Legends: Arceus’ Linking Cord Is A Good Sign For New Pokémon Games

Pokémon Legends: Arceus brought several great new features to the game, and one of the best additions is the Linking Cord item. A new evolution item in the series, the Linking Cord opens a new option to sidestep one of the series’ long-disliked mechanics. Although not Pokémon‘s first step in this direction, it will hopefully be an omen for the series’ future.

In Pokémon, there have been several items that are required for certain Pokémon to evolve, and the Linking Cord is the latest in that series. The tradition started with the Fire, Thunder, and Water Stones in the original Pokémon games and slowly grew from there, and evolution stones as a Pokémon mechanic became accepted by fans. Ironically enough, the Linking Cord is also associated with another evolution method that started in the original games, that being trade evolutions.

Ever since Pokémon Red and Blue, there have been certain Pokémon such as Machoke and Kadabra that needed to be traded with another person in order to reach their final evolutionary stages. As time went on, more Pokémon that evolved through trade were added, and some Pokémon also eventually needed to be traded while holding specific items. Trade evolutions are a contentious Pokémon topic among fans, largely because they prevent players from being able to fully evolve some Pokémon if they don’t have a friend to trade with. Because many people focus on playing Pokémon’s single-player modes, this issue has cropped up for plenty of fans.

The Linking Cord Lets Players Sidestep Pokémon’s Trade Evolutions

The Linking Cord, debuting in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, is an item that evolves Pokémon that normally evolve by trading, and it functions similarly to the old evolution stones. This clears a major roadblock that prevented several players from evolving their Pokémon that normally had to be traded.  The only caveats for the Linking Cord are its scarcity and Merit Points price tag, but the benefits are well worth the cost. Unlike Bagin’s hated and overpriced inventory upgrades, Linking Cords are only needed a few times and can even be found for free. Hopefully, this is not a one-off item, because the Linking Cord is a saving grace for solo players who want to complete their Pokédexes and grow their Pokémon teams.

The Linking Cord is not the first time that Nintendo has included such an item in a Pokémon game. In the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, there is an item called the Link Cable, named after the physical cable that was used to connect Game Boys together for the early generations of Pokémon games. The Link Cable functioned the same way as the Linking Cord, evolving Pokémon that normally required a trade to do so. However, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon did this out of necessity since it had no trade mechanic, while Legends: Arceus does feature trading. Combined with Sword and Shield making some trade evolutions catchable, the Linking Cord gives hope that perhaps Nintendo will be more willing to make trade evolution Pokémon more accessible in the future.

Despite its simplicity, the Linking Cord is one of the best things that Nintendo has added to the Pokémon franchise in recent years. Hopefully, the item will become a series mainstay, ensuring that trade evolution Pokémon can always be evolved whether or not their owner has a friend available. With The Linking Cord, Pokémon Legends: Arceus may have fixed an unpopular mechanic for good.

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