Pokémon fans demand longer battles after 20-minute cut-off

Fans want access to longer old-style battles

Pokémon Sword and Shield fans have taken to Twitter and YouTube to ask Game Freak for longer battles after 20 minutes was deemed too short.

Professional Pokémon player pokeaimMD posted to YouTube earlier this month to explain how battles that would have been 60 minutes in previous games are now just 20. His video got the ball rolling, with the #BringBackTimer campaign gaining ground.

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Pokémon Sword and Shield limits players’ battles to 20 minutes, sometimes cutting battles off early. This means that you can win without having actually depleted your Pokémon, and can also lose with Pokemon to spare.

pokeaimMD explained in his video: “The biggest thing with the timer is how it makes you feel after you play a game, right?” he says during the video. “If I am battling my friend, and the game ends at 6-5, and it says I’ve won, there is no satisfaction in that, right?

“It’s not complete, the game is not complete, it’s not over. Yet the timer is dictating that the game is over and that I’ve won, but I don’t feel that way, right? And this is why we really do need this change to the timer. It really is a simple change.”

Fans have become frustrated with the new feature because battles in previous games have been 60 minutes long – or 10 minutes per Pokémon. Some argue that the feature should be customisable, while others simply want their allotted hour.

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What’s more, animations are included in the timer. With new features like Dynamaxing taking significantly longer to animate, fans argue that barely any time is left to battle.

Game Freak have yet to respond to the campaign.

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