[Sword & Shield] All 800+ Pokemon will NOT be available in Sword and Shield at launch, even via Pokemon Home

[Sirfetch’d]

I'm not really worried at all to be honest. Sure, it isn't the greatest of news but it's probably not as bad as it seems. For starters, why would they put money and effort into Pokemon Home if they had no intentions of you being able to send all of your Pokemon to the Galar region eventually? Assuming you can catch every single Pokemon between the two games, this largely makes Home irrelevant. Secondly, there is the possibility of gradual releases, like with Pokemon GO, or a full fledged 3rd version with a complete National Dex. Gamefreak knows players have worked hard breeding and raising Pokemon over the years and aren't just going to toss aside years of making every single Pokemon game compatible with one another in some way just to cut it off now. I would be SHOCKED if they really do cut off non regional dex Pokemon completely.

 

[bobandbill]

I'm not really worried at all to be honest. Sure, it isn't the greatest of news but it's probably not as bad as it seems. For starters, why would they put money and effort into Pokemon Home if they had no intentions of you being able to send all of your Pokemon to the Galar region eventually? Assuming you can catch every single Pokemon between the two games, this largely makes Home irrelevant. Secondly, there is the possibility of gradual releases, like with Pokemon GO, or a full fledged 3rd version with a complete National Dex. Gamefreak knows players have worked hard breeding and raising Pokemon over the years and aren't just going to toss aside years of making every single Pokemon game compatible with one another in some way just to cut it off now. I would be SHOCKED if they really do cut off non regional dex Pokemon completely.

You might need to be shocked...

CherrimToday at 10:29 PM
oh, well, reviving the topic from #sword-and-shield earlier, i looked into it more and if this is what was actually said, it does sound like it may be the plan for pokemon games going forward to only include a subset of pokemon https://pokemon-matome.net/articles/198424.html

oof yeah i listened again and it def sounds like this is how it's gonna be going forward so they don't have to rebalance everything with every single game
so that's... interesting.

Of course, the points you made are valid, which is what makes this all the more baffling.

 

[Rivvon]

Jeez, I didn't even pay much attention but you are right, the amount of Gen 1 Pokemon in the dex does paint a worrying picture. What reason is there to keep beating the Gen 1 drum still? Is it just Masuda's weird imagination thinking older fans only care about Kanto?

I had been trying so hard to justify Leon's Charizard ace as part of a sort of bait-and-switch but with this news I'm like, legit worried about the amount of gen 1 pandering these games may have with that Charizard in mind.

For starters, why would they put money and effort into Pokemon Home if they had no intentions of you being able to send all of your Pokemon to the Galar region eventually? ... Secondly, there is the possibility of gradual releases, like ... a full fledged 3rd version with a complete National Dex.

I'd say that's big reason to be upset. "Saving" the National Dex for a third version is a very money-grubbing move; yeah, businesses want to make money, but that's taking things a bit too far, I'd say. People had already been pointing out the questionable tactic of releasing glorified DLC as a full-priced game release not even a year after the original launched--imagine locking the entire National Dex, and therefore the ability to transfer your precious Pokémon, behind it, too.

 

[Sheep]

^I'm assuming all of gen I Pokémon will be available, given Let's Go on the Switch and them probably not wanting to make any of the Pokémon caught in the most recent main series game untransferable. As someone who does competitive breeding and shiny hunting, I'm pretty worried about what this means going forward. /:

 

[lilaë21]

I am not that bothered by the fact they're doing this, honestly that's something I had thought it would happen if only just not this generation but in a future one; the thing that definitely disappoints me is that the majority of Pokémon shown so far are Gen I ones which are getting annoying (and I can't even be relieved on the personal side, as that number does not include any of the few Gen I favourites I have). I just hope that the Galar dex alone includes at least 550 Pokémon; given that their models look really like the 3DS ones it probably wouldn't be much of a challenge to get them in... but I am somehow still skeptical at this point.

 

[Sydian]

if all of gen I is available that better include alolan forms

 

[Rivvon]

People who were working on a Ribbon 'Mon should hope Galar has no new ribbons or that their 'Mon is in the regional 'Dex otherwise they'll need to start all over! That would be, what, 5? generations of work completely gone!

 

[colours]

People who were working on a Ribbon 'Mon should hope Galar has no new ribbons or that their 'Mon is in the regional 'Dex otherwise they'll need to start all over! That would be, what, 5? generations of work completely gone!

I feel terrible for the people who are working on a living dex across the generations... all that work gone as well, assuming there's no plans for patches or anything to remedy this. :s

 

[Rivvon]

I feel terrible for the people who are working on a living dex across the generations... all that work gone as well, assuming there's no plans for patches or anything to remedy this. :s

I'm really close to finishing my own living dex, actually! I try to get as many as I can from trades so I can say my Pokémon are really from all across the world! Not like any of that matters now, though! :,D

Good thing I didn't try starting a living shiny dex!

 

[Benermerut]

I feel terrible for the people who are working on a living dex across the generations... all that work gone as well, assuming there's no plans for patches or anything to remedy this. :s

They could just keep their living dex on Pokemon Home though? I understand some of the other complaints, but this seems like a non-issue.

 

[colours]

They could just keep their living dex on Pokemon Home though? I understand some of the other complaints, but this seems like a non-issue.

Or Game Freak/Nintendo could continually support Bank on the Switch, eliminating the need for Home entirely as a separate service because cynically speaking it does seem like a money-grab. If you're the type to have your 'mons on Bank, now you have to be worried for the possibility of Nintendo shutting it down like they have their wifi services pre-Gen 6. This eliminates the need of transferring your 'mons to another cloud service in the first place.

I dunno, I'm not a collector by any means so I could have no idea what I'm talking about here. I imagine they could leave it in Pokemon Home, but otherwise would have no actual access to those Pokemon in their main games which may or may not be a bummer. That's how I would view it, though.

 

[Ducolamia]

I'm really 50/50 on this. On one hand this isn't going to kill the games for me. I like what I saw so far (yes, I like dynamaxing too, I know) so I'll just go in fresh. I have the feeling they will patch it in the future or at least make it up in other games (this is the start of the newest gen). I usually only use pokemon from that gens pokedex so whatever breedables are in home won't really bother me being left behind. Maybe it's because I already felt the shock from Gen 3 and Gen 5, but that's just how I feel.

HOWEVER. I can completely understand people being disappointed. Pokemon is about the journey you make. So when you limit those options, it really kills that part of the game. Especially for the fact that there are many people who carry a personal connection to the pokemon they had over the years. I can imagine many others would be upset because whether or not your favorite pokemon is Druggidon or even Stunfisk, I feel everyone should be allowed to use whatever pokemon they wish (without completely breaking the game). I can imagine the more well-known pokemon being game such as Milotic or Gyrados, but what if you like finneon and it's not a part of the regional dex? Boom, the option is gone (at least for the moment). Yeah, Finneon isn't the best pokemon but somewhere out there someone must care for it.

That being said, I do think this will be patched later. Because if not, Home is just completely pointless. I assume whether it's via a remake or sequel we will the get opportunity.

 

[Simply Dunsparce]

I did the math and from what has been shown from trailers, the official website, and the E3 gameplay, the regional dex has already exceeded the number 130 if I'm not mistaken. A large portion of what is not going to be available will probably be legendaries, mythicals, ultra beasts, and starters of past generations, which is pretty par far for the corse. As for who else doesn't show up, only time will tell, I guess.

 

[Sydian]

i fear that this might start a dangerous trend of excluding less popular pokemon in future games. if you think about it, USUM (and i think SM) did not have a national dex either. you're still able to transfer, sure, but with this kerfuffle about home, let's say you can't. generations after this, they just limit the region to a certain batch of pokemon. but you know they're not going to exclude popular pokemon. your eevee, lucario, pikachu, possibly even starters will be safe. hope your faves aren't obscure. oh you stan carnivine? maractus? heatmor? chatot? numel? lmfaooo good luck getting them, their last appearance will be like XY or smth.

tl;dr the pokemon distribution in later generations could be messed up and we miss out on even seeing some for a long time is this is not mended. i'm personally not so concerned with transferring old pokemon up to the latest generation. that's never been my thing. but i'm more concerned as a collector and as someone that does have some obscure favorites.

 

[Fairy]

I'm starting to collect a lot of "meh"s about these games. I'm still going to get it, nothing is a deal breaker here, but in every discussion I feel like I'm saying "okay this is cool but..." and I'm not thrilled about it. :<

Anyway, I am also concerned about this and hope the trend doesn't continue. If the rest of the Pokémon are going to be patched or downloaded into the games at a later date, that does mean the entire dex is hard coded in, to some extent. Data miners will find what we need to know in time.

 

[Brendino]

As someone who doesn't really use Pokemon Bank or really transfer Pokemon between games (my original saves stay on my cartridges for eternity lol), it's still a bit concerning if a good chunk of Pokemon aren't going to be usable in the game. The original Alolan Pokedex only had about 300/800 available Pokemon at the time, and in USUM it wasn't much better, at just under 50% of the National Dex included.

Going low and assuming we get about 75 new Pokemon, it would be a shame to see the Galar Pokedex be any less than that 400 number. I'm just worried that it'll be closer to 300, and that we're missing nearly 2/3rds of the National Dex in SwSh.

 

[User Anon 1848]

I heard an interesting theory from shofu and his friend that Game Freak/Nintendo make more money from the Pokemon trading cards and toys than the games. That's why they consider the games more of a means to promote the newer Pokemon that they can make more profitable merchandise out of. I have zero data to back that up, I'm just echoing a theory from a popular Poketuber that I heard.

 

[Percy]

100% gen 1 pokemon will be included, i bet hahaha.
I'm a bit reserved about this news since I'm not really a collector of some kind. sounds like bad news but eh

 

[Candy]

Honestly the minute I heard the news I thought welp, guess I'm not transferring my years of hard work over to the 8th Gen. I'll just start my living dex over on whatever game I'll get and just leave it there. It ain't fun when my full living dex can't go along, as well as potentially not having all of my apricorn ball Pokemon over as well.

It ain't the dealbreaker for me, but I am still very disappointed.

 

[BrandoSheriff]

I'll second that bet on Gen 1 staying in it's entirety, lmao.

I'm gonna take the optimistic route and hope that eventually support for all the cut Pokemon will be patched in later like with SM and PokeBank, but as it stands, it's a really dumb decision. I'll understand if something like time constraints are an issue. But every Pokemon is someone's favorite, and imagine their disappointment when they can't bring it over or even outright use it. Some make a little sense, like starters and legendaries. But I can't for the life of me see why someone would greenlight this decision to prevent their use at all.

On top of that, just how big will this game's regional dex be for the amount of cut Pokemon to not matter as much? 500? 600? Either way, that'd be a LOT of cuts. I'm just gonna hope it's a time constraints thing. As someone who loves their living dex to death, it'll be a HUGE oof from me if otherwise.