#BringBackTheNationalIndex: The Story Behind New Pokemon Sword

Sean Williams

2019-08-09

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Not so long ago, all Pokemon's fans were celebrating good news: the developers said that the first generation of Pokemon games — Pokemon Sword and Shield is going to be released this autumn, on November 15. But following this news, there was the next announcement at the E3 conference, less joyful. The developers said that not all types of Pokemon will be included in the Sword and Shield release.

#BringBackTheNationalIndex: the Answer to the Company From Outraged Fans

Commonly, users can transfer their Pokemon from older releases to new ones. But in the Sword and Shield, it is impossible to do. Therefore, the fans started a Twitter company where they write furious tweets about the game and its developers. You can find them by a hashtag #BringBackTheNationalIndex. If you ever played Pokemon, you probably noticed that at the beginning you were given a special Pokedex where you can find the information about all Pokemon available in your region. After passing the main game, your Pokedex is upgraded to a National Pokedex. It allows users to use Pokemon from previous games. And that is exactly what you can't do in the new Sword and Shield game. Therefore, the players accuse GameFreak, the company behind the Pokemon's development, of being lazy and not paying a sufficient amount of time and effort for the new release.

This hype on the Internet forced the Junichi Masuda, the producer of the Sword and Shield, to publish an official message for Pokemon Video Game Fans which you can find on the game official site. In this statement, he thanked all the gamers for sharing the love and passion for Pokemon and then added that it was a hard decision for him not to include some of the Pokemon in the game. But it is important to understand that excluded Pokemon may be in the future game's releases.  As Junichi Masuda said: "Even if a specific Pokémon is not available in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, that does not mean it will not appear in future games."

In the interview to Famitsu, Masuda also added that such a decision is expected to make each Pokemon more unique in the game. As the producer of Sword and Shield mentioned, it has become very hard to manage the compatibility with previous versions.

What Other Surprises to Expect From the Developers?

We hope only good ones. As you can notice, this step was due to technical reasons. Besides, excluding some types of Pokemon, the new Sword and Shield release showed high-quality graphics in the trailer. Moreover, this version will be the first game where you will need new assets to play. Are you excited about this release? Tell us honestly, are you waiting for November to download the game? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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