Broken Base / Pokémon

Pokémon is one of the best-selling franchises in the world with massive amounts of anime, games and other content, so it's not surprising that some aspects of it have proven so divisive that they routinely start massive arguments.

For characters that are divisive, go here.

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• Pokémon: The Series
• Pokémon GO

Main Series

General

• The "Generation wars" (arguments about which "generations" of games are better) are the franchise's biggest base breaker. Any major or even minor change a generation makes from its predecessors will have fans either praising the advances or decrying the Generation or even the entire franchise ruined, to the point that it's borderline impossible to find someone that accepts all of them fully. We could sit here all day listing the ways the Generation divides run, but here are some of the biggest points of contention:
  • Generation 1 vs. Generations 2-9: This one even got a derisive nickname, "Genwunners", for those who insist the first generation of Pokémon games are the only good ones. These types of fans refuse to acknowledge any part of the franchise after the first generation, usually due to childhood nostalgia, and decry all changes made since the original games as overcomplicating what was a more "pure" experience. Consequently, other fans became sick of the original games and outright refuse to admire them, often bashing the somewhat dated designs of the earliest Pokémon and pointing out how the newer battle system, though somewhat complicated, is a vast improvement over the infamously buggy and flawed battle system of old. Expect to hear "There are only 151 real Pokémon", both seriously and satirically. Due to a common (though most likely false) rumor that the video game series was originally planned to end after GSC, the argument sometimes gets expanded into Gens 1-2 vs. Gens 3-Present.
  • Generations 4/5-9 vs Generations 1-4/5: This is largely a debate about Pokémon designs, as starting in the DS era some fans felt that they became unoriginal, derivative, and a sign of the designers running out of ideas. Just mentioning the word "unoriginal" angers fans of the newer Pokémon to no end, with them accusing fans of seeing things through a Nostalgia Filter, pointing out how many older Pokemon are just as, if not less, inspired than the newer ones. Some even go the complete opposite route and ignore the older Pokémon because they find the newer ones far more interesting. Even when exactly Pokémon designs "became unoriginal" is a point of contention: some claim it was Generation 4 for introducing several Pokémon that were just preevolutions or evolutions of others (or both in Roselia's case), while others claim it was Generation 5 for its Suspiciously Similar Substitutes of many older Pokémon.
  • Generations 1-5 vs. Generation 6-9: Some fans dislike and refuse to acknowledge the sixth generation onward for three main reasons: the emphasis on additional battle mechanics like Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, and Terastallizing which are often treated like gimmicks instead of changes to the core experience; the shrinking of postgame features (no Battle Frontier in ORAS, the Sword/Shield postgame being boring and repetitive, and the complete absence of the Battle Tower in Scarlet and Violet); and pandering for Gen 1 (Kanto starters in Generation 6, only Kanto Pokémon getting Alolan Forms in Generation 7, the mere existence of Pokémon Let's Go: Pikachu and Eevee, and most of the Pokémon with Gigantamax versions in Generation 8 being either Kanto Pokémon or Galar newcomers), which inflames the aforementioned "Genwunners" debate. Naturally none of this sits well with the fans of these generations, who enjoy the increased attention and relevance the Kanto saga has received (with many old-school players coming back because of them), prefer the decreased focus on the postgame due to more effort going to the main games (especially with the Alola and Paldea games), and perceive the pre-Gen 6 games as stepping stones just there to polish the gameplay experience into what it is now (hence the greater emphasis on "gimmicks" once it was fully polished). As Generation 6 also marked the introduction of the controversial Fairy type, which changed the balance that had been set for over a decade, whether one likes the post Gen 6 games or not tends to hinge on their opinion of the type as well.
  • Generations 5 and 7 vs. Generations 1-4, 6, and 8-9: Essentially boiling down to the Casual-Competitive Conflict, the aforementioned two generations (particularly 7) have a much heavier emphasis on story than is typical for the franchise, leading to a divide between people who think the plot is interesting and engaging and those who feel it resulted in a rather lackluster metagame.
  • Generations 1-7 vs. Generation 8-9: Easily the most heated and infamous one currently. Generation 8 marked several radical changes to the Pokémon formula, both in game design and release, that really brought the overall debate to the forefront and made forums a near constant Flame War-torn battlefield. In particular, Sword and Shield marked the beginning of not all Pokémon being able to own in a single game (as in, you literally can't even trade in certain Pokémon, they don't exist in the game files); Legends: Arceus did away with PVP battling and shifted more focus to capturing monsters and completing the regional dex; and Scarlet and Violet marked a shift to an outright Wide-Open Sandbox, putting much more emphasis on non-linear exploration than even Legends: Arceus. To make a long story short, you have people who like the changes, feeling that not having to get every single Pokémon makes 100 percent completion less of a chore whilst inviting ways to better design each game individually instead of releasing what is more or less the same game over and over again, praising Sword and Shield for bringing more attention to the Pokémon that were there and praising Legends: Arceus and Scarlet and Violet for taking the formula of catching Pokémon to its logical conclusion. But you also have those that utterly loathe the changes, with people finding the Dex exclusions insulting and only giving more passage to the things that caused the series' design issues in the first place, whilst going down hard on Sword and Shield for its lackluster campaign and DLC that some felt was overpriced and didn't resolve any of the game's core issues; criticizing Legends: Arceus for going hard in the other direction and throwing away the formula entirely in favor of something that didn't even feature PVP gameplay; and dismissing Scarlet and Violet for seeming to focus on making the world large over making it immersive ("wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle"), noting that Paldea's vast size can make it difficult to find certain Pokémon, and pointing to the abundant glitches and lacking polish as proof that the games needed more time in the oven. This isn't even mentioning the people that don't quite fit into either of these, including those that criticized Sword and Shield for obeying the series' Strictly Formula to a fault whilst praising Legends: Arceus and Scarlet and Violet for doing something new and refreshing, as well as those that praised Sword and Shield for continuing to refine the classic formula and slamming Legends: Arceus and Scarlet and Violet for their radical alterations to the experience.
• The Casual-Competitive Conflict of Pokémon is also a common source for breaks in the fandom. It isn't as bad as other fandoms, as most competitive gamers also play casually, and the vast majority of people on both sides just kinda wanna have fun playing the game their own way, but there are enough dicks on either side (competitive gamers who are insistent that it makes them smarter to play the game this way, regarding casual gamers as incompetent noobs and "not real fans", and casual gamers who treat competitive gamers as though they're abusing real animals instead of game data and then hypocritically scorn competitive gamers for taking the game 'too seriously' (as if wanting to know deeply about something makes it impossible to enjoy it) to make it a touchy subject at times. This also merges with the aforementioned "Generation wars" as how seriously one takes the games tends to factor heavily into which entries they prefer.
• Competitive players themselves are also very divided on many subjects, with numerous divisions among those as well. You got those who denounce people who plug numbers into battle simulators or "Pokémon generators" instead of taking the time to raise their own team, those who swear themselves off of "cheap" strategies as well as those who will use anything that is part of the game, and of course you can't forget those who see no value in Pokémon games aside from the competitive battling aspect of it and perceive the main campaign as little more than padding^note You usually only have access to the tools needed to create competitive monsters only after completing the main story, which can be a huge slog for those who only pick up the game for the competitive battling aspect.. This division is well known in the notoriously argumentative Smogon community.
• Using "Pokémon generators" or otherwise hacking teams for competitive play into the games is a particularly contentious subject. The people OK with it argue that they're not using illegitimate Pokémon (and the few people that try it are quickly caught) and moreso trying to skip the often long grind involved with preparing a competitive team, due to the heavy RNG inherent in catching, breeding, or finding trade partners, and it avoids the prohibitive expenses in preparing tournament-viable Pokémon that can only be found in specific games and transferred only in specific ways (a particularly common viewpoint for those who play older formats due to the online services of the older games depreciating). They also argue that obtaining a competitive ready Pokémon is one thing, but knowing how to use it effectively is another. People against it consider it cheating and argue that it gives them an unfair amount of time to practice due to how quickly they obtained their teams compared to people who got them legitimately^note the main retort against this being that if everyone just hacked in their mons, everyone gets the same amount of time to practice, resulting in a higher skill ceiling and find the ubiquity of "genning" to be symptomatic of a bigger problem, feeling that Pokémon themselves should be easier to prepare for competitive play (something that has arguably been happening for generations, especially with the introductions of Hyper Training, Nature Mints, and the Mirror Herb, presumably to reduce the grind). Furthermore, the methods of hacking Pokémon into the games may not be readily accessible to someone, or they are simply against using mods or hacks in videogames altogether. There is also the issue with trading with strangers such as via Surprise Trade, as it's entirely possible that a genuine player gets a competitive mon that seems legitimate only to learn later that it's a hacked one, resulting in the genuine player getting banned due to someone else's action. Lastly, the franchise is no stranger to Temporary Online Content Pokémon that can only be obtained at specific real-world dates (and sometimes also specific real-world locations), meaning that hacking can be literally the only way to get those Pokémon to use in battle and fill up the Pokédex. This argument is even hoisted by the people who don't play the games competitively, as they'll argue that "genning" being so commonplace at a high level is emblematic of all the reasons to not play at a high level.
• Are the version-exclusive contents fair or blatantly one-sided? Groudon's and Yveltal's severe disadvantage against Kyogre and Xerneas respectively, the version-exclusive Mega Evolutions (especially Mega Charizard X), and White 2 players only getting Easy Mode are some of the examples. While such content can be traded between games, one really has to wonder if the trade-off is really fair to begin with if one version is clearly inferior to the other.
• There is a notable Broken Base as to the Pokémon's cries, due to how they differ across media. Fans argue over whether the synthesized animal noises of the games, the Pokémon Speak of the anime and numerous spinoffs, or the voiced animal noises of Pokémon Origins and the B2W2 animated trailer are the best and should be used in media. While Pokémon Speak was once more widely criticized due to its heavy association with the anime, it became more accepted as the norm as it was used in more media (most notably the live-action Pokémon Detective Pikachu), to the point that some reviewers such as Jim Sterling criticized its absence in the games in favor of the digitized cries they always used.
• The Pronoun Trouble that occurs when referring to certain Pokémon. Is it appropriate to use "It", or should you use gender-indicating pronouns? This is prominent in regards to Pokémon that are One Gender Races, especially since there's more than one individual.
• A small but vocal group (notably including Dogasu, the creator of the anime comparison website Dogasu's Backpack) are the people who dislike the localization of the names of Pokémon, characters, and places, and would rather all international versions retain the Japanese names for everything. This, of course, doesn't sit well with the people who were introduced to Pokémon via names in their country's language or otherwise prefer their own country's localization over the original Japanese versions, and as what's essentially a Subbing vs. Dubbing debate, conversations get dicey really quickly.
• A common argument among the fandom is whether dragon-like Pokémon that aren't Dragon-type, such as (non-Mega X) Charizard, Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Thundurus-Therian, and (non-Mega) Sceptile, count as dragons or not, and whether they were intended to be dragons in the first place. This video has more on the issue, and concludes that the lack of Dragon typing was simply in order to prevent Charizard from being overpowered (similar arguments can apply to Gyarados and Sceptile), and the TCG website confirms that such Pokémon are "inspired by" dragons of various kinds. Some people look to the franchise's Spiritual Antithesis Monster Hunter for the answer: while most monsters in that series are dragons,^note most of which are referred to as "wyverns" in the English localization, there is also a Pokémon-like "Dragon" elemental typing that only applies to a subset of powerful monsters (some of which aren't traditionally draconic), bringing up the possibility of "Dragon" as an elemental classification rather than an animal descriptor. The issue isn't limited to dragonlike Pokémon, as there are other species with appearances, habits, and movepools that defy their typing, such as the fairylike Celebi not being Fairy-type, Midnight Form Lycanroc looking and acting like a textbook Dark-type but being pure Rock, the antlion-based Trapinch line not being Bug-type despite being in the Bug egg group, and quite a few aquatic Pokémon (such as Lugia, Stunfisk, and Dragalge) not being Water-type.
• Sometimes debates can exist between fans of two different Pokémon species for whatever reason:
  • The Arceus vs. Mew debate. Some fans argue that, in canon, Mew is the original ancestor of all Pokémon (as it contains the DNA of all Pokémon), while other fans put Arceus at the top of the pinnacle as the absolute progenitor of all Pokémon (as its mythos describes it creating the universe itself). Some go the opposite way and say that Arceus created Mew first, and then used her/it to create every other Pokémon, or all other Pokémon developed from Mew via Darwinian evolution; another compromise, though there are some who disagree with this too, of course.
  • There's also a rivalry between fans of Flygon (an antlion that is somehow a dragon) and Garchomp (a land shark... that is also somehow a dragon.) Flygon fans viciously and relentlessly bash Garchomp for being overrated, overpowered, outclassing Flygon in every way, having an ugly and overcomplicated design, and getting "special treatment" from Game Freak while Flygon's been left in the dust since the generation of its debut, especially after Garchomp got a Mega Evolution and Flygon didn't^noteGame Freak's actually pretty much Mis-blamed on that last bit; they genuinely tried to come up with Mega Evolutions for both Pokémon, and while they succeeded with Garchomp, even after several attempts during the development of Pokémon X and Y and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire they couldn't get a design for Mega Flygon down they felt was good enough. Garchomp fans just want Flygon fans to stop complaining and leave them and their landshark be, are just as prone to playing the "overrated" card as their opposition, and sometimes claim they and their Pokémon of choice are the real underdogs fandom-wise (the last two being fueled by the fact people who prefer Flygon actually seem to outnumber them by a good margin).
  • The exact same situation exists between fans of Scyther and Scizor as Flygon and Garchomp for the exact same reasons. The irony? Scizor is Scyther's evolution.
  • As a result of Greninja successfully becoming a Breakout Character in Generation VI, a fierce rivalry started between Decidueye fans and Incineroar fans over which of their starters should get the same treatment. Decidueye fans cite Rowlet's popularity and Decidueye's playable appearance in Pokkén Tournament DX, while Incineroar fans cite its competitive success in doubles, its increased prominence in the anime, and Incineroar's playable appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Primarina fans, on the other hand, are just disappointed at the species' lack of representation in media, though Primarina being chosen as the Water-type partner of Hatsune Miku for Project Voltage made things better somewhat.
• There is also a divide regarding Pokémon designs in general. Namely: do the newer ones suck? Were the old ones always bad? Was it acceptable back then, or not? It's common for fans of the older games to ridicule later designs for being "unoriginal" and "uninspired", often because of Nostalgia Filter, but some feel that the newer designs focus less on being "monsters" and more just abstract representations of various concepts. Needless to say, this pisses off fans of the newer 'mons to no end, to the point that some go out of their way to meticulously pick apart older designs for lacking just as much if not more "originality" or "inspiration" compared to the newer monsters, finding the designs of the newer ones to have more thought and care put into them. Others are just sick of the debate altogether as it starts up nearly every time a new Pokémon is introduced, and the people who decry the newer designs often come out of the woodworks just to say the 'mons before them are far superior, even when said previous mons include the ones they complained about.^note This can be called the "Zelda Cycle", which is also very prominent in that series' fanbase.
  • There's also what Pokémon should actually be used. Many players will only use Pokémon that they consider to have a close resemblance to actual animals or fantasy creatures whilst denouncing all others as either ugly, filler, or both. Then there are the people who consider the animal-esque Pokémon boring and overused, and instead use Pokémon with more surreal or humorous designs. And finally, there are the people who appreciate all (or almost all) Pokémon designs, use both animal-esque and surreal Pokémon, and consider the design debates ridiculous and childish.
• Which types should get Eeveelutions? Should every type get an Eeveelution or not? There's also the issue of portraying them as male-biased (which respects their gender ratio) or female-only or -biased. The latter irks followers of the former, particularly since followers of the latter seem obsessed with doing it to them specifically, while considering males of other Pokémon (even ones that are female-biased!) to be fair game.
• Any time a mechanic or content featured in the tail-end game(s) of a generation (such as Move Tutors that teach a wider variety of moves or a greater/more readily-accessible amount of Mega Evolutions) is removed from the first two games of the next one, often only to be added back in when that gen's tail-end games are released. Some defend this practice as Game Freak has to convince people to buy the next games somehow, and it gives them the opportunity to improve on the first two. Others find it to be an egregious case of planned obsolescence (why bother buying the first two games when there'll always be an Updated Re-release or rough equivalent that'll have more things in it?), and point out that taking something out of a game only to add it back into a new game later on does not an improvement make.
• The overlap between Pokémon fans and furries creates a rather notorious divide. The existence of Pokémon anthros, known as Pokémorphs^noteThough the term's also been applied to things as varied as people who can turn into Pokémon a la Animorphs, to fully human gijinkas who just have clothes, hair and eyes/eye colors resembling the Pokémon species they're based on and everything in between, just makes both halves of the debate worse, to the point on one end of the divide one of the most famous Pokémon fanfics is an intentional Deconstruction of Pokemorph fics.
• In a different direction, the fanbase for Pokémon had already been broken right from Day 1. Fans of the video games, of Pokémon: The Series, of Pokémon Adventures, and of the card game are largely separate. Chances are if someone says they're a fan of Pokémon, they're only a fan of one of the above and range between a passing interest to vile disgust at the rest of them.
  • The feud between fans of the anime and fans of the Pokémon Adventures manga is particularly nasty. The latter will constantly talk up how Adventures has been overall far better received than the anime ever has due to its willingness to discuss more mature subject matter compared to the anime, claiming people who actually prefer it are nothing more than butt-hurt, nostalgia-blind Mareep with no taste. The former praise the anime precisely for its more lighthearted tone, finding it more appropriate for a franchise meant to appeal to all ages and thus much easier to digest, and decry Adventures for being too "edgy" and abhor its fans for assuming dark automatically means good.
• Datamining, the act of going through the game's code to suss out every secret and tidbit the game has on file. On one hand, people appreciate plumbing the depths of the game's coding because so many mechanics on how the game functions is largely unexplained by the game itself^note Without datamining, things such as Pokémon stats, movepools, egg groups, effort values and individual values would be completely unknown without tedious trial and error as they are intentionally kept secret by the developers to make the experience more "organic". On the other hand, it also inadvertently reveals a great number of spoilers (story related or Pokémon related), which some people unscrupulously post everywhere upon revelation. It's nearly impossible to go into the newest generation of games completely blind unless you've actively avoided all social media or the internet in general (which is increasingly harder to do as time goes on). It also spoils when things such as a new mythical Pokémon is officially revealed by the company; the fanbase already found out about it months in advance, thus the shock factor of the reveal that the company wanted is completely lost. A portion of the fanbase feel the need to put on a Kayfabe of sorts (pretending that the information isn't known) while a portion does not and treat the spoilers as common knowledge (without consideration for those who do not want to be spoiled). It also puts fan websites, wikis (including this one), gaming news sites and YouTube channels in a bind where their creators and maintainers want to enjoy the product spoiler-free but need to post something about the revealed information. This would change starting with the Switch games: Sword and Shield left the Mythical Zarude out of the game entirely at launch, only adding it in with an update after the reveal, and both they and Scarlet and Violet would leave out Pokémon in the base release to be added in future revisions. Though that said, this created another problem, as when these updates release lots of data for later updates are found as well (such as every returning Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet being discovered before either wave launched).
• The growing number of Legendary/Mythical Pokémon over the years has caused some to believe that there are so many of them (some even filling the same "roles" as older ones), that the term "Legendary" has lost all meaning. A portion of fans tend to look the other way for one reason or another (be it the competitive viability of Legendaries like Heatran and the Tapu, or categorizing each gen's Legendaries into "pantheons").
  • A related debate is the nature of Legendary species — should they be Single Specimen Species (with multiple members existing being a bad idea that cheapens them), or should their reappearance in multiple games be a sign that more than one exists? Some split the difference by applying the former belief to "major" mascot Legendaries, and the latter to "minor" ones like Articuno.^note Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! supports this with multiple Legendary Birds being up for capture. Others staunchly stand by the former opinion, even in the face of official material and openly non-unique Legendaries like the Cosmog line, Koraidon, and Miraidon. And when discussing the topic in relation to Mewtwo (and a very controversial movie's stance), tread carefully.
  • The use of legendaries in-game is also something of a divider. They're already relegated to the Uber tier in competitive battling, and banned in battle frontiers/subways/towers/whatever, but players still disagree over whether it's okay to use legendaries during the storyline to make it easier (or precisely because they have undergone such Uniqueness Decay that using them should ultimately be inconsequential) or if it just makes it way too easy and being able to use Legendaries so early on "breaks the spirit" of the game. Then of course there's player vs player wireless play outside the Smogon rules, where some will use them and some won't.
• Pokémon HOME has been a divisive subject among the fandom ever since the announcement of "Dexit" back in June of 2019; just about the only thing agreed upon by both sides is that locking the Judge function behind a paywall is pointless, especially for Pokémon that can be transferred to a mainline title and have its individual values read that way. It has drawn the ire of many for locking away many features that were once part of the main series proper, namely the Global Trade Station and the National Pokédex. The removal of the latter, particularly, has led many to give the app derisive nicknames such as "Pokémon Prison", referencing how Pokémon transferred from before Generation 7 are stuck in HOME and cannot be taken out unless they are available in a mainline game. Others are more charitable to the app, particularly those who either did not care for or were okay with "Dexit" because of the massive workload involved with bringing every Pokémon forward in every mainline game, saying that HOME gives these "forgotten" Pokémon a centralized platform to be carried onto upon every periodic release. Some fans even use this to justify the shunting of the GTS to Pokémon HOME, for it now being the only place that allows players to store all known Pokémon makes it the most sensible platform for trading them away. None of this even touches on the Premium Plan, which flares up almost any forum or social media post that dares to mention it: you'll find a whole spectrum of opinions, ranging from finding it to be a miniscule expense that should not matter to people buying 40 to 60 dollar games every year and something that actually makes the experience more centralized, to flabbergasted fans that think charging any more than an annual dollar for storing kilobytes of data on a server owned by one of the richest companies on the planet is outrageous.
• The overall structure of the main series has been slowly but surely causing more and more rifts in the playerbase, with there being numerous points of contention. Few will say that any of the mainline Pokémon games are bad video games (aside from Scarlet and Violet, and even that is not a uniform opinion in the community); the fanbase largely agrees that they are all of generally good and consistent quality. However, opinions are very split over what makes a good or bad Pokémon game. One side argues that the series is a stagnant relic of the 90s that has long suffered from age and is in dire need of some sort of noticeably distinct change to the plot mechanism and/or battle mechanics to stay relevant, seeing the games' tried and true "8 Gyms and Champion" formula as extremely tired and dated. The other side argues that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", saying Pokémon has managed to persevere through polishing a formula the developers have found to work, something that not many series can attest to, and point to the series' attempts at changing it, including in spinoff titles, as for why the main series is fine with it. This being such a core concept of the games means that this commonly reflects in how the fanbase reacts to specific games and the design choices made in them. For instance, Generations V and VII, with their more linear campaigns and story driven experiences coming at the expense of PVP gameplay that the series was then largely known for, are commonly praised by the former camp but criticized by the latter camp, while Generations VI, VIII, and IX, with their focus on picking from a large variety of monsters and exploration that downplayed the need for serious stories, are commonly praised by the latter camp but criticized by the former camp. These major shifts in creative direction have resulted in every entry since the start of Gen V being a Contested Sequel one way or the other.
  • Generation V was the first generation to see significant change for the Pokémon franchise, mostly with a focus on deeper lore and more developed characters and stories, as well as a completely new, self-contained regional Pokédex with no older species. However, the games were met with glowing praise by some fans and apathy from others, resulting in lower sales than Gen IV; many of the changes and innovations Gen V introduced fell by the wayside in the subsequent (and differently polarizing) 3DS entries. Some fans (especially overzealous supporters of the generation) believe Gen V to be perfect and point to "genwunners" as the main or sole reason why its innovations fell by the wayside. Others believe that the games' novelty was undermined by some of their creative decisions being out of touch with the fanbase at large — such as with the extremely polarizing Unova Pokédex of Pokémon Black and White — and that Game Freak misattributed the blame to fans not liking Gen V in general, resulting in future games distancing themselves from Gen V as a whole. Others still believe Gen V to not have been as innovative or groundbreaking as many people claimed, which by itself is also divisive - either people find it a good decision and a very natural progression from the Generation IV games (making Generation V stand out as simply better rather than unique like every other generation does), or that its weak attempts at being "different" were already signs of Pokémon being desperate for new ideas and continuing along its path of being a Franchise Zombie — and that, in fact, the games tried so hard to be different that they ended up alienating fans of the classic formula and Pokémon species.
  • Generation VI marked a general shift towards linear plots, gimmicks such as Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, and Dynamaxing, larger regional Pokédexes that rely heavily on past generations (especially Gen I), and more user-friendly competitive breeding and training in favor of fewer postgame features. Some fans highly enjoyed these changes, as shown by the greater sales and mainstream attention of games from Pokémon X and Y onwards; the increased focus on classic Pokémon helped win back those who were alienated by the Unova games, and many fans highly appreciated how Game Freak finally acknowledged and helped players deal with Guide Dang It! competitive mechanics like EV's and IV's. Other fans did not enjoy this new direction for the franchise, mostly for making the games less engaging for fans invested in single-player campaigns, sidequests/exploration, and postgame facilities. This divide wasn't at all helped by the many design and technical flubs in the games since, such as highly inefficient programming (resulting in framerate drops), oversights in Pokémon movesets and mechanics, underwhelming visuals, and of course the infamous Pokédex and move exclusions. Overall, fans in the latter category accused the games of transitioning from self-contained creative endeavors to an unpolished, Merchandise-Driven arm meant to advertise the rest of the franchise and establish Pokémon as marketing icons, much like the anime.^note Coincidentally, the corresponding seasons of the anime are viewed as significant improvements over its adaptations of Generations III through V, but suffer from many of the same complaints, leading to accusations that effort is "divided more evenly" between the anime and games than before.
  • Generation VII is interesting because it somehow managed to be a hybrid of both of these extremes and yet still be incredibly divisive. It drew the ire of many of those that gave Gen V flak due to its greater emphasis on story and plot that seemingly came at the expense of gameplay, and as such were torn apart by those who did not care for the story and wanted just to complete it to participate in competitive play. However, it also managed to piss off those that criticized Gen VI for its Kanto-pandering and focus on gimmicks instead of raw changes to the core experience, resulting in it being torn apart by many of those that wanted a serious story to begin with. The sales trends also mimicked what happened with Generation V, with the games selling worse than the previous generation overall and being more popular in Japan than overseas, resulting in a number of discussion points brought up in the Gen V era resurfacing during the Gen VII era.
  • Generation VIII exposed a massive fault line in the community with the announcement of a new development philosophy, one that shifted to curated monster selections for each game and disallowing the use or acquisition of Pokémon outside of it, effectively fully discarding the series' former tagline "Gotta catch 'em all!". Within seconds, the Treehouse stream announcing it was slammed by thousands of dislikes, and became a frequent discussion topic, named "Dexit", during and after the prerelease of Sword and Shield. Those opposed to the decision, especially those whose main directive in the games was to collect them all and those whose preferred Pokémon and team compositions were made unavailable, argue that having them all is so fundamental that removing them is not only an insult to both the fans that cherish each creature and the people that made them, but led to many other parts of the game suffering (such as the Battle Tower, which was inevitably going to be far less compelling as a result of a Dex purge). Those who defend it say that they never cared to collect them all and that the work needed to bring them all in every game would be massive for very little payoff, especially when the series had been piling up baggage for so long, and "Dexit" gave them a chance to start fresh and reevaluate the series on the whole (though whether they succeeded or not is a subject of very heavy debate as well).
  • Generation IX saw Scarlet and Violet follow the precedent Legends: Arceus set by making the series more open and nonlinear, in this case by making all of Paldea one large Wide-Open Sandbox. Those who support the decision love the sense of exploration and non-linearity it provides in letting players essentially go anywhere, talk to everyone, and catch anything whenever they want, seeing it as the logical conclusion of Pokémon moving to home consoles, and in some ways what Sword and Shield should have been. Detractors point to the tendency for players to get lost in the Quicksand Box and the relative ineffectiveness of the game's attempts to alleviate this, the lack of interiors and dungeons making Paldea feel less full than it could be, the series still making use of "soft" railroading by having Gym Leaders use only one team with the average levels of each increasing as they did previously, and the frequent glitches and Special Effect Failure as a sign that Game Freak is spreading itself too thin by trying to make an open-world game without the time to polish it. And of course, "Dexit" critics disliked Scarlet and Violet on principle since they still don't have every Pokémon or move in the code (although whether the redone graphics and size of the game world justify this is up for debate).
  • One of the most intense debates, especially after Gen VIII, is whether the franchise should abandon its roots entirely and become a Wide-Open Sandbox and/or an Action RPG. Supporters say that it is the best possible shakeup the franchise could use, and often cite games such as Yo Kai Watch 4 as examples of "what Pokémon should have evolved into by now". Opponents think the franchise can innovate in other ways (such as story, see above), don't want the franchise to blindly Follow the Leader for games like Breath of the Wild, and prize Pokémon as a rare RPG franchise that hasn't moved away from turn-based gameplay. Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which are both open-world and left behind some of the series' traditional elements, have ensured the debate will continue.
• The borderline monopoly Pokémon has over the monster collection genre leaves the series' fans divided. Many fans, even those who absolutely adore Pokémon, are either frustrated or outright disgusted that nearly every game that even remotely resembles Pokémon in some abstract way gets upbraided for not being Pokémon and is doomed to have lackluster sales regardless of its merits, whilst the lack of any real competition means Pokémon can get away with severe design issues, some of which have plagued it for ages. Nevertheless, there are just as many fans who are okay with or even come to expect this, as other monster collectors tend to just be generic role players adhering to most of their standard tropes, especially when most of them do not emphasize or even have multiplayer, and/or have significant issues of their own that may also date back to earlier inceptions and get ignored precisely because they aren't Pokémon, arguing the success of Pokémon is due to its effective formula and the generally consistent quality of its games, which receive more scrutiny due to the greater attention they get. Part of why there's such an intense Fandom Rivalry with Palworld is that it's by far the most successful of these "Pokémon competitors" and has plenty merits to its name, with numerous players seeing Palworld less as a game and more as a way to finally loosen Pokemon's iron grasp on the genre.
• Opinions on the various battle gimmicks (Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, Dynamax, and Terastallization) are very mixed across the fanbase. On top of those fans who simply do not like them at all and wish they'd just go away, preferring when the franchise didn't have them, there is also a lot of arguments about which gimmick is best. One such divide existing between fans who prefer Mega Evolution, preferring the targeted focus on specific mons to give them a new design and stat changes that often help often beloved Pokémon stand out again or for the first time, and those who prefer the other methods which can be applied to every Pokémon and make playing less predictable.
• There is a split between fans who believe or deny the "Zodiac Theory", regarding whether or not Fire-type Starters have Zodiac Motifs based on the animals of the Eastern Zodiac. Most of the Fire Starters are clearly based on Eastern Zodiac animals, but the Cyndaquil and Fuecoco lines throw the theory into question, as the former (the Rat, according to supporters) is based on a hedgehog, while the latter (supposedly the Snake) is based on a crocodile. Believers think this is just GameFreak being flexible with what counts as what, while deniers take this as proof that the theory is false, since believers have to make stretches to support their claims, and the 'Mons that do fit the theory are just a coincidence.

Gen III

RSE

• There are copious arguments about whether the Hoenn games are good or bad, or even the best ever or worst ever, especially with fans of the "early modern" era becoming increasingly vocal in their displeasure with later entries. These games cleaned up the code of the original games immensely, and made several introductions that have gone on to become series staples such as Abilities and Multi Battles, creating a pipeline still in use over 20 years later. Hoenn as a region is widely praised for having an incredibly diverse range of places to explore, such as a shipwreck, meteor falls, volcanoes, and the like. Emerald in particular is praised for having two evil teams, leading to a very engaging main campaign, and introducing the Battle Frontier, widely seen as one of the best forms of postgame content in mainline Pokémon. However, these games are also seen as an Audience-Alienating Era due to coming at the tail-end of "Pokémania" and their lack of connectivity with the Game Boy titles, with Ruby and Sapphire lacking over half of the total number of Pokémon at the time. Furthermore, despite the technical overhaul that began with these games, they are also blamed for embodying or codifying a number of trends that would get out of hand in future entries, such as version-exclusive Legendary Pokémon that required either buying both games or finding someone willing to give up their exclusive, increasingly convoluted Evolution mechanics that cannot be deduced without a guide, and rival characters that are either overly friendly or simply uninteresting and unengaging.
• The games' heavy use of Surf is a very sticky discussion point. Unlike the lakes and rivers in both past and future entries, Hoenn gives players a literal ocean to explore, prompting complaints about needing to use Hidden Machines, already considered a Scrappy Mechanic, way more often and as soon as possible (which resurfaced in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and led to the infamous "too much water" meme), and that it is far too easy to get lost trying to explore it. Defenders instead find it a way to redeem the HM mechanic and like that it's needed beyond a limited number of locations, seeing how easy it is to get lost as a good thing as it makes the region expansive and free-roaming^note Some have noted that this is a case of Reality Is Unrealistic, although the fact that the Pokémon universe is hardly reality also bears consideration.
• The soundtrack is noted for its heavy use of the french horn and trumpet samples, which many fans feel make the score sound homogenous, grating, and amateurish. Another group argues that these instruments are iconic, are serviceable for the Game Boy Advance, and give the score its distinct flavor. Nostalgia also tends to be a pretty significant factor in a fan's opinion of the music, making both halves of the debate even more heated.

FRLG

• Unlike with HeartGold and SoulSilver, which are near-universally considered an upgrade from Gold and Silver, debates rage on about whether FireRed and LeafGreen are Polished Ports of Red and Blue and better than the originals, or not. From the group that was not satisfied with the remakes, there is another division on the reason of their discontent - namely, whether the games stick too much to the originals (preventing breeding or obtaining any Pokémon beyond the first 151 until the post-game, among other absent features) to be appealing, or whether the game's additions (such as the tutorials, or the required Sevii Islands post-game) bring the games down.

Gen IV

DPPt

• Stealth Rock, a rock-type move that sets a trap that damages the enemy's Pokémon when they're sent out, taking up to half of the 'mon's health if it has a double weakness to rock. Competitive players love it for keeping borderline Game Breakers in check and having universal application, while casuals hate it because it's freaking everywhere and makes Mons like Charizard bad, if not worse. Then there are people who like Stealth Rock because it wards off Pokemon that they dislike such as Charizard.
• Whether or not Phione (which can only be obtained by breeding Manaphy, which is undisputably a Mythical) is a Mythical Pokémon is a hot-button debate. The fact that the franchise itself tends to flip-flop on the issue doesn't help much. Supporters will point out that it is typically banned from battle facilities (a trait shared only by Legendaries and Mythicals), is not required to complete the National Dex, and most handbooks refer to it as one. Deniers will point out its unremarkable stats (80 across the board), the fact that it is easy to obtain multiple of, and being treated as a common Pokémon in Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs and an episode of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl.

HGSS

• There's a huge drift in the fandom on whether Lyra is a Suspiciously Similar Substitute or she simply is Kris redesigned, though this has subsided to an extent when Pokémon Masters confirms they are separate characters.
• Voltorb Flip replacing the slots, and more importantly, removing the ability to buy coins. What's even more infuriating is that the Game Corner was the same as usual in the Japanese version. The Voltorb Flip was essentially a Pokémon-themed Minesweeper with a very low reward rate that gave you coins at a slow trickle, making that Porygon (9999 Coins!) and those super-expensive TMs (+10,000 Coins!!) seem much, much more farther away. That being said, there are some people who like it, although most of them wish you could buy the coins as well.
• Sabrina's redesign. Either it is an unexpected but refreshing revamp of her or it takes away the menacing charm given by her original design and the outright malicious counterparts associated with them.
• The games are either praised for playing on the original games' strengths and transitioning well into the then-current game aesthetics, as well as including content from Crystal as well as Platinum's Battle Frontier (especially as it's the last time the Battle Frontier appeared on the series), or criticized because there has been little to no work into fixing the most recognizable flaws of the original games, such as the difficulty and level curves, the wild Pokémon distribution locking several Johto species into the postgame, and Kanto feeling like filler, making the remakes look like a missed opportunity, if not outright worse than the originals.
• Red's Espeon being replaced with a Lapras, a change that has been kept in all of Red's subsequent appearances. Some fans like the change, finding the Lapras received in Silph Co. more iconic than the Eevee received in Celadon City, thinking it fits Red better to only use Kanto Pokémon, and because it gives him a Pokémon immune to Mt Silver's newly added hailstorm. Others preferred Espeon due to how Red having a friendship evolution showed that beneath his outward appearance as The Stoic, he has a deep, genuine love for his companions, and dislike Lapras for adding type redundancy with Blastoise and resulting in half of his team (Blastoise, Charizard and now Lapras) being weak to Electric, and argue that the hailstorm on Mt Silver wasn't necessary and could simply not have been added to begin with.

Gen V

BW

• The main campaign is the game's biggest base breaker, in two ways no less:
  • The regional Pokédex consists only of Unova's new 156 Pokémon, not any old ones. One side finds it not only to be a refreshing change of pace reminiscent of the original Game Boy games, but a great introduction to the new monsters, that helps both new and old players familiarize themselves with the selection (notably so as it remains the largest introduction of new Pokemon to date), with many finding the selection itself to be spectacular^note almost all the Legendary Pokémon have been well-received, Serperior and Samurott are fairly popular as starters (especially after Serperior's Hidden Ability was released in ORAS), and many of the more powerful fully-evolved Pokémon such as Haxorus and Bisharp are praised for their designs, movepools, and typings. The other side finds it to be a needless restriction that fails to capture the magic of when the original games did it, not helped by many Gen 5 Pokémon either being seen as Suspiciously Similar Substitutes for older Pokémon^note Zubat to Woobat, Geodude to Roggenrola, and Machop to Timburr, just to name a few. All of these pairs going to their final evolutions in exactly the same way certainly didn't help. or becoming some of the least popular Pokémon in the series period^note Emboar is the third Fire/Fighting starter in a row, the elemental monkeys are seen as a waste of Dex space, and the Trubbish, Klink, and Vanillite lines have been infamously criticized for being based on inanimate objects. Ostensibly in response to the backlash, this type of regional Pokédex has not been done in the mainline since (not even in the games' direct sequels); later ones would not introduce as many new Pokémon and take many cues from older ones. But this only made the change even more divisive with time: those in the former camp often accuse later Pokédexes of being overly derivative and pandering (especially for Kanto nostalgia), blaming the outrage against the Black/White Pokédex on why future generations would be introducing fewer new monsters from then on, while those in the latter camp point to the better balancing of the later regional Pokédexes as evidence of why limiting to only the new monsters was a poor idea.
  • The games' more involved story and plot compared to past titles. Many praise it for not only being a refreshing change from the Excuse Plot of old, but being surprisingly engaging, especially since this was the first and to this day only mainline Pokémon game in which the Final Boss of the game is not the Champion, with the player character's rivals also being seen as good Foils and fitting perfectly with the theme of the story. However, there are just as many people who ridicule the games' story and plot for being a slog that wasn't that good in the first place, arguing that the story goes down to its most tired straits once Ghetsis is revealed to have just wanted to liberate Pokémon from all Trainers just to leave himself as the sole person with them, and even earlier where it throws away any potential grey morality by having some Plasma grunts cartoonishly kicking a Pokémon to get an item it produces to hammer home early on that they're hypocrites. On top of that the plot forces the game and by extension the Unova region itself to be extremely linear compared to previous games. Similar to the above, this debate would also grow more intense with time as later Pokémon games would dial the story and plot back, especially Pokémon X and Y and Pokémon Sword and Shield; even the games' direct sequels featured a markedly less involved plot. Many lament that the backlash to Black and White made Game Freak hesitant to make a serious story standard, while others argue that the main series has never needed one and has continued to do fine without it.
• Relating to the regional Pokédex, only a handful of older Pokémon are available in the postgame; this notably excludes Series Mascot Pikachu, making Black and White the first mainline games (and the only mainline games aside from their sequels) in which it is unobtainable without transferring or Mystery Gift events. Fans are torn whether this matters or not, as while they only appear when the game is completed and thus players have access to the Poké Transfer Lab, some feel it still comes off as a try-hard attempt to have the new Unova Pokémon set a new "baseline" for the series that neglects much of the series' past.
• Starting with these games, when battling via Wi-Fi or console link, the opponent's entire team (and their nicknames) are all revealed, and this cannot be disabled (in the manner of the Pokémon Stadium series). Some see it as a welcome addition to competitive tactics, and others believe that it ruined the metagame forever. It also notably serves as a premature nerf to Zoroark due to its unique ability becoming less effective.
• Seasons. They're not real-time-based: Spring is in January, May, and September, summer is February, June, and October, fall is March, July, and November, and winter is in April, August, and December. You can go to places in some seasons that you can't reach in others. Some fans love the idea, but a lot of people aren't wild about seeing snow in August and the fact that you sometimes have to wait months to get certain places. Messing around with the internal clock helps speed this up, but it can still be annoying.
• Which Legendary Dragon suits N the best: Zekrom or Reshiram? Debates about this can get surprisingly heated, especially due to the large amount of story focus on N and his goals along with the different interpretations of Ideals and Truth.

B2W2

• Opinions on B2W2 are all over the place, albeit not as vocally as their predecessors and the 3DS entries due to their lower profile. Are they among the best games in the series, if not the best? Do they have a lot of potential that is nonetheless squandered due to bizarre, arbitrary design and restrictions^note most infamously with Challenge Mode and the Key System in general and the Nintendo WFC shutdown? Were they not that outstanding in the first place, with the thinner plot and mess of convoluted bonus features being evidence that the series was running dry? While it's easy to find large groups of fans that share one of the above opinions, there's by no means universal agreement on any of them.
• The Memory Link cutscene with the Shadow Triad and the Striaton Trio really ruffled up the fanbase, as it disconfirmed a popular fan theory that they were one and the same. It restarted the issue that many players had about the Striaton Trio about why they didn't accompany the other Gym Leaders in storming N's Castle (though in Black and White Bianca mentions she did try to reach them...right before Cheren admits to letting Ghetsis and the Shadow Triad escape). Some either ignore the scene outright or still insist that they are the same, arguing that the Striaton Trio were just lying. Other fans were happy about it and glad those who believed in it could finally shut up, seeing the original fan theory as baseless Fan Wank that did not match with either of their characters and was based merely around coincidence (even down to their appearances in Pokémon Adventures). It doesn't help that the Shadow Triad themselves admit they had no reason to appear before the Striaton trio, making some wonder if their presence in the scene was just to discredit the theory (something highly unusual for the mainline games, which generally do not give hard answers to unknowns and prefer that fans devise their own explanations).
• The voice acting in the English version of the animated trailer has caused this. While some fans like the English dub just fine, others either found the dub too over dramatic or claim the dub gave characters awful voices and awful dialogue even to characters who got good voices. Others just wanted the male protagonist's voice actor to stay as Sora.
• Iris, the Gym Leader in the first White game/Drayden's apprentice in Black is now the games' new Champion, dressing like a fancy Disney Princess and giving off a roar in her sprite animation before she battles you. There's a legion of fans who love this, while others argue that Iris is too bratty to actually deserve the title, claiming Alder, Marshal or even Drayden himself more fitting for the title. Her theme is either refreshingly upbeat compared to the intense themes of champions past or unfitting Magical Girl anime music that serves as the worst Champion theme ever.
• For all the old fan-favorite Pokémon brought back for the New Unova Pokédex (including some previously unobtainable ones such as the Eeveelutions), there's a glaring omission - the Pikachu line. As Pikachu itself is a Base-Breaking Character, some fans don't really mind and think that it allows Pikachu to not hog the spotlight for once, while others find Pikachu's exclusion to be awkward and arbitrary, especially since Pikachu and now Pichu still have cameos as NPC's and background objects.
• N's backstory being revealed has also caused this in part of Fan-Disliked Explanation. While some fans feel that N being an orphan who was abandoned by his parents and raised by Pokémon until Ghetsis took him in suits N (and, in addition, plays into how easily N was manipulated into believing that Pokémon trainers were evil), some feel it to be anti-climactic and were disappointed that Ghetsis really hadn't stolen him from his parents, nor was he his real child.
• The selection of older postgame Legendary Pokémon brings up some "quality vs. quantity" debates; apart from Latios and Latias, none of them are particularly popular or iconic, so there's some debate on how good the selection is and whether it would have been preferable to have more iconic Legendaries such as the version mascots and Mewtwo.
• Pokéstar Studios. It's either a waste of time like the Pokémon Musical that players desperately try to get through in the main storyline as quickly as possible (even if it means completely butchering the mandatory first film and looking like a complete joke) and never return again, or it's an addicting side feature that the player will have a blast making movies with for amusement. There’s also the question of whether it fits into the New York City-inspired Unova region: some say that, since New York City isn’t really known for its film industry, the concept of making films with Pokémon should have been saved for a California- or India-based region, while others argue it’s a reference to the important role New York and New Jersey played in the early development of film, before Hollywood even existed, and yet others claim Unova is based on America in general (despite being geographically and aesthetically based on New York City specifically) and that Pokestar Studios and the town it’s adjacent to (Virbank City) are the Pokémon equivalent of Los Angeles, despite Virbank City clearly being based on northern New Jersey rather than LA.

Gen VI

General

• A common debate is whether X and Y or Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are the superior Gen VI games. Supporters of X and Y tend to enjoy the hugely expanded Pokédex and the return of Gen I favorites, Trainer customization, the Friend Safari, and the Kalos region itself. Supporters of ORAS cite the wider variety of features, more balanced difficulty, greater level of polish in the graphics and framerate, the more coherent and and better-paced plot (allowing the characters to be more fleshed out), more extensive postgame, wider variety of obtainable starters and Legendaries, and the Delta Episode. Of note is the fact that both sets of games attempt to pander to nostalgic fans, albeit in different ways.
• The music of Generation 6 has a noticeably distinct sound profile from what came before and after it, likely a result of the absence of longtime series composer Go Ichinose, who was working on Pocket Card Jockey during the time of Generation 6 and thus was unable to contribute to it, leading to continued debates about whether the music is good or not. Many fans, especially those of Ichinose-san, find the music painfully bland and devoid of any distinct character, especially when the scores of later games featured him as a composer and received more unified praise from the public (likely since most of the XY composers, except for Shota Kageyama who left Game Freak in 2014, would be working with him). Fans of Generation 6 and of the other composers in general argue that the games' scores have a more defined sound pallete while later game scores are inconsistent and hit-or-miss with their sound direction, praising Generation 6 for making the transition from sequenced to streamed audio relatively well despite the circumstances.
  • One side finds the soundtrack of XY to be a solid entry in the series with how fresh and mature it sounds, with particular praise going towards the game's use of orchestral instruments, and even more praise going towards the tracks that employ more varied sound pallete such as Cyllage City, Anistar City, and Kalos Power Plant, to name a few. Others despise it, decrying themes such as the Trainer Battle and Lumiose City for their simplistic percussion and melodies, criticizing the Rival Battle and Gym Leader battle for droning for too long with no sense of progression, and overall veering too hard into generic JRPG style instead of the more experimental style of old. The end credits song "KISEKI", in particular, is seen as either heartwarming and beautiful or pretentious and unfitting, particularly as its lyrics aren't actually sung; many fans agree that the concept of a Nintendo song with lyrics was built upon better with "Lost in Thoughts All Alone", "Jump Up, Super Star!", "Lifelight", "Drifting Soul", "One Last You" and "The Edge of Dawn", all of which have sung lyrics and varying moods.
  • Remaking the already divisive music of Ruby and Sapphire was inevitably going to cause arguments. There were those that could not stand the original score and low quality samples and were glad to have something that actually sounds good (with notable attention going to tracks such as Surfing, which has a whole new percussion line, and all the Contest tracks, which received drastic electronic reworks), and there were also those that disliked the numerous alterations to the tracks (particularly with the Diving track, which is considerably slower and cuts out good chunks of the original) and the lack of their favorite instrument samples (save for the Primal Reversion Battle, which was deliberately mixed with the original).

XY

• The transition from 2D sprites to 3D models. While there's no denying that many of the models are pretty and many think they blend in well with the stereoscopic 3D, some think they aren't as cool as the Gen V animations were; many Fire-types have Special Effects Failure with their body flames, and many flying Pokémon with wings are showing hovering in place in a very Narmy way (Swellow and Xatu are probably the best/worst examples of this one) since they have to use the same models for Sky Battles. There's also the fact that Pokémon was Nintendo's only major IP that didn't make the Video Game 3D Leap yet (even Kirby games had started to mostly use 3D models), and many 2D sprite fans found it refreshing they stuck to them for so long. Others think it was about time they did it and were happy with the results.
• Mega Evolution. The fact that it is a temporary evolution, the fact that only select Pokémon get the form (and on top of that Mewtwo and Charizard getting two apiece), the designs of the forms, and some forms getting new typings has led to many arguments over the matter. Which Megas are broken, and which are outclassed by their base forms, is greatly debated. Then of course, there are those who simply hate the designs of most or all the Mega Evolutions, seeing them as over-designing perfectly-fine older Pokémon to try to match the design styles used in the later generations.
• The main plot. On the one hand, there are those who consider it a step back from Pokémon Black and White for various reasons, including flat characterisation, less involved Gym Leaders, less detailed (and, apart from AZ and maybe Emma, less tragic) backstories, and a smaller post-game. On the other, there are those who felt the story in Black and White was melodramatic and overblown (and point out that the post-game of the original Black and White was also small - not as much as X and Y but not as large as their own sequels), and see X and Y as a nice step back to the more conventional plots of the series.
• Pokémon X and Y also introduced the Fairy-type, explicitly to balance the increasingly overpowered Dragon-type. Ever since, a whole spectrum of opinions have been lugged at it:
  • The fact that a new type was added at all is a touchy subject on its own. Some welcomed the Type with open arms, as the series had not seen any more since the introductions of the Dark and Steel types in Gold and Silver, with many in this crowd saying that a new type was long overdue and the Fairy type was a much needed addition. Others argue that the series already had enough types and has done fine without adding more for years, arguing that the Dark and Steel introduction was more justifiable owing to the less developed and refined system of the original games.
  • How it was introduced is also contentious. Its assignment to mainly cute and feminine Pokémon drew ire from some fans for a supposed disregard for The Fair Folk (though some Pokédex entries for Fairy type Pokémon do mention that that they can be mischievous), while others feel it is an appropriate contrast to the Dragon types they were explicitly designed to counteract, as they are usually depicted as powerful and brooding (this piece of official artwork◊ best demonstrates that point). For that matter, the fact that a new Type was introduced just to balance another adds to the division, with many fans, particularly those whose favorite Pokémon were weak to Fairy type, lamenting the diminished utility of their favorite monsters (doubly so for hitting a number of fan favorites, such as Heracross, Salamence, Haxorus, and Hydreigon), and other fans citing the aforementioned introduction of Steel and Dark in Generation 2 to balance the then unbalanced Psychic type as precedent for the introduction being warranted. Its prominence in the marketing of X and Y also led many fans to accuse the type of having Wolverine Publicity, while others will say it was justified as it helped more of the series' audience to be introduced to the new type.
  • Being retconned onto pre-existing Pokémon families is a point of contention within itself. Pokémon such as the Clefairy, Snubbull families and Togepi were all made pure-Fairy type, while Jigglypuff, Mr. Mime, Marill, Ralts, Mawile, Cottonee, and several others were made secondary type, which can trigger Damn You, Muscle Memory! when trying to, say attack a once Normal-type Clefairy with a Fighting-type move, or a once pure Psychic-type Ralts with a Dark-type move. In Gold and Silver, Steel was only retroactively added to the Magnemite family, and no pre-existing family was given the Dark-type later on (Alolan forms notwithstanding), which makes some wonder why Game Freak couldn't have just made more new Fairy-type Pokémon instead of retconning no less than twenty Pokémon to be an entirely different type. Others are more understanding since the Fairy-type was introduced much later than the Steel and Dark-type, bringing something new to many forgotten Pokémon such as Clefable and Granbull, covering potential remakes with the choice to add Fairy-types, and adding a majority of new Pokémon as Fairy-types would have made newer Pokémon much less anticipated.
  • The fact that it's specifically called the "Fairy" type is controversial for some. Aside from debates about if the name is stupid or not, the fact that it is also super effective against the Dark type leads some fans to say that it should have been christened the long desired "Light" type, especially when many Fairy type moves use light as a power source (most notably "Light of Ruin", the Secret Art of the unreleased Eternal Flower Floette). Other fans will be quick to remind those they are debating with that this makes little sense due to being Lost in Translation, since the Dark type is known in Japan as the "Evil" type, and so the strength Fairy types have over Dark types is a larger result of Fairy types' somewhat natural association with fairy tale motifs.
  • However, unarguably the most divisive and longest lasting point out of all of these is the overhaul it brought to PVP balance. Coming off the heels of the Generation V, whose metagame is often derided for capstoning the increasing degeneracy of PVP strategies, many fans breathed a sigh of relief that the overcentralizing Dragon types could finally be put in their corner, relished the fact that the new type was able to hold its own in competitive, and, combined with the other changes Generation 6 brought, namely the nerfing of weather Abilities, which were another commonly derided aspect of Gen 5's meta, declared the post Gen 6 meta to be far more balanced and enjoyable. The greater amount of people actually willing to partake in it is argued as evidence of this point. On the flip side, there are just as many fans who blame the Fairy type for completely ruining the metagame. Firstly, its advantage against Dragon types made using Ice types, already and still the rarest Type, even less desireable, as Ice types were used largely just to counter Dragon types and had little utility otherwise due to having no resistances other than itself and being weak to four other Types (including Rock, which makes it a big victim to Stealth Rock). Secondly, its resistances to Dark and Bug, two types already considered weak, as well as the still powerful Fire type's new resistance to Fairy, are chastised for balancing in the wrong direction, especially so as Fire types resist Ice and Bug as well. Lastly, the Pokémon that had the Type, such as Clefable, Togekiss, Azumarill, and Mega Mawile, and the Pokémon that would eventually get it, including Mimikyu, Magearna, and the Tapu, began dominating competitive with all the leeway they had, and were some of the most commonly used Pokemon in PVP (at the end of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon's competitive life, Magearna and all four Tapu remained in OverUsed). As such, while the Fairy type is praised for removing the centralization of Dragon types, many think the increasing centralization of Fairy types is even worse, and even has some clamoring for Fairy types to get another weakness so it can be balanced out.
• The low difficulty of the single-player game when using EXP Share. Some people think it makes the story battles too boring, others think it is great because it allows players to use whatever Pokémon they like rather than sticking to the best ones. However, if one doesn't use the EXP Share, they'll quickly find it's nowhere near as easy.
• The addition of the rollerblades; some find them to be Rollerblade Good and a nice way to get around quickly, while others consider it a Scrappy Mechanic since it's impossible to remove them unlike a bike.

ORAS

• Overall, fans are divided on whether ORAS are among the best games in the series for their sheer amount of features and content and for expanding on the originals while retaining some of the better-received features from X and Y, or still fall short due to retaining some flaws from Ruby and Sapphire and not having the beloved Battle Frontier from Emerald, resulting in a decent but not amazing postgame unlike those of HGSS and B2W2.
• The Delta Episode. There are those who think it's a fantastic addition to the game, with an engaging story, and are happy that it focuses on a tragic and interesting character like Zinnia. Then there are those who think it's incredibly tedious - not to mention the constant back and forth travels between locations, just for someone to tell you something they could have easily told you over the phone - and that it should have focused on a character that is less irritating and creepy. And some fans like the story, but still hate all the backtracking involved.
• After the two were merged ever since Black and White, Poké Marts are separate from Pokémon Centers again, resulting in conflicting opinions on whether this was justified due to this being the case in the originals or not justified since merging the two was a quality-of-life change.

Gen VII

SM

• Tying into Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game, the games' main campaign, ditching the Excuse Plot of most of the previous games in favor of a more serious and overarching storyline and dialogue reminiscent of other JRPGs. Many fans adore the fleshed out story and characters, finding them a welcome and extremely engaging change to the Excuse Plot of old, and say that a serious story should be a part of the core experience from then on. Other fans think the campaign is an obtrusive slog that guards competitive play and PVP behind eons of frivolous text, citing the games as proof that the design of Pokémon games does not facilitate serious stories well. These changes also intensified the Gen 5/Gen 6 rivalry as the decreased focus on the main campaign and increased focus on endgame preparation for competitive monsters were huge points of contention in X and Y. The implementation of said story and its quality is also a frequent point of debate, with Pokémon threads on social media constantly going back and forth about the long stretches of dialogue at each plot point (some of which is arguably unnecessary), the Base Breaking Characters that comprise the major players of the story's conflict (the biggest example being Lillie), and the questionable pacing of the campaign itself (particularly dealing with the third island).
  • The Gym-less gameplay in particular has also been a divisive change regarding the campaign. Many people liked the formula being shaken up a bit and bringing a new idea to the table. Others cried that they changed the formula and it makes the game feel even shorter. Others don't think enough changed, arguing that the Island Challenge was still too similar to Gyms (both involve beating a strong opponent of a certain type specialty and their underlings), aside from a few elements such as the Totem calling an ally Pokémon.
• Fans from the Chinese-speaking communities are divided into a few parts: Some are overjoyed that Nintendo finally released a game in their mother language, some welcome the Chinese release but worry about the translated names in-game, and some burst into outrage over the translators changing the name of their beloved franchise and ruining their decade-long nostalgia. ^note Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China have their respective (and recognized) names for the franchise used for decades, not to mention some distinct translations for some of the Mons (at least the first 251 are different for HK and Taiwan). The new franchise name in Chinese is unified with that used by Mainland since 2010, which still took flak from some players even now. Nintendo's exclusive video for Chinese fandom has little effect settling the anger for the latter. For fans in Hong Kong, the decision only adds fuel to the fire as some fans views Nintendo's decision as a move to assimilate Cantonese, the main spoken language in Hong Kong. It is such a Serious Business that it sparked a protest.
• Z-Moves are either a new and exciting feature that could help raise the profile of weaker mons or a boring and lazy addition. Before Mega Evolutions were confirmed to be back, some were worried they would replace the mechanic. And when the games came out and were revealed to lack new Megas (as well as many old ones), many put the blame on Z-Moves and Alolan forms.
  • Also in dispute is how Z-Moves balance the game. Defenders claim that they help make many, many weaker Pokémon competitively useful, even in higher tier play, and unlike Megas, are a single use item that can turn the tides in interesting ways. Others claim, however, that they make offensively-minded Pokémon, especially those already powerful, become absolute beasts that can smash down even the Stone Wall Pokémon meant to counter them, making more defensive Pokémon like Chansey struggle to find a use at all, and Arceus help you if they get a stat boost beforehand. It doesn't help that Z-Moves can break through protection moves.

USUM

• While the gameplay is seen as a marked improvement over Pokémon Sun and Moon, the story is regarded as a downgrade from the originals to some players, with Necrozma's plotline awkwardly melded in with the Aether family plotline (causing character motivations and even personality to be altered substantially, and not always in a way that makes 100% sense) and the Ultra Recon Squad receiving very little development. And that's when it's not simply repeating the originals almost verbatim until Necrozma appears. However, there are players whom, despite the story majorly being almost similar to the originals, find the stories an improvement due to several other factors, such as Hau being a much more characterized rival here in comparison to the originals, certain characters like Colress receiving more of a role, and the addition of side quests. And there are also those who liked the story of both the originals and the Ultra games regardless.

LGP&E

• Do not go onto a forum and ask people whether these games (and by extension Meltan and Melmetal, which made their core series debut in these games) are part of Generation 7 or Generation 8. Those who say the former often assert the game is a spin-off, citing the drastic changes made to the gameplay, the heavy inspiration from and integration with Pokémon GO, and the fact that no new Pokémon made their playable debut in these games (barring the tenuous nature of Meltan and Melmetal). Those claiming the latter note how the game is still a mostly authentic remake of Gen 1 for a modern audience, it preceded the debut of Pokémon Sword and Shield on the Switch, and it retains enough of the core gameplay (including more than a few references to other mainline titles) to be an acceptable part of the mainline continuity, and even putting that all aside, it was still made by Game Freak, in contrast to other spinoffs, hoping to appeal to both mainline players and new ones. The debate is frequently marred by the controversy surrounding the game's simple and entry level nature, with many who don't like the games calling it Gen 7, and those who do calling it Gen 8. Given Generations are largely a fan construct, it is unlikely for this question to get a formal answer, especially given Meltan and Melmetal are listed under "Unknown Origins" in Pokémon HOME as opposed to either Alola or Galar. Though this video made for the 25th anniversary lists the games among the seventh generation right after Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, making it lean more on the 7th generation side.

Gen VIII

Generation VIII proved to have some of the most controversial titles in the franchise since Pokémon Black and White, thanks to a number of design choices that not only greatly shifted the priorities of the games, but brought several long held problems with the series to a head. At the fore of it all is Pokémon Sword and Shield, a game so polarizing that nearly every facet of the game starts debates that feel eerily like political Flame Wars, and then came Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Legends: Arceus, two games with similar settings releasing close together but with such wildly different executions that their fanbases barely intersect and frequently butt heads. And all that's left is the lone agreement that these games took the already piecemeal fandom and shattered it into tiny pieces, representing a cautionary tale about brand power and merchandising over their own works.

General

• Considering their similar premises of exploring Sinnoh, but with vastly different means of doing so, not helped by being announced on the same day and releasing a mere two months apart from each other, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl fans and Legends: Arceus fans do not get along. There's very little overlap between them, to the point you'd be lucky to find someone that bought both (and not with the purpose of obtaining a shiny Arceus in the former from having beaten the latter). The latter group roundly criticizes BDSP for being the epitome of the series' Strictly Formula, obeying the auspices of the original to a very massive fault and thus having flaws that have no business being in modern Pokémon. The former group argues that Legends is a perfect example of how the series has strayed far too off course from its design, and dismiss such a radically different game as being overhyped and overrated.

SWSH

• As the "poster child" for Dexit and the design shift it would bring, the games' overall quality, and the fact that the base product excludes 455 Pokémon, over half of what the roster totaled to then, is the biggest divider. Detractors feel that Dexit did nothing but highlight how flawed the games are, with its barren campaign clocking in at around 20 hours, Dynamax being a Game-Breaker and Replacement Scrappy, and the overall experience being of similar scale, if not smaller, compared to its predecessors despite costing 50 percent more than them. Nevertheless, the games have been showered with praise for shedding what many believed was holding the series back, and consider what the game does have to fit in with the region and the story, whilst lauding all of the quality-of-life changes that resolve some long-held issues with the series, and disregarding the issue of price since it was more a result of the console it released on released on rather than the game itself.
  • The cited reasons for the Dex exclusions also proved extremely controversial. While there was a general understanding that continuing to maintain nearly 1000 unique entities was no easy task, many fans were skeptical of Game Freak being able to keep its promise on improving the graphics and game balance due to their history of failing with it. Just within a few weeks of the games' release, the game's central gimmick of Dynamaxing was seen as a total Game-Breaker. Smogon's decision to ban it early on was either proof among the fanbase that Game Freak failed to keep their promise, even when keeping the increased scrutiny of the game as a result of the Dex exclusions and the much larger install base in mind, or that Dynamax is only broken in Smogon's 6v6 Singles metagame and fans shouldn't view that as a reflection on the mechanic as a whole. One side praises the smaller number of variables and the removal of many historic game breakers such as Mega Rayquaza, and the other side believes that it is far less entertaining and only further reinforces the Complacent Gaming Syndrome.
  • The promise to put Pokémon that "fit" the game already raised some eyebrows from the beginning, but the Galar Pokédex itself proved quite divisive. Of particular note was the omission of many fan favorites, such as Garchomp, Absol, and Ampharos, and the inclusion of some very unpopular Pokemon, mostly from Generation 5, such as Basculin, Garbodor, Klinklang, and Vanilluxe^note It's thought that James Turner, the art director of the game who started with Black and White, has a bias for the generation similar to Masahiro Sakurai's bias for Kirby Super Star in Super Smash Bros.. There is also how every creature he designed sans Shadow Lugia and the Ultra Beasts were in the base game.. This is base-breaking because every Pokémon is someone's favorite. Those who grew up with these mons look at them fondly (in a way making this a case of Old Guard Versus New Blood depending on age groups), YouTubers like Chuggaaconroy are fans of Garbodor, and even Basculin has a small but strong fanbase (though this was before an evolution was introduced for it in Pokémon Legends: Arceus).
• EXP Share being permanent. The changes to the EXP Share after Generation 6 were already a contentious topic for how it made the already easy games even easier, but with this change, the most common refute to it ("just turn it off") was no longer valid. The officially mentioned workaround by Game Freak to simply deposit Pokémon to not have them get EXP felt clunky compared to a simple toggle, which the newly added autosave feature had (something that garnered flack even from those neutral on the matter). Those defending the change argue that many RPG's had given EXP to all party members for ages and never had a problem with it: the general response to this is that Pokémon plays so differently from other RPG's that, even if the game was balanced around it, there wouldn't be much mileage out of permanent EXP share. Furthermore, this was a holdover from the Let's Go! games, which were also decried by veterans for their lack of difficulty: though it was generally given a pass then due to Let's Go! being a much more explicitly entry level game, the promise that the next games would cater to more serious players made this retention difficult to ignore. Whether the final game's easy difficulty is a direct result of this change or not is base breaking in and of itself as well.
• The main campaign, as well as the postgame. Few will deny that the games breathed new life into the "8 Gyms and Champion" formula that has persisted throughout the series, though the parts that surround it are seen as lacking. Hardcore battlers and even a few casual players appreciate it, particularly after Generation 7's divisive attempts to tell more serious and arguably more intrusive stories, as it helps reach the part they actually care for while evading some of the writing issues of Alola's stories, and the competitive scene for the game is considerably more active than in the past. Other players, while noting that the series is no stranger to the Excuse Plot, find this game's narrative even more egregious and poorly written than those of past, due to all potential plot points not centered around the Gym Challenge being resolved offscreen until the very end of the game (a problem attributed to Leon and him averting Adults Are Useless, which makes him a Base-Breaking Character); the extremely linear progression of the campaign, with no potential diversions outside of the Wild Area and no real shot to use the newly improved Escape Rope in the few dungeons the game has; and the postgame offering no substantial story development outside of (finally being able to) catch the box Legendary.
• Dynamax and Gigantamax. Reception to them was already cold from the start thanks to being partially to blame for the Dex exclusions as well as being seen as an uninspired combination of Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves, neither of which returned in these games, resulting in the mechanic being seen as a big-time Replacement Scrappy for those mechanics by many people. Many enjoy the simplicity of the mechanic and how much the additional effects of Max Moves add to the battle dynamics (especially in doubles), while rectifying issues that both Megas (being usable by only forty-two Pokémon) and Z-Moves (being strictly one-time use) had (both mechanics also required giving up the Pokémon's held item, with one exception, meaning that this game encourages players to experiment with other held items that this game has to offer) and being set as a more fitting and time appropriate spectacle in the game's story. Others see Dynamax as unoriginal and boring, as well as horridly unbalanced in practice (especially in singles), with people disliking the numerous benefits Dynamax Pokémon gain for what is seen as little to lose (the big one being their ability to set up a number of beneficial field effects and stat boosts and deal hefty damage to opponents at the same time).
• The visuals. While from the onset the games were never seen as the most beautiful thing on the Switch, something that many expected owing to Game Freak's own inexperience with the modern home console, the statement that the National Pokédex cull allowed Game Freak to more fine tune the game's graphics immediately led to heavy scrutiny and criticism for seemingly not being worth the tradeoff. The claims that the Pokémon were made to be more "expressive" also drew many unsavory comparisons to other home console Pokémon titles such as Pokémon Stadium games and Pokémon Battle Revolution, which were seen as more "expressive" despite releasing years prior on much less powerful hardware. While many are turned off by the low resolution textures, the short draw distance, the poor scaling of monsters during battle, and the reuse of some of the worst animations from the 3DS days (particularly those from X and Y's Sky Battles), those who do not see it as a weak point cite how many other high profile first party Switch games, such as Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, have similar graphical bugs and inconsistencies that do not incur any flack and thus by complainers' logic should not be exculpated for these problems (this usually devolves into a debate about the overall quality of those games in relation to Sword and Shield which is a whole other topic).
  • Upon the announcement of Dexit and part of the reason for it to help with improving the game's graphics, a now infamous meme comparing the trees in the Wild Area to the ones in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time became the poster child for graphics complaints. Those decrying the graphics often point to the fact that the image exists at all is proof enough of the game's lackluster visual quality, and call it fully deserved in light of Game Freak's attempts to justify the Dex exclusions with the graphics. Opponents refute it as Confirmation Bias, bringing up how the image itself was horribly compressed before being put on the internet (which some suspect was done on purpose) and that it simply hadn't loaded all the way in due to the intensity of the Wild Area. They also bring up animations from Stadium and Battle Revolution that those complaining about the graphics would completely rip into if they were in Sword and Shield, such as Doduo using Fly and Golbat's hideous model.
• The Expansion Pass DLC is praised for finally obviating needing to buy an entirely separate, full-priced game for marginally improved/additional content (although due to the increase of price of the games, buying one game and its DLC is nearly as much as buying another generation's initial offerings and third version), while circumventing some of the issues present in the base game, most notably making the process of getting Gigantamax Factor Pokémon more simple and practical. However, it also gets some flak due to feelings that it is "removing features and selling them back later" due to the nature of its content, such as containing the only way to have Pokémon follow the protagonist in the overworld, and the fact that it doesn't touch the base campaign at all, resulting in the issues people had with it going completely unaddressed. The existence of two Expansion Passes, one for Sword and one for Shield, is also either a good or bad thing depending on whether one views it as unnecessary due to the series' habit of making both versions nearly identical (this issue is further exacerbated for those that own both versions and thus need to buy the DLC separately for each if they want the content in both), or justifiable owing to the differences that do exist, especially in Sword and Shield, being quite significant. And of course, you can't forget the people that either think the DLC is overpriced or is just right.
  • On a related note, the fact that 221 Pokémon were added back into the game alongside the release of the DLC. It is praised due to lessening the blow of the initial exclusions, as well as adding back a number of fan favorites such as the aforementioned Gible line and Absol. Detractors feel it is too little, too late; decry it for "removing features and selling them back later"; and argue that only a complete reversal of the decision would ever begin to make up for it. This also broke the already broken competitive fandom, as many are critical of the subsequent Power Creep that was initially subverted with Dexit, while others say that more diversity is always a good thing.

BDSP

• Patch 1.3.0 allows players to, after 15 years, officially use the Azure Flute to reach the Hall of Origin and battle Arceus... so long as you have beaten the main story of Legends: Arceus. While other games of the generation also provided bonuses from having save data from another game (including these very games themselves), and some people find it to neatly tie the plot between the two games, Arceus was particularly contentious for three reasons:
  • Legends: Arceus was released after Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (making it a "New Save Bonus" of sorts), and released in a mere two months after the latter games, meaning you might not be able to afford this bonus.
  • Unlocking Arceus requires having beaten Legends: Arceus and not just having a savegame (unlike every other case in the series) meaning you can't just borrow a copy for a few minutes, create some save data and return it, but rather buy a copy and play through it - and since Legends: Arceus is so different from all the other games, it might mean spending 60 dollars just to get a single Pokémon.
  • The fact that Legends: Arceus already allows players to get an Arceus without the need of an event^note the only difference is that the one in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl can be shiny, meaning that players that only purchase Legends: Arceus can get one Arceus, players that get both Legends: Arceus and Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl can get two, and players that only get Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl cannot get any.
• The Difficulty Spike once you get to the Elite Four and Cynthia. Players are either glad to see the Elite Four and Champion feel genuinely challenging for once, or annoyed by the fact practically everything before them was kept at a similar difficult to the original games, making the spike way too jarring.

LA

Being officially called a "mainline game" despite being so drastically different than the rest of the series meant that Legends: Arceus was inevitably going to cause some arguments. Outside of a small amount of specific points that are generally agreed on, virtually everything is fuel to the fire.

• Is the Combatant Cooldown System better or worse than the traditional one? This discussion generally revolves around whether the lack of an I Know You Know I Know prediction element in Legends: Arceus is a good change, and whether the Strong and Agile styles make for a good gimmick in this game. The game's lack of Player Versus Player features tends to be thrown around them.
• That the player character can take damage, black out from injury and lose items as a result. An immersive change that finally gives the player character a role during a battle, or something that distracts from the battle and does not add anything good to the player experience?
• The massively lower amount of trainer battles, and that most bosses are wild Pokémon. Does it flow better with the game, especially since the world circumstances mean it's not very logical to have scores of weak trainers running around? Or is it too much of a break from a core aspect of the series and makes teambuilding too irrelevant to properly prepare you for the fight against Volo? The game justifies this by saying the people of Hisui have yet to trust Pokémon, which also caused a split on whether it's a valid reason or just a flimsy excuse.
• The game has a much higher focus on exploration, expanding on Sword and Shield's concept of Wild Areas so that the game's map is essentially a group of open areas. Defenders will say it's a necessary change and puts Pokémon closer to modern titles (even if it's not Wide-Open Sandbox), and that newer entries had become too linear and had maps that were not engaging. Detractors often point the Quicksand Box Legends: Arceus is affected by, with non-linear maps and missions can make the player feel lost, forget there was a goal to begin with and not make any progress, that linear maps let players keep the idea of where they should be heading, and that this change is a very blatant Follow the Leader attempt to attract potential players, rather than it being a change the series actually benefits from.
• Is making the Pokédex mandatory something that makes sense and was bound to happen anytime soon, being the Trope Namer for Gotta Catch 'Em All, or does it turn the game into a collectathon? Progression in this game is directly tied to Pokédex completion, meaning players can find themselves catching Pokémon because the game says so and not because they actually want them. This is especially relevant for Arceus, which requires capturing one of every Pokémon (save for the Manaphy line, Darkrai, and Shaymin), meaning the player has to actively seek out Pokémon they don't like just to reach the superboss.
• One major gameplay change in L:A is that type-matchups are very important here. In this game, when a Pokémon gets hit by a super-effective move, it will be severely hurt even if it's much stronger than the attacker in general. Proponents of this system point out that it forces players to build their teams carefully with type coverage instead of just rolling through the whole game with a few generally strong Pokémon. Opponents say that it makes defence-focused Pokémon worthless since they can be knocked out so easily, and that Speed is even more of a One Stat to Rule Them All than it was before.
• While the presence of the Link Cable, which allows you to conduct trade evolutions without needing another player, was mostly praised, some claimed it misses the point of trade evolutions.

Gen IX

SV

• Do the technical performance issues mean the games break the trend of consistent quality with the mainline titles, or not? One's opinion of the game effectively hinges on their answer to this question, which has embroiled the fanbase in controversy since the games' release. People who like the games argue that the performance is not that bad or that despite the bad performance, the games still shine on their own merits. On the other hand, detractors find the bugs, glitches, and poor graphics to be enough to dismiss the games wholesale, regardless of what they do well, and see the games as a sign that the franchise has fallen from grace. Some would go as far as to say that even when disregarding the technical performance issues, the games are still far below expectations.
• The open-world design. Some fans find it to be a welcome departure from the usual linear design of the previous mainline games and like the relative freedom that the games offer, but others find it to be lacking or think that the world design is not appealing enough to make the open-world approach work. Yet another groups likes the idea of an open-world Pokémon game but thinks Game Freak didn't go far enough with it; as trainers, wild Pokémon, and Gym Leaders/Titans/Team Star leaders are always at set levels, there's still an "intended" order that can cause Schizophrenic Difficulty, instead of having Level Scaling that allows players to truly tackle the game however they want. Generally, in this aspect, the groups tend to overlap with those of Legends: Arceus, with a group that thinks that the changes could have been beneficial had they been done better, and another that these changes would hurt the franchise's core elements and fun factor no matter how they'd been done, and thus should have sticked with the traditional style.

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Spinoffs

Mystery Dungeon

• The idea that every game's protagonist should be an amnesic human turned into a Pokémon, as has happened so far. Some felt that it allows more emotional investment especially at the end where But Now I Must Go comes into effect and is a need for immersion and bonding between the protagonists, others felt that it became an overused plot device to shoehorn in humans when there isn't a need, considering that the PMD world essentially averts Human-Focused Adaptation and give the Pokémon as a whole much needed Character Focus.

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Pokémon Adventures

• In Japan, the male dexholder/Prof. Oak's grandson is named Green to match the Red and Green version, while the third dexholder introduced later on would be named Blue, since that was the third version of the game. However, their names were switched in translation as to match the dual version in the west, i.e, Red & Blue. This leads to much confusion among the fanbase, with some preferring to use the original while the others prefer the English games. (Many would specify their gender when referring to the two, for example "Blue (M)".)