Fifteen years ago, I’d have been in disbelief if you’d told me we’d have not one, but three Zelda games with full voice acting. I also wouldn’t believe you if you’d said that Pokémon, of all franchises, still hadn’t implemented voice acting, given that the series includes thousands of anime episodes and a live-action film.
Pokémon adding voice acting has been a hotly contested topic for years, and after playing Pokémon Legends: Z-A, I’m more confident than ever in saying, yes, Pokémon really needs it. There’s a way it can be done that bolsters the series’ identity rather than detracts from it.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A has a lengthy and lavish opening cutscene introducing you to its world and story, and while it’s great to see Pokémon in this much visual detail, it becomes awkward when the expressive characters only gesture wildly alongside subtitles. It’s a jarring start to the game that feels cheap and dated, even if the charmingly written characters quickly overcome the bad vibes.
This issue isn’t new. Nearly every Pokémon game in the last five years has had one of those moments — you might recall the incredibly awkward rock concert in Sword and Shield’s Spikemuth Gym. The core problem is that the cutscene direction acts like voice acting will be present, and there’s an easy way to fix this: have selective, well-placed moments that are voiced. Many RPG franchises, like Final Fantasy or Trails, have lavish cutscenes that highlight major story moments. Pokémon could do the same thing at just a handful of key story beats, as well as the introduction of gym leaders and major villains.
There’s a way to implement voice acting without the whole game needing it, and that keeps Pokémon’s classic silent protagonist intact. It’s especially baffling that this hasn’t been done because we have seen voice acting in the two Detective Pikachu games. For all their flaws, those games wouldn’t be anywhere near as charming without Kaiji Tang’s gruff voice giving the coffee-swilling Pikachu some personality. And on television, the actors behind Ash Ketchum, Misty, and Brock are generational-defining.
Another Nintendo series, Fire Emblem, offers a clear path forward here. While Three Houses and Engage feature full voice acting, earlier games like Path of Radiance and Awakening only used voices in major cutscenes and dialogue grunts. Those little touches breathed more personality into the characters while keeping the text-heavy spirit of the games alive, and the exact same approach could work for Pokémon.
That’s what’s so frustrating about the mainline games not having voice acting; even a minimum effort could enhance the games’ charm and personality tenfold. And while we don’t have confirmation, it feels like the lack of voice acting stems from the core issue Pokémon faces today: too many games and not enough resources. Game Freak’s output on the Nintendo Switch came under fire for the abysmal performance of games like Scarlet and Violet, which felt shockingly empty and bland compared to other Switch titles like Breath of the Wild and Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
I’ve never been someone who thinks games have to meet a certain visual quality standard, but it’s become impossible to deny that Game Freak is cutting corners on Pokémon games. It’s a small team of just over 200 employees, and it feels like the studio is simply releasing too many games too quickly. The Nintendo Switch alone saw the studio release Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, Sword and Shield (plus DLC), Legends: Arceus, Scarlet and Violet (plus DLC), and now Legends: Z-A. A non-Game Freak Diamond and Pearl remake was mixed in there, too; Pokémon just hasn’t had the time and space it needs to breathe.
Game Freak and Nintendo are tight-lipped, so we don’t know the specifics of how Pokémon games are made, but that’s a lot of Pokémon across seven years. You can practically feel the series groaning under the strain; there just aren’t enough resources at a single studio for that kind of output, and it’s resulted in technical issues, less polish, and yes, a lack of voice acting. I like Z-A a lot, but you can see buildings being copied and pasted across the entire city, and that architecture is simply flat images instead of actual modeled items. All of these little things might not be an issue on their own, but they add up in a hurry.
I want more room for Pokémon games, especially mainline entries, to breathe. I think the obvious answer is to have spin-offs made by third-party studios, like ILCA (Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl) and Creatures Inc. (Detective Pikachu). Give those studios more leeway to create dynamic new takes on the series, while Game Freak focuses on the main games. There could be a good cadence between Legends games and mainline Generations, if Game Freak flip-flops between just those two.
The lack of voice acting feels like a side effect of the series’ larger problems, and part of how to fix those problems. Voice acting doesn’t need to be a huge endeavor, just a way to enhance the charm that makes Pokémon what it is. There’s a lot I love about Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but with just a little effort, it could stand out so much more.
