Following up on the Pokémon Direct on June 5th, Nintendo has revealed more information on Pokémon Sword and Shield at the Nintendo Treehouse Live at E3 event.[prebreak][/prebreak] The showcase revealed a few things, such as the new Pokémon Yamper and Impidimp, as well as other general gameplay.

However, during discussions with Junichi Masuda, he revealed that not every Pokémon is going to be available in Pokémon Sword and Shield. "What that means for Pokémon Sword and Shield is that players will be able to transfer their Pokémon from Pokémon Home, only if they appear in the Galar Pokédex." This means that certain Pokémon will be completely omitted from the game, for the first time in the series' history. Naturally, people are upset about this, leading to a whopping 40,000 dislikes on Nintendo's official upload, compared to the video's 15,000 likes. Part of the frustration comes from the idea that all Pokémon can be transferred to the new Pokémon Home service, and have no way of leaving, leaving them in what is essentially a Pokémon Prison.

In an interview with USgamer, Masuda explained that the reason for omitting Pokémon was down to the "higher fidelity" of the game, as well as the "higher quality animations". He also said that they're looking to keep the battle system balanced, and to allow the new Pokémon to shine.

Junichi Masuda, Producer: There are a couple of different parts to the thinking behind it, but really the biggest reason for it is just the sheer number of Pokemon. We already have well over 800 Pokemon species, and there's going to be more added in these games. And now that they're on the Nintendo Switch, we're creating it with much higher fidelity with higher quality animations. But even more than that, it's coming down to the battle system. We're making sure we can keep everything balanced and give all the Pokemon that appear in the games a chance to shine.

We knew at some point we weren't going to be able to indefinitely keep supporting all of the Pokemon, and we just found that Sword and Shield would probably be a good point to go back and reevaluate what would be the best selection of Pokemon that appeal to the widest audience while keeping into consideration the balance of the battle system. It isn't just going to be all-new Pokemon in the Galar region Pokedex; there's still going to be a lot of favorites that fans will be able to bring over that they've adventured with previously. But yeah, it was pretty much just balancing and getting this optimal selection of Pokemon for the adventure we wanted to provide.

Previously, all Pokémon were available through trades and cross-generation transfers of Pokémon. This meant that each game had a unique set of Pokémon that appear, but the others can be obtained in some form. It's currently unknown how many Pokémon have been cut from Sword and Shield.

You can find a list of Pokémon confirmed for Sword and Shield here.

YouTube Video
USgamer Interview

 

[Deleted User]

People will still defend this even though the game looks far worse than the average switch game. Maybe if the animations were really good I would not care as much, but they are mostly the same lame recycled 3ds animations.

 

[Xzi]

Oh man is it ever gonna be ironic if, after all the controversy, Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee ends up outselling Sword/Shield.

 

[Clydefrosch]

This is an outrage, Game Freak should just create 800+ unique sets of animations for every single Pokemon. As fans, we are entitled to a series of games that grows in size and scope after every single release. All they need to do is copy-paste the models over, it's really easy, trust me. /s

It actually is, the 3d models they've been using since X/Y were build specifically for this jump to 1080p. They were much, much too good for the 3ds games. All sword and shield does is throw on another layer of shading.

Also, as fans, we generated them billions of dollars, buying the same game twice every generation for pretty much all of our lives. They've always milked us for all we were worth and we let them because of the ever growing scope of monsters to collect. Now they'll raise prices by another 20 bucks, still release two games, trap our pokemon in a the cloud and cut half the pokemon from the games code?

 

[smilodon]

You guys need to see this video before complaining about gamefreak lazyness :

 

[DbGt]

Why you need 800+ pokemon to appear in the game??? I bet most people probably use 10 pokemon max

I dont care, and realistically this was going to happen sooner or later, they keep adding new pokemon in every game, theres a point where its impossible to have them all in the same game

 

[x65943]

I think the biggest issue is even if they included all of the models and animations, the average player wouldn't run into more than 10% of the pokemon.

Should they really spend hundreds of hours modeling pokemon that you can't even run into in the game - or should they spend that time making it a fun game?

In another 10 years we might have close to 2000 pokemon - like they said at some point they have to stop, and they chose now.

Disappointing, yes. Necessary, yes.

 

[Deleted User]

I invite to model, rig and animate 900 unique freaking monsters. It is insane, even for Game freak.

This is an outrage, Game Freak should just create 800+ unique sets of animations for every single Pokemon. As fans, we are entitled to a series of games that grows in size and scope after every single release. All they need to do is copy-paste the models over, it's really easy, trust me. /s

it's almost like all of these models and animations already exist in older games or something and could easily be reused, hmmmmm, odd

 

[Xzi]

People will still defend this even though the game looks far worse than the average switch game.

I wouldn't say that. The open world aesthetics and view distance are very reminiscent of BotW. It might even be on the same engine.

 

[NoNAND]

I can't see how anyone could defend this decision, honestly. Isn't the whole point of Pokémon to 'Catch 'Em All'?

Well at least there's one who could defend their decision, me.
Here's why:
Whilst I've been a Pokemon fan for god knows how long, I've only been a casual player and never bothered with competitive play and all that.
And, I don't feel like capturing every Pokemon out there would be worth it.
that's just my opinion on this not saying what they did was good or bad

 

[DCG]

Well, my hype (was planning on buying it in japan, since I'm there during release), died instantly...

 

[ShadowOne333]

Bitches please, you've been using the same fucking 3D models and animations since the 6th Gen in Pokemon X/Y, since then you've used them in the Pokedex app, Pokemon ORAS, Pokemon Sun/Moon, Pokemon US/UM, Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee and even fucking Pokemon GO uses them.

Don't come to me with this shit

 

[KingVamp]

I invite to model, rig and animate 900 unique freaking monsters. It is insane, even for Game freak.

That's understandable for the start of this generation, but they seem to be not even planning to do so eventually for future Pokemon games and that is a shame.

 

[strayofthesun]

I'm fine with not being able to get all pokemon IF they make more available as time goes on. I've always felt Pokemon games came out too quickly, this is a good opportunity for them to slow down development and add more long term support to the series.

 

[Deleted member 492222]

i will defiantly 'Buy' this.
but i do agree that if the catch line is 'Gotta Catch Them All' ?!?

still anticipating the next revision of the switch.

 

[KingVamp]

Like even if this game still sells well, they are going feel a chunk missing. Doesn't matter how good the game is. I'll be surprise if they decide to stay with this decision.

 

[Garro]

I'm okay with not every Pokemon being available if that means development is put somewhere else. But after BW2 Pokemon have had a record of terrible/subpar post-game content, plus I have no interest in the Dynamax feature (coming from somebody who loved megas/z-moves when they were first announced) so if Sword/Shield won't be any different this will probably be the first mainline Pokemon game I will skip.

 

[xskibbles]

Nintendo seems also recycle HD models from pokemon go, never expect that Big N would made such lazy decision!!!

It’s not nintendo making the decision though . It’s GameFreak

 

[Kioku]

I am indifferent. This will be the first Pokémon game I'm buying (yes, buying) since Pokémon Black. Never cared for capturing every single Pokémon for the Nth time or going through the tedious process of trading or transferring. Sucks for the completionists, sure.. Maybe they'll change their mind and give us a National Dex later on? I don't know and can't say it bothers me on either side.

With that said, they're clearly pissing off their fanbase without an adequate reason... At least no more than "balance" excuses. Maybe they didn't want to make all Pokémon for one reason or the other. Who knows... Either way, bad move for the majority.

Edit: Looking into it, the development goes far deeper than the average user cares to notice. Taking the time to model, animate and incorporate 900+ Pokémon into this game would take a fair amount of work. Especially with QA.

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it's almost like all of these models and animations already exist in older games or something and could easily be reused, hmmmmm, odd

Could they, though? Is it as simple as importing models and animations and getting them to work "out of the box"?... Or would there be issues in doing so that would require more QA than just making them from a base? Game development is far from copy and pasting from prior games. Especially on a newer system.

 

[Lacius]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Everyone is Here.
Pokémon Sword/Sheild: Not So Much

 

[Xzi]

Could they, though? Is it as simple as importing models and animations and getting them to work "out of the box"?

I think it really is just that simple. The engine takes care of the rest.