By Mark Valdes, Staff Writer
SEQUEL?: When the new Crown Tundra DLC came out for Pokemon Sword and Shield no one was expecting what was given to them.
Pokemon is a game series produced by Tsunekazu Ishihara, with its first games, Pokemon Red and Green released back in 1996. The game was a huge success and even branched itself out to a TV series, a trading card game, and a manga, all of which were successful. The main game series itself has currently been one of Nintendo’s top series of games with 8 main games and many spinoff games, again, all successful. In fact, the series has become the highest grossing game franchise of all time, racking in around $90 billion in its lifetime.
Typically, a new pokemon game is released every couple of years, but this year instead of a new Pokemon main game being released, the developers of Pokemon Sword and Shield, the eighth generation of pokemon (eight game to follow the typical pokemon role-playing game formula ) decided to release Downloadable Content or DLC. The story of the DLC is that your character (after becoming the most powerful pokemon trainer in the entire Region you are playing in, known as the Champion) goes to a new area called The Crown Tundra which gives access to new items, new Pokemon, and returning old Pokemon too. The main thing about this new land is that a bunch of extremely rare “legendary” Pokemon are located within it and since legendary Pokemon are essentially the gods and deities of the pokemon world, of course the main character wants a piece of that action. In the added content, the character must research these legendary Pokemon, eventually locating them and then battling it, hoping to capture it…if it isn’t a myth that is.
The DLC is mainly designed to improve the game’s lack of classic pokemon returning in the newest installment. Unlike in previous games which had every Pokemon from previous generations, and new ones. This of course angered fans that believed the developers are trying to get by while putting the least effort into their work. Other fans saw this as a way to hold off of an entirely new pokemon game so as to preserve the series longer while doing something new and different.
The Crown Tundra was a fun experience for the most part and it was amazing seeing old legendary Pokemon like Suicune or Dialga as modernly rendered models with fluid animation on the Nintendo switch, a serious step up from the typical 3Ds models that we had become used to seeing. The big complaint is that the game itself, and the additional cost of DLC doesn’t seem worth the price, especially because you are also paying for another DLC called The Isle of Armor which is essentially just an hour or two of extra gameplay and just includes more old pokemon, new forms for pokemon, and a new legendary pokemon.
That being said, if this DLC sounds interesting to you then by all means go and buy it because you will have fun getting more pokemon you couldn’t get in the main game. This DLC was refreshing new pokemon content and if you’re a fan you can at least appreciate that. While you’re at it you should check out the older pokemon games as well and compare them to the new games being made today. Ultimately, the only one who can determine if the $90 price tag is worth it for Sword or Shield and their respective DLC, is the consumer. Though this batch of games were very popular upon release, many long time fans were disappointed by them. Whether the DLC fixes this or not, well, that depends on your own opinion.