True to my promise, Bub and I have been playing Pokemon: Sword… and we’ve completed the game insofar as we are the Champion, so we’re playing through post-game content and also playing through the DLC that I got both boys for their games (Sword and Shield respectively). I’m still looking for the Alolan version of Vulpix and the Galarian (Galan? Galarian?) version of Ponyta for purely personal reasons, and I’m trying to pick up some legendaries that Bub might like through things like Max Raids and just going through the DLC.

I like this game a lot more than some of the more recent Pokemon games that have come out, especially because it has an abundance of post-game content that you can take advantage of, and the online play makes it even more appealing. The only downside is the fact that you have to pay for a Nintendo subscription to be able to play online, but as I’ve waxed in the past, a Nintendo subscription is a lot more affordable than paying for online play through Microsoft or Sony. I suppose that I will hold those views for the long haul unless Nintendo drastically changes their prices and makes me eat dirt. We have awhile added onto our subscription for a reason, and this is a lot of the reason. I love doing Surprise Trades on this game when Bub has gone to sleep and picking up Pokemon that he will like when I show him the next morning.

Also… coming back to say that apparently it is Galar Ponyta, not Galan. I tried. I honestly did.

So Bub and I actually started Pokemon: Sword with the intent of finishing it.

The last time we started it, we didn’t get that far, and when I had to fix our Nintendo Switch I lost our save file for… whatever reason. Luckily though, we hadn’t even gotten that far, so it wasn’t that big of a deal — we just had to pick it back up and resume playing, which we eventually did. Predictably, Bub chose the Fire starter as our introductory Pokemon, which I had a feeling he was going to do anyway since he generally does choose Fire starters. A friend of mine was nice enough to trade the boys their two favorite Pokemon (Growlithe, Meowth… although they like Arcanine and Persian too for obvious reasons), and I immediately put those into our party with the intent to level them up. I also have a Vulpix in there that I eventually want to evolve to Ninetales, so we are a bit Fire-type loaded, but I’ll make substitutions as needed. Like when we get to the Water Gym, I know for a fact that we’re only going to have our Fire starter in there… the rest of the Fire-types that we have are going to go back into the box and wait until we’re done. Bub shouldn’t mind.

Since I’m running a classic Meowth and not a Galan Meowth, which he doesn’t like, he shouldn’t mind.

I also want to get a Galan Vulpix for myself for entirely personal reasons, finding it fascinating and pretty.

I try not to “load us up” with a lot of games that we’re playing that… might not get completed due to the number of games that we’re playing, but I felt like I had to make an exception for this because it’s Pokemon. I’ve already pre-ordered the remakes of Diamond and Pearl for the boys that seem like they’re coming out later this year, and I got them the Arceus game as well. I’ll eventually remember the names of the remakes (Brilliant Diamond? Shining Pearl?) as launch date gets closer. And I pre-ordered them Pokemon Snap months ago, which should actually be shipping soon now that it’s been released. It’s just their kind of game.