In a quite literal example of the sausage principal in action, many fans have been asking what the sausages in Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are made of, and the game’s developers have been dodging the question and giving vague, somewhat worrying answers. The key concern is that fans are wondering if humans are eating sausages made out of Pokemon, as well as feeding them to their own Pokemon, and the answers from the development so far have essentially been “they aren’t NOT made from Pokemon”.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield director Shigeru Ohmori responded to the question when asked, but his answer left much to be desired. His statement was simply “I don’t know what it is, it’s a Pokémon world sausage.” It has been alluded to in several instances across different Pokemon media that sometimes humans eat Pokemon or Pokemon eat other Pokemon, but for the most part these aspects of Pokemon world-building have been kept non-violent and intentionally vague. Instances of Pokemon being eaten by humans have been mentioned, such as Farfetch’d being made into a delicious soup, or the main cast of characters trying to eat a Magikarp out of desperation.
If the sausage is made from Pokemon, that would make sense, but I feel like most people would agree they’d rather that the sausage be made of normal animal meat if it has to be made out of meat at all. On the rare occasion, real animals have been shown off in the anime or referenced in the games, so it wouldn’t be a forgone conclusion that domesticated livestock exists in this universe. We aren’t asking to see a slaughterhouse or even a real-life cow, but some assurance that we aren’t feeding Pikachu to Pikachu would be nice. Having the sausage in game be some sort of mystery meat just doesn’t sit too well on the tongue.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are releasing on November 15th for Nintendo Switch.
