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Official Pre-Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield Speculation & Leaks thread

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See all these ice pokemon needs. I stand by a snow region lol. I want a dog sled team! No clue how that would work but I wanna see it XD.
 
They won't say themselves, but what Eurogamer says tracks with what we've seen of Nintendo since. Their strategy required a major release for 3DS to keep it alive. They had to announce Bowser's Inside Story like a year before its set release date. I don't see a reason to distrust Eurogamer. Rumors that it was just a tech demo happened around November 2017, while that article came out in December 2017.
What do you mean by "major release for 3DS?" Eurogamer was claiming that Stars was on the Switch, not the 3DS. (And they also claimed it was the third version, so they weren't expecting USUM) I'd be really surprised to find that they somehow had enough time to make LGPE and start on Gen 8 while also managing to put in enough work on a tech demo that it seemed like an actual game. On top of this, according to the article, Stars was expected to be released somewhere within eight months of the Switch's release, and it was only because they saw the Switch's success that they changed course for USUM. (which apparently happened "at the end of 2016".) It also contradicts official Game Freak statements-Ohmori said the idea for USUM came during SuMo's development, and that USUM was being handled by the newer team while the veterans handled LGPE.

Tom Phillips does have a good track record, but he's not perfect. He also said that Breath of the Wild would miss the Switch's launch, and that Mother 3 would get a localization on the game's 10th anniversary. He reported that the Wii U would use Blu Ray tech. He reported that development on Final Fantasy 13 was canned, and Square Enix told Eurogamer that it was flat-out fake. He's also reporting now that there's going to be a new version of the Switch release next year. (Can't be disproven now, but I'm really doubting that. Only two years since the previous release? With the only updated feature being "a nicer screen"? Sure, the DS had something similar, but that was a much cheaper console, and a handheld, too)

He's probably not intentionally lying-most of his info is accurate-but false information from him isn't impossible. (He's also...really weird about being wrong? The comments on his explanation have him mocking Serebii with "tell your uncle at Nintendo I said hi" and "sorry nobody told you about Stars", but Serebii actually had LGPE totally right-that's more than Tom can say)
 
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Soooo... for a mythical, Meltan seems like it's going to be insanely common.

The Mystery Box, when opened, provides a special bonus. For 30 minutes, you will have the ability to find the Mythical Pokémon Meltan and catch it in great numbers


When the time runs out, Meltan will stop appearing in the wild. However, you can re-open the box after waiting for a certain amount of time. After that time, send another Pokémon to Let's Go and you'll be able to open the box once more.
- Pokémon GO - Mystery Box & Meltan

Suspecting more and more that Meltan's evolution is connected to the Play Yard minigame. That or you have to evolve Meltan in GO by gathering up a ton of candy... probably 400+ like Magikarp and others.


I wonder how they'll make Meltan and its evo available in the future... because there's no way I'm ever getting a Let's Go game. =/ Gen 8 will probably require trading, if Let's Go and Gen 8 will even be compatible- which seems likely, since it's an introductory game for poke-newbies and they want to avoid a situation like what happened between Gen 2 and 3.

Meltan, I love you, but I'll probably never get you in GO.
 
I wonder how they'll make Meltan and its evo available in the future... because there's no way I'm ever getting a Let's Go game. =/ Gen 8 will probably require trading, if Let's Go and Gen 8 will even be compatible- which seems likely, since it's an introductory game for poke-newbies and they want to avoid a situation like what happened between Gen 2 and 3.

Meltan, I love you, but I'll probably never get you in GO.

Well, they added an alternate way to evolve Feebas, so I'm positive that there will be an alternate way to evolve Meltan in the future.
 
I'd like regular online distribution mythicals again please. I'm tired of wasting gas money to go to gamestop.
Agreed. How come North America is the only region in which 2018 legends have been distrubuted via serial code but Europe gets it over Wifi?
And if your thinking of boss battles for event Pokemon.Its never going to happen again. Why? Because after reading why they never the Azure Flute and reading and seeing the direction Let's Go is going and reading the interviews, I've come to one conclusion: They think kids are too dumb to figure out to use the event items, even if they give you explicit instructions.
 
What do you mean by "major release for 3DS?" Eurogamer was claiming that Stars was on the Switch, not the 3DS. (And they also claimed it was the third version, so they weren't expecting USUM) I'd be really surprised to find that they somehow had enough time to make LGPE and start on Gen 8 while also managing to put in enough work on a tech demo that it seemed like an actual game. On top of this, according to the article, Stars was expected to be released somewhere within eight months of the Switch's release, and it was only because they saw the Switch's success that they changed course for USUM. (which apparently happened "at the end of 2016".) It also contradicts official Game Freak statements-Ohmori said the idea for USUM came during SuMo's development, and that USUM was being handled by the newer team while the veterans handled LGPE.

None of these say anything about it never originally being Stars. They don't touch on the rumor at all. However, in your second source, there is a link to this article by Oscar Dayus:

One of the reasons people were surprised at the lack of a Switch version was because a third version of Pokemon Sun and Moon--unofficially dubbed Pokemon Stars--was heavily rumored to be in development for the hybrid console. That game may have subsequently become Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, and when pressed on whether those games could come to Switch later down the line, Ohmori stated simply that "there are [currently] no plans for that in particular."

In that same article, the reason given it is for 3DS is:

And now, again, with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, we've tried to make this the pinnacle of our work with the 3DS system and make it a culmination of all our efforts to get the absolute most out of the system that we can.

Except in an article where they aren't asked about why it isn't on switch, they said this about development:

The idea for the Ultra games started to form late in development on Sun and Moon, when those titles were still in a beta phase. The goal for the new releases, according to Ohmori, was to offer more to do for existing fans, but also create an easier entry point for newcomers — especially those who were drawn to the series by Pokémon Go. Eventually he recruited Kazumasa Iwao, who was in charge of the battle systems in Sun and Moon, to direct the game.

So they created it to appeal to new fans brought in by GO...hoping they'd buy a 3DS when the switch had just come out? It got popular in 2016 before SuMo came out. And releasing a split sequel is more off-putting than not.

What I meant by major release for 3DS, I mean that there was more value for Nintendo to have Ultra Sun and Moon than to have Stars, as Eurogamer implies. Breath of the Wild sold systems and kept selling systems. Odyssey built on that. Removing Stars from the 3DS creates a drought that signals a systems death, while Nintendo wanted games to keep it afloat as it is still selling well, but they didn't have their planned remakes and ports ready yet. Stars would also change the perception of what to expect from a console Pokemon game and probably make Let's Go look worse in comparison to SuMo with HD graphics, but if the switch wasn't selling well, that didn't matter. But designing Ultra with new GO players in mind makes significantly more sense if it is for console than a second release on 3DS.
 
The question is why it even matters what the initial plan was. USUM wouldn't have been very different as a Switch game, and Masuda would have still wanted a Go-related game.

It doesn't. I was using it as a reference point for a separate idea, that's likely incorrect, but fun to think about with how connected Unova and Kalos are.
 
Agreed. How come North America is the only region in which 2018 legends have been distrubuted via serial code but Europe gets it over Wifi?
I hate this so much. I wonder if it's a contract thing or Nintendo trying to be in good graces with retailers. It sucks, though.

And if your thinking of boss battles for event Pokemon.Its never going to happen again. Why? Because after reading why they never the Azure Flute and reading and seeing the direction Let's Go is going and reading the interviews, I've come to one conclusion: They think kids are too dumb to figure out to use the event items, even if they give you explicit instructions.

The Pokémon Company CEO, Tsunekazu Ishihara who provided a few minor tidbits about the upcoming Pokémon game for Nintendo Switch due out in 2019. He reconfirmed that this game is due for release in the second half of 2019, will have better graphics than any prior Pokémon game, that it'll be completely new, aimed at experienced fans, not like Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu & Let's Go Eevee and states that it will contain many brand new Pokémon.

Only time will tell. Sinnoh did leave some bad impressions on them, though. Hopefully with the separation it'll mean a return of events for event Pokemon. At least that makes it feel somewhat worth the effort of getting them instead of just having them handed to you. I hate everything about that.
 
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