The Curious Case Of Wailord In Pokémon Sword & Shield
A look back at Pokémon history shows that Wailord just might be the most troublesome Pokémon from a developer perspective.
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Wailord is the biggest Pokémon around, but its size seems to be a problem in Sword & Shield… and really, the entire Pokémon franchise.
It’s no secret that Wailord is the Pokémon version of a whale. And like most whales, Wailord is big. Huge even. Well, sometimes. It depends on what part of the massive Pokémon media empire that Wailord happens to be showcased in.
According to the Pokédex (as seen in Bulbapedia), a fully grown Wailord is 14.5 m (47 feet) long and 398 kg (877 lbs). By volume, that makes Wailord the largest Pokémon of all, but it’s still roughly 150 lbs lighter than a Snorlax.
To put this into perspective, that makes Wailord roughly the size of a city bus. However, Wailord’s displayed size often strays quite far from the Pokédex.
Starting with the anime, we see that Wailord’s size is more like a large yacht than a bus, and indeed often substitutes for ocean-going vessels in the show. Those simply watching the cartoon would certainly be convinced that Wailord is as enormous as its namesake.
Video games are more of a mixed bag. In original Game Boy Advance games, Wailord doesn’t appear any larger than most other Pokémon, but fast forward to more modern Pokémon titles with 3D graphics and you’ll find Wailord to have grown to his true shape. Pokémon Battle Revolution and Pokémon GO both show enormous Wailords that are roughly the size of buses, accurate to the Pokédex.
But that’s not always the case even in modern titles. Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness resize Wailord in order to fit the battle area. You’d think the Nintendo Switch could handle full-size Wailord, right? Sadly, Sword & Shield also shrink Wailord down so that it doesn’t completely fill the screen during a fight.
However, with the release of the Isle of Armor DLC, Wailord can be spotted in the overworld at the huge size represented in the anime. But in another twist, when you have Wailord follow you around outside of its Pokéball, it seems to shrink down to a somewhat more convenient size (even if that size is still cumbersomely huge in comparison to most Pokémon).
The truth is that Wailord’s size is completely arbitrary. It will be the size of an aircraft carrier in one game and the size of an inflatable pool toy in the next. At this point, the only way to justify this variance is to retroactively say that Wailord has the ability to alter its volume at will depending on the environment it finds itself in.
Maybe that’ll be what new trainers read under Wailord in the next game’s Pokédex.
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