Pokémon on Switch Will Be a “Traditional” Series Game

Reggie says it will be a “find, battle, train type experience.”

Pokémon fans everywhere celebrated when The Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara revealed a game is in development for Nintendo Switch at E3 2017. Though Ishihara did not give any more details, the simple announcement was enough to comfort many recently disappointed fans.

The week before E3, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company got everyone’s hopes up for a mainline Switch title reveal in a Pokémon Direct livestream, only to announce Pokken Tournament DX for Switch and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon for 3DS.

Responding to this disappointment, Ishihara assured fans that a “core Pokémon RPG” is in the works for the Switch. However, he warned players the game probably won’t be released for over a year.

Fans came away from this reveal a little confused, not exactly sure what “core” meant.

To elaborate on the E3 announcement, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé told Bloomberg this will be “a traditional find, battle, train type experience.” So finding Pokémon, battling Pokémon, training Pokémon. Sounds like a mainline game to me.

Back in March, some job listings from Game Freak pointed towards a Switch Pokémon game. The listings were for work on a “globally popular RPG” and requested experience working on character models “at the level of Wii U and PS Vita.”

Though thoughts at the time were on Pokémon Stars, a codename for the unconfirmed Switch version of Pokémon Sun and Moon, I doubt we’d see a SuMo Switch port after Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. That’d be a little too much Alola.

Regardless, this will be the first ever mainline Pokémon game to come to a home console. Exploring a new — or maybe old? — region and battling Pokémon on a TV will an exciting experience for fans worldwide.

What do you think about this “traditional” Switch Pokémon game? Let us know in the comments.