When was the last good Pokemon game? No, fan games and ROM hacks don’t count. I expect some of you might say 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon Legends: Arceus. The enlightened among you might even say 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:New Pokemon Snap. Some misers might say Pokemon Crystal, but we’ꦬll disregard you bec♉ause you’re being facetious.

My point is that the mainline games have been stagnating for years. I have 168澳洲幸𒈔运5开奖网:a lot of love for 🦹Pokemon Sword & Shield, but at the time they felt in many ways like a stepping stone to the future of Pokemon, a future that has yet to be realised. Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s open world built on the Wild Area, but 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:not in any meaningful way. It also tan🐎ked 🐠performance in a manner that was unforgivable for the biggest franchise on the planet.

To go further back, Pokemon Sun & Moon were okay. The monster designs were top notch, but the game held your hand to a p♐ainful extent. The entire first island is tutorial! It also continued that horrible tradition introduced in X & Y which had kindly rivals who healed up your team at any given opportunity. Those of us who wanted a challenge had it torn from our hands with a smile and a wave.

I would go as far as to say the last truly great main series Pokemon games were Black 2 & White 2 on the Nintendo DS. Gen 5 was reviled upon release, but did a lot right. These games took risks, introducing an entirely new Pokedex until the postgame in Black & White, and even a hard mode for fans who were up for the challenge. I believe that Gen 5 were the last great Pokemon games. Sorry, the last great main series Pokemon games.

The Call Of Duty Development Method

Pokemon is still making great games, they’re just relegated to spin-offs. Legends: Arceus took creature catching to u🀅nprecedented levels as we yeeted balls left, right, and centre. The differing weights of the different balls made the mechanic feel thoughtful and realistic. New Pokemon Snap might be the best looking Pokemon game ever made. Certainly no Pokemon game has ever felt as immersive – there was nothing better than spotting a rare ‘mon in its natural habitat and snapping away to your heart’s content.

While Po🎃kemon Legends: Arceus was developed by an internal Game Freak team, New Pokemon Snap was developed by Bandai N😼amco Studios. And this is where Pokemon can learn from Call of Duty.

I’m not calling for that gritty, violent Pokemon game that we all wanted when we were nine and had been exposed to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. If I wanted to give Pikachu an AK47, I’d play Palworld. I’m talking about developmental inspiration. Call of Duty pumps out games on an annual basis, and while they’re never going to win many awards, they’re mostly well-received within the CoD community. ꦛSome games are better than others, but overall fans tend to be happy. That’s less often tඣhe case with Pokemon.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet sold like hotcakes, but were derided critically and memed endlessly. From the lamentable framerate to the dull open world, this was not a game representative of a triple-A studio. For a franchise that’s on top of the world, the games that created it are✅ struggling to drag themselves to base camp.

That’s why Pokemon should take the Call of Duty approach. Let each development team work on their game for three years, alternating releases so fans are always satisfied. Call of Duty releases rotate between Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games. Each has its own specialty and narrative approach, but every game is unmistakably Call of Duty. Why can’t Nintendo do the same to su♐pport Game Freak and give the players what they want?

Pokemon Is Halfway To The Call Of Duty Model Already

As I mentioned above, Pokemon already does this. Sort of. While Game Freak tackles every main series release, other studios are drafted in for remakes or spin-offs. ILCA applied a chibi art style to Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. Bandai Namco Studios worked on the Snap sequel. There is presumably an internal split at Game Freak to separate the devs wor♛king on Legends: Z-A and Gen 𒁏10.

A lot of this comes down to perception. What Pokemon gaಞmes are perceived to be part of the main series. Which ones are relegated to spin-offs. Despite being produced by Game Freak, most players regard Legends: Ar𝄹ceus as a spin-off, because it makes drastic changes to the classic Pokemon formula. Because it dares to try something new.

If Pokemon Legends: Arceus had rele𝓀ased with two versions, Pokemon Legends: Giratina or something, would it be perceived differently?

These innovative approaches to the stale creature catching of Pokemon should not be forced into spin-off games. While I’m glad Legends: Arceus was successful enough to spawn a sequel, why have none of those ideas been implemented into subsequent Pokemon games? Maybe it’s too soon and we’ll see some Arceus influences in Gen 10, but if you’re not going to learn from each new Pokemon release, then why not allow teams more time to spend on doing their thing.

The development cycleꦆs of main series Pokemon games are rough. These devs don’t get five years to work on Tears of the Kingdra. But Nintendo could give them three years to create the best game they can come up with, filling the two-year gap with efforts from other studios. Let Bandai introduce new monsters in a Pokemon Ranger reboot, so that the merchandise and TCG arms of♉ the franchise can keep producing while Game Freak works on its classic RPG. Let the Legends team cook whatever it wants without relegating its ideas to a ‘spin-off’.

A lot of this is about perception. As long as we see games that aren’t made by Game Freak (and even some that are) as lesser, as side games, as spin-offs, the main series won’t change. However, if we allow those more mechanically interesting titles the space to shine, a chance to share the spotlight, the main series can grow alongside them. If we show Nintendo that we revere each spin-off game with the same admiration as we do the main RPGs, it may listen. That momentum has already begun with the Legends series, but it can go further. We deserve better Pokemon games, and adopting the Call ♑of Duty release model could be our best chance of getting them.