Pokemon Pokopia's review scores are in, and it's safe to say that we appear to be in for a treat – the upcoming cozy life sim spin-off was, for a few hours yesterday, the highest-rated Pokemon game of all time on Metacritic. It's now tied for the top spot instead, but fans have some questions about its competition.
With an average critic score of 88, Pokopia sits right at the top of The Pokemon Company's finest releases, according to Metacritic, alongside… Pokemon Y. Not X, just Y. That's a little weird in itself – what did the life-absorbing bird do to win an extra point above its majestic deer counterpart? But more than that, many are baffled that it's a Generation 6 game at the top of the chart above the likes of HeartGold and SoulSilver, Black 2 and White 2, Platinum, and Emerald.
"…Pokemon Y was the highest-rated Pokemon game?" one fan responds on Twitter. "How and why was Pokemon Y the highest rated Pokemon game before now though?" another asks.
No one is trying to say X and Y were bad games – they still hold up well today, and as some have pointed out, being the series' first 3D mainline titles, they were an even bigger deal at the time, even introducing some major new mechanics like the Fairy type and Mega Evolutions. Even so, it's still surprising to see when many veteran fans' personal rankings of the titles tend to place the older games much higher.
"Soul silver isn't high enough," one argues, looking at the Johto remake's score of 87, while another says: "Black and white are SO much better than x/y ffs." Another concludes that "X/Y were very good," but says they "feel like they were mid" compared to Gold, Silver, Ruby, and Sapphire.
Now, it's got to be pointed out that a whole bunch of Pokemon games have very similar Metacritic scores. In fact, Sun, Moon, X, Black, White, HeartGold, and SoulSilver are all tied with an average of 87, with Diamond and Pearl trailing closely behind with 85. With that in mind, Pokemon Y's mysterious lead is only a one-point difference above many of the rest, which makes it a tad less surprising, even if I'd personally reshuffle that 'official' ranking, too.
Honestly, what's more shocking is that all-time great spin-off Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky has an average critic score of just 54, for some reason.
While you're here, be sure to take a look at our Pokemon Pokopia review.
