So whilst waiting for Scarlet/Violet I picked up a copy of Coromon on the Switch to play. It's basically a love letter to the GBA era of Pokemon games, yet despite it being sprite based I have found myself absolutely loving the core gameplay of this game, and the monsters they created for it. Actually, maybe I have loved it because it's sprite based and yet doesn't feel dated. There are lots of QoL improvements compared to Ruby/Sapphire for a game like this (e.g. how you progress, when you need to do puzzles there aren't HMs but a gauntlet that does all of the required techniques like cut/surf etc through a series of modules).
Within this game, there are also "dark" versions of some monsters that have been changed by use of dark crystals, which has a definite Paradox form vibe to it. When encountering these monsters with their different typings and power, it has been a bit of a culture shock from the rest of the game. The fact they reused monsters with slightly different sprites for the purposes of the storyline has actually been fine, so I suppose the paradox forms in scarlet/violet will be fine.
I was astonished to read that Coromon was three years in development and has existed for nearly five years at this point. It's very good, seems to have flown under the radar. I'd love a follow-up - but I'd like Pokemon to take heed and notice that the core battling gameplay of Coromon, which is based on Pokemon, simplified the type setups (reducing the number of types and simplifying the matchup chart) and it feels more balanced and tactical as a result without needing to resort to gimmicks.
The way the Coromon can be modified to become more powerful - the Standard/Potent/Perfect status with, once you've progressed through the game enough, a visual number to give the strength of the Coromon, 1-21, with different coloured sprites dependent - plus the potential stat changer (which works like an extra experience bar, allowing you to allocate extra stat upgrades in each stat) - all feels so much easier to understand and build a team.
And I have found that the team switches around a lot to suit the various quests you go on. Spoiler alert - Titans are a thing in Coromon too, but they're not catchable creatures.
Overall, it's mad, but maybe what I'm looking for is a halfway house between PLA and Coromon and BoTW. Something that really feels like you can get your teeth into it and enjoy the story (Coromon), a battling and catching system that feels easy to understand and fun to play (Coromon/PLA) and an open world setting that feels epic (PLA/BOTW). The more I have seen of Scarlet and Violet, the more I feel disappointed by it. It very much feels like it doesn't have the QoL upgrades that it needs - battling and catching in particular - and feels like it may disappoint.
This is a weird feeling for me, I have never - not once - ever since I picked up Pokemon Red at Christmas 23 years ago (god I am old) - never felt such uncomfortable anxiety at the thought that a Pokemon game might not live up to my expectations. I have enjoyed every single generation and loved playing through them over the years, and I have gone back to all of them regularly when I wanted to. But this is the first generation where I am not looking forward to the game, it feels more like trepidation than excitement.
And this, I put down to the excellence of PLA in reinventing the catching system and the pokedex, and - bizarrely - a one off indie game that made me remember what it was about the original Pokemon games I didn't like, that shows it could have been done better and some of those QoL improvements could be carried forward without the gimmicks we have seen the last four generations in particular.
Sorry for the essay!