Pokémon Legends: Arceus leaks reveal a crisis brewing among Pokémon fans

A whole heap of images and details from Pokémon Legends: Arceus have allegedly leaked ahead of the game’s January 28 release, and fans of the series aren’t happy with what they’re seeing. The leaks seem to depict the designs and evolutions of many of the game’s Pokémon. But rather than expressing dismay at possible spoilers, many series devotees have taken to social media to dunk on the game’s art style and creature design.

We won’t dive into the specifics of the leaks here, but these social media reactions highlight one of the biggest ongoing problems within the Pokémon fandom: No matter what, fans never seem to be satisfied.

Even if the visuals have improved, or if fundamental gameplay design has evolved, the fanbase is consistently seething about something. There’s always room for criticism, but the anger directed toward Pokémon is usually disproportionate to whatever the issue is. Did anyone expect realism on the level of God of War or Horizon Zero Dawn from Pokémon Legends: Arceus?

Many of the social media reactions to emerge after the leaks have been tongue-in-cheek and chuckle-worthy, knowingly riffing on the fandom’s notorious prickliness. But even the good-natured goofs underscore the fact that there’s a vocal minority of “hardcore” fans who are determined to be cheesed off about literally everything Game Freak and The Pokémon Company touches.

So, once again, Pokémon fans are Big Mad. Here are a few spoiler-free reactions so you can have a chuckle at their expense.

Who’s that Pokémon?! It’s Ned Leeds from the MCU Spider-Man films. He looks lost in the image below.

Here, we see the almighty God Bidoof, a wild mashup of several Pokémon. This monstrosity has been a meme for a while now, so naturally, someone had to reference it with regards to the leaks. Just look at that face.

A simple, yet effective tweet sums up the general reaction to the Pokémon leaks.

Any reference to Earthbound is enough to make our ears perk up. Here, we see the famous pencil from the early stages of the game referencing a Pokémon blocking your path. The pencil fits surprisingly well.

We love Final Fantasy, so one tweet, in particular, jumped out at us. It depicts Cloud from Final Fantasy VII facing off against two Pokémon from the leaked footage — because it contains spoilers we haven’t included it here. Still, can you can just hear the horns of that classic FF7 combat music instantly!

This feels like a great opportunity to bring back this classic observation from February 2021:

Pokémon Legends: Arceus launches for Nintendo Switch on January 28, 2022.