Biff Bam Pop! Kids Reviews Pokémon Sword and Shield

As I’m sitting at my desk here at BBP! Central, I’m listening to the Biff Bam Pop! Princess have an ongoing dialogue with the Nintendo Switch as she faces battles in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

“I’ve beaten you before, I’ll do it again!”

“Grookey’s level 13!”

“I need to change my Pokémon !”

Truthfully, I have no idea what she’s talking about at all. As I’ve mentioned previously when Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee arrived last year, I’m not a Pokémon player. Time hasn’t changed that at all, even though I did enjoy test driving Pokémon Sword and Shield a few months ago. It seemed pretty easy for me to pick up and play. Mind you, I can’t confirm that today, since the Princess has co-opted the device for her own playing.

“Tell them I’m playing the game right now!” she just yelled to me as I’m writing (she’s playing right now).

From my perspective, Pokémon Sword and Shield looks good on the television. The graphics are warm and inviting, and the gameplay has been easy enough for my 9-year-old to dive right into. As to what she’s actually doing…

“I can change my socks!”

So, as far as I can tell, the Princess has customized her female Pokémon trainer to look pretty darn close to the real thing. She’s picking sweaters and gloves and hats and, oh yes, socks. This is all in service of her character battling other trainers.

Andy Burns: Can you please tell me what the object of the game is?

BBP Princess: To beat the all-time unbeatable champion of the Pokémon battles!

Andy Burns: And how do you do that?

BBP Princess: You do that by entering the Gym Challenge when you get an invitation from Leon.

Andy Burns: Who the heck is Leon?

BBP Princess: Leon is the unbeatable champion!!!

Andy Burns: Of course, forgive me. So what do you like about Pokémon Sword and Shield?

BBP Princess: I’m playing Shield. I like how you can customize your socks, for one thing. I like the animation. I really like the customization part. You can get hair cuts.

Andy Burns: There are lots of battles right? What are those like?

BBP Princess: You can get put in a battle without knowing! I sort of like that. It builds up your experience, and if you’re going into the League, you need lots of training to beat the Gym Leaders. If you don’t have that, you probably won’t do very well. You battle the Gym Mission and you battle the Gym Leaders.

Andy Burns: I don’t know what any of that means, but I think a lot of Pokémon fans will. Do you think this would be a good game for people who aren’t too familiar with Pokémon?

BBP Princess: Yes, it’s a good introduction for them. It explains what Pokémon is and if you haven’t played the card game, this is also good. It introduces you to some new and familiar Pokémon.

And then I lost her, as she jumped into battle as she went “adventuring”. So what I took from all this is that Pokémon Sword and Shield is yet another home run for fans of the franchise. While there are some diehards out there who have taken issue with some facets of the game (I saw this in passing and after they bombed Metacritic), the joy that’s coming from my daughter, who genuinely knows her Pokémon stuff, is affirmation enough that this is a good time.

You can order Pokémon Sword and Shield right here.