While it doesn’t land in the original series, I’d say Pokemon Unite is far more visually interesting than Sword & Shield or Legends Arceus.
Brilliant Diamond &Shining Pearl are similarly expectant, faithfully recreating two beloved classics with the knowledge that it can’t stray too far from the source material without attracting the ire of fans. Arceus could and likely will change the formula forever, but its graphical identity remains somewhat archaic and underwhelming. Once again, that’s no bad thing, and I’ve previously written about how the Switch hardware is likely holding Pokemon back from being something truly special, but it’s hard not to shake my head in disappointment when Pokemon continues to knowingly go through the motions it has stuck by for years. It’s fascinating, but in terms of visuals, it still remains very familiar. The game’s Sinnoh region, or Hisui as it’s known in the feudal era, is one where humans and Pokemon are yet to form meaningful partnerships, so you will likely spend much of the campaign forming relationships and establishing societal norms that will form the basis of everything this property has stood by for decades. Pokemon: Legends Arceus will likely bring this vision to its completion, taking advantage of a period setting and removing so many of the usual conventions we’ve come to expect from the series. Related: Netflix's Cowboy Bebop Captures The Original's Spirit, But Will That Be Enough? Sword & Shield modernised many of these criticisms with an infinitely larger scale and a greater focus on customisation, but it maintained so many of the series’ staples that it never pushed the evolution it strived for far enough. Every Pokemon game is someone’s first, so it makes perfect sense to maintain this cadence, yet it also highlights a number of unfortunate shortcomings.
There was a change of hairstyle here, a ditching of Megas there, but it was always the same basic friend. There was a sense of comfort with each new generation, like we were catching up with an old friend with all of the quirks we’d come to expect from them. To be clear, I don’t believe this to be a bad thing. Even as it transitioned to 3D, the act of exploring each new world, battling with trainers, and becoming the very best like no one ever was always felt familiar.
The Crown Tundra update will release on October 22, 2020.From an aesthetic perspective, Game Freak’s Pokemon series has maintained a consistent identity ever since its inception several decades ago. Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield are immediately available on the Nintendo Switch. The hit band has produced songs for various games and anime series over the years, including Tales of the Abyss, Granblue Fantasy, Blood Blockade Battlefront, and March Comes in Like A Lion. J-Rock band Bump of Chicken is no stranger to collaboration, of course. Check out this Legends of Localization page for more details on that bit. The video even opens and ends with visual references to the 1986 film Stand By Me, which was extremely popular in Japan and is alluded to in various Pokémon games. In other words, the Bump of Chicken x Pokemon video makes for some spot-the-reference fun for Pokémon fanatics. Protagonist characters like Red, Lucas, Dawn, Rosa, Serena, Calem, May all make brief appearances, along with side characters and rival trainers like Blue, Lillie, Nessa, Bea, and more. The video, which was produced by anime studio BONES ( Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, My Hero Academia), features two Pokémon trainers growing up with a Pikachu and an Evee, as well as an energetic montage of characters and pocket monsters from across the Pokémon multimedia universe.