Pokémon: Scarlet and Violet came out this November. They are the 17th and 18th mainline Pokémon games to be released. In each and every previous installation in the franchise, battling was a huge aspect of the game. The goal of each game was to essentially battle to the top of the region.
With that in mind, it’s high time these mainline games implemented competitive tournaments and truly enter the esports world.
While it wasn’t a mainline game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus changed all of that. Battling was largely an afterthought. The emphasis was on catching and evolving rather than putting the caught creatures into intense battle all the time.
Battling through the newest region will be the goal, though many mechanic changes from Arceus will be imported.
Pokémon games need to enter the esports arena
Ever since Pokémon: Red and Blue (previously called Green) were released in 1996, trainers have been battling. Each and every game since, including the most recent iteration, Sword and Shield, has had trainers at least attempt to get very good at battling.
There are even ways to battle friends or other trainers online in games that have Internet support. This needs to be made competitive.
Battle
Trainers have largely been doing this for an incredibly long time. There are some trainers waiting for Generation IX that have been fighting Pokémon since 1996. They’ve gotten quite good over the years and deserve a chance to really show that.
Yes, it’s impressive to make light work of the main story battles in each game. It’s also impressive to defeat the other trainers in postgame battling. It would be even better for these trainers to be able to compete in real tournaments and potentially win money for it.
Even Pokémon GO has competitive tournaments with players being named the best in a certain region, though that game needs to get more competitive, too.
There are tons of trainers out there with years of practice and loads of skill. It’s a shame they can’t do something with it.
How Pokémon can get truly competitive
For a model, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company could look no further than Super Smash Bros., which has competitive tournaments. It’s a PvP-based game that has alternative modes. In the same sense, Pokémon games are PvP (translated as Pokémon vs. Pokémon) with other things to do.
While it’s probably too late for Nintendo to change their minds and implement competitive tournaments for games released before 2023, they should keep this in mind for the future of the franchise. It’s time to let players compete and it’s time to enter the esports world.
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