Pokémon: Legends Arceus may be on the horizon, but the current generation of mainline Pokémon games is still Pokémon Sword and Shield. The games are now approaching two years old and people have enjoyed the addition of Dynamaxing, Team Raids, and improvements of online capabilities. However, even upon release, critics and fans alike were skeptical of the graphical quality of the games - with many noting how it didn’t look all too different from the 3DS games in the previous generation, Sun and Moon.
Although there’s some moments of visual flourish, many fans were disappointed in the graphical jump back to home consoles. Given the upgrade in power the Switch had versus its predecessors, people were expecting a new era with comparable graphics to Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey. However, when previews started surfacing, players felt the game was only on par with the titles created for the 3DS and the Pokémon Let’s Go games - there are even Sword and Shield-inspired cards that look better in the TCG. While this ultimately didn’t stop Pokémon Sword and Shield from selling well due in part to the Switch’s overall success, it did put a damper on the excitement of a new generation.
Players may be correct in assuming that Pokémon has never been a huge graphical showcase, but that doesn’t mean that the games don’t (or can’t) look good. Through emulation and a texture pack from Volya and other modders, players can experience Ultra Sun and Moon in HD just like Sword and Shield, and with this graphical overhaul the 3DS games have a more detailed and active look than the Switch games do. The previous 3DS generation of Pokémon games had better art direction overall and didn’t cut corners when giving players exciting landscapes to explore.
Up until recently, when Game Freak said Pokémon regions were inspired by different countries and locales, this mostly meant in terms of game design and not necessarily graphics. With Pokémon X and Y, however, it was made clear that future Pokémon regions would be heavily inspired by countries in the real world going forward - France, in that game. Sun and Moon are based on tropical island locales such as the Pacific Islands and Hawaii, so there is a wider variety of landscapes like volcanoes, waterfalls, and seaside cities, and the foliage looks more specialized than Sword and Shield.
Sword and Shield boast a lot of fields, lakes, and forests mirroring the United Kingdom and the European countryside, but without the detail to back those epic landscapes up, they end up feeling empty. Rock textures on mountains feel especially barren and even Galar town designs feel lesser than the vibrant nature of Alola. Since the theming of newer Pokémon entries has evolved and become more unique, going back to a more recognizable and piecemeal setting feels like a step back.
While Pokémon Sword and Shield have Sun and Moon beaten in terms of the epic proportions of their Galar region-specific Dynamax fights, when comparing routes, battles, and interior shots, the 3DS games are better at filling the scene with different elevations and decorations. Battle sequences can take place in town squares and flower fields in Sun and Moon, and there are specific themes for every island trial’s battles. A lot of Sword and Shield’s battles take place in open fields or voids, with the backgrounds not elevating or varying much in style.
Even many buildings compare well to Sword and Shield - shops have about the same level of detail on the interior and vary from area to area, giving the game more variety when visiting regions. However, Pokémon's 3DS games' towns push buildings closer to each other and many cities have radically different styles from one another, from Maile’s traditional Japanese look to Hau’oli’s completely modern design. Sword and Shield’s towns have a similar brick architecture in comparison, with the only standout being the integration of nature in Balloonlea.
Even with Galar's changes and new Pokémon features, something that is ever-present is a distant haze that is visible in the backgrounds of battles and on world maps. This is most likely to save processing power on the Nintendo Switch for other game elements, but the blur is noticeable when looking at forests, towns, and skies in the background. Even in stadium battles, the background crowd can get blurry from time to time. This washed-out look makes the game far less visually exciting and obscures the detail of plains in the distance. This ends up robbing Sword and Shield of some of its grandeur, whereas Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in HD have crisp visuals during all parts of gameplay.
In many ways, Sword and Shield feel like a classic, strategic, and refreshingly difficult Pokémon game that graphically doesn’t live up to the new generation of consoles. The 3DS games were built with its hardware and storage capacities in mind but the Nintendo Switch version feels small in comparison to other games for the platform. Expectations are important to keep in mind as when placed side to side in HD, the games still look similar. There are areas that the 3DS games fall shorter than the Switch versions, but overall, it is easier to understand that they still gave comparative experiences on last-gen hardware. Older games can get away with cartoony movement and smaller frame rates but even on the Switch, a system known for being less powered than its competition, there are first-party games that look wonderful in HD and miles better than the current generation of Pokémon.
The transition period between classic Pokémon entries and 3D ones has proved to be a challenging one for Game Freak. Newer Pokémon games have made the series approachable for casual players and less grindy for veterans, but it's failed to capture some of the magic of the Game Boy era games. Sword and Shield could be simply a misstep in terms of graphics, however. With Diamond and Pearl remakes on the horizon and Legends: Arceus also coming soon, Game Freak and Nintendo have opportunities to reroute what Pokémon looks like on the Switch and going forward. With in-world battles and a need to vary terrain, the game could fix what makes Pokémon Sword and Shield less spectacular than the emulated 3DS HD versions.
Source: Volya/Youtube
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