Pokemon Sword and Shield have gone from being two of the most-anticipated games of the year to two of the most controversial. The controversy started when it was revealed that Pokemon Sword and Shield wouldn't have a National Pokedex, and revelations since then have only soured fans' opinions on the game even further. The latest Pokemon Sword and Shield controversy deals with the games' animations and graphics, with some feeling as though they were lied to by Game Freak.
The hashtag GameFreakLied is the #1 trend on Twitter at the time of this writing, with many fans providing examples of how they feel Game Freak lied to them. Many of these examples have to do with animations that fans feel are lackluster, especially since Game Freak claimed that it was working on higher-quality animations for the new games. Others feel as though the graphics in Sword and Shield fail to take full advantage of the Nintendo Switch console, and look more akin to a 3DS game. Others still have provided evidence that Game Freak has recycled some animations and things from past Pokemon games for Sword and Shield.
Part of this disappointment has to do with the fact that Pokemon Sword and Shield are the first main series Pokemon games on a home console. Fans have been waiting decades for a main series Pokemon game to come to a home console, and so expectations for Sword and Shield were particularly high.
It will be interesting to see if the ongoing Pokemon Sword and Shield controversies have a big impact on the games' sales or not. Reviews have been mostly positive, and there are many hardcore Pokemon fans who will likely buy one of the games regardless. Even so, this is an unprecedented level of bad press for Pokemon games, and it may have an impact on the series moving forward.
One has to imagine that Game Freak will address the man fan complaints about Pokemon Sword and Shield with future entries. It doesn't mean the National Pokedex will come back, but maybe the next games in the series will at least be more graphically intensive.
Pokemon Sword and Shield launch on November 15, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.