A DS sleeps in your backpack, but your iPhone lives in your pocket.

Let’s not be shy; the old games lack their magic. But why? What happened that made the animation worse and the games overall easier? IPhones.
Kids nowadays own Phones— or, more commonly, iPads,— and their attention automatically goes straight to them. There are too many things competing for kid’s attention, unlike in the late 1990s or early 2000s.
A kid’s parent would get them a game for their Nintendo 3DS, a foldable handheld console popular in 2013, and that’s all they would play: at lunch, recess, at 9 PM when their mom thinks they’re asleep… iPhones, however, can do too much— tell them the time, hold their events, give them reminders, have every Google site as an app, and have games for entertainment. A DS just has entertainment, and its older brother, the Nintendo Switch, is too bulky to bring around comfortably, like the DS. It slumbers in its dock at home, awaiting its kid to come home and remember that it exists. As for teens and adults spending their own money, a free app on an iPhone is just more appealing than a video game for $60-70.
The Pokémon Company had two ways to combat iPhones; make the games easier, or make apps. They did both, but let’s go over the one to do with the games.
First, Pokémon wanted to make the games appeal to children, so they made it easier. To put it another way, it was hard to get stuck or frustrated. The games began to ease up, beginning with Pokémon X and Pokémon Y in 2013, and the Exp (Experience Points). Share got an upgrade.
The way Pokémon level up is to get Experience Points. Put them at the top of the party of six and find a trainer in the game to battle or a wild Pokémon, and win to earn that Pokémon EXP.
EXP. Share is an item that was introduced in Generation II, or Pokémon SoulSilver and Pokémon HeartGold. Classified as a held item, the EXP. Share was given to a Pokémon of the player’s choice, and even when not in battle, it received EXP. From HeartGold to Ruby and Sapphire the EXP. Share worked this way, until X and Y decided to change it, making it a non-held item that would give every pokémon in a player’s party EXP. X and Y gave the option to turn it off, but in the future this option was removed, making long-term fans upset, as the games became permanently easier.
Others argue the older games were never harder, but the mechanics and systems weren’t fully fleshed out yet, like critical hits being based solely on a Pokémon’s speed stat. This means that a slower Pokémon, like Shuckle, with a base speed stat of 5, would get little to no criticals compared to Weddle’s base speed of 50. The Great Ball had a 15% better catch rate than an Ultra ball, Electric-type Pokémon couldn’t get paralyzed, Fire-types couldn’t get burns, Psychic-types were immune to Ghost-types even though they’re weak to Ghost-types… Many mechanics went unchecked, resulting in some fights being near impossible to beat. The newer games’ mechanics have been looked into, tested and honed, which is why it would be easier to battle a Psychic-type gym leader with a Ghost-type now rather than in Gen I.
So, they made the games easier. But, if they were trying to get more people to play the games, why would they make the animation worse?
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has around 300 developers. Game Freak has 150 developers, which is quite shocking, with the fact it’s the world’s biggest entertainment franchise. Why won’t they expand? They don’t need to. They make millions without new hires. How?
Game Freak releases two versions of one game at least once a year to bring out the most merch and media they can squeeze out. This means popping out quick games— as long as they have a story, new Pokémon, and a new region. The game’s animation doesn’t need to be good for a new plushie or anime!
Developers on Pokémon X and Y cut corners to have enough time to get every Pokémon modeled in 3D, and they still sold 4 million copies on the first weekend, and 16.68 million units worldwide. They realized they could half-bake the games, and still get the same profit they do for any other. Just the logo ©Pokémon is enough to sell out. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet made a billion in sales with animation looking like World Of Warcraft’s in 2010!
So what does this all mean?
Nintendo isn’t going to improve the graphics, nor will they make the games harder. Not when they are trying to appeal to children, not when the current animation makes the same amount of money good animation would. The Pokemon Company received backlash for the animation of Scarlet and Violet, and while they surprised us by saying the next game is going to be released in 2025, we can’t expect the animation to be a hundred times better, or that the game will let us turn off EXP. Share, because Game Freak doesn’t need those upgrades to make the money they do.
We can’t expect the greatest anymore when it comes to Pokémon.