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Pokemon for Nintendo Switch given a release date of "2018 or Later"

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
cool. i'm in no rush to get a switch then. i'll pick one up when Pokemon comes out. hopefully by then we'll have a "New Nintendo Switch" with better performance/battery life.
 

Servbot24

Banned
Would be really disappointing to not have this for the Holiday... this is the game they need to make Switch continue to be the must have item. Metroid ain't it. Smash would be big, but Pokemon is another level.
 

Some Nobody

Junior Member
So after a baseless rumour spread by certain parties, you're deciding to ignore an actual known project?

Wasn't really baseless--it was in quite a few places that had fairly solid information. Not the point.

Place on backburner = / = ignore. Just means I won't make a habit of hanging out in "I can't wait for the next Pokemon" threads. Game Freak is in no hurry to put this out, so what's the point in champing at the bit to hear new news. At the earliest we'd learn something in...May, maybe? I wanna say that's when new Pokemon news tends to hit. Then or February. That's way too far out for a project I haven't even seen yet.
 
I really bought the Switch way too early and I'm regretting it abit. I expected a solid release of the Nintendo type games I've missed out on over the years.
 

JoeM86

Member
Wasn't really baseless--it was in quite a few places that had fairly solid information. Not the point.

Place on backburner = / = ignore. Just means I won't make a habit of hanging out in "I can't wait for the next Pokemon" threads. Game Freak is in no hurry to put this out, so what's the point in champing at the bit to hear new news. At the earliest we'd learn something in...May, maybe? I wanna say that's when new Pokemon news tends to hit. Then or February. That's way too far out for a project I haven't even seen yet.

No because of what the rumour said the concept of Stars was, essentially the third version. That's basically Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon. We're not going to have another game exactly like that again.
 
I don't see they skipping 2018.

But I don't trust GF.

I just hope it looks good and runs well.

Hopefully that's not much to ask of a multi million franchise.

Or is it.
 

JoeM86

Member
I don't see they skipping 2018.

But I don't trust GF.

I just hope it looks good and runs well.

Hopefully that's not much to ask of a multi million franchise.

Or is it.

Why?

They skipped 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2015. Why can't they skip 2018?
 
I'd be fine with them skipping 2018 if it meant they're devoting proper resources to it. I'm not one of these people who thinks Pokémon needs a revolutionary new direction, but it DESPARATELY needs a heartier presentation and budget.
 
Why?

They skipped 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2015. Why can't they skip 2018?
- Ride on the Go hype train before it dies
- Holiday season is the best time to release games simultaneously/worldwide as they have been doing with the past few entries, if they wait until holiday 2019 that would a much longer wait
- They don't have new/fresh games out in the market to have catalogue/legs sales, SM2 will die fast just like BW2

But as I have said, I don't trust GF. They took their sweet time with XY and it turned out to be a piece of trash. Switch being a much more powerful machine will probably leave GF shook for years.

So yeah, if they keep the team the way it is right now, it might come out in late 2019, but that wouldn't be ideal, it would be the result of their own incompetence.
 

FinalAres

Member
The series just had a refresh.

What sort of refresh are you wanting?

So help me, if you say "go back to the original 151"...
No God no.

Full disclosure: I've not played Sun or Moon. I've watched playthrough and they don't seem like a huge step away from traditions (even though they dropped specific things) but I appreciate that's not something you can tell until you've actually played it.
 

Aleh

Member
I'm thinking 2018 for now. It will be a good jump from Sun and Moon, but will be refined with subsequent games in the same generation and then be able take FULL advantage of the hardware with gen 9. And then there'll be no more people saying GameFreak is behind in terms of tech anymore, hopefully.
 

JoeM86

Member
Fall 2018 = Pokémon Stars (UltraS&M HD remaster)

Fall 2019 = New Gen Switch exclusive

They're not going to jump device mid-console generation. That opens up a load of connectivity issues not to mention segmenting the userbase.

I was saying that in the run up to the Pokémon Direct and people kept dismissing me. It's how it is though.
 

Galava

Member
Do you guys think they will break the "fall release" formula? Maybe they will just push it back to march 2019 if it doesn't make it to fall 2018

There is one setting that I want to see though. Set in the past, when pokéballs were just invented and professors were travelling and building a catalog of all the pokémon. Set in a new unknown region, you are a professor that goes there and finds never before seen species. Take pictures of them, name the species based on what you learn about them (give them some canonical names too just in case). Meet natives, hear their stories about pokémon living there, explore the region, catalog new species on your "dex prototype"...etc.

It'd also be a full RPG with battle mechanics ofc.
 

Keinning

Member
No God no.

Full disclosure: I've not played Sun or Moon. I've watched playthrough and they don't seem like a huge step away from traditions (even though they dropped specific things) but I appreciate that's not something you can tell until you've actually played it.

heavily story based (to the point of being a nuisance), going away with gyms (a series staple), introducing a new gimmick mechanic (z-move) and totally discarding the last gimmick mechanic (megas)

game changed enough without losing its identity as a pokemon main game. any more than that, you don't even need to bother calling it pokemon anymore
 

blazeaire

Member
I really really hope they take their time to make good Pokemon, Sun and Moon are the best 3DS Pokemon games by far but my god 90% of the new Pokemon were just trash imo, both look and stat wise besides the legendaries, like seriously 60 base speed for all the starters? who the heck thought that was a good idea?
 

JoeM86

Member
heavily story based (to the point of being a nuisance), going away with gyms (a series staple), introducing a new gimmick mechanic (z-move) and totally discarding the last gimmick mechanic (megas)

game changed enough without losing its identity as a pokemon main game. any more than that, you don't even need to bother calling it pokemon anymore

I don't think you understand the concept of totally discarding things considering they are in there :p
 
I really really hope they take their time to make good Pokemon, Sun and Moon are the best 3DS Pokemon games by far but my god 90% of the new Pokemon were just trash imo, both look and stat wise besides the legendaries, like seriously 60 base speed for all the starters? who the heck thought that was a good idea?

Complaints about some of the stat spreads are valid (why would they do this to Decidueye), but the design ones are not. Pokémon are consistently well designed, and frankly they're better than they've ever been.
 
I'm definitely sticking with my "2019 at the earliest" prediction for Metroid Prime 4. It'd be great if I was wrong, but all signs are pointing to this thing being super early.
 

JB2448

Member
Is it just me or does early 2018 look a little dry for Switch?
There will be multiple Directs announcing new titles for the period. I wouldn't be surprised if Kirby and Yoshi release in the January to March period, while more titles for April and later get announced in Directs in the coming months. Nintendo's announcement to release cycle is pretty short now.

As far as Pokémon is concerned, expect 2019. Game Freak needs to take its time to adjust to the power increase for its mainline development, and I doubt side projects like Tembo and Giga Wrecker were enough to fully acclimate all of their staff to it.
 

gafneo

Banned
Theory: Prime 4 must have just started pre production as the main Bungie team finished work on Destiny 2. A little fan fiction if you will.
 

Cartho

Member
Do mainline Pokemon games always release in the winter? In which case we could be looking at holiday 2019 if it misses 2018 - that would be a bloody long time for the Switch to go without a mainline Pokemon title. I think if you asked Nintendo what their ideal would be it would go something like "Pokemon for Christmas 2018 and Metroid Prime 4 for 2019".

Pokemon Christmas 2018 would be massive. You would hope they would have stock issues sorted by then and, if they do, a new Pokemon title (possibly bundled with consoles) would absolutely make bank.

I'm still gonna bet a May 2018 direct for a November 2018 release.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
So another 3DS mainline game after ultra for 2018.
Hope it releases by holiday 2018.

I want my glorious HD Pokemon
Game Freak & The Pokémon Company may opt to let the franchise to have a breather year before Gen 8 (hence "or Later"). I'd imagine that Nintendo wants it for Holiday 2018, but it depends on how development pans out. Either way, the 3DS's Pokémon road ends at Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon.
 

Galava

Member
Do mainline Pokemon games always release in the winter?

During the DS era games used to release in september in japan and in june of next year in the west.

It's better for the to release before holidays, so they can get the most out of the release, but wouldn't be weird to see a march/april 2019 release IF they don't make it to holiday 2018.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
Switch will need something big in 2018 if this is later
  • Smash
  • Fire Emblem
  • Animal Crossing
  • Kirby
  • Yoshi
  • 2D Zelda
  • 2D Mario
  • Retro's next game
  • Whatever PlatinumGames is working on
I think Nintendo's fine concerning potential 2018 games if Pokémon (Gen 8?) slips into Holiday 2019.

Do mainline Pokemon games always release in the winter? In which case we could be looking at holiday 2019 if it misses 2018 - that would be a bloody long time for the Switch to go without a mainline Pokemon title. I think if you asked Nintendo what their ideal would be it would go something like "Pokemon for Christmas 2018 and Metroid Prime 4 for 2019".

Pokemon Christmas 2018 would be massive. You would hope they would have stock issues sorted by then and, if they do, a new Pokemon title (possibly bundled with consoles) would absolutely make bank.

I'm still gonna bet a May 2018 direct for a November 2018 release.
I mean, the 3DS waited until 2013 for X/Y, so the Switch waiting until 2019 wouldn't be that unheard of.
 
It'll be 2019. Which is fine by me because a potential new Mystery Dungeon game could be out next year for Switch. Oh boy, I'm getting ahead of myself but imma drool if the storyline is similar to Explorers and takes a page out of its book when it comes with content on top of content...
 
Honestly I hope Nintendo/Game Freak ignore the people who want the game out as soon as possible, aka definitely in 2018. Some of you seem more concerned with getting it sooner than getting a better game, which strikes me as incredibly bizarre. The same with people who want a quick Smash 4 port just because it means it would be out sooner
 
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