As expected, the first part was a sentimental video about the franchise’s history, from its start in 1996 to the most recent generation. Timed events were announced to be coming to Sword and Shield, Pokémon GO and a range of other spin-offs. With these parts out of the way, the main draw of the event could begin; new information about three upcoming Pokémon games.
The first was New Pokémon Snap. It had been announced for a while, but more details were provided ahead of its release at the end of April. New gameplay features like Lumina Orbs (which make Pokémon glow and can affect the environment slightly) were revealed, as well as a few new characters. Considering the first game consisted just of the player and Professor Oak, it’s likely the story is going to have a bigger role in the sequel. They also announced that the Lental region is the name of the idyllic location you’ll be taking pictures of throughout the game.
In addition to this, the long awaited remakes of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were also announced. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are due to be released later this year, and it was made clear that they aimed to be as faithful to the originals as possible.
By far the biggest surprise of the Pokémon Presents was the announcement of another new game - Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
The games will feature a chibi art style very reminiscent of their DS counterparts, which has led to divisions between fans. The map looks as if it’s simply reusing the 3D model of Sinnoh from the DS games. For now it looks like the games aren’t adopting many features from Platinum, but whether or not they use its expanded Pokédex remains to be seen. By far the biggest surprise of the Pokémon Presents was the announcement of another new game - Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
It too takes place in the Sinnoh region, but several hundred years before the events of Diamond and Pearl. As such, the cities we know are absent and there’s much more open space, with the gameplay looking more like Breath of the Wild than a conventional Pokémon game. It also boasts an unexpected starter trio in Rowlet, Cyndaquil and Oshawott. This game won’t release until next year (likely November), but it’ll be interesting to see more news about this game closer to its release date.
In addition to the games announced in this presentation, it’ll be interesting to see if The Pokémon Company have any further plans for the anniversary year in the months ahead.
[Featured Image: @Pokemon on Twitter]
