Switch what pokemon game on switch worth playing the most?

[henry O.]

So I've just started to get into Pokémon games... and I liked it, although I only have 2 Nintendo consoles which is an old DSi with several pokemon games ranging from pear, diamond and platinum to black and white 2. I also have an OLED Switch, which doesn't even have a Pokémon game yet... what happens is that I do want to play Pokémon on Switch, but I keep hearing that Pokémon games on Switch are quite bad... any recommendations?.

 

[DragonMals]

Pokemon Legends Arceus is the only game I would personally recommend. If you were not concerned with performance and graphical bugs, Scarlet and Violet would be excellent games to play. However, be aware that the latest Pokémon games do not all Pokémon compatible with HOME and cannot have certain Pokémon to be transferred the game.

 

[middler]

Pokemon Legends Arceus is the only game I would personally recommend. If you were not concerned with performance and graphical bugs, Scarlet and Violet would be excellent games to play. However, be aware that the latest Pokémon games do not all Pokémon compatible with HOME and cannot have certain Pokémon to be transferred the game.

For these reasons I would say that Sword/Shield are the best examples overall for mainline games on the switch.

 

[DragonMals]

For these reasons I would say that Sword/Shield are the best examples overall for mainline games on the switch.

And those are the only Pokemon Games that I have yet to play, and iirc I remember someone informing me that GameFreak were quick to cancel the online functions of the games despite it being on the latest console. I might be wrong about this though.

 

[Zooey]

Pokemon Lets Go - its good, but some of the mechanics in game are kinda weird, so its not exactly faithful to the originals, but its nice way to re-experience them. Id put it at number 2.

Sword/Shield - This is my number 1. Its like a mix between the old 3DS games which i love, and their newer open world style (but on a smaller scale). My favorite of all the Switch games. Has the depth that you want from a Pokemon game - breeding, IV's, EV's, egg moves, all that, plays like how you expect a Pokemon game to play.

Legends Arceus - People love it but i think its meh, all open world, whole new mechanics, so its worth checking out. Just dont expect Breath of the Wild or Genshin Impact. This is more like, "babies first open world game". Game is grindy too, "Use self-destruct 50 times!", also looks pretty terrible. Pokemon are just placed in biomes, but they dont really do much of anything organic. Not immersive in the slightest. The world has nothing interesting going on to discover.

Scarlet/Violet - avoid. This is more, "babies first open world". The only things noteworthy or creative about this is how open world gyms work, doing them in the order you decide, the other thing is it has multiple main stories going at the same time, giving you plenty to do besides gyms. It runs like crap. Looks like crap. The character customization is even crap. Game has almost no imagination.

 

[middler]

Pokemon Lets Go - its good, but some of the mechanics in game are kinda weird, so its not exactly faithful to the originals, but its nice way to re-experience them. Id put it at number 2.

Sword/Shield - This is my number 1. Its like a mix between the old 3DS games which i love, and their newer open world style (but on a smaller scale). My favorite of all the Switch games. Has the depth that you want from a Pokemon game - breeding, IV's, EV's, egg moves, all that, plays like how you expect a Pokemon game to play.

Legends Arceus - People love it but i think its meh, all open world, whole new mechanics, so its worth checking out. Just dont expect Breath of the Wild or Genshin Impact. This is more like, "babies first open world game". Game is grindy too, "Use self-destruct 50 times!", also looks pretty terrible. Pokemon are just placed in biomes, but they dont really do much of anything organic. Not immersive in the slightest. The world has nothing interesting going on to discover.

Scarlet/Violet - avoid. This is more, "babies first open world". The only things noteworthy or creative about this is how open world gyms work, doing them in the order you decide, the other thing is it has multiple main stories going at the same time, giving you plenty to do besides gyms. It runs like crap. Looks like crap. The character customization is even crap. Game has almost no imagination.

You forgot the Diamond/Pearl retreads. I am not bring this up to poke fun, I was hoping they were in there because i didnt play them. Though I did play the originals.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

None except Pokemon Mystery Dungeon's remake imo

 

[MasterEn]

Legends Arceus and pokemon rescue dungeon dx. they function and are fully playable. the others are hit and miss. you would proably be better off doing what i do with the newer games, watch reviews or let's plays and collect fan art of the characters. and go back to playing the older games. they are better.

 

[Zooey]

You forgot the Diamond/Pearl retreads. I am not bring this up to poke fun, I was hoping they were in there because i didnt play them. Though I did play the originals.

Diamond/Pearl are a downgrade, but if you use it with the Luminescent Platinum (i think thats the name of it) that's on Nexus, then its good. But as far as retreads go, theyd be alot better if they included the extra content.

 

[henry O.]

thank you all for the answers and support, I will take all the options fully into account when making my decision. Thanks and have a nice day!

Post automatically merged: Jan 22, 2025

Legends Arceus and pokemon rescue dungeon dx. they function and are fully playable. the others are hit and miss. you would proably be better off doing what i do with the newer games, watch reviews or let's plays and collect fan art of the characters. and go back to playing the older games. they are better.

yeah! the old games are super cool, i think especially the ds and 3ds games

 

[Yukyon]

Not mainline, but the new Pokémon Snap it's actually quite good
Might be biased since I loved the n64 one

 

[Zooey]

Not mainline, but the new Pokémon Snap it's actually quite good
Might be biased since I loved the n64 one

Agreed. Snap, and Stadium are almost always enjoyable. Used to go to Blockbuster so i could print out the stickers, so it was cool seeing Snap come back. Ended up being way more exciting than the buggy mess that was Scarlet/Violet..

 

[Loops]

Just chiming in to say I believe Sword/Shield are the ones to pick up. It just feels very complete, Zooey outlined why earlier. I also think it's worth mentioning that the character customisation and the music is so much better in Sword/Shield - it feels so stripped back in Scarlet and Violet, really hurts the games atmosphere/ feel.

 

[Ikagura]

Explorers of Sky.

 

[newageretrohippie]

Ive only ever played pokemon pinball on gameboy color. But it was fun.

 

[hazys]

The mainline Pokémon games on Switch are indeed kind of bad. But they're not unplayable or anything, just a step down from the 3DS ones. If you can get a 3DS for cheap (and mod it), I strongly recommend Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon. If you haven't yet played HeartGold/SoulSilver on DS, I strongly recommend those too. There are lots of fan-made hacks for the GBA/DS games that are very much worth playing, but you might want to leave that for later.

In terms of spin-offs, Pokémon Conquest for the DS is a very fun and unique take on the series. The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series is also very solid, especially Explorers of Sky on the DS. Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire for GBA is fun. On the Switch there's New Pokémon Snap and Pokken Tournament DX, both great and somewhat overlooked, but very different from the main series.

 

[Zooey]

Just chiming in to say I believe Sword/Shield are the ones to pick up. It just feels very complete, Zooey outlined why earlier. I also think it's worth mentioning that the character customisation and the music is so much better in Sword/Shield - it feels so stripped back in Scarlet and Violet, really hurts the games atmosphere/ feel.

I agree 100%. At the time of release Sword/Shield were considered ugly, and just bad games, but looking back, especially now with Scarlet/Violet being a thing, I think Sword/Shield are a lot better than we first thought, even moreso with the DLC.

I liked that Sword/Shield gives you a taste of openworld, but doesn't make the entirety of the game rely heavily on it. One of the things i disliked most about Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet was how weak the open world was. There wasn't any secrets to find, there wasn't any moments where you found Pokemon behaving naturally. That's not to say that Sword/Shield didn't have similar issues with its open world areas, but didn't make it a central part of its gameplay, or at least not enough for me to be bothered by it. And if you weren't feeling those areas, you still had the 3DS styled areas.

I think at this point Gamefreak is obsessed with the idea of making Pokemon into open world games, but they lack the imagination, time, and resources to pull it off in a meaningful way. Good open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Breath of the Wild, Skyrim, or Cyberpunk, cant be made in a years time.

 

[henry O.]

I agree 100%. At the time of release Sword/Shield were considered ugly, and just bad games, but looking back, especially now with Scarlet/Violet being a thing, I think Sword/Shield are a lot better than we first thought, even moreso with the DLC.

I liked that Sword/Shield gives you a taste of openworld, but doesn't make the entirety of the game rely heavily on it. One of the things i disliked most about Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet was how weak the open world was. There wasn't any secrets to find, there wasn't any moments where you found Pokemon behaving naturally. That's not to say that Sword/Shield didn't have similar issues with its open world areas, but didn't make it a central part of its gameplay, or at least not enough for me to be bothered by it. And if you weren't feeling those areas, you still had the 3DS styled areas.

I think at this point Gamefreak is obsessed with the idea of making Pokemon into open world games, but they lack the imagination, time, and resources to pull it off in a meaningful way. Good open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Breath of the Wild, Skyrim, or Cyberpunk, cant be made in a years time.

yeah...it's more the time that anything else, i mean we have around 1000 pokemon from gen 1 to gen 9, if gamefreak wanted to make a new pokemon they had plenty of material to take from, but the pressure of constantly making new games to meet the demand makes it difficult to innovate and make a new game that is really worthwhile, one with...new Pokemons, a good story, legendary pokemon that feel unique or really special, and above all, a well-made open world

 

[Zooey]

yeah...it's more the time that anything else, i mean we have around 1000 pokemon from gen 1 to gen 9, if gamefreak wanted to make a new pokemon they had plenty of material to take from, but the pressure of constantly making new games to meet the demand makes it difficult to innovate and make a new game that is really worthwhile, one with...new Pokemons, a good story, legendary pokemon that feel unique or really special, and above all, a well-made open world

Its cool to see them trying out the open world stuff, but it really feels like they are out of their element. Even just going from handheld to console feels like Gamefreak is out of their element. Luckily though they have so much money that they can bumble through alot of mistakes and just keep trucking.

 

[Yousef]

I know this will sound sarcastic unless I clarify otherwise but my answer is a hard: none.

 

[VampireLord1024VampireLord1024's icon]

I've only owned Scarlet and Shield for the Switch.

 

[starseeker300]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX and New Pokemon Snap (still a should have just called it Pokemon Snap 2 TBH) and maybe Legends Arceus and Scarlet (but not violet) if you are willing to put up with game freaks crap (which i personally am no longer willing to)

 

[Ikagura]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX and New Pokemon Snap (still a should have just called it Pokemon Snap 2 TBH) and maybe Legends Arceus and Scarlet (but not violet) if you are willing to put up with game freaks crap (which i personally am no longer willing to)

I am curious about Legend Arceus.