Pokemon Presents wrapped up this morning and Pokemon fans were treated to a fantastic mix of nostalgia and exciting new content. Let’s dive in.
Perhaps the most exciting is the newest entry in the Pokemon franchise, Legends Arceus. Releasing on January 28, 2022, Arceus takes players to a long-ago age in the Hisui region. According to the game’s main site, the story is as follows:
Jubilife Village will serve as the base for your surveying missions. After receiving an assignment or a request and preparing for your next excursion, you’ll set out from the village to study one of the various areas of the Hisui region. After you finish your survey work, you’ll return once more to prepare for your next task.
Along with the headquarters of the Galaxy Team and your own lodgings, Jubilife Village boasts a range of useful institutions and services—such as the trading post, where you can trade Pokémon with other players.
- Players will explore different regions and setup base camps throughout.
- Whenever you leave Jubilife Village to set out on an excursion, your first stop will be one of the Base camps that will serve as a handy outpost for your work. You can stop by for a rest during an excursion, letting your team of Pokémon recover their health, or you can use a camp’s workbench to craft some items.
- Pokémon live freely in all kinds of places—in grassy fields, in forests, or out on the water, to name a few. There may be certain Pokémon behaviors—or even entire species—that you witness only under the right conditions, such as during a particular time of day or in certain kinds of weather.
- Crafting will play a large role.
- As you’re exploring, you’ll collect all kinds of materials that you can use for crafting—combining items to make new ones. For example, if you combine an Apricorn and a type of stone called a tumblestone, you’ll be able to craft a regular Poké Ball.
- Players can switch between Agile Style and Strong Style.
- Using a move in the Agile Style raises the user’s action speed, which may make the user’s next turn come sooner, but lowers the move’s power.
- Using a move in the Strong Style raises the move’s power but your Pokemon’s action speed will be lowered.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Two classics return in remastered adventures on the Switch on November 19th. Full details can be found via the game’s main site.
The original story has been faithfully reproduced, and these remakes include easy-to-understand, player-friendly conveniences of the modern Pokémon series, plus up-close-and-personal Pokémon battle scenes.
- A famous professor in the field of Pokémon Evolution recruits you to travel across the Sinnoh region to complete an encyclopedic record of Pokémon known as a Pokédex.
- Before you set off on your journey, you’ll choose Turtwig, Chimchar, or Piplup to be your first partner Pokémon.
- The Underground from Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl has been powered up for these games, and is now called the Grand Underground. The Grand Underground is a vast subterranean world that spreads out like a maze beneath the entire Sinnoh region.
- Super Contest Shows are popular performances in Sinnoh, each put on by four performers and their Pokémon, who work together to show off their performance skills. During the show, you can dress up in your favorite outfit, and your Pokémon will dance, making for an altogether different experience from their usual battles of strength.
Our Take
Pokemon continues to be one of the largest IPs in gaming and it’s great to see Nintendo paying homage to favories in the series while introducing new titles that expand the core concepts. Arceus looks like the most exciting new entry in Pokemon in a very long time.