Pokémon Sc/Vi was Sonic the Hedgehog (‘06) for Pokémon

[firebush03]

curl-6 said:

firebush03 said:

Worth noting is that Sonic ‘06 (IIRC) is one of the best selling 3D Sonic releases of all-time, and subsequent entries didn’t fall too far below pre-‘06 figures. The main damage was in critical and “core gamer” perspective of Sonic, which was in utter shambles.

Given the target audience for Pokémon, critical reception and the core/enthusiast perspective don't really matter that much in terms of its ongoing success. One could argue that's true for Sonic as well, where its following will keep buying it no matter how crap it is, but Pokémon's on a whole 'nother level.

I can see the two games being comparable in terms of "core" backlash, but I don't see Game Freak changing course to save face the way Sega did with Sonic, as they simply don't need to. (Unfortunately)

Eh… call me a bootlicker for GameFreak, but recent leaks have shown a lot of promise (e.g. GameFreak responding to the controversy of BDSP by claiming that simple remasters are no longer sufficient, full remakes are the future; upcoming projects seem very promising, creating an entirely new engine and everything), and Z-A has been praised very highly — and rightfully so — by core fans of the franchise (though the general audience has not let go of SwSh+BDSP+ScVi).