The current state of the Pokémon series is a painfully contentious topic. On one hand, they’ve defined multiple generations of lifelong fans that constantly show their love for the franchise in creative ways. On the other hand, their latest games are so half-baked that I’m convinced they forgot to turn the oven on at all. The franchise is better at merchandising the monsters themselves than at making the games they debut in anything more than “alright.” This problem isn’t new either; it’s just becoming more evident with each new mainline release.

During Pokémon’s conception, Nintendo didn’t think much of the game series or whether it would have additional installments at all. The game’s development took six years to finish, as the team was working on Earthbound at the same time, and Pokémon was requested by Nintendo to be a smaller project. This changed, however, thanks to the game’s massive success in Japan, selling over 1.04 million units in 1997 and another 3.65 million the following year.

The rat-shaped lightning in a bottle launched the franchise into any and every possible merchandising opportunity. We’re talkin’ action figures, key chains, trading cards, clothing, and fuckin’ PENCIL TOPPERS! Pokémon was now at the top of the food chain, but in order to stay there, they had to make more monsters to take money out of people’s pockets. Pokémon needed more games.

This concept of more games is NOT the main issue fans have. The Pokémon series being subject to near yearly releases, resulting in a severe lack of polished material, is the issue. Although “Pokémon Red” and “Pokémon Green” were released after a six-year development cycle, they were still riddled with bugs. As a matter of fact, they were so broken that you could glitch the game and beat it before you even got your starter pokémon. To be fair, Game Freak was under a strict deadline as their partner company breathed down their neck to get a product in, but not playtesting the games at all during their development definitely didn’t help. The worst part is that the sequels, “Pokémon Gold” and “Pokémon Silver,” were made on top of the original games’ code and added new types, Pokémon, evolutions, and even more bugs! And I’m not talking about my boy Heracross.

Thanks to the constant rushing, the gameplay of the Pokémon series has stayed relatively the same for over 30 years. Spinoffs such as “Pokémon Mystery Dungeon,” “Pokémon Ranger,” and, more recently, the “Pokémon Legends” series are the main sources of gameplay variety. Development times for these games range anywhere from two to three years for most main line titles, and as little as one year for remakes during the 3DS era.

Even if a game gets enough time in the oven, it still feels as though it is missing a few ingredients. Mainline games such as “Pokémon Sun” and “Pokémon Moon” are brimming with life and ideas but never have enough time to properly execute them. The games CHUG on the 3DS family of systems, sometimes lagging in single battles and especially slowing down in doubles. “Pokémon Scarlet” and “Pokémon Violet” kickstarted the mainline series into an open-world direction, but were only given two and a half years for development. So how’d that go? The games barely function, the new creature designs are hit-or-miss compared to previous games, the multiplayer features feel more like an afterthought than an exclusive perk, and when the DLC dropped, it was set in a different region altogether. These games were so terrible on the Switch that they were the second most poorly received games in the series to date, with “Pokémon Black” and “Pokémon White” being the first for the grave crime of… not letting you catch a Pikachu.

The art direction of the Pokémon series has been the only truly evolving part of the franchise. Ken Sugimori led the art direction of the series since “Red” and “Green,” and concluded his time directing with the character and creature art for “Pokémon Ruby” and “Pokémon Sapphire.” It isn’t strange for franchises to have rotating staff, especially for one as old and successful as Pokémon, but it is undeniable that the change in Pokémon design philosophy has left many fans of the original Game Boy games feeling alienated and partial to the original Pokémon designs; i.e., the dreaded “Genwunner.” Their opinions and reasoning aren’t entirely incorrect; I’d choose Magnemite over Bruxish any day, but you’d have to threaten me with death before you make me say that any of the Kanto starters are better designed than the Sinnoh, Unova, or even Alola ones. I don’t care how much you love that sunburnt lizard, Charizard is not that good of a Pokémon or cool of a design. Get over it.

Every Pokémon has at least one person who deems them their favorite, although I fear the day I meet the singular Lumineon fan. This allows the franchise to primarily focus on merchandising to hell and back. Ironically, this explains the consistency issues we’ve been having with the mainline games. It’s clear that the games are no longer the media conglomerate’s top priority. Pokémon will never stop making games, of course. More games mean more characters, which means more merchandise, which leads to more money, which then funds cool stuff like the Pokémon amusement park in Kanto, which leads to EVEN MORE MONEY. Even if the games come at a loss, the merchandise makes back the difference and then some. For reference, the game releases make up about 5% of the Pokémon Company’s annual revenue… on a good day. For example, while “Pokémon Legends: Z-A” released at an impressive $70 plus a $30 DLC, while the new Pokémon LEGO sets run, at the cheapest, $59.99 for an Eevee, and the more popular Venusaur, Charizard & Blastoise LEGO Set is $649.99.

But it doesn’t matter. I can sit here and say that Pokémon needs to start changing its priorities and focus on releasing polished adventures with unique creature entries and returning fan-favorite characters, and for them to finally pay for goddamn voice actors so the characters get to finally fuckin’ speak in a mainline game for once. I could say that players want full customization for the player avatar and to travel through different regions just like in “Gold” and “Silver,” but they won’t do it. Pokémon can give the same effort with a couple of new bells and whistles, shitting out the same half-assed experience — yet another entry that makes COD players look sane for paying $80 for their new game — and people will still line up to eat their fill. Don’t lie to me. I know your asses are eyeing “Pokémon Winds” and “Pokémon Waves” because, unfortunately, just like many of you, so am I.