Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019, Switch)

It’s long been a dream of Pokémon fans to play Pokémon games on a home console. Any imperfections that exist in Pokémon Sword and Shield—and there are plenty—are secondary in light of that.

Let’s talk about the stuff these Switch games did right. For one, yes, exploring a Pokémon world done up in true 3D is a legitimate dream come true. It also streamlined the Pokémon experience. Autosaves made it so that an accidental loss of progress was a thing of the past. (It was more common than you’d think.) The ability to access all of your Pokémon at any time, rather than returning to a Pokémon Center, probably saved collective hours for time-pressed players. The customization options were also at the top of their game. Putting an impudent gym leader in their place was a joy. But dressing your trainer up in Vogue-worthy moto jackets and tapered joggers that belong in GQ was arguably more of one.

The bad? Well, gigantamax—or dynamax, or embiggenifyamax, or whatever the Arceus they’re calling it—is a silly system. It also had the worst ending of the series, by far. Pokémon plotlines are generally insubstantial to the point they can be ignored. The ending sequence to Sword and Shield, meanwhile, was so cheesy it might as well be sold at the Whole Foods charcuterie kiosk. There’s no forgetting that one.