Pokémon could become even better if Nintendo let this perfect developer do it

THE Pokemon The franchise is easily one of the most profitable in all of gaming, selling tens of millions of copies per entry and earning critical acclaim with virtually every release. At times it feels like you can’t go wrong, catering to casual players and hardcore fans alike, with a host of new monsters to capture and regions to explore. However, while the series has never lost its luster thanks to the ongoing anime series and frequent releases of mainline entries, a few setbacks along the way have caused its quality to dip a bit.

Namely, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Performance issues showed the slight limitations of Game Freak’s capabilities, especially when it comes to developing open-world spaces. Compared to other open-world titles produced by Nintendo, such as Xenoblade 3 Chronicles, Scarlet and Violet It seemed like a surprising misstep. This, of course, calls into question whether another developer would be better suited to create Pokemon games. While Game Freak will never hand over the ridiculously profitable mainline entries to another developer, It’s possible that one of Nintendo’s first-party developers will step in and create an awesome spin-off.

Monolith Soft would make an amazing Pokémon game

Proven itself with the Xenoblade franchise

Monolith Soft is one of Nintendo’s best first-party developersproving to be a phenomenal support studio – having worked on BOTH, TOTK, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Splatoon 3and more – and lead developer of some of the publisher’s best games. It is constantly pushing Nintendo’s hardware with its Xenoblade Chronicles Series. The original provided the Wii – and later the 3DS and Switch – with one of the best JRPGs of all time; Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii U is one of the greatest open world games of all time; and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3 pushed the Switch to its limits.

Miraculously, Monolith Soft is not only technically proficient, creating vast and beautiful open-world experiences, but also excellent with storytelling. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Incredible reviews praised its narrative as a maturely told exploration of war and pain, and even Xenoblade Chronicles 2 most anime-inspired story manages to touch the heart on more than one occasion. All this naturally positions Monolith Soft as the perfect choice for an open world Pokemon spin off.

If the Pokemon The series has a major weakness: its narratives, which, to this day, remain completely voiceless. They are often too simple or too derivative of each other, focusing on broad themes like animal cruelty, greed, and abuse of power. Naturally, Monolith Soft has enough experience to create a more nuanced and focused story Pokemon adventure This is fully voiced like the anime and based on the character. It has repeatedly proven that it can create compelling party dynamics, much like what the Pokemon anime deals.

Additionally, Monolith Soft’s proficiency with open-world game design would allow it to create a more dynamic world for players to explore. While Game Freak’s attempt at creating an open world proved profitable, it also caused a significant uproar within the fanbase due to its poor implementation and initially buggy state. Monolith Soft would become the main open world Pokemon developer, while Game Freak continues to develop the type of Pokemon game you know best, all types of Pokemon fans would be extremely well catered for.

Other developers created Pokémon spin-offs

Pokémon Colosseum, Snap and Stadium were made by other developers

It’s not like there isn’t a precedence for other developers to step in and do Pokemon spin-offs. On the GameCube, Genius Sonority developed Pokémon Coliseum and Pokémon XD: Dark Galewhile in N64, HAL Laboratory developed Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Stadium.

Even recently, ILCA developed surprisingly good remakes of Pokémon Diamond and Pearland TiMi Studio Group developed Pokémon Unite. Of course, the more recent Pokemon entries from different developers have veered more towards mobile gaming and remake territory rather than exclusive spin-offs like Coliseum and Photo.

It’s unclear why Nintendo hasn’t leveraged its other first-party developers to produce more major games Pokemon spin-offs instead of pushing Game Freak to its absolute limits to release multiple entries in a year. While it’s hard to say whether Game Freak is handling the entire mainline Pokemon functions is responsible for the drop in quality – at least when it comes to technical performance – this means that Pokemon the identity seems completely unique, unlike other Nintendo franchises that have distinct spin-offs.

Mario continues to evolve its identity with sports games, RPGs, platformers and more. The Legend of Zelda has also managed to hit every possible niche within its genre, offering industry-defining entries as well as more throwback experiences. Pokemonat least recently, has failed to do this, evolving iteratively with the likes of Legends: Arceusand delivering entries that feel somewhat fresh but are often hampered by technical or gameplay limitations like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Nintendo and Game Freak need to allow other developers to create big-budget Pokémon games

Time to see how other developers would handle this

Sometimes it may seem hard to believe this Pokemon It has already had such different spin-offs. Pokémon Coliseum is the most obvious example, next to Photo and Stadiumbut there was also Mysterious Dungeon series, the exclusive DS pokemon rangerand TRPG Pokémon Conquest. However, all of these were released a long time ago, perhaps with the only recent attempt at a true Pokemon spin-off being the slandered Detective Pikachu series.

With Nintendo experimenting with almost all of its other franchises, it feels able, along with the rest of The Pokémon Company, to expand Pokémon again. Frustratingly, however, it is clear why this does not happen, as Pokemon spin-offs don’t do as well as the mainline entries, and the main entrees do ridiculously well. Considering that games cost a lot more to develop now than they did on the GameCube or Nintendo DS, It’s not surprising that The Pokémon Company hasn’t invested resources in another developer making a real Pokemon spin off.

Mobile games and remakes generate a lot of revenue and don’t cost as much to make as a story-focused open world developed by Monolith Soft Pokemon game would be. However, considering the success of Xenoblade Chronicles franchise and the Pokemon community desire for something a little different – the sheer sales numbers of Pokémon Scarlet and Violetdespite their technical and gameplay shortcomings, they fulfill fans’ desire for an open world Pokemon game – it’s possible that The Pokémon Company will eventually get Monolith Soft to make a Pokemon game, and when that day comes, fans can be sure it will be incredible.

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