PaigeFTW: Pokemon News Fails To Excite
Seven generations in, Pokemon might be running out of names. Fans were hopeful that the pre-E3 Pokemon Direct would feature the much-rumored Pokemon Stars — a bold debut for these pocket monsters on a home console in a brand-new adventure set in Alola (not unlike what happened between Black/White and their sequels).
Instead, we got … Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon.
These aren’t sequels. They are an “alternate storyline” from what was presented in the original Sun/Moon. You can tell things will be gritty and dark because the legendary Pokemon now have black exoskeletons — very #edgy. Nothing else is known presently.
Nintendo also announced enhanced port Pokken Tournament DX for Switch (not the announcement anyone was waiting for, but fine, I guess) as well as that Pokemon Gold/Silver would be available in their original forms as a virtual console download (also fine, but not exciting).
Fan reaction has been disappointed, to say the least. Isn’t it time for Pokemon to make the leap to Nintendo’s new flagship console?
Home-console Pokemon has been hotly desired for years (probably almost as much as the Pokemon MMORPG that will never, ever exist). If Pokemon can do all this via handheld devices, what could it do on more powerful hardware, with a strong online infrastructure? It makes perfect sense for diehard fans, but not for the business interests at Nintendo.
The smart money says that this is the kind of thing you might look for two or three years from now, once the Switch’s install base is hefty and respectable. (Assuming, of course, that the console isn’t shafted the way the Wii U was.)
But it’s a long dry season for Switch owners now, as, outside of Breath of the Wild, the Switch is mostly home to a lot of Wii U ports (a list which will soon include Pokken).
Will E3 change that? Or am I just going to have a lot to say about Sony and Microsoft next week? We shall soon find out.
