UX: turn Pokémon into an L2/R2 section with first-class Dex, Party, Boxes, Center, Playroom and Shops views #83

Product decision

The current Pokédex ↔ Pokémon Center pair has outgrown its original two-face structure.

Pokédex, Party, Storage/Boxes, Pokémon Center, Party Playroom and Shops & Traders are all major user-facing Pokémon spaces. They should not be hidden behind X/Select shortcuts and nested Activities menus.

Make the primary top-level section Pokémon and use L2/R2 to move between its major faces.

Target structure

Top-level L1/R1 section:

Pokémon

L2/R2 face carousel:

Pokédex
↔ Party
↔ Boxes
↔ Pokémon Center
↔ Party Playroom
↔ Shops & Traders
↔ ...

The carousel should wrap at both ends.

The exact order may be tuned on-device, but the important rule is that these are peer views, not hidden submenu destinations.

Remove nested navigation debt

Retire the current patterns where:

• Party uses X to toggle Storage;
• Select jumps to backups;
• Activities is reached below Party/Storage;
• Playroom / Practice / Link Counter / Shops are hidden inside Activities;
• a Pokémon detail action says Visit Pokémon Center while already inside the Center face.

Party should be about the current team.

Boxes should be the storage view.

Pokémon Center should contain service-oriented actions such as healing, backups/recovery and Link Counter.

Playroom should be its own face.

Shops & Traders should be its own face.

Practice Battle remains a Playroom action rather than a permanent face unless later use proves otherwise.

Capability-aware faces

The set of visible faces may depend on the selected Adventure's verified capabilities.

Rules:

• a capability that exists but currently lacks a readable save may keep its face and show an honest unavailable state;
• a capability that does not exist for the exact game/build does not need to occupy a permanent empty face;
• never expose a face because another title in the same generation supports it.

The selected Adventure remains the single shared Pokémon context.

Visible position

Because more than two faces now exist, do not rely on a footer hint saying only L2/R2 Center.

Show a compact secondary-position indicator in the header/chassis, for example:

‹ Boxes     CENTER     Playroom ›

or an equivalent small physical-tab treatment.

Do not add a large second navigation bar.

Preserve controls

• L1/R1 remains top-level sections.
• L2/R2 moves among Pokémon faces.
• Y remains Choose Adventure where applicable.
• B unwinds local detail/modal state before leaving any face.
• Start remains system-only.
• changing face preserves useful local focus/box/filter position.
• modal/transaction states must block face switching where changing context would be unsafe.

Acceptance

• Every major Pokémon area is reachable in at most a few L2/R2 presses without entering Activities.
• Party and Boxes are separate faces.
• Center no longer acts as a container for every Pokémon feature.
• Shops and Playroom no longer require Party → Activities navigation.
• Face position is visible and understandable without memorizing the order.
• L2/R2 wrap works in both directions.
• selected Adventure/context is shared across all faces.
• unsupported capabilities degrade honestly.
• real Flip controller testing covers a full loop through every available face and return to the original focus.