(Mid-)Generational Updates

A fellow Pokémon colleague has reminded me that an interesting thing about the upcoming games of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon is that there are new Ultra Beasts, and therefore new seventh-generation Pokémon. This is a somewhat unusual modus operandi for the main series games, as Pokémon are usually added at the beginning of the generation and no more are added mid-way through the lifetime of the generation. This situation brings to consideration the possibility of Pokémon games updating to include new Pokémon for a generation or even an entirely new generation.

The latter occurrence has, in fact, already happened with a different Pokémon game. Back in April, Shuffle updated to have the seventh-generation Pokémon available for play after a previous major eShop update provided an indication that this could happen, and it did. Now many seventh-generation Pokémon are available for play, including the Ultra Beasts. It is practically a given that with the main series "update" to Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the new Pokémon introduced will be folded into Shuffle, though it will probably happen well after the release of the new games.

Such an update is quite possible for Shuffle because it is comparatively simpler than the main series and Shuffle is designed for updates; the game started out with only the 150 most popular Pokémon and gradually added the rest through updates. For other games, including the main series, this could be considered a massive task almost tantamount to a new game, as there are many more elements than the Pokémon themselves to be considered; the main series, for example, might need to consider regional additions. A minor mid-generational update such as the new Pokémon added to the upcoming main series games might be feasible, but may still need significant work.

Thus it seems possibility is just one-half of the issue; the other half seems to lie on whether it can be acceptably done. For some games like Shuffle, this is a matter that is not too huge and fits with the game, but for other games, like the main series, this is a huge matter that may not fit. It is nonetheless an unusual maneuver for Pokémon games, many of which are generationally limited and further so by species. But with updates being possible and regular, this maneuver might seem not too unusual anymore.