Pokemon Legends: Arceus May Offer a New Spin on Pokemon Following Mechanics
A couple of strange cuts in the newest Pokemon Legends: Arceus trailer may imply the return of an old but beloved Pokemon feature.
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With the release fast approaching, the news cycle for Pokemon Legends: Arceus is beginning to speed up. Commercials and trailers are releasing with increasing frequency, and fans are getting a better idea of what, exactly, Pokemon Legends is like. This title marks a radical departure from Pokemon’s norms, as not only has Sword and Shield’s Wild Area been expanded to a fully open world, but the Gym Challenge has been completely done away with. Players will be handed more freedom than ever before, and are expected to use that freedom to catch more Pokemon than ever before.
Players take control of a new member of the Survey Corps, an important branch of the Galactic Exploration Team as they explore the Hisui Region. This is the ancient form of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl’s Sinnoh Region, and it and its Pokemon need to be researched to allow civilization to take root. Players can use a variety of new mechanics to accomplish this, including sneaking, dodging, and throwing items and Pokeballs outside of battle. The recent thirteen-minute-long gameplay trailer goes over just how different things are in Legends, but it also hinted at the possible return of a certain fan-favorite mechanic.
Pokemon Legends’ Latest Trailer May Have Teased Walking Pokemon
During an early portion of the gameplay walkthrough, Pokemon Legends: Arceus’ gathering and crafting mechanics are introduced. As part of the demonstration, the player character throws a Pokeball containing their Rowlet at a piece of ore and a tree with objects in it. In both scenes, the Rowlet attacks the object they were thrown at, absorbs the resulting scattered materials, and then begins to turn towards the player. Before they can finish, the camera cuts to the next scene, as if it was trying to obscure something. This might hint at a mechanic that Game Freak does not want to show off yet.
The most likely feature this could be is the ability to throw out the Pokemon in one’s first party slot anywhere and have them follow the player around. This is a mechanic that dates back to Pokemon Yellow’s special Pikachu, and the first time it resurfaced was in Diamond and Pearl’s own Amity Square. Only a few Pokemon were implemented, and they could only follow within the confines of the park. Game Freak saw fit to expand this mechanic and allowed any Pokemon to trail the player almost anywhere for the entirety of HeartGold and SoulSilver. While some games alluded to this mechanic via Ride Pokemon, it did not truly return until Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLC, where players could unlock the ability to have their Pokemon follow them in the two locations’ Wild Areas.
How Walking Pokemon Could Be Implemented in Pokemon Legends: Arceus
With the feature returning with an expanded implementation in Shining Diamond and Brilliant Pearl, it seems like Game Freak is intent on making field Pokemon companions a semi-regular thing in the franchise. It makes sense to implement it again now that players will be encountering most wild Pokemon as wandering 3D models. It also seems likely to be in Pokemon Legends, given that the game is meant to expand on Sword and Shield’s Wild Areas, and their DLC expansions were already an attempt to do just that. The ability to manually release and return a Pokemon at any time is a novel one for the Pokemon franchise, and players are sure to be excited if and when it is properly revealed.
If Pokemon followers do make it into Pokemon Legends: Arceus, they may have to be put under special rules. The player needs to constantly interact with wild Pokémon and catch them, and normally, throwing an inhabited Pokeball at or near a wild creature will start a fight. It’s unclear how the game would handle having a player Pokemon and wild Pokemon walking near each other at the same time. Legends’ player-oriented action mechanics would also come into question if a friendly Pokemon is always present to defend them. As establishing a closer connection between humans and Pokemon is a core theme in Pokemon Legends, true following Pokemon may not be unlocked until the player has spent a while with the normal gameplay. Regardless, the feature will hopefully be present in some form once Pokemon Legends: Arceus comes out.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus will release on January 28, 2022, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
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