January 27th, 1996 is the day Pokémon Red and Blue, the very first games in the series, launched in Japan. Since then, "Pokémon Day" has been celebrated annually across the world. In recent years, The Pokémon Company has used this time of year to celebrate and announce different things coming for the franchise, whether that be special cards, anime episodes or mostly video games/game content. This year, just like last, was no exception.
On Sunday, January 27th, 2022 the Pokémon Company held a "Pokémon Presents" event, which is essentially their own version of a Nintendo Direct event. During these events, the company announces upcoming updates for their games. This specific presentation wasn't given as much advertising as ones in the past, as current world events made it seem kind of silly and unimportant to advertise; as a result, a lot of people thought there wasn't much to expect from this presentation. Pokémon announced a few things for their mobile games, as well as a free update that dropped later that same day in their newest release 'Pokémon Legends Arceus' (which I will be reviewing here soon, so stay tuned!) and even a special event in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, games that were released late last year. Some cool things were shown, but nothing crazy...then came the final announcement.
The final trailer started off in a peculiar way, which made many people think it was a trailer for a sequel to the 'Detective Pikachu' film. Things began to make sense after about a minute into the trailer, though, when it was revealed to be an announcement for the two newest games in the series. Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, releasing late 2022, are the newest generation of games in the series, meaning these games will be taking place in a new region with new Pokémon and ancillary characters. This is the ninth generation in the series overall, with the last coming out in 2019 with Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. The trailer depicts a type of game that hasn't been seen before, as the description calls it an open world experience, which fans of the franchise have wanted in these games for a very long time.
Similar to Pokémon Legends Arceus, which is "semi" open world, the franchise has taken a step forward with the past few games now. This has triggered an overwhelmingly positive response from the fan base, as well as from yours truly. The trailer was received with lots of excitement from the majority of fans, but some were expressing concern that the game might be releasing too quickly, as Pokémon had released games in November 2021 and January 2022. It's worth noting, though, that one game was developed by a different studio, which had never been done before for any mainline game in the series.
Still, fans expressed excitement at the trailer and seemed to appreciate the fact that the game follows a path similar to the latest release, Pokémon Legends Arceus, where the player has control over a number of things they didn't have in previous Pokémon releases. The trailer ends with a shot of the three new starter Pokémon which, as always, are Grass, Fire and Water types. The Grass type, Sprigatito, the Fire type, Fuecoco and the Water type, Quaxly, all appear to be solid choices. Personally, as of right now, I'll be choosing Sprigatito.
I'm very excited to play these games, as well as find out what everyone's thoughts are on the trailer and these brand new starter Pokémon. Be sure to tweet me @Cameron_FTF with your opinions and predictions on what these games will be like as we learn more about them over the course of the next several months before they ultimately release around year end!
- Cam (@Cameron_FTF)