Pokémon’s Post-Game Content NEEDS to Follow the Example of Generation V
Though later games would incorporate more story content into their post-game missions, the series should revisit Pokémon Black and White’s approach.
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Until the release of the most recent games, Pokémon Sword and Shield, Generation V was perhaps the franchise’s most controversial era. It marked a major transition for the series that would set the stage for later Pokémon games. Black and White’s Unova was the first main-series region to be based on a real-life location outside of Japan, and it introduced a whopping 156 Pokémon — more than the original 151 — while initially excluding all previous Pokémon from the main games. Unfortunately, many fans were underwhelmed by some of the new designs, and while the games were highly regarded over all, some felt that the series’ soft-reboot didn’t do much to advance the series as a whole.
Still, Black and White got plenty of things right, and the game deserves a lot of credit for its story and characters. As a whole, the series could learn from this underrated title, in particular from how it structured its post-game story content.
After completing Pokémon Black and White’s main story and waking up at home following the end credits, the player meets Looker, the International Police office introduced in Platinum. His latest assignment is tracking down and arresting the Seven Sages of Team Plasma (minus Ghetsis, who was already arrested), who have gone into hiding following the events at N’s Castle.
Looker asks from the player’s assistance, and will show up each time the player locates one of the Sages to arrest them. After taking the final one into custody, Looker will remark that N, the former puppet King of Team Plasma with whom the player bonded on their journey, was seen in another region with his Legendary dragon.
Later Pokémon games have provided interesting post-game story content, with X and Y’s Looker Bureau missions and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire’s Delta Episode standing out for their emotional impact and lore significance. Sword and Shield also contains a mini-campaign after the main story outside of the Expansion Pass: the Legendary Quest that ends in the player catching either Zacian or Zamazenta. However, all of these were linear, requiring players to head to specific locations and complete objectives in a particular order.
In contrast, the player isn’t given much guidance for locating the Sages. They are expected to explore Unova for themselves, journeying to newly available areas and finding secrets that were missed or hidden the first time around. While this didn’t add as much to the story as other post-game quests, its hands-off approach is something future games should revisit. Newer Pokémon games have been criticized for being too easy, having linear storylines and containing few secrets to discover through gameplay, so another open-ended post-game like Black and White’s would be welcome.
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