Video Game Blog 022: The Pokémon Binge Part 1: Sword

Welcome to my most ambitious undertaking on the video game section of the SoraRabbit Hole! As you may be aware, I’m a huge fan of Pokémon. Also as you may be aware, the next games in the mainline series are releasing this week: Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. So I figured this would be a good time to finally do some Pokémon related posts. (And possibly TikToks? We’ll see.)

Pokémon time! (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

I could fill many full-size posts with my feelings about Pokémon, but since the Video Game posts are meant to be shorter, I’ll do my best to keep this brief. I was introduced to Pokémon a long time ago by my younger brothers. At the time the only games we had in America were Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow. (And I think the first Stadium came out around this time too.) My brother’s infectious enthusiasm for the game took hold of my curiosity pretty quickly. Part of that involved taking them to Toys R Us very early one morning for a chance to get the Mythical Pokémon Mew. (One of them did get him!) Seeing everyone so excited for the strange little creatures made me curious and I wanted to try it out. One of my brothers gifted me his copy of Pokémon Red for the original Gameboy, since he’d recently bought Yellow. I played the hell out of that game, and started watching the anime. Not long after this, the sequel games Pokémon Gold and Silver came out and I grabbed Silver, playing that one even more than I had Red. I was definitely hooked, but as the years went on, I fell out of sync with the frequent releases. (And didn’t really have the money or time for them.) Although I got Crystal, it was years before I moved on to Generation 3 and beyond. (Each new main game in the series is part of what’s referred to as Generations. The next games coming out are the start of Generation 9, for reference.)

As the years went on, I had bought up copies of the games as I could, stockpiling them for that mythical “some day” that usually doesn’t come. Well, I sort of made it come in this case, determined as I was to catch up and see all the new Pokémon I’d missed over the years. Plus everyone kept talking about Sun/Moon and Sword/Shield, so I wanted to see how good they were compared with the previous games. The announcement of Scarlet/Violet made me even more determined to catch up so I could play a new Pokémon game right after release for the first time since Silver. In the past couple of years I’ve been on a serious Pokémon binge, making it through 13 main games. (5 1/2 Generations in all. Ten of those games were just in one year’s time!)

There’s much more to tell, but I’ll leave that for a dedicated post (or posts) going over the series as a whole. Instead, I’ll just get to the point of why I’m writing these. See, I recently had sinus surgery, which gave me a month off of work to recover. I spent that time relaxing, reading manga, and watching anime. I figured that would be a perfect time to finally tackle Sword and Shield. (I’d finished Ultra Moon pretty recently and was just waiting for the time to invest in the next games.) So during my recovery period I made my way through Sword and the DLC, and then borrowed Shield from one of my brothers. Discussing the games and my adventures is going to take longer than would fit in a normal Video Game post, so I decided to make this a three parter. And with Scarlet/Violet coming out this week, why not give it a Part 4? So here we go, starting my adventures in the Galar region!

My baby bun is growing up! (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

So this post is going to assume you have a general idea of what Pokémon is all about, but here’s a quick run-down. Pokémon are fantastic creatures with great potential for evolution and other transformations. The games typically involve a young person— or trainer— who wanders their home region in search of Pokémon in the hopes of completing a gym challenge and becoming the Champion. (This was a little different in Generation 8, but the basic idea was the same.) As of the writing of this there are over 905 Pokémon in the Pokédex (a high-tech scanning and cataloguing device used by trainers.) and there are even more than this if you add in the various Mega Evolutions, Gigantamax forms, and regional variants. All Pokémon have a rare shiny form, which gives them a different color scheme and a sparkle when they leave their Pokéball. These are so rare that they’re highly sought after by players. (More on shinies in Part 2… hint, hint!)

Hehe I love this guy. (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

Now a little side note here… there are many ways to play Pokémon. Some just play through casually, enjoying the story and catching the Pokémon they like. Others try to power their little ‘mons up as far as possible to be competitive in the post game content or against other players. There are those who strive to complete the Pokédex each time, a task that becomes progressively more difficult and time-consuming with each Generation adding around 70-150 new Pokémon. I completed the Pokédex in Red, Silver, Crystal, and Emerald, but after that I was done. Now I challenge myself to just catch the newly-introduced Pokémon and any variant or new form. This is my version of the Pokédex. I give you this information as insight into how I personally play, but like I said, others play differently. I went into Sword and Shield with a list of the new Pokémon, the Galarian regional variants, and their Gigantamax forms so that I could cross each one off my list as I caught or evolved them.

While certainly easier than filling the Pokédex each time, my method has its own challenges. For instance, you can only choose one of three starters when you play. Also, each version (a Generation has from 2 to 4 versions you can buy) has different Pokémon exclusively appearing in each game, including the mascot Legendary Pokémon which is featured on the box art. So, for instance, in Sword you can catch Sirfetch'd and Zacian, while in Shield you can get Eiscue and Zamazenta. So, by necessity, I would need to play both games to cross all the Pokémon off my list. So typically I play through my chosen game (choosing a fire-type starter— it’s tradition for me! My first Pokémon was Charmander, so I choose fire first each Generation.) and then I will play through the alternate version with either one of the remaining starters or both depending on how many versions were released. Anyway, this is a long way of explaining why I played both games, but there you go.

I gravitate towards shiny games. (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

In this post I’ll be referencing Sword, but the plot is the same in both games. The Galar region is inspired by the United Kingdom from the real world, and as such, the people, locales, and customs reflect the spirit of the UK. The Galar region is less developed than regions we’ve seen in the previous games, consisting of a couple of large cities and several smaller villages tucked away in the sleepy countryside. Surrounding most of the explorable area is a large “Wild Area” where the camera changes to free movement and you can explore, camp, make curry, and seek out Max Raids.

Big bun. (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

Pokémon Sword included some new features to keep gameplay interesting. The most flashy and plot-related of these is the mechanic of Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing your Pokémon. Dynamaxing involves imbuing your Pokémon with energy during a battle (in specified locations only) to allow them to grow to enormous size. This appears to be a sort of hologram, as the game points out the Pokémon don’t actually grow in this process. This gives them improved stats and a new move set, but only lasts for three turns.

My Gigantamaxed bunbun. (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

Gigantamaxing works much the same, but the Pokémon takes on a new form and gains a special G-Max move that is exclusive to that species of Pokémon.

He’s a good boy. (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

The afore-mentioned Max Raids are littered throughout the Wild Area and can be embarked on solo or with friends over the built-in internet connectivity. (It requires a Nintendo Online Subscription, however.) I was reluctant to try the raids at first but finally I did and learned that you don’t need other people to battle in them. The game gives you NPCs (with questionable battling skills) to round out your raid party. I thought this was a very nice decision, as it’s difficult to get a group of friends or family together for a game that’s been out for years. Winning these battles nets you some nice loot and a guaranteed chance to catch the Pokémon you battled— some of which can be Gigantamax-ready! (At the time of writing, I’ve only found one of those, but it was a big help in my Pokédex hunting. More on that in Part 3.)

Some other new additions were a digging minigame to find rare items, a mix-and-match fossil machine to create new prehistoric Pokémon, and the collection of a new currency called Watts that could be traded for goods and services. You could send your Pokémon on jobs as an alternative to training them. There was also a biking minigame that I forgot to try. A cool tweak (brought in from Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee) is the built-in experience share. While the Pokémon who battles is the one who gets the most experience, it’s still shared among the others, making it quicker and easier to level everyone up. (I always turned off the Experience Share in previous games because the text would take too long as the experience was assigned and I get impatient.) Also catching Pokémon grants experience, which helps leveling up even more.

I have a feeling this kid really likes Pikachus. (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

Some nice features brought in from previous Pokémon games are the ability to access your storage boxes outside of a Pokémon Center and the ability to purchase and change your clothing. (Although there are uniforms available, for some reason you cannot choose what you wear in the Gym Battles, which I thought was very odd.) The night and day and weather features continued from previous titles, impacting which Pokémon appear. A very welcome inclusion continuing from last Generation is the absence of HMs. In earlier games you needed to teach Pokémon moves in order to navigate the world, such as Fly to visit previous towns and Surf to traverse the water. In this one you can call a Corviknight Taxi to travel around and your bike can be upgraded to travel on water. Eliminating the reliance on HMs in Sun and Moon was one of the best ideas the developers had, as it allows for more variety in your team’s moveset and eliminates the need for dedicated HM users to be carried around with you.

Ball Guy is a serious weirdo. (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

The Pokémon matches are set up with challenges that change for each gym, and the actual Gym Leader battles are set up like sporting events, with uniforms, brackets, fans, sponsors, and everything. It adds a different flavor to the game. Even the traditional Elite 4 mechanic is different, with each challenger competing in brackets against each other and the Gym Leaders. Rather than a solo event, this is a grand tournament with even the Gym Leaders competing for a chance to take down the Champion. I felt this was a fresh and creative take on the tried-and-true formula of the series.

Spooooky. (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

The story, which I won’t get into here, involves legends and traditions and their impacts on the present day. There are also many statements that seem to reference climate change… the main crux of the story is about thinking ahead to future generations to ensure the future is a good one. All good story beats, and I feel they were accomplished very well. In the post game content there were also interesting statements made on changing perspectives on history— progressive thinking and the search for truth versus maintaining the status quo and staying in the dark to maintain illusions that have been passed down for generations. Good stuff.

The story was basically the same as previous titles: something threatens the world and a sinister gang of ruffians torment people. The only hope is a young child and his battle monsters. There was a nice twist this time involving the gang— rather than being evil they were just rowdy and misguided— and the characters and rivals were as colorful and interesting as always.

My sword doggy is a badass. (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

I love the environment of Galar, the glossy graphics, and the designs of the new Pokémon. Exploring the Wild Area gives a new dimension to the usual Pokémon adventure, giving you a better feel of being on an extended journey across the land. I didn’t really use the Poké Job function much and entirely forgot about the bike rally, but the camping mechanic was fun. (It worked a lot like Pokémon refresh from Sun/Moon with a little cooking minigame thrown in. I’ll talk about that more next time.)

My champion team! (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)

In my opinion, Pokémon Sword was a great addition to a great series. It remained rooted in the spirit and gameplay that has maintained the popularity of the series while still adding a new take and creative new elements to make it feel new. I thought it would feel odd moving from my battered (and increasingly crash-prone) old 3DS to the Switch for an actual main title, but it was a smooth transition. (Interestingly enough, I didn’t even change the Switch to handheld at any time while playing, but having the option to do so was nice.) Sword kept me hooked, and I’m excited to see where the series goes to next.

Thank you for reading Part 1 in my Pokémon series. I know this one was a little longer than my usual Video Game posts, but the next two should be a tad shorter now that all the setup is out of the way. Join me soon as I replay my Galar adventure in Shield!

One post down! (Credit: Nintendo and Game Freak)