diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
deleted file mode 100644
index cea7758..0000000
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-[submodule "data/pokeapi"]
-	path = data/pokeapi
-	url = https://github.com/PokeAPI/api-data.git
diff --git a/backend/src/app/seeds/__main__.py b/backend/src/app/seeds/__main__.py
index 83df558..ffacfe1 100644
--- a/backend/src/app/seeds/__main__.py
+++ b/backend/src/app/seeds/__main__.py
@@ -8,10 +8,13 @@ Usage:
 import asyncio
 import sys
 
+from app.core.database import engine
 from app.seeds.run import seed, verify
 
 
 async def main():
+    verbose = "--verbose" in sys.argv or "-v" in sys.argv
+    engine.echo = verbose
     await seed()
     if "--verify" in sys.argv:
         await verify()
diff --git a/backend/src/app/seeds/run.py b/backend/src/app/seeds/run.py
index 6e6d3b8..6077582 100644
--- a/backend/src/app/seeds/run.py
+++ b/backend/src/app/seeds/run.py
@@ -77,6 +77,9 @@ async def seed():
                     continue
 
                 routes_data = load_json(f"{game_slug}.json")
+                if not routes_data:
+                    print(f"  {game_slug}: no route data, skipping")
+                    continue
                 route_map = await upsert_routes(session, game_id, routes_data)
                 total_routes += len(route_map)
 
diff --git a/data/pokeapi b/data/pokeapi
deleted file mode 160000
index 5913050..0000000
--- a/data/pokeapi
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit 5913050a8782b854d1383a966e035d616cdfa895