will be commercially unavailable, making a large chunk of the Pokémon ecosystem difficult if not impossible to access. When it goes offline, two-thirds of all Pokémon games released in the U.S. In just a few weeks, though, it will no longer be possible to buy games from the Nintendo 3DS eShop. It’s one reason that “Dexit” was such a disruptive moment for the community – it shattered that cherished sense of continuity that had defined the series for so long. My Sword and Shield team included a Hydreigon I caught in Pokémon Black and a Sceptile I had raised from Pokémon Emerald, infusing it with a unique sense of continuity that transcends individual entries.
One of Pokémon’s many quirks is that it has secretly been something like a live-service game from the very start, with each successive generation being akin to an expansion in Destiny or World of Warcraft. Prior to their 2016 re-release on Nintendo 3DS, I had viewed the original Game Boy games as nostalgic but vestigial remnants of the original continuity owing to their absence from the chain linking each generation. This was a huge deal since the original Game Boy games had been severed from the mainline releases starting with Ruby and Sapphire. Not only did it make the originals available to a wide audience after being locked on older platforms for years, it connected them to the newer generations through Pokémon Home. This was especially apparent the last time the originals were revived, when Game Freak released Pokémon Red and Blue on the Nintendo 3DS in what was a watershed moment for the series. If there’s anything that can remove the bad taste left by Scarlet and Violet’s technical issues, it’s a link to the original games, which retain a powerful hold on the popular imagination. I found myself reflecting again on that pleasant morning after this week's Pokémon Direct, which fans hoped would include the original Game Boy games but mostly kept the focus on Scarlet and Violet's expected expansions (and Pokémon Sleep, which has been something of a meme since its original announcement in 2019).
Pokémon Ultra Sun, 2017, which felt like a letdown at the time but as the last game to feature every single Pokémon now feels like the last vestige of the classic experience. Pokémon Platinum, 2008, one of the first games I ever covered as a member of the media.
Pokémon Emerald, 2005, a period when I was just out of college and fully invested in the competitive scene. They were like miniature time capsules filled with artifacts that transported me to a particular time and place in my life. Spreading a handful of GBA, DS, and 3DS games on a table, I was filled with an invigorating sense of nostalgia as I plugged them in one after the other and reunited with my old friends.
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