I May Never Go Back To Mainline Pokémon Games After Pokopia

2 hours ago 9

Ditto from Pokémon Pokopia waving in front of a split background of a landscape and seascape from Pokémon Winds and Waves.

Published Mar 15, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT

Kyle Gratton is an editor and writer based out of Kansas City. He received a bachelor's degree, dual majoring in English and History with a minor in Film and Media Studies, and has been a senior staff writer and reviewer for Screen Rant's Gaming section since 2021, with roles in editorial, and various freelance projects.

A terminal Midwesterner who graduated from the University of Kansas, Kyle also has knowledge and interest in literature, film, film adaptions of literature, and history.

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Playing Pokémon Pokopia has made me realize that it may be time I stopped playing the mainline games for good. My long relationship with Pokémon is definitely not uncommon. I have very fond memories of playing Pokémon Red and Blue as a kid, and eagerly played the following few generations. A handful of gens I never experienced first-hand for various reasons, but I kept tabs and eventually came back to the series during the Switch era.

Pokémon Sword and Shield were fine, though not overtly encouraging for the series' direction, but I started to really lose faith when I never even rolled credits on Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl or Legends: Arceus, despite finding a lot to like about the latter's dynamic battles. Against my better judgment, I tried Scarlet and Violet amid all the hype and was supremely disappointed. I resolved not to let Legends: Z-A trick me again, and figured maybe I just wasn't cut out to be a Pokémon fan anymore. Pokopia has shown me the light.

Pokopia Showed Me What I Don't Like Anymore About Mainline Pokémon

Skiploom in front of some of the rewards from Pokemon Pokopia event Spores for Hoppip

My chief complaint about Pokémon for the last few years has been the technical state of its mainline releases. It has been increasingly frustrating to see buggy, ugly games receive high marks and set new sales records. This is still a concern for me personally, and I think the first look at Pokémon Winds and Waves is promising regarding art direction, but Pokopia has highlighted that certain aspects of Pokémon still have a lot of charm.

I'm taking Pokémon Pokopia very slowly – I'm only in the second area, but it's already on its way to becoming my favorite Pokémon game. It's delightful to gradually work through this environmentalist story and see which Pokémon come to visit next. I spend hours just clearing detritus and making my little town look nice, building habitats hoping to attract new monsters.

This sort of ecological slant is partly why I think open-world Pokémon games have a lot of potential, even if I despised my time with Violet. With over 1,000 Pokémon in the national dex, there's huge potential in simply finding these creatures, both new and familiar, just hanging out in their natural habitat. Catching Pokémon has always been my favorite part, and Pokopia has made me realize that I've been suffering through the turn-based combat in recent mainline entries.

I will fully admit that this is a matter of personal preference. There's nothing wrong with turn-based games, I just happen to bounce off of them relatively quickly. Even when I played the brilliant Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which adds some very clever mechanics and dynamic features to its turn-based combat, I was growing bored with it before the end. It doesn't help that I've played countless Pokémon battles in my life. A new gimmick isn't going to suddenly recapture my interest.

Pokopia Reinforced My Wavering Love Of Pokémon

Pokopia Seaside Habitat Photo Mode With Ivysaur

This is not me wishing the mainline Pokémon games would change; they won't, and they don't need to. A better realized art style and performance that's not abysmal might pique my interest a little bit, but Pokopia helped me realize I just need to change my expectations. It was frustrating being a Pokémon fan and feeling like the games are bad now, especially when they're ostensibly the same as they ever were.

Maybe, I thought, I'm just not actually a fan anymore. But Pokopia has nixed that idea. These goofy little creatures are still great. I guess I just don't like battling with them much anymore. Let me play as a benevolent Ditto hell-bent on restoring Kanto to its former glory, though, and I'll have a wonderful time.

Starting Pokopia, the appeal is almost immediately obvious, making me wonder why it took so long for such a game to be made. Pokémon games aren't hard per se, but Pokopia cleverly remixes the journey to catch 'em all into a series of very simple mini puzzles – the hardest part is deciding how you want to arrange the space. One quest leads to another showing you a surprisingly deep well of mechanics, and you're gradually tuned into all the different habitats you can create.

Pokémon has always excelled in promising more around every corner. New routes, new gyms, new towns, and, of course, new Pokémon. I loved this about the classic games, seeing my main team change as I went, marking my journey's progress with a fresh gym badge. Pokopia has given me more tangible markers, though. What started out as a dry, vacant wasteland is now a verdant home to a couple dozen Pokémon, and it's still under constant renovation.

A new area provides new challenges, not unlike a new route and its new trainers in the mainline games. I'm still building a team of Pokémon, and the main roster is still rotating as I progress through the game. Pokopia is a truly excellent game in its own right, but it has been invaluable to me as an alternative experience after growing increasingly uninterested in the series. Pokémon Winds and Waves are going to be the next big step, but I think I'll pass after finding what I was missing in Pokémon Pokopia.