There Are "No Plans" To Bring The Full Pokédex To Pokémon Sword And Shield, And Future Games Will Follow Suit

Yeah, they are making it harder for me to buy this. They are basically holding your Pokémon for ransom. "Buy Pokémon home and we MIGHT let you see your squirtle again."

This is just so absurd, I'd have gladly waited a year or more for another Pokémon game if it meant them actually giving me everyone I wanted.

"But please buy Pokemon Home"

If you aren't happy then don't buy the games and move on with your life.

More proof Pokémon is now a roguelike

"But the way of playing is actually not very different from before with Pokemon Bank: up until now, you have always only been able to meet Pokemon from a certain region."

But....with Pokemon Bank even if the Pokemon wasn't in a certain region....you could still use it.

So no, you havent always only been able to meet Pokemon from a certain region. That's only started with Let's Go.

It pains me to say it, but I’m getting closer and closer to being done with the Pokémon franchise and when that happens I think I’m pretty much done with gaming for good. This is all just beyond disappointing.

i'm thinking home is gonna have microtransactions the way they're pushing people towards it at the cost of the actual console games

@Knuckles-Fajita u have outsmarted them. Should send that to the proper channels

This somehow keeps getting more and more disappointing. Oh, gamefreak...

#ThankYouGameFreak

Its also safe to assume that Pokemon Home will be a subscription based service that you have to use to hope that your Pokemon makes it in a future game.

Well, that's mis-lede-ing. He says no plans to expand the Pokedex in future installments, but also points out that you may be able to transfer Pokemon from SwSh to future installments through Home like the bank could in the past.

If Pokemon Home isn't a service included with NSO, then I won't be 'buying in.' It was one thing with Pokemon Bank when you could reasonably expect your boxed Pokemon to be usable in future games, but I'm not going to pay a fee to hold Pokemon that GF is deliberately excluding from certain games. I won't be tricked into paying for yet another subscription service.

So I’m confused. Yes we can’t meet certain Pokémon in the Galar region but does that mean we can add our Pokémon from Pokémon Home to the game? I’ve had these Pokémon since Heart Gold and they mean a lot to me. I just don’t understand how GF can neglect the whole premise of Pokémon.... TO CATCH THEM ALL!

TBH this doesn't encourage people to pay for Pokemon home if it is a subscription service as how do we know if "x" pokemon won't get added till 3 games later.

I wish i can use previous Pokemons on Sword / Shield, but i have to moving on, i will try new Pokemons and keep all the previous on Ultra Sun / Moon if i want to get ALL Legendaries from Kanto until Alola. Beside they were already 3D enough on 3DS.

Yo, #KeepSupportingPokemonSwordShield 🤟

We finally get a mainline title for a home console and most of the beloved Pokemon we grew to know and love won't ever be on it. I just don't believe that they couldn't have added all the Pokemon for the first home console release. The switch is definitely more powerful than the 3ds and it would have been nice to have at least one game with every Pokemon available on a home console. There are some that say I shouldn't be disappointed, but with newer and better hardware the things they could have done to make catching them all for at least one last game would have been really exciting on the Switch. I can't hide that I am disappointed that it will never happen for a home console apparently.

@TDRsuperstar2 Only Pokemon in the Galar dex will be transferable to the new game.

Personally I haven't been that bothered by the dex thing, but what IS the point of Home?

@TDRsuperstar2
You can only add them if they're found in the game.
If they're not part of the 300+ returning Pokemon then no. You'll have to wait until a new game with them in it to transfer.

@TDRsuperstar2 If those pokemon can be found in the galar region (either in sword or shield) then they can be added to the game. If not then you can't add them to the game.

@Ralizah I thought that was the case but idk for some reason I guess the wording had me confused. Thanks for looking out

So we know Home will be a smart phone application but do we know if it’s going to be available natively on the Switch? I don’t want to have to own another device to use all the features of the game.

I feel like Ash when he just drops his Pokémon with the regions Professor and starts completely fresh 😂

I will not be buying a game that doesn’t allow me to use my shiny Sandslash. Sorry.

@Kalmaro if your not happy with it dont buy it

@KBuckley27 Yeah, I really don't get it (but it is funny). Does this game have a lot of Pokemon? Are there a bunch of new Pokemon to get to know? If the answer is yes, it seems like it should be fun. But then again, I've never been the type to scream, "OMG, My FaVoRiTe ChArAcTeR iSn'T iN SmAsH!!!" so I guess I just don't think like these people.

@KBuckley27 It's not quite that simple. I could just turn that around and say "If you don't like my comment, don't reply to it."

ALL they NEED to do is make it so that you could use Pokémon Home to battle with the Pokémon stored in the Pokémon Home app. So a Stadium like addition to Home.

Long time Pokémon fan here, since day one. 😊 I really don't get why there is so much upset about every monster not being in Sword and Shield.

every other game before this had weird super fans rush through them just to be able to have their lvl 99 "Squirtle" from their first time playing sit in their inventory and maybe battle a few times

hahahahaha

and competitive players mad they cant use their old Pokemon? if you're good at the games and value the competitive side of the games then you'd think it's super dope that we have a limited and possibly well-balanced choice of Pokemon.

@WolfyWardark Mostly because there's some Pokémon people really like and not being able to play with them is frustrating... Especially when the reasons given don't add up, like the comment above me saying this helps with balancing.

It really doesn't, things are still going to be unbalanced, just watch.

Guys, you have so many more games to buy instead. If you don't like the way they're handling this, which is completely fair, DON'T BUY THE GAME. Get something else, like DQXI, Divinity 2, Witcher 3, or any other marvel that has come to the Switch recently, which deserve your money more than this.
Otherwise, nothing will change. Stop complaining in the forums, and take action.

That, or don't complain. Simple.

I agree with this. I would rather have a smaller Pokedex that is tailored/curated for that region than trying to cram a thousand Pokemon into the game. IMO there should never have been as many Pokemon as there are now. There should have just been 30-60 new Pokemon each generation- like a booster pack to the existing number. If that were the case, we'd never be having this issue. But adding 150 or 130 is just ridiculous. They should be focusing more on adding more content to the games and improving existing features.

@TheFox The smash reference isn't quite the same. It's more like you liked Mewtwo in melee and then suddenly it's not in Brawl. I think ice climbers we removed after brawl temporarily too.

@Kalmaro it is very simple i love the Persona games and i'm not happy with Scramble and you would tell me if i'm not happy with it don't get it and i'm not getting it its that simple if your not pleased with a game don't get it

It would seem that, much like how Sonic 06 is the last Sonic game, Sun/Moon too are the last Pokemon games.

@Kalmaro I'd love it if the meta is more balanced for once. But considering how they used improved animations as an excuse, even though they're straight up copied from the previous games, I'm not holding my hopes up. I'm perfectly fine with a limited dex, I just don't believe their excuses.

I just don't get it.

If it's to control how you progress through the main game, then why not lock when the national dex / your old pokemon are available?

If it's to control the competitive scene then lock down what is / is not allowed ?

If it's to save effort from an already stretched dev team, then maybe its worth investing in / recruiting a bigger / better team . Or postpone the annual release. This is one of the biggest franchises on the planet, to say its not worth it is an insult to fans everywhere.

@KBuckley27 But you can still give criticism. If everyone just either bought a game or didn't buy a game, franchises would continue to exist or cease to exist, but would never improve if there was no feedback (negative or positive).

@jagetron Every Pokémon game since gen 2 had a regional Pokédex and a national Pokédex. During normal gameplay you could only use the regional Dex and after completion you could use other Pokémon as well.

Sun & Moon removed the National dex, but you were still able to transfer other Pokémon to the game (they just didn't have a dex entry). So this isn't exactly the same as in Sword & Shield.

But I do get that focussing on the main game / story / mechanics leaves little time to animate over 1000 Pokémon for each new game. That's why I said that adding a battle mode to Home would fix that. (leaving out special battles, animations, but still having fullhd battles)

Home HAS to be free of theres no definite chance of your Pokémon transfering, right? This is insane.

@Octane I would have waited for more Pokémon, the latest Pokémon game is barely even old so it wouldn't have killed me to wait another year. Especially when they say stuff like "We don't have enough people and we're stretched thin!"

Well then hire more people, you can't tell me they don't have the money to do that

@KBuckley27 No, I'm saying that it's not always so simple as a game having stuff you don't like so don't buy it.

The game isn't even out yet, I don't know if I will like it or not so I can't just say I'm not going to buy it yet. It could be that the game is still just fine.

Besides, why are you even replying to me, do you like my comment or something?

@Knuckles-Fajita You couldn't have Pokemon outside of the Hoenn Pokedex in Ruby and Sapphire until Colosseum came out.

Honestly, from 400 Pokemons on Galar Pokedex, i only have interest with some Pokemons with good looking or the elemental teams i want. Maybe i just need around 15 - 20 Pokemons for my team. I'm already content by the inclusion of Sawk, Lucario as my favorite Fighting type Pokemons on Sword / Shield.

@the_beaver Exactly this. My last Pokémon game was Fire Red/Leaf Green and I thought it was awesome. Then I kept trying the next few games in the series on emulators but I couldn’t get more than 30 minutes into them because they are exactly the same.

That being said, Game Freak has already showed how lazy they are, so I haven’t supported them since the GBA. I have no interest in SS because I already know what it’s going to be. This series no longer surprises the players. It just keeps churning out the same garbage.

Keep voting with your wallets and show these guys what you actually want.

#Boycott Pokémon Sword and Shield.

@BarefootBowser That's why you just hire more people. Trying to do that increasingly larger workload with just a small team would take ages. The real limit is just how much space they have to use on the gamecart/switch.

@KAI_MIDORIKAWA that’s different, you didn’t have access to the Pokémon at lunch but they were coded into the game, this time they aren’t even coded in the game, and will never will be added

@Kalmaro I know for sure that The Witcher 3 has more content than Pokémon, so you’re right. Hiring more people would have easily solved the issue.

Cutting approximately 60% of Pokémon was overdoing it. If you have 10 favorites, then statistically you will lose 6 of them. I’ve seen people say that this all makes Thanos look like a decent guy.
No one was expecting the cuts to be this bad. It doesn’t make sense either as pretty much all past Pokémon models and animations were PORTED from the 3ds games (400 total in Sword and Shield including the new ones). When X and Y had over 700 Pokémon which were mostly made from scratch. Also all Kanto Pokémon models were ready to go from the Let’s Go games, and yet there still are many Kanto Pokémon cut.
They have no excuse. They are likely withholding Pokémon to market future games. Gen 4 has easily the smallest amount of Pokémon included in Sword and Shield, and guess what game is next in line to be remade? They are likely withholding many of those for the sole reason of marketing the remake.

On a positive note, cant wait to play this game. Scorbunny ftw.

@justin233 don’t give up on other franchises ther is so much gaming goodness out there. In theory every game I play I always say is the last, and then I find another game to play!

@GetShulked at least they finally revealed here the real reason why the cut was made, to force us to buy Pokémon Home service, in addition to buying the game for 60$ instead of 40$ make

Eesh, it’s like GF just want bad press at this stage. Honestly, Let’s Go was the first Pokemon game I hadn’t bought since Pearl but I’m not sure I’ll even get this one. There’s just other stuff to play.

I would be perfectly happy with no nat dex in the games if Home allows me to battle and trade with the pokemon stored in Home. Make Home the post game content. I'd happily pay for it if it was more useful than data storage for data I'm not allowed to use until GF lets me.

@Kalmaro List of highest-grossing media franchises:
1. Pokémon. Total revenue: est. $95 billion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_media_franchises

And this is why I don't get it. This game should have had the biggest development team behind it. If there's one franchise that can afford it, it's Pokemon. And yet, it still feels like a B-tier franchise budget-wise. Just doing enough to make it passable as a current gen game.

I will continue playing pokemon hacks not interested in Sword and Shield.

Then I will reiterate: Game Freak deserves the backlash they are getting.

Adapt to what your fans ask for or suffer as a business, whether it affects them financially or reputation. If something were to break the camel’s back, I hope this is it.

#ThankYouGameFreak, but you need to do better.

I'm on the side of "let Game Freak try new things to improve a tired franchise", but you have to regard your fans, as well.

The gamble is about the size of the fan group that actually cares enough. How many players are actually carrying their prized pokemon forward and are really missing out? I'm guessing it's a pretty hardcore but small group, but I really don't know. While in terms of morale it's tough for Game Freak to take the public lashing, but they may be pretty confident in the numbers.

The rallied up public opinion can still do damage, of course... after all, some people just hop on the wagon of hate for the fun ride and are happy to rob themselves of game experiences they could have loved.

Again, I'd rather they make games that are more fun. Pokemon has such a great premise, but it's mired in traditions that really don't make the game fun, in my opinion.

@Octane EXACTLY. You can NOT tell me they don't have a way to do this.

They could practically buy a small island and just work from there.

@Octane
And yet people defend as though it is a poor little indie company.

@Kalmaro @Franz "Add more money" does not solve problems like balancing 700+ pokemon to make them interesting. Also, each project needs to remain successful in terms of profits... unless they are willing to lose money on a game, a hard pill to swallow and not the type of behavior that made them successful in the past.

Only saying, it's not that simple.

(Also, a franchise that has a large profit does not tell the whole story. Pokemon in particular has that money spread out across many companies including Nintendo and Niantic (Pokemon Go is a huge part of that number) and others that are not the game development studio, Game Freak, itself.)

Game freak are actually refusing to put all the pokemon into SwSh. The file size for the games is around 10gb. Switch carts can hold a maximum of 32gb. This leaves 22gb to work with. So yeah.

I pre-ordered the digital version of Shield because I really wanted to try and see beyond the National Dex issue and see if the games were fun. I also thought, based on previous interviews, that the exclusion of Pokémon from the games would be a kind of one off thing (giving allowance for the fact that Sword and Shield the first "full" Pokémon game on console), but everytime I read something else Masuda has said I regret that pre-order and think it's a real pity about the way these games have been handled

@octane Meant to reply to you and Kalmaro, not @Franz, sorry.

Works for me. Can just pick up the game and enjoy it
I never really got into collecting/knowing each Pokémon in detail, just excited for this.

@aaronsullivan I don't think anyone cares about the balancing since Pokémon was unbalanced even when we only had 151. The game has never really been balanced. Dragons didn't stop owning everyone until fairies became thing, I think.

Plus, like someone else suggested, why not just ban what Pokémon can be used in tournaments? Problem solved.

@Dragonslacker1 I’ve been on the edge of leaving the hobby for a while now. I’m just not happy with the way the industry is headed (especially Pokémon). There are still games here and there that give me some joy, but very few hold my attention more than an hour. Maybe I’m getting old. Maybe I’m really depressed. This Pokémon disappointment isn’t helping either way.

... seriously?...

Again they DIDN'T say a thing about what Home has to offer that makes it actually WORTH transferring. IS IT TOO MUCH FOR ONE NEW DETAIL TO BE REVEALED?!

To be fair, Pokemons core market is 8-14 so I don't think theyre too worried about people not being able to transfer in their gen 1 guys.

@KBuckley27 As another Persona fan, what's wrong with scramble?

Everything @Kalmaro said.
I've rarely fathomed such a colossal middle finger to longtime fans of the series in any other franchise.
The verbal abuse Game Freak has gotten as of late is still nothing short of excusable, but neither is this attitude.
And we still don't know what Pokémon Home even IS.

I played my worth of pokemon games xD if i ever get another new one its gonna have to have all the pokemon So I can do a randomizer run those look really fun with all the legendary ones. But Oh well looks like the series peak years are over

While I still haven't decided if I'm getting a Pokemon game this gen; as I have liked some gens and not others over the years and don't feel compelled to buy a game.

I don't think Gamefreak needs the negativity. If people wish to skip on it then feel free but don't be jerks about it.

As for the not all pokemon being in game. I've been waiting for it for years. The number is getting silly high and I've got no problem going back to my old game copies (That work, sorry Silver) and checking on my old "friends".

@ Justin233. Thank you for sharing your feelings, I feel in the same boat I guess. The overall industry is not something I like at all. Bigger games, day one patches which are massive, installs all that rubbish. I think that modern warfare game is over 100gb which is silly. Streets of rage 2 was I think 24mb, and the amount of fun I have had with that over the years is crazy. I hope u enjoy Pokémon and remember the games u have played and enjoyed will always be there. Take care x

Funny thing is everyone that is complaining would also complain if they delayed the game to 2021 to include every pokemon ever made, only to have those same complainers only really use 8-12 pokemon the whole game lol.

I am with Gamefreak on this decision. I love all the legendaries being cut and while it's hard to accept some of the losses this will put some mons in the focus who are overshadowed otherwise.

Good thing I've always thought Pokemon was pretty stupid.

Pass me someofthat Digimon!!

I absolutely hate that it has come to this point, where keeping every single Pokemon in each game is getting more and more unrealistic, but it shocks me that they plan on what they did with Sword and Shield being the norm from now on. I’ve been doing my best to give them a “pass” on Sword and Shield, in hopes that Gen 9 will fix the National Dex issue, but this statement outside of anything else has really made me feel sick.

I actually don’t know if I will pick up the games now, or if I do, I am surely not going to feel as excited. Keeping Pokemon hostage in Home is terrible, and the only way I can even forgive them a little bit for doing that to us is if they made Home free, which they obviously won’t.

To honest I never really cared about the National Dex but it's inexcusable for them not to include every Pokémon. Gamefreak has access to huge amounts of resources and you're telling me they can't even add all the Pokémon for a new game?

@aaronsullivan Of course. But this isn't a small niche franchise. These games will sell 15 million copies guaranteed. But it feels like TPC is really stingy when it comes to budgeting. Just look at how poorly the 3DS games were optimised for the system.

And like I've said before, I personally don't care about the removal of the national dex. It's just that when they said they did so to focus on improved animations, I do want to see some good animations, but all the old animations and models have been copied from XY and SM. We've all seen the T-pose Wingull. Stuff like that can easily be resolved with a bigger development team, especially considering the teams working on Pokemon are quite small compared to other game studios.

@justin233 lol so dramatic

@isellpixels people spend a lot of time building a bond with their Pokémon... wow... grow up... people just voicing their opinions. You’re part of the problem.

I'm personally fine with the cut as a concept.
While some people have their understandable reasons to be dissapointed, it wouldn't affect me to not have every single Pokemon compatible with Sword and Shield.

That said, I took a look at the leaked list of returning mon and it appear to be a little scarce, I hope I'm wrong, but it feels like they only put enough Pkmn to fill the region, with no particular surprises or more mon showing up with special conditions or items in the post game.

If that will turn out to be the case then it's not just a dex-cut affecting some players, but also a gameplay and experience cut for everyone, which is far from the "nothing has really changed" scenario they want to push so much.

To tell the truth if game freak wanted to do something like this this really should have broke the mold and rebooted the series completely. Got rid of the entire pokedexes and started fresh with a raw batch of a 151 improved pokemon. Then they could have really shook things up but they have no vision.

I feel like he's trying to annoy me. Like, me, personally.

The thing that baffles me is that didn’t GameFreak create HD models for EVERY Pokémon and EVERY form in Sun and Moon to future-proof them? They just downgraded those models for the 3DS games.

I would be understanding for cutting more than half of all the Pokémon if the remade ALL the models and attack animations from the ground up, but ALL the returning Pokémon in ALL the trailers for SW/SH seem to use those same exact HD models and attack animations from S/M. Maybe I’m missing something but it seem very plausible to include them all in this game with that.

This a master class on how to not market a game.

@Jaguar11891 did they have to redo the engine for a next gen console though? That MIGHT be the only thing I could think of that would cause them to not include them all.

@SilentHunter382

They tried this with black and white, and everybody was critical of the games and it sold worse than the others.

LGPE did this where they flat out restricted the game to kanto, and that didn’t sell as well as the mainlines either.

Simply put all people want is a Pokémon game they can transfer all their hard shiny hunted, bred, and earned in the case of events. Everything else should be an after thought when making these games.

Maybe it's a translation error. No way anyone looked at "So take good care of your old Pokemon, because perhaps you can travel with them again in the future." as a positive. They're determined to keep the core playerbase in gen 7.

There nothing wrong with this approach. If I’m reading it correctly, you can transfer in Pokémon from older games just like you’ve always been able to do with Pokémon Bank, right? What’s the big deal?

@Kalmaro these games aren't even using 10gigs and the carts go up to 32 gig I believe so gamefreak will make enough money to Shell out for more space.

@ChromaticDracula You can't. There is a limited amount of Pokemon available in this game. You can transfer Pokemon via Home, but only the Pokemon that are available in the game. So there is a good chunk of the Pokemon that are just unavailable in SWSH.

@ChromaticDracula you can't because the Pokemon don't exist in the data for sword and shield. So if your favorite pokemon in older games aren't popular like Charizard, then you can't use it in sword and shield.

@Jaguar11891 they don't want to do all the rigging of models for Pokemon camp and probably don't want to cash out money for bigger cart sizes to store all the data the 500 or so pokemon would take up plus all of the corrections to moveset and balancing for their precious meta game that I think 3/4 of the player base don't care about.
Personally I just wanted to keep my teams around so I can play with my friends. I've collected these pokemon and have used them since Ruby and Sapphire, it pains me to see them just get trapped in pokemon home

I've played every Pokemon main game and this might be the first one I'm very conflicted about.

I already preordered it because I'm reaaaaaaaaaaally hoping that it's just us fans exaggerating and I really hope that the damn Pokedex cut is worth it, although I'm pretty sure it isn't. Literally none of my favorite Pokemon are in the game. I'm on the side of the fanbase that is criticizing Gamefreak (minus the death threats, that's just too much), but I'm still getting the game because I want to have hope in Gamefreak.
So far the only feature I'm looking forward to is...the character customization. Only like 3-4 new Pokemon got my attention and the others are kind of meh to me.

The thing I'm sad the most about is that Gamefreak doesn't seem to give a crap and that I'm 80% sure that this game will sell very well, which will cause Gamefreak to ignore fans even more.
I'm a big Pokemon fan and I want to have hope in Gamefreak, but I think what they did this time was too much: cutting the Pokedex and delivering empty messages and lies to the Pokemon fanbase.
I was never one to care about Pokemon's graphics (I really like them to be honest, I don't need Read Dead Redemption 2 graphics to enjoy a game), so the most part of my issue with this is just the reduction of the National Dex and their attitude towards the fanbase.
If they included 500-600 Pokemon and if they would've been more...how do I say it...if they would've showed the fanbase that they actually cared about their oppinion, thinks wouldn't have gone this far. Just my two cents.

@Spudtendo Only that in Ruby and Sapphire you could still transfer the Pokemon and you would still get the National Dex later on. The game had the data in it for the other Pokemon. This game doesn't have any data programmed for the missing Pokemon so even if newer games come out that have some of them, you won't be able to transfer them to Sword and Shield because those Pokemon don't exist in the game.

I’m really sick of people who haven’t been playing the games for years telling the rest of us who have, how we should and shouldn’t feel. Sorry you don’t get come in last minute and me that I should be okay with the fact that I probably won’t get to play with Snivy and Oshawott until a potential Gen 5 remake in 2024. Or better yet Feraligator in 2030. No you don’t get to do that at all.

Guess I'll buy every Pokémon used than.

Erm...I'd need like an hour or so to express how much anger this builds within me, so for now...just know this enrages me greatly.

Every generation brings new Pokémon, surely it would be boring to play each game with the same old Pokémon. That's the appeal for me anyway. I'm still playing through X for the first time and using a whole new team, it's the fun way for me to play and discover new Pokémon. I never new Lucario was such an awesome Pokémon!

At the end of the day this doesn't bother me and I can't wait for Friday!

But why tho? They have the literal definition of MONEY

Eh I already canceled my preorder. I was excited for the first console Pokémon. But it’s clear these two games are even lessers of the handheld games.

This makes sense to me. If you can't have all the pokemon in one game, offer a service so that fans can continue to bring forward their old pokemon for when they potentially can use them in a future game. I personally don't care because I never bring forward old pokemon, prefer using the new pokemon in each gen to find the couple I like over the others. This is similar to series like Shin Megami Tensei, which is also a monster collecting series that doesn't offer every monster in every game, instead, it utilizes a selection of old and new monsters to fill itself.

I'm actually not too bothered by this, I used to transfer every Pokémon but then my old games were dull and empty.
Keeping them separate is probably for the best

@justin233 I can relate to your position. Modern gaming has been increasingly frustrating for me, as I’ve been gravitating towards more classic games from the 80’s and 90’s. Every time NL posts an article about “this new game inspired by an old game,” it makes me roll my eyes. Plus, the industry is increasingly becoming service based, rather than product based. I don’t pay monthly subs for things I cannot own myself. I need tangible things, and games as a service will never be done right. With PS5 on the horizon, I heavily plan on ignoring next gen news. I’m perfectly content with what I have now.

Do you have any other hobbies that make you happy?

I am not sure if it has been confirmed or not but if you transfer a Pokemon from bank to home can you transfer it back to bank.

The reason for this is a big one if someone were to transfer over their collection to Home but some of them aren't in the next game and wanted to put them back into the older games. If this is not possible then that is a huge problem for people who want to battle with those pokemon again even if it is gen 6 and 7.

@princezorldo But Pokémon has never been about new experiences. Each game follows the same strict regiment, just with different names and faces. I wish they would do something drastic to mix things up. Something other than limit the Pokédex. In fact, going full ham and including every Pokémon would be drastic enough to shake the series up. Having everything in one game? I haven’t played Pokémon since Fire Red and that sounds appealing. After trying other games in the series to only find that they are old gen re-skins is extremely disappointing.

@Mr_Muscle I run three hobby-based small businesses by myself (photo booth/photography/Etsy) so that takes up most of my time. I was pretty into rare plants (collecting/selling) for a while, but even that’s starting to lose its spark. Maybe I’m the problem. Everything is kind of depressing.

@SBandy As opposed to what; expressing our opinions on a public Nintendo dedicated website? Grow up.

Honestly, I'm perfectly fine with Game Freak not including all the previous Pokémon. As someone who didn't start playing Pokémon until FireRed, I always felt like it was an impossible task to "catch them all," especially when it came to event-exclusive Pokémon like Mew, Rayquaza, and Keldeo.

Not only that, but you couldn't get your hands on each starter, only one. And the fact that the games only allowed for one save file meant that any Pokémon you did collect, especially the event-exclusive ones, were gone forever if you started a new save file.

I don't see the purpose of Pokemon Home until all previous generation Pokemon have returned as right now a lot of Pokemon are just going to be sitting there if they're brought to that service. Who knows how many more games it'll be when they've all been brought back and if Home will still be the most current service at that point.

The cuts aren't my dilemma with Sword & Shield, but I'm very surprised by how many have been cut and which Pokemon are out. At this point, I think it would have been better if they just decided to focus on new Pokemon entirely, provided a lot more new Pokemon existed, and cut the whole previous dex. They unfortunately decided to stick themselves in a situation where they'll continually have to deal with criticisms of cut Pokemon.

and this is why they don't need moral support, they need criticism thrown at them from every corner of the world until they break and give in lol .... sigh

@Kevember

Boohoo, keep on yapping then I don't care.

@justin233 You are NOT the problem. Sometimes you just might need to change things up. It’s ok for hobbies and even careers to fluctuate. I restarted a career from scratch at 38 years old. Scary as hell but it’s paying off, slowly. It was just what I needed.

You know yourself, but I know that you aren’t a “problem,” and I do know that making a fun change or trying something new will patch you up.

@Mr_Muscle I don’t know - I’ve kind of just been spinning in place for a while now. This is a deep and difficult rut to climb out of. I’m having a hard time finding joy in anything anymore. But enough about me... Pokémon, huh?

@justin233 I hate ruts, and I can relate on a deep level. When something unlocks in your mind, you will find the strength to climb out. For what it’s worth, I believe you can do it. Just give yourself a lot of love and a lot of patience.

Also, f*** Pokémon 🤣

It seems Pokemon is going the Cartoon Network route.

I'll be honest, I didn't expect the lack of a Nat Dex would be a big deal in the long run because I thought that they would cut irrelevant Pokemon. There's usually a new bidoof and a new pidgey and a new pikachu knockoff every generation and I expected they'd cut those kinds of superfluous ones that nobody would miss. I'm surprised that they're cutting so many popular 'mons, gen one staples, unique 'mons, legendaries, etc. I have no emotional investment in the matter, but it's a strange decision.

I'm in support of their decision to not have all Pokemon in Sword & Shield. There's simply too many at this point to give time and attention to, plus this let's players focus on the Pokemon for this new region instead of using their Machamp from 5 generations ago. You have the opportunity to discover new favourites and build new teams instead of just using the same ones you've been using for years, as a lot of people do through transfers.

@ChromaticDracula The problem is that we don't know when we will even see those Pokémon in an actual game. So they are making you pay for the hope of seeing them even to.

It's a ransom.

@princezorldo That's the point of why we are upset. They are saying what we can't have, then asking us to buy something that we know nothing about. That's not how you foster good-will.

@Kalmaro I can definitely understand the grips. But honestly the more I look at it, the more the greater Pokemon Company(rather than Game Freaks) might have to be blamed for this.

To put it simply.... Pokemon used to be a game with a tie-in anime. Now, I'm starting to suspect that it's an anime(and movies) with designated tie-in games.

And that's the thing. I suspect that given enough time, they COULD have included a national dex.

But I don't think they have that time. Or rather, not anymore. Because they MUST release those games nowdays in time with the tie-in animes. And likely all under the demand of the Pokemon Company.

So if there was perhaps a time where the animes were the ones who had to catch up with the games, I now suspect it's the opposite.

And honestly it's an unenviable position for Game Freaks to be in as they have to keep making their games "fresh" with new regions, new pokemons and mechanics AND also keep on with tech with more developed world: contrast just the worlds of Gen6 with their traditional gridlike layout to the more natural curves of the landscape in the like of Gen7 or even the upcoming Gen8 trying to

And they ALSO have to do it all somehow in time to release their games at the same time than anime seasons and movies.

Seen that way, I fear it's ultimately understandable that the national dex had to be cut. With more time, perhaps they could have included it but I suspect(because of the anime seasons/movies and pressure from the Pokemon Company) that time is exactly the resource they have in the shortest supplies.

And since I suspect that this pressure from TPC won't be any less in the future(they'll want to keep making more seasons, more movies, more locations to throw Ash at to "keep things moving forward" and new pokemons to create merchandise of and thus new regions to introduce them), I can imagine why Game Freaks might feel hesitant to even claim they could somehow bring it back and thus might prefer to instead try and prepare the fans for future games to also lack National Pokedexes as well.

At this rate, I suspect our closest shot at getting something with a National Dex back with actual game mechanics might be a return, somehow, of the Coliseum spin-off.
By being 100% focused around battling(which, in the age of internet matchmaking, might make these spinoffs further more relevant) and none or little of the adventuring, they thus don't have as much of the worldbuilding and terrain design work/etc required of traditional pokemon games. Thus resources normally focused around "creating the game's world" in traditional pokemon games could instead be used to fill-out the pokedex in such a spin-off.

The only big issues though, and it's a big IF in this case, is one would need to see if there's still a need for a Coliseum side-game at all when the core pokemon games already have such established online battling and matchmaking.... and now that they're finally going to be available on a platform that can be played on a TV to boot from the get-go(and "see your pokemon on the -TV-" was one of the big selling points of Coliseum in the first place)... that lessen further more the "need" for a Coliseum game sadly.

@princezorldo I'm on the same page than you about Home. Until it's said HOW it will be handled, we have no idea what to expect of it.

After all, Nintendo is part of The Pokemon Company as well if I recall, and now they DO have that Nintendo Online subscription infrastructure that was previously missing in previous gen. So Home access could well be shelved under Nintendo Online's subscription service very easily.

@princezorldo What do you mean? They have asked us to buy it, that's what advertising is for. The entire reason they showed it off is because they want us to get it.

They even said "We encourage people to use Pokemon Home to collect their Pokemon from old games."

I'm not sure I follow your point.

@Ludovsky I still refuse to accept that they are being overwhelmed when hiring new staff is a thing. I know there has to be a ton of people who would kill to work on a Pokémon game.

*Till Sharper Sword and Beefier Shield versions anyway......

@princezorldo Thanks for this list.

Particularly considering Gen7 is when they previously considered to cut the national dex, I feel not enough is said about how much more effort the revamped world design and layout, let alone more detailed environment, must have taken in term of development time and resources.

And for a series that increasingly feels like it HAS to now follow the pace of new anime seasons and movies tie-ins, rather than the later being the ones having to follow the pace of the games' releases, I suspect that's an aspect we often forget about.

They HAVE to keep the games moving forward and now ontop of the more natural layout of the world introduced in Gen7 they're even introducing regions akin to Open Worlds in presentation and visuals. And that's likely just the tip of the iceberg.

And they likely ALSO had to do it all while being sure they could deliver their game in time with the tie-in anime seasons that will represent the same regions and echoes the story beats.

Considering that kind of pressure, and thus the inability to "just take more time to get the full pokedex in"(since "more time" would mean "too late to be released alongside the next anime seasons"), I'm not surprised the National Dex had to be cut down.

And since the pressure from the anime side of the Pokemon Company(which I suspect is also the side that gets the most profits from merchandise sales...and thus profits the most from games introducing new regions and pokemons to make merchandise from) probably won't lessen as time goes... I can understand why they'd rather prepare fans to not expect National Dex in future games neccessarily rather than make promises they could be unsure to keep.

I was hoping for the odd update (e.g. A few old starter) but didn't expect the full set. Disappointed not to have the full choice for my team but I'll cope.
If people are really that upset then I suggest not buying the game.

@Kalmaro Except you forget the context of the wide Pokemon Company. The one that includes Anime Studios, movies and merchandises sales.

Hiring new staff... also means -training- new staff. Training new staff means time spent training those new staff. Time training new staff is time not spent immediately creating the content/programming/terrain modeling/pokemon modeling/etc to get the next game out the door.

And not getting the game out the door means missing the release window.

Missing the release window means the anime side(which Game Freaks has nothing to do with... except making the tie-in games) of the Pokemon Company must do with yet another seasons of pre-existing pokemons rather than introducing a new region worth of new pokemon and content to turn into tie-in merchandises.

And that doesn't get into matters such as ending up hiring too much staff and, in the hurry to crunch to release date, ending up having no direct projects to redirect them once the game is out.... thus forcing the studio to lay off all the new staff(because they don't want to lose the veteran staff that had already been there for years if not decades) .... thus forcing them to repeat the whole process all over again the next time they end up "just having to hire new staff".

Sure the "hire more staff to throw at a project and then fire them once done" thing is common in western studio.... but they're not a western studio AND the majority of western studios don't have tie-in animes and movies ALSO dictating their deadlines ontop of actual game publishers side of things.

Because "The Pokemon Company" aren't just a company making games. They're a multimedia franchise company and a BIG deal of their business side of thing can be very much not the games that Game Freaks develops... but instead the -merchandise-(toys, shirts, etc) they can sell based upon all the new pokemons introduced by the new games developed by Game Freaks(which is further signal boosted by the animes and movies/etc).

And sadly, while Game Freaks are part of the Pokemon Company.... something tells me GF aren't the largest beneficiary of the profits generated by the merch/etc.

So while they have the pressure of "getting those games out in time" for the anime tie-ins/etc... they may very well not even have the benefit of the resources generated by those sides of the Pokemon Company.

Which is to say:

The Pokemon Company has all the reasons to pressure and push Game Freaks to produce new games/regions/etc that they can turn into merchandises and so on to generate ever bigger profits from.... without necessarily being the kind of people letting Game Freaks get enough of a share of those profits to get the resources/people they would need to truly go all-out with the games in any stable fashion.

At this rate, that might explains Game Freaks developping non-Pokemon games not just to make sure they have an incentive to retain employees who'd been working on pokemon and only pokemon(even western studios have employees jump from IPs to IPs) but also to diversify their source of income in the first place.

After all, sure they Pokemon games are huge.

But I wonder how much of even the games' profits Game Freaks get when any profits has to be split with the rest of the Pokemon Company which includes Nintendo(as a game publisher) but also likely the wings in charge of creating anime and movies(which Game Freaks might get very little money from even as they're asked to create game content to tie-in with such).

Edit:

On top of everything I mentionned, it also apparently sounds like there's more technical limitations to it than we might think such that the Switch itself might struggle to support a national dex at all due to the realities of what the pokemon games need in order to run their whole collection of pokemons.

Northwind here goes into more depths about the technical side of things: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/11/soapbox_attacking_pokemon_creator_game_freak_isnt_cool_but_biting_back_isnt_the_answer#comment5324094

@Ludovsky @Galenmereth It sounds like what you're saying is that it will take time and money, which doesn't sound like an issue.

They have money, it looks like it's the Pokémon company that's reducing thier time so that they have a game out with the new shows.

I sure can't wait for this game to release so people can stop pretending that they aren't going to buy and love it.

The gross exaggerations and entitlement being spewed on every pokemon story got old real quick.

@Kalmaro Basically re: The Pokemon Company being the biggest hurdle is my point.

Also as noted in another comment, there might be a more technical limitation behind things too. I don't know how accurate that was, but the person who presented it to me at least was more detailed in how the way Pokemon games have to run things might be getting in the way of keeping a National Dex under the hardware the games uses.

Which is to say that due to how games need to run battles in a a way needed to keep model/animations loading time to a minimum.... there is a hard cap to how many Pokemons in the pokedex the -Switch- might handle at once.

As it sounds like(and it makes sense in hindsight, considering a battle has to consider that a trainer could switch to ANY possible pokemons mid-battle and that the nature of egg/TM moves just add up to the amount of moves EVERY pokemons supports and all the animations they ALSO have to support as well), the game needs ALL the Pokemons models/animations assets loaded all at once in the console's RAM during battles.

Which could go a long way to explains why pokemon animations are so basic if they have to be ALL directly kept into the console RAM during battles to make sure you never have such a thing as loading times every time a pokemon uses a new move.

It'd also explains why Gen 7 also struggled that much at times when playing battles(specifically double battles) and why they were already considering cutting the national dex out of the picture even back then considering the hardware limitation of the 3DS to boot.

With the new world designs, still needing to keep those loading times briefs even as new graphic shaders/etc are introduced in the new game's engine AND new pokemons are being added.... I can see why even the Switch might end up being not enough to continue supporting a national dex if it's the case that games indeed do handle things like that on the technical side of things.

@Galenmereth And that's without getting into the nightmare scenario of telling the anime-producing side of the Pokemon Company that the new game from the game-side of the Pokemon Company won't be ready to tie-in with the new season the Anime side of things have been slaving away to produce.

Gosh, I dread to imagine what the working conditions must be like.

No wonder Game Freaks have a branch entirely dedicated to working on stuff that's NOT Pokemon. They probably wouldn't be retain their employees at all otherwise if they had to slave away exclusively on Pokemon all the time.

@justin233 I'm already done with it now. This is honestly pathetic behaviour by GameFreak and anyone foolish enough to be in denial that anything is wrong.

You can keep your Pokemon in Pokemon Bank if you don't want them in Home. Keep them for the 3DS games.

@YozenFroghurt oh, so easy, why not get a team and go make it if it is so easy.

@PKBegley And the consumers are not to blame? With their death threats towards the company?

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/11/soapbox_attacking_pokemon_creator_game_freak_isnt_cool_but_biting_back_isnt_the_answer

@Anti-Matter I still don't understand what the big deal is. Being upset is one thing but it's going too far harassing GameFreak just because people's precious national Pokedex isn't going to be in the new games. Big deal. GameFreak is it's own company and it can do what it wants. With that said, I'm still looking forward to getting Sword.

@princezorldo There’s always someone defending this BS. The meat and potatoes of Pokémon hasn’t changed, literally at all. I’ve tried the games and luckily ended up not wasting more than about an hour at any given time. All the fluff on the side might be different, but it’s the same old recycled garbage, otherwise.

@KBuckley27 Thats not even close to a fair comparason. Persona 5 Scramble is a SPIN OFF game, not a mainline game. Plus Persona 5 Royal is coming just a few months before scramble, so your perfectly set.

Sword and Shield on the other hand are not Spin Off Games, they are MAINLINE games that have had zero effort put into them. For Longtime Pokemon fans, it's so frustrating cause Gamefreak literally gave us the bare minimum for a console pokemon game in a day and age where everything from Mario to Zelda to even Fire Emblem are going above and beyond.

@Kalmaro You are contradicting your first comment.. You said they're making it harder for you to buy the game then you are now saying that it may still be fine when it comes out. Can't we all just wait for the game to be release, then give feedback when we start playing? Like a review of sorts. Yes we are free to voice our opinion but, in a proper way and a proper time.
It's like prejudice, judging someone or something you barely met or know.

@mallowhprain02
Me too.
I'm going to get Pokemon Sword for Sirfetch'd. 😀

Here's the thing, people always think that everything is just easy peasy. This is because you don't know what is happening on the back end. You can't judge what you don't know. You keep saying that switch is a powerful hardware, this and that. Why do you think the Witcher's resolution got lowered when ported to switch? Because of hardware limitations. Empathize people. You can't just think of what you want, there's a bigger picture in everything. This is applicable to all games or all things if I may add.

This is ridiculous, how in the world do people expect them to model and animate 900+ characters and like 500+ pokémon moves, is ludicrous if people actually expect GameFreak to keep at it for ever single new generation of Pokémon, the limit was bound to be reached eventually and this is clearly it!

Besides, people can only use 6 at a time so people end up using like what, 10 or 15 out the 900+ Pokémons?!
All the "fans" that keep spreading hate are all being unrealistic, selfish, and ungrateful!
Some groups of "fans" are going as far as to be totally immature about this! Weather this people choose to stay adamant about their disapproval of the incomplete PokéDex or are unable to transfer from past games is to be expected and, like it or not, will have to be accepted! The point in the matter is simple, their are just way to many Pokémons now so is no longer a reasonable possibility anymore, and so as they stated it will continue to be the case for future Pokémon games as well!

@Eudelion it's not a contradiction. I want to play a Pokémon game. They are making its harder for me to be convinced to buy the game with these decisions.

That said, I don't know all the details yet so it could be that overall the game is good. I don't know that yet.

That's why I'm not making any decisions until I see more.

@Chibi_Manny I'm with ya. What other game has sooo many characters? None are even close that I know of. Each individual one takes time to draw/animate/code etc... that's an enormous expectation people. Remember how 1st party Nintendo games development slowed down when they made the jump to HD? We're in a transition stage right now with Pokemon. Give the poor developers a break.

@Kalmaro that isn't what he saying at all. You need to quit being a raging fanboy. They aren't putting every pokemon to catch in one single game, but pokemon home is the new pokemon bank. The next pokemon game in which Matsuda said the national dex will be in the game. You transfer from bank to home, then they are there just like how it's been done in previous games. People aren't reading his statements right at all.

@TDRsuperstar2 The only difference is that Ash's pokemon at least still existed. It would be like if Thanos just snapped away the rest.

@Hellburner918 I mean he's been saying the national dex is done for a while now. The thing is, I've been annoyed with all the repeated "protests" online but I get the disappointment. Based on what I've seen it just looks like the same graphics and animation with a little more shine. They also put a good amount of effort into making curry, which seems kinda pointless. The pokemon home is also kinda pointless. Any pokemon you can use it with is already in the game.

@SBandy not a pokemon fan here, but i think we should at least understand that long time fans have built up a love for the series. theyre allowed to feel conflicted and disappointed that the new home console game is lacking for them.

its not just about not liking this game, its also about fans worrying about the future state of them

@ChromaticDracula Because you can't do anything With them. That's the whole purpose, is to transfer them to other games.

And what happens if they don't get around to making another game for switch/lite by the time it ends? You can't transfer them back to the 3DS.

That's the issue people are having.

@TheFox dude they axed more then half of them. 500+ not in the game and only 76 new added... sorry not worth it

@Chibi_Manny then just stop making new Pokemon, simple.
If they are incapable of providing the same service they have been, and coax you to buy a subscription that won't allow you to transfer Pokemon back to older games and may never be in a new one.

I'm sorry but their either lazy, out of touch or greedy.

@SBandy If you aren't happy then don't buy the games and move on with your life.

Agreed! Consumers acting like they have a right to voice their opinion are so misinformed. Everyone knows that if you don't have something good to say about a product then you should just keep your mouth shut and move on with their life.

I will skip this game. Show them they’re messing up big time and not support it.

Hey guys. If you don't like it DON'T BUY IT. It's really that simple.

Me, I'm getting it, and if I don't like it, I'll move on with my life.

@frogopus gen 1 pandering is always going to be a thing, why do you think charizard got in?

@Crono1973 sorry but that's a very regressive opinion. If you don't give criticism when it is due then what incentive does it give for them to improve. I've bought every game from gen 1-present
I even pre ordered sword and shield.

I love this franchise and I don't want to see it pull a Game of Thrones.

And see it's quality drop till the point it's no longer even a franchise worth a second glance.

I couldn't care less about a dex, but when I see following Pokemon removed, megas removed, post game removed and now more then half the roster taken away, if not now when?

Not to mention they expect you to pay a subscription to keep your old Pokemon, in case they make another game with the other half on it but not the ones on sword and shield.

I'm sorry if this is an inconvenient fact but allowing the other Pokemon into the game take away nothing from those who don't care, but is everything for those who do.

@justin233 I that case, I'd recommend story-driven games. A compelling narrative will help fuel your drive to complete a game. Xenoblade 2 was awesome at this, if you haven't tried it. (It's also what I recommend to every Pokemon fan who doesn't like SwSh, since it has a Pokemon-esque collection of possible party members.)

I can't believe this is still an issue, cutting all the previous gen legendaries and mythicals is a God send. Yes, losing some of my favorite pokemon hurts, but they can be replaced with other pokemon or you can change your strategy to fit the new pokemon, if you cannot find a suitable replacement.

Losing your favorite pokemon does not change your playthrough much, it only really affects pokemon battling. But not having to deal with all those overpowered previous gen legendaries and mythicals helps and benefits me much more.

And bank/home wont be available until 2020 , so you won't be using your old favorites in your first play through anyway.

This much anger over a game made for young children is absurd.

Are they really saying there will be no more national dex? How disconnected from your fans can you be?

"We encourage people to use Pokémon Home to collect their Pokémon from old games"

@NowiGreen We agree. I was being sarcastic in post 166.

I understand that this is completely on me, but: I was naive and believed that there was no way they would cut (almost all) of the starters from previous games. The fact that Bulbasaur, who has been with me for literally 20 years, can't come with me just makes me so absolutely sad.

I wish I could return my digital pre-order.

S&S is the best Pokemon game ever, because it's spawned this trash thread.

I 100% agree with game freak. Imagine having to play with new Pokemon. What a crazy idea.

If you want to play with your old Pokemon, play the old games.

Its like saying BoTW is rubbish, because I couldn't use a hookshot from an earlier game.

Really ballsy, I mean I’m still gonna get it but damn you left out so many great Pokémon I was hoping for event Pokémon or updates this will definitely hit sales but the games will still sell like its 1998

Why do Pokemon fans throw their toys out of the pram when the new game doesn't provide the "Ultimate" treatment, yet they seem fine with the fact that they've had to buy two versions of the same game for the last two decades?

Half Pokemon missing, subpar PS2 graphics and poor animation, and in the process nothing was added to compensate for such massive losses.

@Kalmaro,

Make a stand and do not buy the game, it's not the end of the world, or move on and start again, hopefully there will be new Pokemon introduced with each game.

I am not a huge Pokemon fan but appreciate the franchise. Imo this is all pretty lazy on GameFreak's part. They have created a massive IP and now they want to water down. Less work - same income? Sounds like good business. No wonder fans are upset.

@Sir_Radiant

This is the issue with people on internet forums, they cut the dex and people only focus on that and animations which at best are inconclusive.

They ignore the massive time and effort it takes to bring this game to market, the new enviroments, the wild area, all the new and old Pokemon designs, which look awesome by the way inho, the new features the game has, it's far easier to focus on the negatives than the many good things this game has, and to top it all of the game has not even been released yet, it does feel like the most entitled core fanbase in the world, I do say core because the mass market fans will be so hyped for this game as they should be.

@Zimon,

How many fans though?, the mass market will have no issues, it's only the obsessives that will be put out by this.

@johnvboy

It's not like they had to reinvent the wheel here.

@Sir_Radiant,

This is another issue though, we all in an ideal world we would like a new revolutionary Pokemon game, but the problem is you have the core and more casual fans to please, and if you stray to far from the original formula you get complaints also.

I wanted to make a comment, but, with so much negativity, lack of morals and a constant fight between the "fans", better forget it, keep up your problems.

For my part, I wait for my 2 games and I will enjoy them ^. ^.
Those who do not want to buy them, well, it's all ok, no problem, nobody is obliged to buy them, but if it is because of this negativity, I am sorry to say it (once again), but that is not MY problem.

@johnvboy

I think it's the pokemon which people get most excited about and they have let this part down a little. Look, I couldn't care less tbh, I am gonna buy this game anyway (at some point) but I understand the core fans here. They just needed to bring already existing pokemon into the new generations, that's all.

@m8e3point1415 I feel the same. Not a die hard pokemon fan and have only played a handful of games. Admittedly I will miss the pokemon from the kanto region as they are my most memorable but I'm just going to enjoy it for what it is.

#ThankYouGameFreak For saving me so much money for the forseeable future, by convincing me to not support you or buy your games anymore!! <3 <3

Translated from business crap this means: "We do not intend to give our customers what they want because way too many of them will buy these games even if they're not happy. And therefore we will only do so much. A good horse only jumps as high as it needs to."

@Chibi_Manny Because they specifically made high resolution models for XY, so they were future proof and they could use them again. And that's what they're doing. The models from XY were used in Sun and Moon, and Pokemon GO, and also Sword and Shield. Granted, they use different shaders, so they look better than the 3DS games, but the 3D models and animations are the same.

Technically they only have to make the models for the new Pokemon. That being said, I have to iterate that I personally don't have a problem with the cut dex.

@Sir_Radiant,

At what point do you stop though?

@Azikira,

I am sure their profits will collapse as a result of your cancelled puchases.

I couldn't care less about them cutting Pokemon in the new game, it's just how lazy the whole thing looks. It's above Let's Go, but that's not saying much considering how pathetic those games were on a more powerful console than before, and now charging £50 a game. The battles are static and animations are non-existent. I'm not talking about battle animations, I'm talking about out in the world. Almost any time there is any kind of animation needed that doesn't involving walking or talking, the screen just fades to black and a sound-effect plays. On the GBA or even DS, this was fine, but not on a £280 console. Sword and Shield are following a similar trend, and I'm pleased people are finally realising how much Pokemon games are scamming their customers.

Am I the only one looking forward to this still, I dont really care about them cutting pokemon as it will make it easier to complete the national dex and easier for me to pick a team and concentrate on those 6, this is the first new pokemon game on teh switch so obviously they are playing around with graphics and mechanics and testing what the switch can handle, so expect future pokemon games to be better in terms of graphically, content and mechanics, but for now the 15th can't come quick enough

I think the main point here is that Gamefreak is trying to set a precedent. I see lots of people saying they would have been happy to wait a year longer to give Gamefreak more time to include all the Pokemon. As I say, the point is they've decided they want to set a precedent so they don't have to include them all from now on. It does suck, but it kind of is what it is.

I think the bigger question is does this mean Pokemon Home is a permanent application or what happens if you transfer all your old Pokemon to it and they then decide to get rid of it in few years like with Bank, which is obviously going to become obsolete when Pokemon Homes comes out.

Masuda: "Hey is that a garbage fire? Because I have some gasoline in the back I need to get rid of."

@RainbowGazelle It's funny, because I share that sentiment, yet I feel that the cut dex complaints completely overshadow the actual problems (IMO). I don't mind the lack of national dex, but T-pose Wingull shouldn't exist in a Switch game.

“We encourage people to look somewhere else other than a Pokémon game, specially if it’s our new Cloud service”

@johnvboy First I know we're just a loud minority and it's pretty annoying to those who do not mind.
Doesn't change the fact that I'm not buying a pokemon game where I can't have my favorite characters in it.
And I want to complain to warn others/tell Game Freak that this not what I want.

Second I think a lot of people will be sour once they realize their favorite pokemon is not in the game. Probably not enough to affect sale numbers but maybe enough so even more people will be aware in the next game.

I will be honest. If the game had better graphics oranimations I probably wouldn't complain. If the sacrifice was worth something. But the game looks almost identical to Sun/Moon. And that really pisses me off. Probably more than it should.

@Zimon,

If you think this game looks like sun and moon you need glasses, also I never said you could not complain, it's up to you, my only issue has ever been that the complainers seem to think they are in a majority, which they are not, and they also think that their complaints will lead to Gamefreak altering future games on the basis of these complaints, which they won't, my other gripe is the complainers get upset becuase people do not share their anger, when at the same time dismissing everybody else who does not agree with them, pretty much saying these gamers are wrong and somehow stupid to accept this new game.

I hope pokemon home is going to be free, because if it's like bank even with a small yearly fee with the lack of knowing when some of your favorite pokemon may come back it's going to be a hard investment I think.

@johnvboy

What makes you believe the complainers think they are in a majority?
It's the same old here. There are die-hard nintendo fan(boys) who will buy and defend anything. The core pokemon players are upset. why not let them be? You make it sound like they are the worst of the worst!

@Sir_Radiant,

Never said that, just stated they tend to ignore anybody who does not feel the same way they do, their concerns are totally valid on a personal level, but I just think they have gone too far with it.

I'm still in. Out of any collection game I've ever played, Pokemon has been head and shoulders above the competition in generosity of transfers. Like, it's not even close. Dragon Quest Monsters, Shin Megami Tensei and Persona games, Digimon, card games like Yu-Gi-Oh, and others. You'd maybe see some direct sequel bonuses or transfers from a prior game, or a passcode system of some kind. You may have a New Game + mode where you can keep data in the same game on new save files. But there's no way you're using the same monster in these franchises you collected or levelled in the early 2000's. So I feel like I can give Game Freak a little leeway to at least see how this shakes out and if it remains engaging. And maybe this is a matter of perspective. I know the "new gen" has some shine to it. But my glasses aren't tinted by this "first console" thing, after logging dozens of hours on Coloseum, Gale of Darkness, and Let's Go. Yes, side games, but still full Pokemon RPGs on console. Just my perspective, any way.

Some of these comments. I may sound insensitive, but that too comment about holding your Squirtle hostage. How are we transferring currently? How are we getting gen 1 Pokemon (be they FR/LG or virtual console) without paying into Bank? The answer is we aren't, so there's no need for a comment like that. I'm disapointed at the exclusion of some of my favorites too, but the sheer existence of an expanded replacement for Home isn't the enemy here. Bank was never going to be able to connect to Go or the Switch games because... It's a 3DS app. And if you aren't jumping into the new service, you need Bank to transfer to Home anyway (from 3DS), so Bank has to stay live for now. Your Squirtle will be fine.

I dunno, I just feel like when people are talking about leaving gaming as a hobby for good, and the catalyst is a game "only" having 4-500 monsters, we've got some out of proportion responses here.

Well, that's something. Unless their following games are masterful, have a feeling this decision will blow up in their faces.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand ragefest.

While I've never been one to go above and beyond to try and catch them all or re-use old Pokemon (Come on, part of the experience of a new Pokemon game is to use new Pokemon), it is absolutely nice to have the option/commodity to do so.

This decision will not deter me from buying the game, but I do see and agree with the backlash this decision has brought.

It doesn't make sense that this is the first mainline Pokemon game on an actual home console. The most powerful console that a mainline Pokemon game has graced - and yet, it is being shorted tremendously in terms of content. This would seem more plausible in a portable gaming device due to system or memory limitations but the Switch? Hell, the Switch out to have a Pokemon game with ALL the regions and ALL the Pokemon.

get pokemon gun in 224.

@playstation_king I guess you have a point there, it's definitely easier to complete the national dex when there is none...
I hope some of my favorite pokemon are in the new games, like Piplup, Pachirisu or Minccino.
I do look forward to Sword and Shield's release though, even have a countdown timer on my phone's home screen and I made plans for a meet-up with a few friends on the day of it's release so that we can start playing the new games together.

@Anti-Matter So am I. Much as I'd like to get Ponyta, I'll be good with Sirfetch'd.

@Sakisa How many games do you have? lol

@tobsesta99 should’ve said a Pokemon game lol.

A lotta games my friend. A lotta games.