The Downfall Of Mainline Pokémon Games 

Looking back on this video, although I still stand behind the general idea of what I said, I would like to clarify and correct some things that have been somewhat misinterpreted, or that are straight up mistakes I made: - In general, some statements that are strictly my opinion may come across as facts. Much of the inner workings of Nintendo and Gamefreak are unknown to the public, and the internal reasoning for their decisions can't be known for sure. Because of this, most of the things I talk about regarding their decisions are just speculation derived from an outside view of the company. All statements regarding that should be taken with a grain of salt and as my own personal opinion, not as fact. E.g. when I speculate about the reasons for "classic gameplay" Pokémon games not releasing for home console after Colosseum/XD, or when I speculate about the intention behind dropping mechanics like Megaevolving or base building. - Gold/Silver were playable on classic Gameboy, only Crystal was a Color exclusive. - I obviously do not have all the answers to completely fix the franchise, I merely point out problems (or what I personally see as such) and possible solutions, but I can be just as wrong as anyone else. If you wouldn't change the combat, that's great. If in your opionion, the franchise should go in a different direction than what I suggest in the video, that's great too. Again, this is just my opinion. Actually, it is the opinion I had more than a year ago. - Some statements I made are too dramatic, like the "no other franchise has lived so long and changed so little". There are many crappy franchises out there. The battle system is simple and addicting, and that's great, I just personally find it stale at this point. I stand by the sentiment of most of these statements, but I admit some are a bit exaggerated. - I still see people in the comments that, after watching the entire video, still think I'm saying that Gamefreak is lazy and that's the only problem. That is exactly the opposite of what I'm saying. While I do think Gamefreak has grown complacent over the years, it is also a victim of circumstances and decisions that have been taken throughout the years, probably by corporates and not developers, that have put them in a hamster wheel that is very hard to get out off, and that leaves them in a position were Sw/Sh is the best they could deliver. - Some comments ask why I didn't talk about Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee... It is clearly stated in the title this is about mainline game releases, not spinoffs. - After seeing the Legends: Arceus trailers, I have some more things to say regarding that game and the franchise in general... I will probably make some new videos in the near future regarding that, so subscribe and stay tuned in order not to miss it. In conclusion, this video is deeply flawed in many aspects, I made it for fun and never expected to have so many people watch it. I now better understand the impact a video like this can have and will try to do way better in the future. I am still proud of this video though, and thank everyone who watched it and gave their opinion. Thats the only way I can learn and improve. Some of my opinions on the franchise have also changed (for example, I no longer think real time combat is a good idea for mainline Pokémon games), but I will talk about that at length in future videos.

"No wonder why their mascot is Pikachu, both refuse to evolve" -classic line I found on the internet

Apple: "People keep saying we release the same phone and laptop every year." Game Freak: "Hold my Fresh Water."

The saddest thing is how the more lazy they become, the more money they made.

I remember being a dumb kid and a neighbor convinced me to trade my palkia for a machap or something. I cried so much my older brother had to go to his house and ask for it back lol

The problem is the franchise has no competition

Game Freak: Makes a game that simulates bug catching Also Game Freak: Makes gen 1 bug type the worst type in history

Wish they stopped at Mega Evolutions, dynamax is so bad.

Man, the 90s Pokemania was something else. There hasn’t been anything even close since. It’s hard to explain to people who weren’t around yet, but that shit was EVERYWHERE, on everything, every topic of every kid conversation, every toy and article of clothing you owned, the food you ate, the tv you watched, the games you played, the music you listened to, the school supplies you used... Everything was Pokemon, and every kid you knew was also into it.

Honestly, at this point, I'd be ecstatic if they just took the simple step of introducing difficulty levels.

"No other franchise has lived so long and changed so little" Fifa releasing the same game with a different number in its name every year: *sweats nervously*

Unova was the last extraordinary Pokémon game. The rest are good but not on the same level as the first five regions.

Imagine if Pokemon Red and Blue flopped and no sequels were made, and then it was a cult classic series that few people played

The worst part in my eyes is that people are so attached to this franchise that they're unwilling to admit to the flaws of it. If we had some bigger and better competition, people would realize how lazy and stagnant it's actually gotten.

It’s pretty infuriating because the games could literally be so great if they hired an actual writer and twice the animators. I know they got the money they just don’t care anymore.

I never bought Sword or Shield And I *won't.*

Pokemon has gotten so big that Gamefreak dosen't even have to TRY anymore. They can make a Pokemon game as bad as Bubsy 3D and it'll still sell millions.

We didn't need the most beautiful graphical pokemon game ever, we just needed Game Freak to put effort on the Switch pokemon games, but what we got was laziness, simplicity and mediocrity.

I see it as the fan's fault. Imagine having to do the bare minimum every single year and everyone still ends up buying it, calling it the best Pokemon yet. I really don't blame GameFreak, they will only change once the player base has finally decided not to buy the new games for being mediocre.

Here's how I see it: Gen 1: The starting line Gen 2: The climb Gen 3-5: The peak Gen 6-7: The fall Gen 8: Rock bottom (as of now)

The problem is the fans are the biggest bootlicking fandom in all of gaming

I would much rather have less Pokémon games that are higher quality and longer than have more new Pokémon games that are half-baked with less content in them

i feel like gamefreak doesnt care about pokeon anymore, just the money. all the new gatcha pokemon apps announced proves this.

At this point I've resigned myself to not expecting anything from Pokémon anymore. I simply have stopped wanting to even see a trailer or gampleay video. I just don't care anymore and I really want to.

Imagine the regions pokemon leagues had a conference and all realized the only person to beat them is a 10 year old child started their journey a few hours before

Kinda funny, a franchise whose major mechanic is about evolving and the franchise hasn't evolved since its inception decades ago.

I think the problem with SS is not the “outdated” combat system at all, but the lack of content. In terms of areas to explore, caves, massive water areas, beauty contests, puzzles, game- corners, facilities like the battle frontier, berry harvesting. They could have taken so Many features from previous games and improved them to implement them into the new games but No. they didn’t even bother. For me Pokemon SS is emptier in content than the original pokemon red/blue. 70% of the game you are following other npcs, talking, etc, the elite four is a complete joke. The gyms had cool ideas but they didn’t developed them as much as they could. I don’t know what he director of this game was thinking.

Miss good ol times when developers wanted to do a good game (johto) and just added kanto because they though the game was too short and people deserved better

the most profitable franchise in the video game industry is also the most underwhelming...

I don't even want a huge re-imagining of the entire series, I just want an actually polished version of what they have now. Sword and Shield feel straight up unfinished in the back half of the game. In fact, I'd be disappointed if turn based battling left the series, but it definitely needs a huge upgrade to its presentation. When Gamecube era Pokemon games had better animations for the Pokemon battles you know you have problems...

When SwSh were released and the uproar about the bad animation started, I as a hardcore Pokemon fan thought their games are malfunctioning....But then a friend borrowed me her switch and the game and I finished the game after 24 hours without rushing. Sad to say it felt very underwhelming, the only Highlight for me was using Hitmonchan on my story team. Now I am sitting here playing Rom hacks and the GameCube titels. It kinda hurts to say but I lost any interest in new Gamefreak games :(

If only Nintendo and Gamefreak had followed SEGA's example and hired artists and and programmers who had an immense passion for Pokemon. I would've imagined a phenomenal game with a better experience, better animations, better Pokemon Designs, all the works.

1996-2002: Starting age (Gen 1 & 2) 2002-2013: Golden age (3-5) 2013-2019: Intermediate age (6 & 7) 2019-present: Dark ages (8+)

Amazing video. The most important thing is Gamefreak lost ambition. In my opinion, Gen 5 was almost as ambitious as Gen 1, making another 150 new Pokemon, animating 649 Pokemon sprites, impressive cinematic DS cutscenes, challenging but fair fights. But now that Pokemon is on the Switch, things look unimpressive. Like you said, Breath of the Wild is beautiful, and it was a launch title. Half-baked is the main problem preventing Pokemon games to be the best they can be. They introduce a good idea, but don't do much with it. Gen 4 had following Pokemon, they left it until the Lets Go games. Gen 5 had difficulty options, (even though they were at the end of the game) they left that idea thinking only children play Pokemon and are handicapped. Gen 6 had Mega Evolutions, but mostly for Gen 1 and already overpowered Pokemon. Gen 7 had Z-Moves and islands, but they were just cheap overpowered moves that took forever to finish and island exploration was linear. And lastly, Gen 8 had the Wild Area, probably one of the best ideas, and I love it personally, but I can tell it was rushed. (N64 looking trees, horrible draw-distance, a giant Haxorus casually popping out of the ground) I pray that Gamefreak would stop being greedy, and they would put actual effort into making the Sinnoh remakes the best they can be. But even I know that as long as they are making money, what's the point in changing their ways.

gen 5 felt like the last time game freak really cared about the mainline titles. ever since x&y the games feel sooooooo dumbed down and only 2/3 done. not to mention the repeated beating of the dead horse that is the kanto region in all platforms. either its the movies, show, cards, spin off games, mobile games. they cant stop going back to that well.

This video is a perfect encapsulation of exactly why I don’t play modern Pokémon games past BW2.

The only complaint I’ve ever really had is that the “evil” team you have to fight always has the same Pokémon no matter which organization. This was obviously seen in the postgame of USUM when you battle Rainbow Rocket. You battle the leader of each organization and notice that each have Crobat, some dark or poison type, a dog Pokémon, etc. At least make them unique lol

A channel with just over a hundred subs putting out a video with quality you'd expect from channels in the hundred thousands... This is how you move up in the RU-vid landscape. I salute you

I feel like Game Freak have gotten used to Pokemon GO basically funding them so now they don't give a damn about the mainline games. I mean look at New Pokemon Snap, the game looks miles better than Sword and Shield, why is that? Because it's being developed by Bandai.

When they do make major changes people get annoyed. Black and White are still my favorites. Sun and Moon also tried some new stuff. But yeah I was hesitant after X and Y. Sword and Shield are almost jokes. They just need more time in the oven. Longer development would help a lot.

Literally no point of playing anything past Gen 5.

I'd honestly pick a reboot where we get a limited amount of Pokemon but a well crafted world, exploration, interaction, difficulty, visually appealing and with a well built story and different things to do, than the same ~80 new creatures with a new one/two-gens only gimmick and a repeptitive formula.

Before Sword and Shield came out I heard a lot of people say "finally a open world Pokemon game" And I just thought is it because my idea of open world is hopping on a train and going to any town and Gym I want and now after playing I just think WHY I know something like that would mess with the "evil" Team placement but I just don't get it the wild area is coded so Pokemon get stronger the more badges you have so why can't the gyms be the same you beat a gym and the other gyms get stronger so no matter where you go everything scales to your level trust me play Digimon on Switch and you'll see the problems Pokemon has the biggest one being that bloody draw distance

Leveling up Pokémon in sword and shield holds no value it’s too damn easy

Gen 5 was the last good generation and my personal favorite, mostly because of the soundtrack and story

I remember all the adults telling me "you know, by the time you're 21 this pokemon is gonna go out of business" Guess what? Im 22. Pokemon still thriving

All that Game Freak wanted to do was to make a game where you become a champion and a sequel where another kid beats the previous champion. After the 2nd generation all games were made because of the profit they were doing.

Actually our ultimate pokemon dream is A pokemon game with all the regions

Honestly tho, after playing Digimon of all things, I’m amazed at how stagnant Pokémon has been. Imagine almost every battle being a double battle. Or more triples. Or opponents with 4 Pokémon of different types. It’s just not that hard to make this battle system more interesting.

I’ve lost more faith in the fan base than I have in the Pokémon company and game freak. Even after seeing how half baked SWSH were, they still bought the game. Supporting and making excuses for the games. Pokémon will forever be stuck as an oversimplified, dumb down game, targeted at children to make a quick buck.

More people should see your video! I am really afraid of the future of the mainline Pokemon games...

The focus on dumbing down games and remaking everything is something we´re seeing with other video games as well. There´s a strong focus on reducing the game to create more content that has to be bought separately. Another point, in the original anime Gary had 10 badges even though only 8 were needed. I don´t think they ever explained who the other 3 gym leaders were. It would be interesting if the various regions would add various amounts of gym leaders and things of that nature.

Black and White: Good games, bad anime. X and Y: Bad games, good anime.

Such a shame. I collected and trained many pokemon, and even competed against others in tournaments. Now they have put business practices in that will try to make additional money out of me because I have such time invested and a big collection. No, I don't think I will. I'll stay on my island of alola where it is cheaper.

In my opinion, I think Pokémon Sword and Shield are rushed, unpolished games because Gamefreak decided to give their time and budget to Little Town Hero. It's a gorgeous looking game, but nobody even played nor remember it!

I've stopped at Sun and Moon... Everything after it screams souless to me.

5th gen was the last good gen, everything fell apart after it, i'm including the anime. 4th gen is godlike and that anime season is still the best one.

13:07 "...The players, just like Ash and Pikachu were forever stuck at 10 years old. Always trying to become Pokémon Champions, but never evolving or taking the next step forward." Saddest quote right there. :(

I swear that I read this somewhere, they were originally developing gen 8 for the 3ds but then had to change their plans once the Switch was being developed and then released and was becoming a popular console quickly. Which makes sense to me as to why there are still weird gameplay limitations. Like routes being extremely linear. Lately it feels like they might be crumbling under the pressure from having their games being tied to an anime release and then tcg and merch. I think it curbs creativity and produces these half baked results.

Diamond/Pearl were the last ones that i truly loved. I couldn't even tell you half of the Pokemon from any generations past that. At first I thought it was just me growing up, but that doesn't make sense as I still love the newer Zelda games as much as the old ones.

Pokémon peaked with Gen 5, fight me.

I mean seriously when Breath of the Wild came out I was floored by how far Zelda has gone. We finally got the Hyrule we Zelda fans dreamed of exploring. Pokémon should do the same. Colosseum and XD Gale of Darkness were great starters.

You know SS are bad when SM and USUM are being defended in the comments.

I like the turn based combat and the non level scaling but it would be nice to have some real stories from Pokemon.

“In an effort to catch them all, something impossible by yourself” We are still talking about the first gen games, the only games where GF made an oopsie and created a glitch that allows any player to complete the dex by himself.

Honestly the biggest example is seeing Breath of the Wild and Odyssey’s innovation in comparison. And Pokemon STILL selling just as much.

S&S has poisoned my view of the Pokemon games moving forward. The original Red and Blue games have more areas to explore than the latest game. And I really do not feel like paying for DLC that should have been free in game from the get go.

still dreaming of a huge pokemon mmo game with good graphics :(

I just want more post game content that isn't just battle tower and complete the dex. Battle frontier and the thing they did in B2&W2 were amazing.

Gen 6 is when Pokémon games started going down hill we another game like Colleseum and Xd

Funny how a game that centers on change and evolution can be so complacent and stagnant.

Got to be honest here, the transistion of sprite to 3D did ruin some idle animations for some pokemons in battle. Examples of Salamence losing it's intimidation, Skarmory losing character of its fierce personality, some flying pokemon are subjected to floating in mid-air rather than letting flying pokemon stand. The scaling is something I can get around for the 3DS era obviously being hardware limitations. However, it did ruin the immersion and imagination to expect how big the pokemons are since sprites don't translate the height to 3D at all. Pokemon scaling in sword and shield shouldn't be an excuse anymore since Dynamax is a thing now, cutting corners to speed development, animations being lack luster and saying it's a compensation from the national dex. Stuff like this does dissapoint me and somehow I'm back to enjoying the games that I enjoyed as a kid and all I can do is hope is the next installment to be good, gen 4 remake or not.

Really well-done video. Great editing and narration!

honestly a lot of pokemon fans support the way gamefreak have been handling the franchise. they keep begging for gen4 remakes... they want the same thing over and over again

Such a sad story that one of the most beloved franchises in the world with millions of fans including myself is now getting milked by a greedy company that hates its fanbase.

Back then companies had a vision. Nowadays companies have greed.

This is an extremely well made video. Cheers to you friend!

I remember being excited for Sword and Shield. I remember watching my Dad play Pokemon Colosseum and eventually, him buying me Xd and then giving me Colosseum and thought about what they could do with the switch. Then began to learn about the national dex, cut of content, horrible N64 graphics, etc. This became the first ever main series Pokemon game I never bought and I have no regrets about not playing Sword and Shield.

i feel like GF needs to bring back the "gotta fit two regions in one game card" sorta perfectionism in order to put an end to this agony.

Gen 5 was the last time I was into Pokemon. After it went "3D" it went downhill. Honestly the only 3D Pokemon games that were really good was Pokemon stadium 1 and 2, Coliseum, and XD Gale of Darkness. Beyond that there's really nothing else for long time fans from the 90s.

I think the main focus was Online Battles and strategies so the main line story and animation were left to bare minimum. However, it doesn’t hurt to come up with better story, more challenges and puzzles and better battle graphics.

The biggest issue I have with the newer games is how they try and artificially extend the game time to cover up the fact that they have also become easier overall. For example a lot of routes have the same number of trainers as previous games, but each trainer may only have 1 or 2 Pokemon combined with an entire pre-battle cutscene of both trainers getting ready to battle; not even bringing up Mega Evolution (which I liked) and Gigantamaxing (which I don't). This really started back in Gen 5-6, but is incredibly noticeable in games like XY/SM, and now Sh/Sw. However what really made me mad about the latest games is just how easily Gamefreak lied about all the details leading up to the release of the game.

Generation 5 was the peak of Pokémon. Best story, best soundtrack, best villains, low health music, gym leader’s final Pokémon music, and fantastic Pokémon designs. I gave up on Pokémon after Sun and Moon. I didn’t even buy gen 8 and I’m glad I didn’t. It hurts my heart to see how little effort is put into new games compared to the old ones.

It would be so cool if they brought back Pokémon colosseum and Pokémon xd. The Older generation would buy the game just for the nostalgic feeling, and the younger generation would enjoy a new concept. All they have to do is remake it with better graphics and maybe add more Pokémon. Also many people that played the game really enjoyed the music in games so bringing that back would be awesome. Also they can put out a small Pokémon series on Netflix or RU-vid explaining the idea of shadow Pokémon. They don’t have to make it so complicated, I would for sure buy it.

My favorite is Gen 4 everyone knows HeartGold and SoulSilver are the best Pokemon games

I preferred the old style retro Pokémon games, 3D graphics aren’t everything.

Im sad not angry that pokemon is not living up to the potential it already has

Thank you for the video

Extremely well done!!!

As much as I agreed with many of the things you said, those last sentences made me tear up. I'm also a 90s kid whose mind and soul was blown away by the first 2 generations, the first 2 regions, the first 2 movies. That dream of what Pokémon could achieve since Crystal, Snap and Stadium 2 did SO MUCH, and the promises of Emerald, the Kanto remakes and Colosseum and XD gave us. It's been 24 years. I still want to believe.

I’d be fully willing to entirely scale graphics down to the level they were at in Gen 4 if only that meant that they would divert resources to making the gameplay, worldbuilding, scale of the environment, and story more ambitious. Fly too close to the sun. It’ll give you a clearer picture of your limits than staying on the 3rd floor.

Still here 16 years later praying to god they remaster Colosseum knowing full well it's never happening. :'(

I grew up with red, silver and ruby. I just finished Pokemon Sword. It's hard to articulate how disappointing it was. Dungeons are no dungeons, just straight lines. No Puzzles, no VMs, A pokedex without all Pokemon (wtf?), no berrys, an uninspired world and story, no real Opponent team like team Magma or Rocket, generally short. I could go on. Seems Pokemon is dead for me, I'll just play my old memories on Roms.

"diehard Nintendo fans would buy anything the company puts out, including a cardboard box" - Michael Pachter

What they need to do is take the elements from their home console spinoffs and put them in their main series games. For example.... 1.Graphics of pokken tournament 2.Battle animations from Pokemon battle revolution 3.A story as good as the one in pokemon gale of darkness 4.Difficult challenges like from pokemon Colosseum. 5.(And from the main series titles) Pokemon following you. In my opinion, the games we ended up with aren't exactly terrible, just average at best. It feels too much like another 3ds game.

As long as the pokemon keeps selling like hotcakes to the blind pokemon fanatics which have a motto of consume, consume and consume, expect no innovation from the company.

Pokemon Gen 1-5 is one of the best streches a video game franchise has ever had. X&Y were alright and the Gen 3 remakes were good but everything after that has been lazy and mediocre. The 3D style of animation the games have now is really not the best. The animations in XD/Gale of Darkness should've been the blueprint for the newer games.

I say personally that they jumped to 3D too soon. Gen 5 is one of my favourite gens and it wouldve been sick too see where they went from there if they werent only worried about adding 1 extra dimension. Now I honestly feel like the entire franchise needs to do a hard reset, what that exactly entails though im not sure.

Its sad that gen 5 wasnt really received well when it first came out, looking back on it, it was arguably the best game they released. Its a shame its only just now getting the praise it deserves.

It's fucked up how they straight up lied about what they did. Why can't they hire more people? They're so rich.