Steam, lemmy and reddit are currently creaming themselves over a game which devs makes multiple really cringe "jokes" about slavery and exploitation. Read the steam page descriptions.
Those "pals" are clearly antropomorphised creatures being dogwhistle for humans. And if you read the game reviews, even the g*mers are not lost on that fact (just they love that):
lmao No matter how many times I tell electrode to Explode, he doesn't leave me, so 
who cares what the LoRe says? The devs are too cowardly to make the abuse victim do more than be grumpy, so that shit means nothing.
I don't give a shit if it's your special interest (it has been mine in the past), that doesn't insulate it from criticism. In SMT at least you actually persuade demons to join you. With Pokemon you do violence to subdue and subjugate them and little hearts and friendship meters don't change the skeleton. Pokemon Ranger makes a much better case because you're at least only temporarily conscripting them, but don't you fucking tell me that the mainline practice of beating and paralyzing a juvenile animal and then sticking it in a computer box forever is pro-social from a standpoint that considers the animal.