I gosh dang love Pokemon, but like all turbulent loves, I’m not sure I trust it. Pokemon has played it safe for so long - prior to Legends Arceus, the only major risk in the base games has been Let’s Go, and some would argue that’s not a main series game anyway. Plus, it’s just Pokemon Yellow mixed with Pokemon Go - in many ways, it was as safe a bet as ever.

In Pokemon: Legends Arceus though, Game Freak is betting the farm. Granted, it’s one of a conglomerate of 134 farms as part of a self-sustaining capitalist network of agriculture, but still, Legends is a risk. We’ve wanted open-world Pokemon for a long time, and Arceus looks set to deliver, albeit in a concentrated Monster Hunter-style way. There’s also a few new battle mechanics, as well as a new plot that doesn’t just involve beating eight gym leaders to become the very best, like no one ever was.

Related: Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Marketing Has Been Sparse And I Love It

I’ve tried to avoid the leaks, but as is inevitable with Pokemon games, they’re everywhere. People are already streaming it, for Arceus’ sake. With that, I’ve come to a bit of a revelation. I don’t care if it’s good. I just want to hold hands with the big Pokemon.

I am the reason Pokemon has stagnated. Sorry Pokemon fans. I’m not the sole reason, but I represent the series’ biggest problem. Sure, in my job as a critic, I analyse these faults. I bemoan the lack of voice acting, point to how the spin-offs are better at experimenting, and highlight how New Pokemon Snap was the major evolution Pokemon needed as a whole - only to criticise the several steps back BDSP took. Still, I will buy Pokemon: Legends Arceus day one. I’m very sorry.

Pokemon has its claws in me like no other game. Snap, Go, and Let’s Go are the only Pokemon games I loved in the past ten years. Extend that to 15 years and you’re only adding HeartGold into the mix. There have been more misses and ‘mehs’ in that time, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s Pokemon. No other game is Pokemon. No other game has Sylveon or Gengar or Absol, so no other game has a hold on me like Pokemon does.

This is where the leak comes into it. I’ve mostly avoided them - I know relatively little of the story, and none of the new Pokemon besides those who have been revealed publicly. I don’t know what the mechanics are beyond those in the trailer, and my only knowledge of Noble Pokemon, who could prove very important going forward, comes from those same trailers. A leak I have seen though is that the Pokemon are big. Oh lawd they big.

Pokemon sizes vary. Huge beasts in the anime often have a canonical height of three feet seven. In Legends though, we know they’re bigger than you. Since the game is out in the wild thanks to leaks, emulations, and broken street dates, we have seen glimpses at the likes of Gardevoir and Lopunny towering over their respective trainers.

Earlier this month, I predicted which games would give us our Lady Dimitrescu figure in 2022. I had Pokemon Gen 9 on the list, expecting a gym leader or even a new Tsareena-type Pokemon would step into the mould by stepping on me. “I don’t think Legends Arceus will offer anything of value in the Lady Dimitrescu stakes,” I wrote at the time. Oh, what a fool I was. I’m standing next to an eight foot Lopunny and I don’t think anyone will go all Lady Dimitrescu for her? Yeah, right.

I'm not buying Legends Arceus just for the big rabbit - the game already had my money just by being Pokemon. But it's indicative of how short a leash this series keeps me on that just 'oh yeah we made them big now, but not in the weird Gigantamax way' is enough to ramp up my interest even further. I always wanted to play Pokemon: Legends Arceus, and the move to open-world was intriguing, but now my reasoning is very clear - I want to hold the Pokemon's hands.

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