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Whether as part of a surprise strategy, out of respect for current events or a mix of both, the weekend’s Pokémon Presents broadcast had very little publicity and build-up. The main English-language social media channels didn’t even promote the event, with live stream pages only going live in the final hours before its start time. As a result we were suggesting keeping expectations low beforehand in the live blog, but it’s just as well many of us tuned in.
With a trailer that seemed designed to make everyone think it was teasing Detective Pikachu 2, what we got was Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which will be the first games of generation 9 and are coming this year. Of course this time of year is normally when the big November (presumably) games are unveiled, but with the recent release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus some had assumed gen 9 would have to wait until 2023; that’s not the case.
Intriguingly, too, it seems that the foundations of Arceus will very much be visible, with confirmation that it’ll be an open-world experience.
There’s naturally been a lot of buzz and excitement, with the new starters in particular getting plenty of attention, but we’ve also seen some bemoaning that it’s coming relatively soon. We’ve seen talk of fatigue, and some fans eager to see Game Freak take more time to develop and enhance their output.
We can see both sides; it’s true that the relentless release schedule will limit Game Freak’s opportunities to improve the technical side of their output. On the flipside, though, with Arceus introducing a different approach while also luring in new fans, it makes sense to capitalise and snappily bring a mainline ‘gen’ game into an open world and modernised approach.
We’re curious as to where you stand; are you excited, concerned, a bit of both? Also, for those that weren’t around on Sunday, we’ll repeat the question of which starter is the most awesome (it’s a tough pick).
So let us know what you think, as always, in the polls and comments below.
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