Despite wave after wave of negative controversy for the upcoming Pokémon Sword and Shield, fans are still very excited for new entries in the series. Considering that these games are the first mainline Pokémon games on a home console, there is a lot of room for excitement. In fact, there’s a chance that Sword and Shield could end up being the best in the series. Today, we’ll be going over ten different ways that Pokémon Sword and Shield could become the best mainline Pokémon games out there. Let’s jump into it.
10 Characters
The cast of characters that Shield and Sword are implementing seems to be a great lineup as of now. Besides the version exclusive gym leaders, we have NPCs such as Rival Hop, Champion Leon, Icon Wooloo, Professor Magnolia, Fan-arted Sonia, the list goes on. The range of characters that we will be meeting seem to be diverse and interesting and could be the best lineup so far. Hopefully, Hop makes up for Hau. Just kind of throwing that out there.
9 Music
Music of a Pokémon game is one of the most important design choices there is. Every single game in the series is filled with incredible, iconic tracks (that someone may be listening to right now while writing this article) that help set the tone of the titles that they’re featured in. With the move to the Switch, the SwSh team has the chance to make the most advanced music featured in the series yet. Hopefully, Sun and Moon’s fantastic soundtrack is followed up well with these games.
8 Plot
The story of a Pokémon game is very important, and can really help make or break a title. Sun and Moon (Ultra too) certainly weren’t bad. While Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were… let’s just leave it at weak links, the Delta Episode more than made up for what the main games were lacking.
While not every game has to feature some world-ending apocalypse, the story can still have huge stakes with emotional hooks. Sword and Shield will hopefully have a plot that both new and old fans alike can enjoy.
7 The Region
The layout of a region can really affect how a Pokémon game works and feels. Alola felt very segmented due to its islands, affecting the pacing of the story (for better or for worse). Kanto has a basic layout, making it uninteresting. Hoenn has TOO MUCH WATER. Galar’s layout looks like tons of fun, with plenty of area and secrets to explore. Hopefully, Galar has even more secrets hiding that we don’t know about. Those train stations could lead anywhere… maybe a second region?
6 The Pokémon
Wooloo, large angry bird taxi, whipped cream, the DESIGNS! The Pokémon that have been unveiled for SwSh so far have been absolutely amazing. They are varied, interesting and tons of fun. We got a Corgi, what more could we possibly want? The original 151 are still the most iconic Pokémon of all time, but maybe the Galar gang can finally be the group to challenge them for the throne (they won’t, but maybe they’ll be really good)?
5 Ditching Old Trends
One of the reasons that Sun and Moon are so remembered are for the various trends they ditched. No matter what opinion you have on the trials, their inclusions over the usual gym battles was a huge shakeup to the formula.
SwSh have the chance to do something similar. No matter what trend they buck (the same areas that come around with each region, eight gyms, etc.), it has the chance to make the games have a bigger splash than they might have if they stayed formulaic.
4 The Gimmicks
Black and White had seasons and graphical upgrades, X&Y took full advantage of their 3D capabilities, Sun and Moon had their trials, and then there are the triple battles, Mega Evolutions and the Z-Moves. Every generation has gimmicks. Currently, raids and Dynamaxing (and Gigantamaxing) seem to be the big gimmicks of SwSh, but there could be plenty more coming down the pipeline, including how the gym format seems to be a bit different than other regions. Gimmicks have the ability to change up the game in fun and exciting ways. Hopefully, Generation Eight brings some good ones to the table.
3 Extra Content
Most of the time, Pokémon games have at least a few activities to mess around with when you aren’t wanting to battle. Contests are one of the biggest examples of this, but Generation Three’s minigames and Ultra Sun and Moon’s Mantine Surf are a few other modes that Game Freak has offered for a reprieve from battling.
Hopefully the Galar Region has a wealth of varied content that keeps fans entertained in more ways than one.
2 Postgame
Like the aforementioned Delta Episode, many Pokémon games shine with their postgame content. Generation Four and the Battle Zone area featured as post-game, along with story-heavy content like Generation Seven are some great examples that come to mind. Pokémon games are usually ones that you continue to play long after the story ends. Just give us something better than that mess of a Festival Plaza for online play please.
1 DLC Opportunities and Online Play
The previously mentioned Festival Plaza was a very bad method of facilitation for online play. While an online hub can be fun, it didn’t work with the Festival Plaza. A great method for online play is essential to SwSh being great games, and the raids seem like a great start. Along with that, there are tons of opportunity for DLC with the move to the Switch. These hypothetical DLC packages could be anything (additional Pokémon?), but would help to bolster the lifespan of the games, and hopefully give Game Freak a break from their current yearly release cycle.
NEXT: Pokémon: A Definitive Ranking Of Every Water Starter
