Earlier this week, at 7 am Pacific, Nintendo held an abnormally short Nintendo Direct- a typically bi or tri-annual stream used to reveal new projects and updates on projects to fans. This direct was focused on Pokemon, and had plenty of anticipation building around it despite the announced run time of eight minutes. With leaks from information datamined (gained from hacking into the files for) the Pokemon Sun and Moon games, a ‘Pokemon Stars’ game was anticipated, some even speculating that this may be a main Pokemon game headed to a home console, which would be the first for the company.
Of course, this being Nintendo, no one really had them pegged. Instead, we were shown a total of three projects, A surprising amount for a eight minute video. First up, a Switch exclusive version of a Pokemon spinoff game, Pokken- A Pokemon that combines Pokemon characters with Tekken-like fight systems. This game is meant to be played by two or more people, as the trailer demonstrated with the main character traveling across Vietnam to visit family and fighting other ‘Pokemon Trainers’ with the game along the way. With this new expansion, we five new characters come to the game – Darkrai, Croagunk, Empoleon, Scizor, and Decidueye. With this new lineup, it should add some new life to this game.
Very casually tacked onto the end of the trailer was a reveal of a new main Pokemon game. Pokemon Ultrasun, and Pokemon Ultramoon– both slated for release in Nintendo this year on 3DS. Typically Pokemon games come in threes- Red and Blue released, and then later yellow came out. Gold and Silver, then Crystal. All the way up to the fourth generation of Pokemon games this pattern continued, until being disrupted by Pokemon Black and White’s sequels Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, which, instead of offering an alternate universe of events from the previous games, took place several years after Black and White. Likewise, it seems Ultrasun and Ultramoon are sequels in that vein- which, given how story focused Sun and Moon were, isn’t entirely surprising. From what we’ve seen, new forms of Pokemon, and new customization options will be available alongside a new story set in the game’s Alola region.
Finally, a port of the Game Boy Color versions of the classic games Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver were announced- just about a year ago, rereleases of Pokemon Red, Pokemon Blue, and Pokemon Yellow were put on the Nintendo 3DS’ digital game shop, which, via use of a once a year paid service ‘Pokemon Bank’, could be used to transfer Pokemon from these old games to the newest Pokemon games. While this doesn’t seem to add new features (outside of Pokemon Bank compatibility) Pokemon Gold and Silver are gorgeous games with fantastic music and incredibly charming graphics. Given these games were recently remade as Pokemon Heartgold and Pokemon Soulsilver, it’s a pleasant surprise to see this coming to Nintendo’s e-shop this Fall, around Pokemon Ultrasun and Ultramoon’s release.
With all these projects coming up, it’s an exciting time to be a Pokemon fan- Though not the predicted home console main game switch release, Ultrasun and Ultramoon pump new life into one of the most well received Pokemon main series games in the company’s history.