What Is the Big Pokémon News Nintendo Is Announcing Tomorrow, Ahead of E3?
And why?
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 doesn’t officially kick off until next week (with some press conferences this weekend), but Nintendo is preempting all of that with a newly announced, Pokémon-specific Nintendo direct tomorrow morning at 10AM ET. (Right here.) They haven’t been afraid to shake up the traditional E3 formula in recent years and bank on the power of their popular properties and this move seems no different, but what new information will it bring?
The most obvious answer is “Pokémon Stars,” the anticipated—yet unconfirmed—followup to Pokémon Sun and Moon. With no known Pokémon game on the horizon, it stands to reason that this presentation will unveil something new on the way. With the 8-minute runtime announced by Nintendo, it’ll likely be limited to a reveal trailer and maybe some additional information, or maybe a reveal trailer and a smaller debut of a new spinoff like Magikarp Jump—or maybe some more updated remakes of previous games in the series.
Although, with such a short time and separate from Nintendo’s main E3 digital presentation, it could also be some smaller Pokémon news that just didn’t quite fit in the spirit of next week’s E3 new. It’s possible that the whole thing will be about spinoff games, mobile games, and/or other tidbits, rather than a full entry into the franchise’s main series. However, the official Pokémon site says “big news” is on the way, so we’ll hold out hope for something more major.
But whatever the case, why is Nintendo separating this from next week’s presentation? The way Nintendo’s E3 presence has changed recently, as well as with the existing details of what they’re planning this year, it seems that their main presentation will focus on the Switch and, primarily, Super Mario Odyssey: “Nintendo’s activities at E3 kick off with the Nintendo Spotlight: E3 2017 video presentation, featuring a closer look at the Super Mario Odyssey game and new details for Nintendo Switch™ games launching this year.”
That means that whatever’s going on with Pokémon likely doesn’t involve the Switch, which may come as a disappointment to some, who (like myself) hoped that a Pokémon main series game would make it to the new console rather than the 3DS. On the other hand, it’s possible that “Stars” is coming to the Switch but will still be mostly an updated version of Sun/Moon, and thus doesn’t need a main presentation reveal to clutter up the “spotlight” on Super Mario Odyssey and other totally new titles.
Whatever the reason, we’re glad for any reason to start reveling in brand new video game news almost a week early, especially when it’s Pokémon. Bring it on, Nintendo.
(image: Nintendo)
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