It’s the title that no game wants, and that’s the lowest-rated game in the series. There are plenty of Pokémon games in the main series, and it just so happens that the latest games have been voted the lowest-rated. Pokémon Violet now has a lower Metacritic score than any other main game in the Pokémon franchise – it’s not a great beginning to the game’s life, is it?
Pokémon Violet currently has a Metacritic score of 72, while the accompanying game Pokémon Scarlet sits one place above it with a score of 73. Now, this doesn’t exactly mean that one game is better than the other, it just means that critics were given one version and the score is taken from the average reviews for that particular game.
For over a year now, the previous games with the lowest scores on Metacritic were Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which both had a score of 73, and the problems people had with those two titles are common knowledge by now. But it has now been given a helping hand lifted from the pits of despair.
Scarlet and Violet offered countless new features that claimed to push the series to a new level, and some of the features are very good indeed. The problems surrounding the games are to do with the countless performance issues that have inflicted the titles since it was released last month. Due to the various additions that the games have included such as a huge open world, a new campaign mode, vastly improved Pokémon animations and battle mechanics, they have struggled to operate smoothly on the Nintendo Switch, and some people have been wondering what it would feel like if it was available on more powerful hardware.
The full list of the ratings for the Pokemon game main series on Metacritic is listed in full below:
- X & Y – 87 & 88
- HeartGold & SoulSilver – 87
- Black & White – 87
- Sun & Moon – 87
- Diamond & Pearl – 85
- Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon – 84
- Platinum – 83
- Legends: Arceus – 83
- Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire – 83 & 82
- FireRed & LeafGreen – 82
- Ruby & Sapphire – 82
- Black 2 & White 2 – 80
- Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee – 80
- Sword & Shield – 80
- Emerald – 76
- Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl – 73
- Scarlet & Violet – 72 & 73
Nintendo has apologized for the performance issues in the two games though and has pledged to make improvements to both games. The company explained in an official statement that “We are aware that players may encounter issues that affect the game’s performance. Our goal is always to give players a positive experience with our games, and we apologize for the inconvenience.”
