Ever since the Pokémon franchise went fully 3D during the Nintendo Switch era - discounting its various 3D spin-offs prior to that, of course - it's felt like the series has been struggling. It's still able to pull in ridiculous numbers, with each generation selling more copies than the last, but the hardware hasn't been quite able to keep up with Game Freak's ever-growing ambitions for the series, nor its dogmatic fan base's demands.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet's performance woes were just the tip of the iceberg, as the series seems to be on a steady and inevitable decline in quality the more generations that are released. As fans get closer and closer to Gen 10, it is becoming abundantly clear that Pokémon can no longer sustain the level of quality that fans and its developers want. Unfortunately, Pokémon has almost always been doomed from the start, and it is only a matter of time before it all comes crashing down.

New Generations Are Making It Hard For Developers

They Need To Be Bigger

One of the core tenets of the Pokémon franchise is catching them all, so it is only natural that each new generation seeks to include literally all, or at least most, of the previous generations' Pokémon. This is either done at launch, or through various events and updates throughout a game's lifespan, such as with the Scarlet and Violet games. While a lot of fans like to see every Pokémon included, a full Pokédex is bad for Pokémon as it presents a huge technical problem that Game Freak can't solve with the limited hardware it is working with.

Speaking to ScreenRant, Serebii's Joe Merrick discussed how the increased number of new Pokémon coupled with the switch to 3D has led to newer generations struggling with performance issues. He explained that "there are about 1400 different Pokémon models. If they're making a new feature which has five animations, that's 7,000 animations which need to be made just for this one tiny feature," which is substantially different from when Pokémon was a sprite-based game, as the animations were simpler, and there were far fewer Pokémon to bring to life. He went on to say:

"The scope of that is so much different to when it was a sprite-based game. It's definitely something which people online, especially people who are in the field, in the industry, should definitely consider. It's like the comparison of Breath of the Wild, Breath of the Wild had 20 unique enemy models, whereas Pokémon Sword and Shield had 663.”

It isn't just the increased size in Pokédex that is putting such a technical strain on contemporary Pokémon video games. Scarlet and Violet made the jump to an open-world structure, which naturally required a greater amount of power to run. Even with its low-resolution textures, it struggled to hit a stable framerate on the Nintendo Switch. The sprawling cities, rolling fields, and dusty dunes, in combination with the huge Pokédex and numerous other technically demanding features, led to them being broken games out of the gate.

Can Switch 2 Save Pokémon?

Not For Long

Naturally, one would assume that many of these issues will be assuaged by the Switch 2, a substantially more powerful piece of hardware likely capable of handling a lot of Pokémon's technical demands. The Switch 2's leaked specs do indicate that it will be as powerful as a PS4 Pro or Steam Deck, which would imply that it should be able to run a game like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet quite well. However, this issue is far more nuanced, as the Nintendo Switch's potential power is already well behind the competition, being obsolete the moment it releases.

This poses a significant problem for Nintendo and Game Freak, as, even if the Switch 2 can run the current generation of Pokémon games, what happens when players hit Gen 11, 12, 13, or even 20? Nintendo may have come up with another console by then, but players potentially have two or three more generations - or even more considering the rate at which Game Freak is pumping out new Pokémon games - on the Switch 2.

The solution then is for future generations to ditch Pokémon's most demanding feature: the Pokédex.

The solution then is for future generations to ditch Pokémon's most demanding feature: the Pokédex. Shrinking it or sticking to purely new Pokémon would allow Game Freak to implement the dozens of other features fans want to see. However, that's not really feasible, as much of an easy solution as it is, especially considering how integral having a complete Pokédex is to the series and fans.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is Making A Smart Choice

It Is Repeating History

Of course, Game Freak has somewhat addressed this problem with its Pokémon Legends series. Both Arceus and the Z-A focus on older Pokémon in a familiar setting, thus ensuring that the Pokédex size is kept relatively small, especially when compared to the mainline series. Pokémon Legends: Arceus' performance wasn't great, and its world was somewhat difficult to look at, but it was leagues ahead of Scarlet and Violet, likely due to its smaller scale.

Unfortunately, Game Freak can't ditch the mainline series, nor can it curb its ambitions or the never-ending Pokédex. As a result, Pokémon will inevitably hit a point in which its mechanical demands far exceed the capabilities of the hardware it is running on, thus resulting in yet another technical disaster like Scarlet and Violet. Hopefully, the improved power of the Switch 2 can delay the inevitable for a while, but inevitably Pokémon will get much worse.