Ever since Pokémon Legends: Z-A came out last year, a thought has been brewing that I haven’t been able to shake. It was amplified as I watched the EUIC battles in February, and then cropped up again as I sat, mouth agape, at the Winds and Waves trailer. After 30 years, is it time to reset the Pokédex?
Now, put those pitchforks away. I’m not trying to present either side of the argument as ‘correct’ here — I remember the fallout after the announcement that you wouldn’t be able to catch Pikachu in Black and White — but catching ’em all has never been as magical as it was in early generations, and one way to rectify that might be by sending ol’ Charizard off to the farm.
But let’s go back to where this thought all began. Naturally, I wasn’t expecting to catch any new Pokémon in Legends: Z-A with its lineup of returning faces, but as I gradually unlocked more of Lumiose’s Wild Zones and encountered more creatures, I noticed a pattern emerging: I was assembling almost the exact same team that I’ve been using for the past 10 years.
It’s an age-old formula that I’m sure will be familiar to everyone who’s a Pokémon fan but still isn’t brave enough to use passive moves. We have the fully evolved starter, likely levels above everyone else on the team; the early-game bird, equally over-levelled (let’s admit it, it’s usually Pidgeot); and whatever Legendary can be picked up in the late game.
The remaining three spots are pulled from a pool of probably ~10 Pokémon, depending on which type I’m lacking after the starter and Legendary picks — Jolteon, Gyarados, Dragonite, Gardevoir, Lucario, Gengar…you get the picture.
This is the same team structure that I’ve used since around Gen VI, and it works. But it does mean that I have started to play Pokémon games differently. In Legends: Z-A, wild encounters became a tick sheet, drafting a team based on what I knew would work rather than any of the adventure and experimentation I felt back in the day.
It was a similar process with Scarlet and Violet, where my team draft would pass over the 107 newbies for the 393 returning ‘mon instead. And after all of those familiar faces we saw in the Winds and Waves reveal trailer, I fear it’s going to happen again in Gen X.
I noticed a pattern emerging: I was assembling almost the exact same team that I’ve been using for the past 10 years.
The competitive scene is a different kettle of Magikarp, obviously, one completely defined by the current meta and what the rest of the competition is falling back on, but team picks have grown stale over there, too. I’ve seen so many Incineroars, Flutter Manes, Urshifus, Raging Bolts, and Rillabooms by this point that it’d feel useless trying to compete with anything but the old favourites.
It’s too late for WinWav (as I’m sure nobody will be calling it), of course, but is it time we got a Pokémon game that wiped the slate clean, and gave us only new creatures to catch?
The pros feel immediately obvious to me. With no pre-existing knowledge of a generation’s highlights, every encounter would feel like something new, hopefully recapturing some of that sweet sense of adventure we all experienced with our first Pokémon games. It would also encourage experimentation, giving all critters a chance to shine as we worked out their strengths and weaknesses. Heck, throw a new type or two in there for good measure; that’ll really shake things up.
It’s not a plan without its pitfalls, mind you. Familiarity is one of Pokémon’s defining traits, and that extends to the Pokédex, too. People want to know what’s around the corner, they want to be able to catch a Pikachu, and there’s something nice about seeing a familiar face and going, “I know you! You’re really powerful!” Dropping the pre-existing 1,025-strong National Dex means that wouldn’t be possible. And without its mascots, is Pokémon really Pokémon?
Perhaps Black & White’s approach is the ultimate middle ground, then. The idea of giving us only the Unova Pokédex for the main game and saving the National expansion for a post-game treat felt wild 15 years ago (15 years ago today in Europe, in fact — happy birthday, Gen V!), but is this exactly the kind of encouragement we need to take the games’ new ‘mon seriously? There’s no way I would have given my now-beloved Axew evolution line the time of day if I had been able to pick up a Dratini before it.
But what do you think? Is it time the Pokémon moved on from its National Pokédex and gave us something brand new, or do you think the old favourites should stay? You can let us know in the following poll.
Which option got your vote? Is it time for Pikachu to retire? Let us know in the comments.
