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Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield (2019, Switch)

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I’ve said it before, but give me Kanto set in the present day (i.e. 20+ years after the originals) with some big geographical and ecological differences (I mean, look at just how much Unova changed in only 2 years between BW and BW2, or how much Kanto had changed in GSC and HGSS, 3 years after the events of RBY and FRLG) and I’m game. I mean, if they can throw in Johto and a main story along the lines of the one we saw in Gen V too, then they definitely should. 

I just don’t want to revisit Kanto in a state that we’ve already experienced before.

Let’s see if people settled on Cinnabar again, or if it turned into a tourist attraction. Let’s see some new cities, towns, gym leaders, Elite Four members, etc. What’s Silph been up to? Has Team Rocket come back, or has an evil team with an ambitious goal beyond making money taken their place by hunting down Mewtwo? Or, you know, let’s see what that guy in Vermilion was constructing. Throw in some mechanical adjustments (such as maybe some Kantonian/Johtonian forms, or, again: interactable wild Pokémon in the overworld’s routes, similar to how other JRPGs handle it) too, and voila: a Kanto (and Johto?) most people wouldn’t mind journeying through. 

I’m all in if we do return to Kanto later this year and we see something like that. But I’m out if all we’re getting is another remake. It probably makes some sense, too. I can see them making something like this with the Gen VII engine making use of full HD assets and having it out this year, before taking a break next year and coming back in 2020 with a more advanced and nuanced engine to bring Gen VIII to life. Financially, I don’t think a pair of games which have included Kanto has sold less than 10 million units, and it was always going to make financial sense for them to return to the region some day. 

We’ll likely learn something substantial by the end of Nintendo’s E3 video presentation (so, within the next 5 weeks!), and I do think that a Pokémon Direct prior to E3 could be on the cards again. There’s probably a spin-off game or two in the works, and I think they’ll want to clear up how Switch Online will affect Pokémon Bank or the new games’ online functionality. I’m excited :D 

Edited by Julius Caesar
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Emily Rogers had this to say in regards to the Pokemon Switch game.

Quote

Q.  Emily, you said there’s a Pokemon title releasing on Switch in 2018. What should we expect from it?

In July 2016, Pokémon Go launched, and became a massive phenomenon, having been downloaded more than 500 million times worldwide by the end of that year. Then, by 2017, overall download numbers increased to over 750 million a year.  This all leads to a much bigger question: What lessons should Game Freak and Nintendo learn from Pokémon Go’s success? How could Switch benefit from Pokémon Go’s success, and how could Pokémon Go benefit from Switch’s success?

After all, it was Nintendo who released “Pokémon Go Plus”, a bluetooth wearable device, developed by Nintendo’s Platform Technology Division, that allows players to enjoy the game without looking at their smartphone.  Would Nintendo ever dare to create more Pokémon Go accessories like that — possibly even for the Switch?

Joe Merrick, the creator of Serebii.net, once wrote an article on Nintendo Life titled “What Pokémon Go and the Pokemon series could learn from each other.”

As we wait for an announcement on the upcoming Pokémon title, which will be revealed before the end of this month, think about what Pokémon Go might mean for the future of the Pokémon series. I suspect that the naming/branding for this year’s Pokémon Switch title (there’s two versions) might raise a few eyebrows.

Learning from Pokemon Go. @Glen-i will be pleased! :D 

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Ok I'm betting on "Pokemon GO Fuck Yourselves" as the name for one of the titles

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2 hours ago, Happenstance said:

Ok I'm betting on "Pokemon GO Fuck Yourselves" as the name for one of the titles

You sure you didn't intercept my suggested titles letter?

The only good thing that could possibly come from Pokémon GO is if it causes a revival of the Pokewalker. Anything else that game does would be pretty unacceptable in a mainline title in my eyes.

Edited by Glen-i

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1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

The only good thing that could possibly come from Pokémon GO is if it causes a revival of the Pokewalker. Anything else that game does would be pretty unacceptable in a mainline title in my eyes.

Yeah, I think that an introduction of a Pokéwalker system in GO is a great idea. 

Very nervous but excited that the reveal is supposedly later this month. Nervous, because, well, it could - and probably will - be divisive, and people will inevitably complain that they haven’t seen enough before remembering that E3 is just around the bend. I’m also nervous because the fan base was always going rabbid for news, and every single day that goes by without the reveal will only make them even crazier. And if it’s not revealed by the end of the month? Emily Rogers is probably going to be in a lot of trouble...

Waiting for this should be a great way to pass the time in the build-up to E3 :D 

EDIT: Emily has said that there will be no reveal this week. 

Edited by Julius Caesar

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A supposed 4Chan leak from a few months ago put this image out into the wild, with the game supposedly in a relatively early state:

Pokemon-Nintendo-Switch-Leaked-Image-640

In it, you can see the tail of a Gyarados, and a trainer riding a Lapras with an Eevee on their head. It was noted that the tiles looked flat, and it was deemed to be fake.

However, 4Chan has just put this logo out into the wild:

7rZwSkN_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&f

In it is depicted the title Pokémon Let’s GO! Pikachu, and, supposedly, the title of the other version is Pokémon Let’s GO! Eevee.

It could easily turn out to be nothing and be a fake, but I feel like it’s worth posting. With the Eevee atop the trainer’s head in the above image, I’m reminded somewhat of Pokémon Yellow; perhaps these titles will be the modern Pokémon Yellow (and Pokémon Brown)?

There are also other hints towards this besides the supposed logo for the game, such as in Emily Rogers’ piece, but it’s a bit deep of a rabbit hole for me to jump into right now.

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see :p 

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This was posted on 4Chan around the same time as the supposedly leaked image:

I don’t think GO’s mechanics coming to the game will be too prevalent, apart from what I assume would be an optional Joy-Con shaking/touch screen flicking to attempt to capture a Pokémon. I agree with @Glen-i that a Pokewalker feature being added to GO would make a lot of sense, and is a great idea. I don’t know how I feel about the idea that these are Yellow remakes with Red and Blue having a role in the story but not being the catalysts for it, unless it is, in fact, a sequel, though.

I’m sort of on the fence right now about this, because we simply don’t know enough from the allegedly leaked information, so I can’t wait until we (supposedly) find out more about the games later this month. If this is all true, potentially catchable Pokémon being visible in the overworld (seen in the “leaked” image) is something I’m excited for.

Just holding out for Johto to play into this somehow too :p 

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If that’s true, the series is dead to me.  It’s literally everything I do not want in Pokemon.

 

All it needs now is a heavy dose of loot boxes and micro transactions.

Edited by Dcubed

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11 hours ago, Happenstance said:

Ok I'm betting on "Pokemon GO Fuck Yourselves" as the name for one of the titles

red-arrow-segmentspoint-up_orig.gif

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1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

If that’s true, the series is dead to me.  It’s literally everything I do not want in Pokemon.

 

All it needs now is a heavy dose of loot boxes and micro transactions.

What is it about the rumours you dislike?

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9 hours ago, Goron_3 said:

What is it about the rumours you dislike?

I'm gonna guess the blatant Gen 1 pandering, it utilising the lame capture mechanics of GO.

Also that image above is actually a step backward from Sun/Moon, as it appears to be reverting back to the flat tile system that Pearl/Diamond had. Black/White, a DS game, had more dynamic geography than that at times. (Which is why I'm sure it's fake)

Also, those titles would imply that Pikachu and Eevee are the starting Pokémon. Can you get a lamer choice? If that's the case, who would ever choose Pikachu? You could have a Pokémon that's stuck as an Electric type, or a Pokémon that can evolve into 8 different types. It's a stupid, lopsided choice.

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Maybe they’re giving Pikachu/Raichu the Eevee treatment; Steel, Flying, Bug, Poison, Dragon, Ghost, Rock and/or Psychic (Alolan) Raichu ;)

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You know what? The more I think about this rumour, the more it makes sense...

 

... In a nutshell, it makes sense because this Switch game is a port of a cancelled mobile game that was going to be Gen 8.

 

Why do I think this? Well... we know that the head of TPC originally believed that the Switch would fail.  That’s already a big clue that they originally planned on bringing the mainline series to mobile (where else could it go if they had no faith in Switch?) but then when you consider TPC’s heavy pivot towards mobile with the spinoffs and their reluctance to move on from 3DS, suddenly it starts to click into place.

 

Everything about this leak (assuming it’s true) suddenly makes perfect sense.  The 3DS quality visuals and reused assets, the dumbed down combat and catching mechanics, the extreme Genwunner pandering, the heavy interoperability with Pokemon Go (including physical accessories) and, most telling of all, the quick development time...

 

All of it screams mobile game.  I could definitely imagine a game like this being developed quickly; how else could they get a new gen finished in time for this year? Even the 3DS mainline games had 3 years worth of dev time a piece, and yet we’re expected to believe that Game Freak could make a brand new HD Pokemon Game from the ground up in less than 2 years? Bullshit!

 

They were making this for mobile and then cancelled it, porting it to Switch after seeing how much of a success it was.

 

It also probably explains the naming too.  They’re hedging their bets a bit here.  If it flops, they can just say that it wasn’t a mainline game and that the next proper game is still coming.  If it succeeds? Then it’s the new direction for the series and Pokemon as we know it is dead.

 

10 hours ago, Goron_3 said:

What is it about the rumours you dislike?

The death of any sort of in-depth gameplay or quality, structured, level and game design in favour of a dumbed down, mobile friendly, trite, Go inspired time wasting experience.

Edited by Dcubed
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1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

You know what? The more I think about this rumour, the more it makes sense...

 

... In a nutshell, it makes sense because this Switch game is a port of a cancelled mobile game that was going to be Gen 8.

 

Why do I think this? Well... we know that the head of TPC originally believed that the Switch would fail.  That’s already a big clue that they originally planned on bringing the mainline series to mobile (where else could it go if they had no faith in Switch?) but then when you consider TPC’s heavy pivot towards mobile with the spinoffs and their reluctance to move on from 3DS, suddenly it starts to click into place.

 

Everything about this leak (assuming it’s true) suddenly makes perfect sense.  The 3DS quality visuals and reused assets, the dumbed down combat and catching mechanics, the extreme Genwunner pandering, the heavy interoperability with Pokemon Go (including physical accessories) and, most telling of all, the quick development time...

 

All of it screams mobile game.  I could definitely imagine a game like this being developed quickly; how else could they get a new gen finished in time for this year? Even the 3DS mainline games had 3 years worth of dev time a piece, and yet we’re expected to believe that Game Freak could make a brand new HD Pokemon Game from the ground up in less than 2 years? Bullshit!

 

They were making this for mobile and then cancelled it, porting it to Switch after seeing how much of a success it was.

 

It also probably explains the naming too.  They’re hedging their bets a bit here.  If it flops, they can just say that it wasn’t a mainline game and that the next proper game is still coming.  If it succeeds? Then it’s the new direction for the series and Pokemon as we know it is dead.

 

The death of any sort of in-depth gameplay or quality, structured, level and game design in favour of a dumbed down, mobile friendly, trite, Go inspired time wasting experience.

Difference is that Nintendo wouldn't have let them do a main game on mobile.

I see this as a request from Nintendo to get in the GO Players ahead of Generation 8.

There's also no evidence of dumbed down combat.

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Considering that the mainline entries have become stale for myself and a few others, I welcome any new features and changes that will freshen it up.

From a business perspective it makes absolute sense to take advantage of the popularity of Go. You just have to look at our own boards to see that people on here are still playing it but haven't touched a mainline game in ages.

As for using Gen 1 again, it's another smart move. Pokemon Go showed the kind of pull that the first generation has on a lot of people. The nostalgia is strong with those entries and I can see why they may want to play on it again.

Honestly, all the rumours are making me quite excited to see what it's gonna look and play like. I'm not bothered if it's not a new generation. I'd rather GF mix things up a bit, even if that means using Pokemon we are already familiar with.

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Emily Rogers has said there's more than one Pokemon game for Switch being developed. They're not going to abandon the usual game type for this.

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Can I also remind people it has been longer since the last new game in Kanto (2009 - 9 years) than it was between Red & Green and FireRed & LeafGreen (Just under 8 years)

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21 minutes ago, Serebii said:

Difference is that Nintendo wouldn't have let them do a main game on mobile.

Hence the distant branding.  It allows them to play it safe in the same way that DS was a "third pillar", until it wasn't...

 

Quote

There's also no evidence of dumbed down combat.

Not yet, but where there's a smoking gun, there's likely to be a bullet.  You don't heavily dumb down half of the game's main mechanics and leave the other half completely unscathed... Why do you think they have gone back to the flat worlds of older games? (Assuming that screenshot is real).  Because it originally used touch controls/virtual buttons and had to have simplistic level design as a result; it also wouldn't alienate people who are more used to PoGo or the older games as much if the world design was very simplistic...

 

The target audience for this game are clearly PoGo players and genwunners.  It's not hard to see why they would want to dumb down the mechanics; they don't want to scare them off.

 

Quote

Can I also remind people it has been longer since the last new game in Kanto (2009 - 9 years) than it was between Red & Green and FireRed & LeafGreen (Just under 8 years)

Can I also remind you that Kanto has made an appearance in every single generation of Pokemon except for Gen 5? (RBY, GSC, FRLG, HGSS and then partially remade in XY with places like Santalune Forest being an almost identical 1-1 remake of Viridian Forest (and lets not even get into parts of the anime now being made canon, like Ash Greninja).  SM also then went and made Kanto a key part of its characters' origin stories and even brought back Red, Blue and Prof Oak (not to mention all the alolan forms being exclusively based on gen 1 Pokemon).

 

We have enough bloody genwunner pandering as it is! It's so transparent it's painful!

 

Edited by Dcubed
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The domain names were registered and Serebii has done some digging and found...

Looks like this all could be legit. Roll on the reveal of the games!

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46 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The domain names were registered and Serebii has done some digging and found...

Looks like this all could be legit. Roll on the reveal of the games!

 

Its_true_all_of_it.gif

 

 

11 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Getting a little fed up with everything leaking though

Game Freak are not good at keeping secrets.  They've been leaking like a sieve ever since Gen 5.  I'd be shocked if we got a game from them that didn't leak in some fashion beforehand.

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Just now, Dcubed said:

Game Freak are not good at keeping secrets.  They've been leaking like a sieve ever since Gen 5.  I'd be shocked if we got a game from them that didn't leak in some fashion beforehand.

Not just Pokemon, I mean everything in the games industry. There are so few genuine surprises anymore and it's a real shame. And we're still a month till E3 so plenty more to come.

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2 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Not just Pokemon, I mean everything in the games industry. There are so few genuine surprises anymore and it's a real shame. And we're still a month till E3 so plenty more to come.

Yeah, very few companies can keep secrets anymore really.  Can't really think of any major publisher outside of Nintendo (internally speaking) who still manages it.

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