Pokemon Shield

Genre: Turn-Based Monster Collecting JRPG

Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local Wireless, Online)

.

Review:

(Note: Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are for all intents and purposes the same game copy-pasted with minor differences. As such, my reviews of the two games will be similarly copy-pasted with minor differences)

(Note: This game is included in the Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield Double Pack bundle along with Pokemon Sword)

Pokemon Shield (as well as its paired title, Pokemon Sword) is the first mainline entry in Nintendo’s megahit Turn-Based Monster Collecting JRPG franchise to release on a console. That fact alone makes this a game that’s somewhat tricky to review, because there are two ways to judge this game – one can judge it based on what it is in the context of what it represents, or based on what this game is in its own right. However, I think that to some extent, it has made itself a game that can only be judged in the context of what it represents.

Okay, that comment was probably confusing for a lot of people, and requires a bit of a history lesson to explain…

(If you’d rather skip the history lesson, jump ahead to the section titled “A Pokemon, even if it’s revered as a deity, is still just a Pokemon.”)

.

Blast Off At the Speed of Light…

It’s hard to overstate just how much influence the Pokemon franchise has had on the videogame industry. Pokemon is, as of this writing, the single most profitable entertainment franchise in the world – more than Marvel, more than Mickey Mouse, more than Hello Kitty (Hello Kitty is actually a surprisingly lucrative franchise, apparently). However, even back when Pokemon was first released, it undoubtedly changed the course of the videogame industry.

Pokemon was first introduced to the world in Japan on the original Game Boy in 1996 as Pocket Monsters: Red and Pocket Monsters: Green, with Pocket Monsters: Blue (available only via special mail-order offer) releasing in Japan later that same year. All of these games were at their core the same basic game with slight variations, with the idea being that players with different versions of the game and access to different monsters contained within could trade with one another to potentially collect a full set of 151 monsters.

These games would not see release in the West for two and a half years due to difficulties localizing the source code of the games, but when they were finally brought over to the West in 1998 as Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue (with Pokemon Blue being the Westernized version of Pocket Monsters: Green containing some visuals from Pocket Monsters: Blue), they were released as a part of a multimedia push that included an anime series and a collectable trading card game. Each of these different elements of the franchise was a success in its own right, but the videogames were something quite special.

Not only was this a wildly unique approach to the genre of JRPGs, but it did some extremely inventive things with its gameplay to take advantage of that unique approach. The surface gameplay was exceedingly simple – each individual monster could only possess four moves at a time, and players could only keep six of them within their active party, the rest being delegated to an in-game digitized storage. Limiting the move set and party in this way meant that while players were encouraged by the game’s slogan to “catch ‘em all”, playing most effectively would mean banding together an ideal team whose individual traits and moves could counterbalance those strengths with the weaknesses of the rest of that team.

Even beyond this, players looking for more depth would uncover secret “hidden values” that slightly modified their monsters’ stats, giving more competitive players a way to further maximize their team’s potential. There were also nuances to the way that monsters learned moves and “evolved” into stronger forms, meaning that players may have reason to hold off on evolving a Pokemon to ensure it had access to an ability it could only learn in its un-evolved state. These sorts of subtle nuances would be the sort of thing most players wouldn’t even know existed within the game, but that became a major part of why the Pokemon games would see the growth of a flourishing competitive scene.

Of course, that would be another major key to the success of the franchise – the multiplayer. Prior to Pokemon, multiplayer in Turn-Based JRPGs was at best an after-thought in most games in the genre, but Pokemon made multiplayer central to the game. Not only was trading with other players via the Game Boy link cable the only way to “Catch ‘em All”, but players who painstakingly crafted the ultimate team of monsters could pit their team up against their friend’s team in matches involving a lot of fast-paced strategic decision-making. Soon enough, it wasn’t just friends challenging each other, but the games would also give rise to unofficial tournaments, which would eventually become officially recognized by Nintendo themselves.

And of course, there’s no denying that a part of the Pokemon franchise’s success is the massive appeal of its multitude of colorful cartoony monsters and their kid-friendly, imaginative world where youngsters go off on an adventure to fill out their “Pokedex” (“Gotta’ catch ‘em all!”) and foil the menacing schemes of the power-hungry Team Rocket.

Likely due to a combination of all of these factors as well as the cross-promotion provided by the successful anime and card game, Pokemon Red and Blue became a massive success in the West as they had been in Japan for years, forming the foundation for a franchise that has continued to thrive for decades afterwards.

.

Blasting Off Again

Of course, with success comes the inevitable sequel, and Nintendo and developer Game Freak quickly got to work on a true successor to Pokemon Red/Green/Blue. Pokemon Yellow, released in 1999 in the West, was created as a stopgap of sorts. Yellow was a version of the original game that was updated to include improved graphics, Game Boy Printer functionality, and a plot that more closely mirrored the anime series, with Pikachu walking alongside the player much as he does in the TV show. However, this would do little to satiate demand for an entirely new game in this growing franchise.

Released in 1999 in Japan and 2000 in the US, Pokemon Gold and Silver was a game that in many ways exceeded fans’ expectations. The game included 100 brand-new Pokemon alongside the original game’s 151, featured a real-time clock, new elemental types and “held items” to provide greater depth to combat, the ability to breed Pokemon to discover entirely new species, and even the ability to trade with the original Pokemon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow to continue using your captured Pokemon from those games in this new installment.

This ability to retain your Pokemon from previous installments, and each new installment containing a “National Pokedex” that included both new Pokemon and all previous Pokemon, became an important highlight for the series, especially for returning fans. After all, the themes of the games and the advertising surrounding them not only pushed the theme of “Gotta’ Catch ‘Em All”, but also encouraged players to see their Pokemon as more than just characters in a game, but as a companion of sorts, joining them from one adventure to the next, much as the Pikachu in the anime series stuck with the series protagonist as he explored the locales of each successive game in the series.

Pokemon Gold and Silver (as well as the slightly-upgraded version of the game, Pokemon Crystal) wouldn’t quite reach the same sales numbers as the prior “generation” of Pokemon games, but their combined sales of over 29 million would still make these games one of the best-selling videogames of all time.

.

”We Hope To See You Again!”

The Pokemon series would continue to see regular releases in the decades to follow, and even disregarding the multitude of spin-off games, there is almost always a mainline Pokemon game released every year, with the series only occasionally taking a year off. Many have gotten used to these games following a pattern of sorts – first a paired release like Red/Green, Gold/Silver, or Ruby/Sapphire, then a staggered upgraded release of that game like Yellow, Crystal, or Emerald, and then often a remake of a prior game, like Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green. Occasionally you would see an exception to this pattern, such as the release of Pokemon White 2/Black 2 or Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, but mostly this series continued on like clockwork.

However, as things continued, many began to see these releases as bearing increasingly diminished returns. Each new installment would bring with it more Pokemon, improved visuals, and some new game mechanics… but for the most part the framework at the core of these games remained the same. The combat remained simple enough for younger and more casual players to enjoy, and there was still plenty of nuance for more skilled players to dig into, but the refusal to update these games in any meaningful way made them start to feel dated, archaic even.

New gameplay elements, like 2 versus 2 battles and “Mega Evolutions”, seemed gimmicky rather than revolutionary. The visuals, while always improving over prior installments, remained well behind what we saw in other JRPGs. The level design retained its constricted corridor-like layout long after other RPGs embraced Open-World design. And while the mainline Pokemon franchise kept going strong on Nintendo’s handhelds, for over two decades Nintendo’s consoles had only ever received spin-off games.

With this being the case, the Nintendo Switch was seen as a fantastic opportunity for the Pokemon series to truly grow for the first time in years. Not only was the Nintendo Switch both a console and a handheld, but it was also Nintendo’s only platform now – if Pokemon was going to maintain its regular release schedule, it would have to come to a console now.

Players dreamed about what this could mean for the Pokemon series? Would a Pokemon game finally be crafted with an Open-World environment? Would we finally get a Pokemon game with modern graphics and sound? Would Nintendo and Game Freak use this as an opportunity to finally modernize this archaic franchise and bring it into the modern day?

Welllll… not really, no…

.

“A Pokemon, even if it’s revered as a deity, is still just a Pokemon.”

Pokemon Sword and Shield met with loud backlash online the more that players found out about it. This backlash ultimately would not hamper its sales when the game finally released on the Nintendo Switch in 2019, but many series fans nevertheless see Pokemon Sword and Shield as a black mark on the series, and a large part of that is due to alllllllll of that context I detailed at length above.

At its core, Pokemon Sword and Shield still features the same brilliant core gameplay that made the Pokemon series so groundbreaking decades ago. But at the same time… Pokemon Sword and Shield still features the same core gameplay as the games from decades ago.

To be fair, the gameplay has been streamlined in numerous ways – you can now swap out your Pokemon team almost anywhere, menu screens now display helpful information like type weaknesses without you having to search for them, and you no longer need to maintain a “vendor trash” Pokemon that is only useful for collecting abilities like Surf and Fly that allow you to more freely move about the world. What’s more, battles are no longer random, with players with seeing some Pokemon roaming freely around, or in some cases seeing shaking grass indicating a Pokemon present that can be avoided.

Make no mistake, these are huge improvements… but to many, this feels like “too little, too late”. Many of these quality-of-life enhancements seem like something the series should have incorporated decades ago, and as such it’s hard to celebrate them finally being implemented now.

There are also “new” mechanics here, like the “Dynamax” and “Gigantimax” mechanics where you can make one Pokemon in your party temporarily super-sized. However, while these mechanics are not exactly like previous installments’ Mega Evolutions, it’s hard to deny that they bear a striking similarity. There’s also a new “camp” mechanic that includes new minigames to interact with your Pokemon, as well as the ability to cook curry dishes for them. However, again, this bears striking similarity to mechanics already present in prior entries in the series. Far from being “new”, elements like these only highlight how this series is struggling to find ways to innovate now.

Perhaps one of the most-touted new features in Pokemon Sword and Shield is the new “Wild Area”, large, open spaces where players can freely move the camera. While these open-ended areas are a step in the right direction toward the dream Open-World Pokemon game that series fans have been clamoring for… that’s not what they are, and sadly these open-ended areas are still somewhat limited, and separated from much of the rest of the map by the same tired corridor-like pathways with zero camera control… you know, like the series has had since the beginning.

On a more minor note, this game is missing touchscreen controls despite touchscreen being a part of the mainline franchise ever since Pokemon Diamond and Pearl’s release in 2007. The game does make optional use of gyroscopic motion controls in the curry-cooking minigame, but this is a minor addition that doesn’t dramatically affect the game.

Okay, so Pokemon Sword and Shield largely fails to innovate in its gameplay. It does improve on the series formula in incremental ways, and it does include some nice quality-of-life improvements, but any advancements this series makes still feel like they simply don’t match the scope of finally bringing this series to a console, and in many ways this is a series that still feels like its game design is stuck in 1996.

However, Pokemon Sword and Shield’s problems are not just that it’s a disappointment…

.

“These are not shorts! These are half-pants!”

Much of the backlash against Pokemon Sword and Shield centers on the aforementioned National Pokedex, referred to by some fans as the “National Dex”. Again, every prior game in the franchise had some way to “Catch ‘Em All”, and generally included a means by which players could bring Pokemon from prior games in the series into the latest installment.

No more.

Pokemon Sword and Shield has no National Dex. You can no longer “Catch ‘Em All” – for the first time since the series began, a mainline Pokemon game does not even include all of the Pokemon in the franchise. That favorite Pokemon of yours that may have been your companion through the series for years across multiple generations can no longer join you on this journey. Heck, your favorite species of Pokemon may not even be present in this game.

I know that there are many players for whom this fact will elicit a flat “who cares?” After all, the gameplay here is still fundamentally good even if your particular favorite fictional creature isn’t features and even if a feature that each prior game had is no longer present. However, in the greater context of things, it’s a lot harder to dismiss this issue. Players looking forward to the Pokemon franchise’s first mainline release on a console were waiting in anticipation to see what great new possibilities this would create for the series, only to discover that for the first time a beloved feature was being removed from the series. Far from being bigger and better, in one significant way Pokemon Sword and Shield is notably worse than every entry in the series that came before.

Executives working on the game tried to justify the removal of this feature by claiming that it was a necessary cut made due to new graphics and animations made for the game. However, it would seem that this was, in retrospect, a lie. Many videos have been made to reveal that Pokemon Sword and Shield re-uses character models and animations from prior entries in the series, and while the visuals in Pokemon Sword and Shield are generally improved over handheld entries in the series, they are far from the quality we have come to expect from modern JRPGs.

The same year Pokemon Sword and Shield were released, the Nintendo Switch also saw the release of Dragon Quest XI S and Atelier Ryza, two JRPGs that put the visuals of these new Pokemon games to shame. And while I have to give credit where credit is due and say that Pokemon Sword and Shield still feature a beautiful, imaginative world with wonderful character designs… it’s hard to feel like this is worth very much when so much of that content is simply recycled from prior installments. That is beyond the issues with pop-in, slowdown, and blurry textures found throughout this game.

The game’s writing and story is also uninspired, with “Team Yell” being perhaps the most one-dimensional and low-stakes villain of the entire series – their whole deal is that they’re just out-of-control fans of a rival Pokemon trainer who, herself, seems pretty decent. Your own rival, Hop, is similarly annoying in all the wrong ways, repeating over and over and over and over how he’s going to be the best Pokemon trainer. And the great overarching mystery of the game about an evil force defeated by a hero with a sword and a shield (gee, I wonder if that might be the legendary Pokemon in the box art? Do you think?) is also wholly lacking anything compelling.

When it comes to the sound, things are similarly dour here. The game’s music is fine, if overly-synthesized and not especially memorable. But even more noteworthy is the lack of any sort of voiced dialogue, save for Pikachu. I suppose Nintendo has locked down the rights to Ikue Ōtani’s voice by this point, but doesn’t feel compelled to pay for any other voice actors.

This wouldn’t be quite as notable or extraordinary if it wasn’t for the presence of the same archaic digitized sounds for the Pokemon in the game that have existed since the series’ inception. When I see a massive Onix roaring in a game made in 2019, I don’t want it to sound like a Gamy Boy sound effect.

The funny thing is, I can see the argument for keeping these archaic Pokemon sounds – it’s a way of maintaining series continuity! However, that argument rings hollow when the removal of the National Dex represents a destruction of series continuity. The result just seems, quite simply, lazy.

.

”With your Pokemon, you’ll get things done whatever happens. I’m convinced of it!”

If this were a game that was meant to be a fresh break from the series, with entirely new gameplay, new visuals, and new sound, it could be easily forgiven for not including features that were in prior games in the series. On the other side of things, if this game retained features from prior entries in the series while only offering minor improvements, it might be disappointing but it would at least be understandable as a way to maintain continuity within the series. However, Pokemon Sword and Shield represents the worst of both worlds, stripping out beloved series features without replacing them with anything significant.

I will take a moment now to address the Pokemon Sword and Shield apologists, who at this moment are undoubtedly itching to type out a rebuttal that Game Freak didn’t have enough employees to make this the massive expansion of the series that people wanted, that it didn’t have the time or manpower to meet players’ expectations. To those complaints, I say… do you know how to get more employees? Money. Do you know why Nintendo, Game Freak, and The Pokemon Company keep insisting on releasing one of these games pretty much every year? Money. And do you know what Pokemon makes a lot of? Money.

In short, there is no reason that this game had to be released in this disappointing state, save that Nintendo, Game Freak, and The Pokemon Company didn’t want to bother spending the money to ensure that this game was the groundbreaking entry in the series that fans hoped it would be, when they knew that even in this sorry state, it would still make plenty of money.

And yet, even with those harsh words… Pokemon Shield (as well as Pokemon Sword) is still an excellent Monster-Collecting JRPG. How can it not be? It’s basically just copying the formula of each prior game in the series, all of which were also excellent Monster-Collecting JRPGs. And even if this time around it’s missing some important features and comes with a huge heaping dose of disappointment… the core game at the center of all of this is still quite good. But it is a game that you have likely played many, many, many times by this point. If you haven’t played this series before, feel free to raise the grade I give this game by one full letter grade.

Otherwise, you’re probably better off playing one of the installments of this franchise released on the 3DS if you still own that platform – those games may have only represented a small incremental step forward for the series, but at the very least they didn’t regress the series backwards.

tl;dr – Pokemon Shield (like Pokemon Sword), the series’ first mainline entry on a console, is a solid Turn-Based Monster Collecting JRPG in much the same way previous entries in the series were solid Turn-Based Monster Collecting JRPGs. However, the lack of significant new features or improvements and the removal of some beloved series features make this game a massive disappointment, even if the core game still remains… well, solid.

Grade: B-

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are MB, Andy Miller, Johannes, u/RamboFox, Exlene, Eli Goodman, Ilya Zverev, Stov, Connor Armstrong, and K.H. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}