As the first mainline Pokemon video game released on a Nintendo home console, Pokemon Sword and Shield mark a new era for the franchise. But as it approached launch, the latest pair of Pokemon games became mired in controversies.
For the better part of the year, the Pokemon community has been engaged in a heated debate over the perceived quality of Sword and Shield. Concerns arose initially with an announcement that Sword and Shield’s Pokedex would be limited, with no way to transfer many old Pokemon to Sword and Shield. Concerns about character model animations and graphics followed, and the controversy heated up when leaked versions of Sword and Shield were datamined just ahead of launch.