Next Pokemon Generation Officially Announced
When Nintendo said there would be a Pokemon Direct this weekend, the most popular wish was for some kind of update to Pokemon Arceus. They got that wish, but no one expected an official announcement for the next generation so soon. It happened, and with one of the best trailers they’ve ever put together to boot. Check it out:
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet are the names, and though there were no shots of the game in action, there were plenty of aerial shots of the environments, Pokemon and buildings in the world. The three starters were also revealed: Sprigatito (the green cat), Fuecoco (the red crocodile) and Quaxly (the duck in the blue hat). The biggest surprise was the release window, which GF promises to hit within this year. Of course, if you cut a lot of corners on the graphics anything is possible.
For those of you hoping the open-world mechanics of Arceus would be adopted into the next mainline set of games, that probably isn’t likely. The fact that Legends was set aside as its own series indicates Game Freak will only be using those gameplay elements within that series, and keep the main one traditional. However, Game Freak IS promising some kind of open-world makeover in terms of environment, “where various towns with no borders blend seamlessly into the wilderness.”
But Arceus only JUST came out; there’s no way you haven’t done everything in it yet. In fact, we KNOW you haven’t, because an update with more content hits later today. The Daybreak update will add new ways to battle at the camp training grounds, more chances to battle Legendary Pokémon, and 90 free Poke Balls of top quality: Ultra Balls, Gigaton Balls, and Jet Balls, 30 each. You can get them once the update hits by entering “ARCEUSADVENTURE” on the Mystery Code screen; you must play the game for at least two hours to receive them. The giveaway will last until March 31.
Assuming no delays, Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet will arrive on Nintendo Switch in late 2022.