Pokémon Legends: Arceus
| Pokémon Legends: Arceus | |
|---|---|
 An Australian copy of the game | |
| Developer(s) | Game Sexy |
| Publisher(s) | No, Ten Dogs |
| Release date | January 28, 2022 |
| Genre | Lonely-player |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Switch |
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a 2022 video game that was released on the Nintendo Switch, and published by Game Freak. It is the first Pokémon game to be released in 2022. It is also the ninth Pokémon game for the Switch to come out on disc, or well, little cartridges to be exact (the elventh or something if you count digital games).
Arceus is a part of the eighth generation of Pokémon games that include 2019's Sword and Shield, and 2021's Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The game takes place a few hundred years prior to the Sinnoh games, either the 2006 ones or 2021 "remakes" — despite being the latest edition to the Pokémon franchise.
Gameplay[edit]
Unlike the previous Pokémon games, in which you are a Pokémon Trainer, in Legends: Arceus you take the role of a Pokémon Surveyor. However, this does not mean that you have to travel across the lands of Sinnoh Hisui to conduct interviews on people and get their thoughts on certain topics. So, although you are now called a 'Surveyor', your job is to catch all of the Pokémon in the region — much like the previous games in which you are called a 'Trainer'.
Additionally, gameplay has also evovled — as well as a few new and old Pokémon. With the game being on the Nintendo Switch, the full power of the new motion controlled Joy Cons have been utilised. Well, actually, that was a lie. They haven't but now you can crouch and sneak up on Pokémon! That's never been done before! Oh wait, no it was back in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. But at least now Pokémon is more "open world"...kind of.
PokéDex[edit]
The Legends: Arceus PokéDex only contains 242 Pokémon, which is 158 less than that of Sword and Shield's pre-DLC PokéDex, and only 9 less than that of Gen 2's Gold, Silver and Crystal PokéDex which came out more than 21 years ago. Although to most players, this isn't a really big deal, but to longtime players, this was more disappointing than the time the world didn't end in 2012. All-in-all, all three Gen 8 games (Sword/Shield, Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Legends: Arceus), lowered the amount of Pokémon in their respective games despite being on new hardware. In a statement, Nintendo said that the reason for less and less Pokémon appearing as each new game comes out is due to hardware limitations. However, it was later revealed that there had been a translation error as the translator didn't actually speak Japanese, but Chinese instead. This mistake was made because of another translation error on the job description being scribed by someone from Taiwan. But the actual reason was that the devolopers were just to lazy to bother coding in all 905 Pokémon.
New Pokémon and forms[edit]
As is the new norm in new additions to the franchise, Legends: Arceus also introduced new Pokémon and regional forms. With the concept artists running out of ideas as the total number of 'Mons nears 1000, these "new" Pokémon are just rehashed evolutions and colour changes.
Story[edit]
You are in bed when the God of Pokémon, Arceus himself, comes to you in your dreams. Arceus then sends you hundreds of years into the past. You awake on a beach, surrounded by a creepy old guy and three starter Pokémon that should not be in Sinnoh. You then have to catch all three but can only choose one to keep, meaning that you used wasted two Pokéballs for nothing. The old guy then takes you to a town, where even more weird looking people live, and after having some dinner with them, they let you join the Survey Corps, even though you don't have a resume, nor any prior work experience.
You are then given a choice of starter Pokémon, all of which have been exported from different regions against their will. Throughout your journey, the spacetime rift (the one from Fortnite) starts to cause "Noble Pokémon" to appear. This forces you to team up with the local Diamond and Pearl clans, so you can make some lip balm in order to defeat them.
After you five noble Pokémon, the spacetime rift begins to worsen, turning the sky an ominous red colour because that's all the Switch's hardware could handle. You are then blamed for this, despite being the only one the entire game trying to stop it. So, you are banished from Jubilife Village and forced to travel the region alone. After doing a bit of detective work, you find out that you need the three Lake guardian Pokémon. After winning each of the guardians game-show quizes, the three Pokémon provide materials that you need to craft the Red Chain — which you need to stop the rift.
After defeating Commander Kamado, you get to The Temple of Sinnoh. Depending on which clan you chose to join, either Dialga (Diamond Clan) or Palkia (Pearl Clan) appears first, and in a total dick-move, breaks the Red Chain. This forces you to gather the broken fragments of the Red Chain, and make a special Poké Ball out of it, so that you can capture the other legendary Pokémon. After catching both Dialga and Palkia, this somehow seals the spacetime rift and that's it. Game over. What an adventure.
That is, until, you get the post-game. You have to travel across the Hisui region -- again! -- and catch ALL of the legendary and mythical Pokémon. But that's not it, you have to catch EVERY SINGLE Pokémon so that you can fight the final boss of the game: Arceus. After catching Arceus, then, and only then, is your journey complete.
Genius marketing[edit]
For some reason, the post-marketing for Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the best in the history of advertising. If only they had used these commericals before the games release, they could have sold more copies on launch day. These advertisements use a Pokémon plushee in a spoof of a TV show or genre of show, with Snack Attack! being a parody of cooking shows....It’s Pokémon, but not as you know it!
- Snack Attack!
A chef is teaching two trainee chefs to make eggplant lasagna. Munchlax steals the potatoes and the head chef actor tries not to break character. After asking "calmly" who took his potatoes, a salad explodes behinds him. This has to be the work of the Anti-salad gang! Nope. Just Munchlax. Munchlax then steals the guys tomatoes for some reason. The two get into a stare off....It’s Pokémon, but not as you know it!
- An Antique?
A guy brings his great-great-great-grandfathers Pokéball on the show Antiques Roadshow. Upon inspection, the host opens the ball and a giant Basculegion pops out and starts to smash countless priceless antiques that nobody would buy even if they had the money (even though they are priceless — which means they are free?). The Basculegion then smashes a black guy's vase cause it's racist. The man who bought in the Pokéball then asks if it's worth more now since it contains a Pokémon. The host stares at him, and then leads into an ad break....It’s Pokémon, but not as you know it!
- The Drama!
In a parody of Latin-American soap operas, a semi-attractive female overacts all her lines. The Hisuian Growlithe really did not choose to do the show....It’s Pokémon, but not as you know it!
- Spoiled Food Alert!
The chef and Munchlax return! The chef is trying to do his best Gordon Ramsay impression, but fails miserably. He then starts to feed Munchlax all of the rotten and bad dishes the two worst chefs have made. Munchlax just keeps eating dish, after dish, after dish. Unbelievable!....It’s Pokémon, but not as you know it!
- Achoo-see You!
A man and a woman are on a nice date for what seems to be a dating show, based on the beginning interview. The man presents some flowers — what a gentleman! Suddenly, a Budew pops out of said flowers and uses one of its attack moves....Stun Spore? No....Poison Powder? Whatever it is, it's about to kill those two people. What a nice, family-friendly Pokémon commerical....It’s Pokémon, but not as you know it!
Reception[edit]
“It's alright, I guess.”
Sequel[edit]
Although speculation suspected a Legends sequel set in the Unova region with Kyurem as the games title Pokémon, in 2024 it was confirmed that the second of the Legends games, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, would be set in the past of the Kalos region. It will supposedly bring back Mega Evolution, as well as the best feature ever that was only in the original games: roller-blades. Yay! It will be released sometime in 2025.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
