10 Features Pokémon Sword & Shield Desperately Needs

Difficulty in Pokémon is a little bit strange.

Typically you steamroller most NPCs, and even gym leaders are fairly straightforward unless they bring a beast like Miltank or the Solrock & Lunatone duo. This might fit the narrative (a random fisherman with a Wingull should be no match for the champion in waiting), but it doesn’t always provide a satisfying challenge.

Then there’s the gym leaders themselves. Visiting them in a variable order has potential because they’re clearly designed to level up anyway; how else did the first gym leader become one in the first place if they only have weak Pokémon?

A difficulty toggle would not just give the leaders’ stats a boost and make NPCs more intelligent, it would also fix a glaring error with their rosters.

Hobbyist NPCs you can excuse, but why exactly do gym leaders and the villainous teams never carry their six allocated Pokémon? On hard mode, everyone would have a full roster, they’d get a small stat boost and use of Pokémon Centers would be restricted.

They could even introduce a Nuzlocke mode to truly challenge players.

There is another way to cater to more experienced players too, by implementing the most requested feature ever...