ThePokemonseries has now been around for more than a quarter of a century. Despite its advancing years though, the franchise is still just as popular as ever, withSword & Shieldhaving sold tens of millions of copies since releasing in late 2019 andPokemon GOcontinuing to generate eye-watering revenues through its still sizable player base. This isn’t to say that there haven’t been some big changes made to the series over the years though.
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While a lot of things about the games have largely remained unchanged, there are a number of classicPokemontropes that are no longer present in modernPokemontitles. Some were cut from the franchise due to advances in technology, but that hasn’t always been the case. Long-time fans of the series will likely have fond memories of many of these things, though not all of these tropes were popular with players.
7Link Cable Trading
Though the Game Boy link cable wasn’t exclusively used withPokemongames, the vast majority of the cable’s sales can still be attributed to the franchise. In early generations, the link cable was the only way to trade Pokemon from cartridge to cartridge, making it a must-have accessory for those hoping to truly collect them all.
Over time, new trading methods were brought in, including infrared and transfer pack trading, but the link cable still remained popular right up to the release of the Nintendo 3DS. Since then, however, players have had to rely solely on WiFi for transferring Pokemon, although many will likely prefer this method due to its improved stability andits ability to work over distance.
6Returning To Old Regions
When players completePokemon Gold & Silver, they’re given the option to return to the Kanto region from the first generationPokemongames. Not only does this allow them to catch more than 100 new Pokemon after their adventures throughoutJohtocome to an end, but it also enables players to take part in a host of new and challenginggym and trainer battlesand effectively doubles the length of the games.
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Additional areas have been added as post-game content in the eighth-generationPokemongames, although these came as paid DLC rather than being included in the base version of the games. They also take players tonew locations, rather than revisiting old ones, making it somewhat difficult to compare them. Some may argue that new is always better, but there are plenty of fans who wouldn’t mind returning to the likes of Kalos and Unova once more.
5An Ever-Expanding Pokedex
Up until fairly recently, each new generation ofPokemongamesadded a bunch of new Pokemon to the Pokedexwhile also keeping all of those that had come before them. This all changed, however, with the release ofPokemon Sword & Shieldfor the Nintendo Switch and the now infamous Dexit debacle.
Fans of the series were outraged when it was revealed that more than half of the pre-existing Pokemon wouldn’t be returning forSword & Shield. The Expansion Pass DLC content has sinceadded many of the missing mons back into the games, but, at the time of writing, at least, there’s still a long list of unobtainable Pokemon in the titles.
4Pokemon Contests
Although training and battling Pokemon has always been the primary purpose of every aspiringPokemonChampion, there was once a time when players could also have their mons compete for the title of the coolest, smartest, cutest, toughest, or most beautiful Pokemon by competing in specialPokemon contests. The rewards weren’t great, but many players still enjoyed the pageantry of it all.
Not only have these contests not shown up in the games for quite some time, but they’ve also been absent from both theanimeandmangatoo. Whether Game Freak and Nintendo felt that contests based on appearances were inappropriate for young children or the contests just didn’t appeal to the series' target audience is unclear. Either way though, they seem to be gone for good.
3Exp. Share
The Exp. Share item first appeared inPokemon Red & Blueand could be used to distribute the experience gained in battle among all six Pokemon in a player’s party. This was tweaked a little in subsequent games, with the Exp. Share becoming a held item and only experience points earned by the Pokemon holding it being shared. Things have changed quite a bit more since then though.
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The sixth and seventh-generation games treated the Exp. Share as a key item that could be turned on and off at any time, while theLet’s Gogames scrap it entirely. It was replaced with a new system in which experience is shared regardless of whether players want it to be or not.Sword & Shieldfollowed suit, once again offering players no choice in the matter.
2Safari Zones
The Safari Zone inFuchsia Cityoffered a somewhat relaxing change of pace for players of the gen 1Pokemongames. Rather than having to use their Pokemon to whittle down the health of the area’s many wild mons in order to catch them, players were instead given rocks, apples, and a limited supply of special Pokeballs with which to further flesh out their Pokedex.
Not all players enjoyed the Safari Zone experience, especially due to the step-count limit that the games imposed. Even so, the concept returned inRuby & Sapphireand a new Safari Zone was later added into the remakes ofGold & Silver.The gen 6 gamesdid have the Friend Safari too, which was kind of similar, but the original Safari Zone concept has otherwise failed to return in recent generations.
1Game-Breaking Glitches
Anybody who has played the original releases ofPokemon Red & Bluewill likely be well aware ofMissingNo. The glitch Pokemon can be encountered by surfing up and down the east coast of Cinnabar Island and, amongst other things, can be used to duplicate items including the Master Ball and Rare Candies. It can therefore make life a whole lot easier for players, although it can sometimes have the exact opposite effect.
When the glitch was first discovered, it was widely reported that catching MissingNo and saving the game could in some instances lead to a player’ssave file being corrupted. Thankfully, abusing the glitch didn’t actually require players to catch MissingNo, so very few players were actually affected. Regardless, it’s difficult to imagine something like this making its way into a modernPokemongame, especially with patches and updates being so easy to roll out.
