During Nintendo’s E3 presentation of Pokemon Sword and Shield, Mr. Masuda from Game Freak mentioned that the games will lack any kind of National Pokedex. Which means players won’t be able to transfer any Pokemon over from Pokemon Bank or Pokemon Home that aren’t already in the game.

The Pokemon community is not taking this news well.

For hardcore Pokemon fans, I can understand the disappointment of not having a National Pokedex in Sword and Shield. Especially when every Pokemon RPG has had it since Generation 3. However, Game Freak does have a point. The number of Pokemon they have to add to a National Pokedex is getting higher with every new generation of games, which makes development more time-consuming, and presents balancing issues for multiplayer Pokemon battling.

For a casual Pokemon fan like myself, I’m fine with no National Pokedex. It doesn’t dampen my interest in the game, but judging by how many dislikes Nintendo’s Treehouse presentation of Sword and Shield is getting on YouTube, the Pokemon community is not happy about it.