Pokemon is the highest-grossing media franchise in the entire world, having grossed an estimated $95 billion since its inception back in 1996. It comes as no surprise then that one of Nintendo's most prominent franchises became one of the highest-selling Nintendo Switch games in just six weeks. By December 31, 2019, Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield had sold a whopping 16.06 million, very quickly catching up to juggernauts on the system including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Mario Odyssey, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Despite impressive sales numbers, Pokemon Sword and Shield failed to meet certain expectations of critics and fans alike, though overall the critical reception was mostly positive. The term 'Breath of the Wild' was thrown around like a buzz word before launch as fans both wanted and expected a reinvention of the series on the level of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The mainline RPG series was coming to console for the very first time and a far more powerful console than what Nintendo fans were used to. If Zelda was able to reinvent itself for a new generation of Nintendo, then why couldn't Pokemon do it too?
The History of Pokemon Games
For the past 24 years, Pokemon has been a near-annual release franchise spanning a variety of different platforms, mediums, and genres from home consoles to Nintendo handhelds, mobile, trading cards, TV, and more. However, while the series has ventured to Nintendo consoles before with games like Pokemon Stadium or Pokemon Snap on Nintendo 64, the core RPG series that built the franchise into what it is today has remained solely on Nintendo's less powerful hand-held platforms such as the GameBoy, the Nintendo DS, and beyond. Pokemon had always promised players the dream of becoming a Pokemon Master, but it was never able to truly deliver on that promise due to the limitations of the hardware.
A Pokemon RPG on Consoles?
When the first Nintendo Switch rumor made its way online mentioning a console and hand-held hybrid, fans dreamed of what the future of the Pokemon franchise could become now that it would be coming to a console. And those expectations only grew after The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild released in March 2017 to critical acclaim, completely reinventing the Zelda series for a new generation and system. Knowing that Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee would give players a familiar experience in the lead up to the first proper Pokemon game on Switch, the idea that The Pokemon Company would completely reinvent the formula for the first time since Pokemon Red & Blue was exhilarating.
The Breath of the Wild Treatment
From Links Awakening to Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda is a franchise that has always been held in very high regard for its story, characters, and most notably, its gameplay. For The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo purposely took the world, characters, and the gameplay of the series, and turned them on its head with a simple goal of reinventing the series for the next generation of the company and the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo introduced an open-world, high-definition visuals, complete voice acting, and a detailed physics engine designed to incorporate brand new forms of traversal including the ability to climb any surface in the game.
Everything that players loved about The Legend of Zelda franchise was still intact in Breath of the Wild, only it had been carefully reassessed and redesigned to make it feel new but still familiar. Link is still the protagonist, Princess Zelda still needs saving, even Breath of the Wild's open-world continues to take place in the same old land of Hyrule with Ganon as the villain. There's enough in place to satisfy long-time fans without sacrificing the vision and the goal that makes the moment to moment gameplay so much more than just a new coat of paint. Hailed as one of the greatest video games ever made, it's no surprise its the fourth highest-selling Nintendo Switch game and a Breath of the Wild sequel is already well into development.
What Happened With Pokemon Sword & Shield?
Most of Pokemon Sword & Shield's best changes came in the form of quality of life updates such as the removal of EXP share and HM's, higher-definition models, a continuation of seeing Pokemon in the overworld from Pokemon Let's Go, and integration with the internet and phones for things like Wild Area Raid Battles and Pokemon Home. However, when it comes down to the moment to moment gameplay, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company chose to play it as safe as it possibly could, and in turn, it's chosen to offer the same exact experience players have had for the past twenty years.
Placed side-by-side with Pokemon Red & Blue, Pokemon Sword & Shield doesn't do anything to reinvent the formula outside of the introduction of Raid Battles from Pokemon GO. Players make their character, collect eight gym badges, fight some form of an evil organization, and defeat the Elite Four to become the very best. Sure, the visuals have been substantially upgraded and there are new features like the Wild Area but the formula is the same. The player base was hoping for Pokemon to be reinvented like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild because it offered the same familiar experience that made them love the franchise in a completely new form they hadn't seen before.
Game Freak and The Pokemon Company could've taken all of the same locations from Pokemon Red & Blue, redesigned the world to be completely 3D with a rotating camera like the one in the Wild Area, and removed all of the building blocks that separate each of the towns and force players down a strictly linear path. Allow the player to choose a starter Pokemon and then set out into the open-world with the same goals of defeating gym leaders, stopping the bad guys, and challenging the Elite Four.
The one major difference in this hypothetical that Nintendo understood with Breath of the Wild but ignored with Pokemon Sword & Shield is that players want to be able to create their own journey to becoming a Pokemon Master because being forced to play the same old game is getting really old after all these years.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are out now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.