Nintendo has finally announced the eight generation of Pokémon games for Switch, though neither of them are Stars…
Nintendo has finally (finally!) announced the next generation of Pokémon games coming to Nintendo Switch: Pokémon Sword and Shield.
Using Nintendo’s favored method of new game announcements – Direct presentations – The Pokémon Company has now released a brief trailer giving a quick look at the new Pokémon games.
With a release date set for late 2019, there are only months to go before Pokémon fans get another fix on their Switch consoles.
2018’s Pokémon Let’s Go: Pikachu and Eevee games acted as a sort of reboot of the original Red and Blue titles for the Nintendo Gameboy, and for many didn’t count as a ‘core’ Pokémon experience. Pokémon Sword and Shield are the first mainline Pokémon games to come to Nintendo Switch, and expectations will be high.
So what do we know, and what are we hoping to see when Pokémon Sword and Shield launch this year? Read on to find out.
[Update: Nintendo has announced the time and date of its E3 2019 livestream. This could be the perfect time for Game Freak to reveal more about Pokémon Sword and Shield.]
Not long to wait now… The Pokémon Direct confirmed the late 2019 release date we heard from the official Pokémon Twitter account last year.
Given the usual releases of mainline Pokémon games, we expect to see Sword and Shield land in mid-November, just in time for the holiday season.
The presentation doesn’t give too much away, but you can see the first glimpse of the environments and art style in the trailer below – without any in-game footage.
You also get a first look at three new starter Pokémon: the fire-rabbit Scorbunny, twig-monkey Grookey, and a sad-looking tadpole (sadpole?) called Sobble.
Nintendo E3 2019 Direct announced
E3 2019 is fast approaching and Nintendo has now confirmed the time and date it will be streaming its Nintendo Direct. The video will go live on Tuesday June 11 at 5pm BST/ 9am PT/ 12pm ET. Nintendo has also confirmed that it will be bringing back its Treehouse livestreams which will go live each day of the show, showing off gameplay from upcoming releases.
Nintendo hasn’t released any kind of schedule for either its Direct stream or its Treehouse streams so there’s no guarantee of what will appear, but naturally we’re hoping that Pokémon Sword and Shield will emerge from the tall grass at some point. The Treehouse livestreams especially would be a fantastic place for Game Freak to show off a little more of the new Pokémon region and how we’ll be playing in it live on Switch.
Made for handheld
While the Pokémon Let’s Go games were developed with TV mode in mind, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has stated that Pokémon Sword and Shield will « emphasize the fun of playing Nintendo Switch in handheld mode.
