Pokemon community celebrates the end of Gen 8 ahead of Scarlet and Violet's release this month
Goodbye Gen 8, Hello Gen 9
Ahead of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the Pokemon community is waving a little farewell to the Gen 8 Pokemon and its associated games.
With the new duo of games about to formally introduce us to Gen 9 with the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pokedex, the Pokemon community has been lamenting the end of Gen 8 on Twitter.
Gen 8 began with Pokemon Sword and Shield back in 2019, and has been since followed by Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, along with Pokemon Legends Arceus. The Gen 8 Pokemon themselves, of course, only feature in Sword and Shield to date, but Gen 8 also applies to a season of Pokemon games for fans too.
While the community has had mixed feelings on Pokemon Sword and Shield, none of the tweets we could see have been that kind to the remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
The time is here. This month is the end of Generation 8 of Pokémon.Pokémon Sword & Shield had a rocky buildup, but easily became my favourite Pokémon games.Pokémon Legends: Arceus provided a lovely fresh experience.BDSP existed.Farewell, Gen 8. You've been amazing. pic.twitter.com/HuU4An72zQNovember 1, 2022
Sword and Shield: brought my love for pokemon back and made it one of my fave things in the worldPLA: One of the best rpgs ive played and showed what gf can do BDSP: was a gameNovember 3, 2022
sword and shield were okay at best, bdsp is just terrible, and arceus was the best thing pokemon has ever done for the franchise https://t.co/0K3232Q3Z3November 3, 2022
SwSh was goodBDSP was ok and had better ways to get certain Pokémon than the original gamesLegends Arceus was great but lasted too shortNovember 2, 2022
Gen 8 wasn't perfect but I definitely enjoyed what this Generation brought.Sword and Shield were fun all things considered in spite of it's few blemishes.BDSP wasn't great, but I also enjoyed my time.Legends: Arceus is just fantastic all around.Overall, not bad. https://t.co/SSbA4nRvuMNovember 1, 2022
Others meanwhile have flagged how toxic the community became around the launch of Sword and Shield, and hopes that will change with Scarlet and Violet.
Pokemon fans be like "unpopular opinion" and then act like the community wasn't throwing a temper tantrum over SwSh and BDSP for 3 years to an insufferable degree. I really hope Scarlet and Violet take enough of Legend's momentum to prevent that from happening again. https://t.co/aMAIq8g2MnNovember 3, 2022
So far, The Pokemon Company has announced 15 new Pokemon for Scarlet and Violet, including a Paldean Wooper that's unique to the new region. The duo of titles are taking the series to an open-world format for the first time, with a new trio of storylines for players to follow. Just one of those is the usual Elite Four journey, so it'll be interesting to see how the community reacts to this new generation.
Even after playing them, we're still not sure what to feel about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
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Sam Loveridge is the Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar, and joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.