappointment in mind, today we are looking at ten different things that Sword and Shield could take from earlier Pokémon games to maybe win back some of those angry fans. Let’s get into it.
10 Red And Blue’s Simplistic Designs
When it comes to more recent Pokémon that have been added to the National Dex (r.i.p.), one of the words that comes to mind is “over-designed”. While not every new Pokémon has this distinction attached to them, Alola’s crew certainly has a few that fit the bill perfectly.
Red and Blue being on such primitive hardware is partially what led to this decision, but the original 151 had clean and simple designs. If SwSh take anything from the original games, it is to make sure that the Galar region is home to a nice blend of both complex and simple Pokémon. Complex is one thing, over-designed is another.
9 Gold And Silver’s Wealth Of Content
Amongst the many wonderful treasures that Gold and Silver contained was the entirety of the Kanto Region being available to explore after the Elite 4 was defeated. While SwSh don’t need an entire second region to play through (but also please do that yes), having a similarly huge amount of content to play through would make the games be standouts for the series. Sure, a Battle Tower is fine, but give us something more than that. Maybe accidentally drop all of Sinnoh into the game by accident? Oops?
8 Ruby And Sapphire’s Version Differences
One of the defining features of the Third Generation of Pokémon was the distinctly different stories (similar still, yes) that both versions told, with the more prominent evil team being swapped between the two versions.
While we’re already seeing this style followed with the introduction of version exclusive gym leaders, the introduction of even more content in this vein would certainly make all of us idiots go out and buy both versions of SwSh.
7 Diamond And Pearl’s Design
With the leap to the DS hardware, Diamond and Pearl made a large number of great improvements to the Pokémon formula. However, one great aspect of Sinnoh that is often overlooked is the fantastic design of the region as a whole. While the actual region design itself is great, the atmosphere and the music are a huge part of what made those games so memorable. If just an ounce of the creativity found in Diamond and Pearl’s design is found within SwSh, we have a great game on our hands.
6 Black And White’s Story
The story of Pokémon Black and White was far more high-stakes and compelling than any story before it had been. Characters had full arcs, the evil team wasn’t necessarily pure evil, everyone had motivations that made them feel real.
SwSh leaning into this and making smart and creative decisions with the story would go a long way in the eyes of fans of the games.
5 X And Y’s Graphical Leaps
X and Y shot the Pokémon series into full 3D for the first time, and the games haven’t looked back since. The character models had heads bigger than Bratz dolls. It was a marvelous time. If the team at Game Freak took some time to really focus on the graphical prowess of SwSh before release, it could make good looking games become a stunning ones. Utilize the full power of the hardware you’re now working with Game Freak, the opportunity is one that is too good to be missed.
4 Sun And Moon’s Straying Off The Beaten Path
Sun and Moon were weird games. There was a sandcastle Pokémon, an old man flew into space at the sight of a Lunatone, there were no rules. One thing that Sun and Moon did was buck conventions of the series.
The region was actually made up of several small islands, and there were no gyms. The SwSh developers should keep this in mind, and make sure that the titles don’t end up feeling too formulaic.
3 Black And White's Isolation
Serving as a soft reboot for the series, Black and White completely separated themselves from the rest of the series, with both the region and Pokémon being wholly unique. SwSh could take this idea and really make Galar its own region.
The huge amounts of callbacks to previous generations that we always get in Pokémon games could stand to be reduced in SwSh. We all know that the entire Kanto Region will be amongst the Pokémon returning, but just leave it at that.
2 Emerald's Side Content
The Hoenn region-centric title Pokémon Emerald was filled with all sorts of things to do off of the beaten path. There were tons of minigames (with many of them being multiplayer), contests and the Battle Frontier, to name a few examples.
Hopefully SwSh’s Galar region is filled to the brim with content for players to explore, storywise or not. With a new $60 price tag, these games better be worth it. At the very least more worth it than Let’s Go! That was a $30 game and we all know it.
1 Omega Ruby And Alpha Sapphire's Post-Game Content
Now say what you want about Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (soulless cash grabs that weren’t very good), but the post-game content of the titles was just fantastic. An entirely new post-game story segment that explained huge mysteries of the Pokémon universe? Oh my god yes! The Delta Episode alone is enough to make the Generation Three remakes great games in their own right. Hopefully, SwSh’s postgame content contains great story missions and other things (battlefrontierbattlefrontierbattlefrontier) alike for players to enjoy.