Big thing missed here: It appears that there's no "place damage counters" mechanic. Greninja's Ability actually deals damage (and an obscene amount for this format at that), which I don't think I've seen before.
Just let go of that idea. Remember that the games don't make the money; merchandise does. Unless Pokémon games start hitting GTAV or Minecraft levels of sales, they're never going to prioritize game quality over the cycle.
Lmfao
To be fair, switching to a 4-year cycle isn't out of the question. However, that wouldn't really fix the issue either. The best way to fix it is to do it CoD-style: get another dev working on alternate generations so they can retain their 3-year merchandising cycle while still allowing...
Interesting. I wonder if it's related to the Gen 10 region at all? (Despite hopes from fans, I'm sure Gen 10 is still releasing next year and that a move to a "when it's ready" schedule will never happen.)