Each of the Pokémon video games has its fair share of supporters, but many have felt the franchise has gotten stale. The Nintendo Switch's Pokémon Sword and Shield received criticism for playing it safe and failing to push the series beyond the limitations of their predecessors, but the newly revealed open-world Pokémon game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, is finally innovating on the formula fans had gotten tired of after 25 years.

The original Pokémon Red and Green released in Japan on the original Game Boy in 1996. Their explosive success traveled overseas, and the franchise became a phenomenon. Pokémon received sequels, a lucrative card game, an anime, spin-offs games, and boatloads of merchandise. So many of these adaptations were well received, and it hardly took any time for Nintendo to create a dedicated fanbase. The franchise has grown so huge that it's estimated to be the highest-grossing media franchise of all time.

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Because of the series' heavy emphasis on trading and battling with friends, the mainline Pokémon games were, for the majority of the series, restricted to Nintendo's handheld systems. As time went on and these systems became more powerful, the repetitive formula of the Pokémon games became more apparent. Pokémon Sword and Shield disappointed fans because, despite being the first mainline Pokémon games on a home console, they hardly changed the formula or took full advantage of the Switch's extra power.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus Promises What Fans Have Always Wanted

Pokemon Legends Arceus Starter Pokemon

Pokémon Legends: Arceus promises a more significant advancement of the Pokémon formula. Players can now catch Pokémon in real time by aiming Pokéballs at the creatures themselves, and battles appear to play out with more dynamic animations. Since the game takes place when the Sinnoh Region was "still only a vast wilderness," Pokémon Legends: Arceus will likely stray from the traditional gym challenge structure the series has used for most of the mainline games.

Though they were decent games and sold well, Pokémon Sword and Shield were too safe at a time when the community expected changes on the level of Breath of the Wild. The Zelda series was growing similarly stale, since most games mimicked the formula laid out by Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past. Breath of the Wild introduced fans to a new way to play Zelda and pushed the series down a bold new route. Pokémon Sword and Shield failed to deliver in that department, but it seems Pokémon Legends: Arceus will finally offer the open-world Pokémon game fans have been waiting 25 years to play.

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