It’s no news that the modern generation of Pokémon games has brought the developers, Game Freak, under the rapid fire of criticisms for the whole of Nintendo Switch’s lifespan. The issue mainly stems from the recent mainline games failing to live up to the standards of modern games.
Social media is always a hotbed of controversies, with bot profiles creating posts that call for disturbance and discussion. The Twitter/X user NintendGOD recently made a post comparing the newly released Monster Hunter Stories 3 demo’s performance on Switch 2 hardware with Pokémon‘s.
The Capcom game has been receiving a lot of praise from its fans and Nintendo users alike. This is because the game clearly demonstrates that it is much superior in terms of visuals, performance, and scope when compared to the older Monster Hunter Stories titles.
Thoughts about Pokémon vs Monster Hunter Stories 3
This is not the first time Pokémon titles have been called out and compared to other monster-collecting games and JRPGs on the Nintendo Switch hardware. The abysmal reception of Pokémon titles on Nintendo switch were brought up once when Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei V had dropped on the first iteration of the Switch.
Fans have been comparing how large monsters in both franchises scale and actual makes for a better impact. It was a huge point of debate that continued for a while on the Twitter/X platform.
It seems like we are seeing a repeat of pretty much the same scenario. We are seeing a lot of fans actually siding with the Monster Hunter side on this debate, while having the same complaints against Pokémon.
There’s also a large section of the Nintendo crowd that is actually looking at the situation rationally, not forgetting to praise Capcom for its accomplishments with the game’s visuals on the hardware. While also debating the fact that these games will never replace the Pokémon IP because it’s way too popular.
Some are clearly seeing through this mess and calling out the Nintendo and Pokémon fans for constantly clinging to subpar games on the basis of nostalgia.
On the other side of the spectrum, actual fans of the Pokémon franchise are just tired of catching strays from people who are constantly trying to compare the games with other franchises on the Switch 2 hardware. While this moment should actually be all about complimenting Monster Hunter Stories 3.
Pitting both of these games against each other is pointless
The whole situation feels like an unnecessary deja vu that is an occasional occurrence for the Nintendo and Pokémon community. That’s because Pokémon Legends: Z-A just came out to a decent reception last year, even though it constantly came under fire for being compared to Digimon Story: Time Stranger.
Earlier this year, the developers at Game Freak demonstrated that the company is not limited by expertise or hardware because they are currently involved in making an AAA title with Microsoft as the publisher.
Beasts of Reincarnation became quite the meme in recent months as fans realized that Game Freak can make games outside the Nintendo hardware and go all out in production.
On the Capcom side, we have seen fans go from getting hyped about the release of the mainline title, Monster Hunter Wilds, to absolutely loathing and complaining about the game’s performance issues.
Seeing both the companies and their respective IPs being pitted against each other for completely different reasons will surely tell you how fast perspectives can be twisted on social media.
