The limited Pokedex may be a downer at the moment, however here’s how it could benefit the Galar region!

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E3 has come and gone, and Nintendo has provided us with all the Sword and Shield news we were waiting for; and the one bit of depressing news as well. With the announcement of Pokemon Home, players who eagerly anticipated the ability to transfer their long running companions over to the new installment in the series learned that not every past species will be transferable to the new game. In an interview with Famitsu, Junichi Masuda, the game’s producer, stated:

“the total number of Pokemon has exceeded 1000, including new Pokemon and the form change of existing Pokemon. As a result, it has become extremely difficult to make Pokemon with a new personality play an active part and to balance the compatibility, in addition to making the graphic a quality adapted to changes in the hardware, and also in terms of battle. . That is the reason for this decision, and we have decided that it is difficult to make all Pokemons appear in future works”.

Needless to say, the internet has already created backlash to this decision in the form of many gamers cancelling their pre-orders for the game. While we would love to see all Pokemon come over from the past, Masuda’s decision is one that makes sense for the betterment of the series; but this isn’t about whether we agree or disagree, this is about it can work in Sword and Shield’s favor!

A Focus on Newer Pokemon at Launch

With the release of S&S, the number of Pokemon species is set to exceed 1,000 which is insane if you’re like me who started with the 150 originals! I’m not going to claim to be a Poke Master, but that’s a hell of a lot of Pokemon that become near impossible to remember; let alone care about. With that being the case, the limited Pokedex at launch could allow for players to get used to the new species the game has to offer; instead of focusing on their past favorites, and ignoring the new ones. Now this wouldn’t be a longer term thing, just for the launch so players can get through the story and see all that the game has to offer with the new Pokemon.

Adding More Pokemon in the Future

Pokemon GO may not be the most popular game among series purists, however one thing it did well was segway new Pokemon into the game over time. The beauty in this wasn’t that it just added Pokemon, it added longevity to the game; and kept players coming back for more years after the initial launch. Instead of cramming all of the Pokemon into the game at launch, it slowly added more overtime to prevent over-saturation, and keep players from filling their Pokedex right after launch. This same strategy can be brought to S&S.

As the game goes one, new Pokemon could be added into the game by generation to expand the Pokedex even further. Considering that the developers wanted to keep a high level of quality in the games, this will allow them to do just that while still making the fans happy. Now remember, S&S will include Pokemon from other regions at launch, this would fill in the holes for the missing species. Now I’m not saying take 2 years to get through 3 gens, however doing it over a years time will allow the developers to put them into the game properly, and ensure players keep coming back to the game well after launch.

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Will Nintendo follow suit with this approach? We will have to see when Pokemon Sword and Shield launches November 15, 2019 for the Switch. Make sure to check back with us for even more gaming content.