The Pokemon Switch Version

[KrisiChiki]

I will be disappointed if the Switch Pokemon game is not a new Generation, but I understand the concerns regarding development times. I enjoyed XY a lot, because of the jump to 3D and various new or improved features (like customization or the PSS), but it did feel rushed and lackluster in many ways. Then it never even got a third version or a sequel, making us feel like we were left hanging.

The SM games were fun and improved on some things like the story and characters, but it also felt like it was missing things or some content was left out for one reason or another.

Things like these really won't cut it when Pokemon has to start competing with other console games. People will expect more content from a Switch game. No matter how much I love Pokemon, I don't wish to buy a new console, which will be more expensive than a handheld, just to get a handheld-level game.

On the other hand we have the Kanto sequels/remakes. It's just speculation but...

We've had a lot of Gen I pandering, and my nostalgia has been drained. I grew up with Gen I, but I've grown somewhat tired of the pandering by now. I'm afraid Kanto sequels/remakes could end up having a negative response instead of the positive one they would expect. This brings me to my next thought.

I assume there is a good number of people planning to buy the Switch because of Pokemon. If the Switch game(s) turn out to be Kanto sequels/remakes I will not buy them, nor will I buy the Switch. I will save my money to buy it for the next Pokemon game or wait for a good sale/deal for the Switch. I don't think it's wrong to assume that might be the case for others as well. The games would really have to be amazing to make me want to buy them.

Another thought I have regarding Kanto games is that it would only show that Game Freak is stuck on the past and is not confident in what they can do for the future of the franchise. Fall back to the old and familiar, hope to cash in on the nostalgia instead of putting all efforts into creating a new, proper and exciting Generation.

 

[PurplePopplio]

I will be disappointed if the Switch Pokemon game is not a new Generation, but I understand the concerns regarding development times. I enjoyed XY a lot, because of the jump to 3D and various new or improved features (like customization or the PSS), but it did feel rushed and lackluster in many ways. Then it never even got a third version or a sequel, making us feel like we were left hanging.

The SM games were fun and improved on some things like the story and characters, but it also felt like it was missing things or some content was left out for one reason or another.

Things like these really won't cut it when Pokemon has to start competing with other console games. People will expect more content from a Switch game. No matter how much I love Pokemon, I don't wish to buy a new console, which will be more expensive than a handheld, just to get a handheld-level game.

On the other hand we have the Kanto sequels/remakes. It's just speculation but...

We've had a lot of Gen I pandering, and my nostalgia has been drained. I grew up with Gen I, but I've grown somewhat tired of the pandering by now. I'm afraid Kanto sequels/remakes could end up having a negative response instead of the positive one they would expect. This brings me to my next thought.

I assume there is a good number of people planning to buy the Switch because of Pokemon. If the Switch game(s) turn out to be Kanto sequels/remakes I will not buy them, nor will I buy the Switch. I will save my money to buy it for the next Pokemon game or wait for a good sale/deal for the Switch. I don't think it's wrong to assume that might be the case for others as well. The games would really have to be amazing to make me want to buy them.

Another thought I have regarding Kanto games is that it would only show that Game Freak is stuck on the past and is not confident in what they can do for the future of the franchise. Fall back to the old and familiar, hope to cash in on the nostalgia instead of putting all efforts into creating a new, proper and exciting Generation.

Actually Kanto sequels will mix the old with the new. It'll give Kanto and maybe Johto a fresh coat of paint. I'd take an updated Kanto over a new generation any day , especially if it leads to a more well prepared new generation.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Kanto has had probably.... 4 new coats of paint: GSC, FRLG, HGSS, Mega Evolutions in XY (majority Kanto Pokemon till ORAS came along making Hoenn Pokemon a compulsory choice) ,Alola Forms (all Kanto).

Oh, my math gimped up, Kanto has had 5 coats of paint. And there's no guarantee that we won't see more Kanto pandering after the sequels...

Overall, no release other than any Alolan game for Switch will disappoint me. Imo, the best time to learn for Switch was to release a USUM version on the Switch along with the 3DS releases, but well, they've missed the chance...

 

[Plubio]

Think about it this way: ORAS was developed in a single year. One.

I'm sorry to say this but Ohmori said Masuda asked him to be ORAS Director back on RS 10th anniversary —2012— and develop started tied to XY (which started to be developed at 2010). I really don't want to sound rude but thinking a Pokémon game is made in only 1 or 2 years is completely delusional.

On topic, speaking about Switch game, I'm totally sure they're aiming for a 2019 release. As much as I want a Switch game, no other generation has been this short. There're tons of things to take into account — the anime, the manga (why people always forget Pokémon Adventures), merchandising, etc. Everything is directly tied to game releases. And there's always been a gap year in every single generation. Why it wouldn't be now. I'm just talking about history and patterns here, tho.
Nintendo 3DS starved for sales during its awful release. And Game Freak jumped into it two years later. Switch is selling stupidly well I don't think it really need a Pokémon game as soon as posible as much as 3DS needed it.

"But Reggie said" Reggie said this, in my opinion, just to gather momentum. He comes from the company who said they were not planning 3DS model updates and 5 months later they released 3DS XL. And it's been 5 different 3DS's by now. Lol.
Is this directly tied to Pokémon? Not at all. Then why such a comparison? Because Nintendo is a company and companies want money. If they just say "there's a Pokémon game coming next year" people will go crazy to buy one. Is such a different scenario to "hey look Pokémon is coming but on 2019 just hold back your wallets non Switch users".

Of course, I maybe be wrong but this is just my 2 cents.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I'm totally sure they're aiming for a 2019 release.

They may not be able to complete it in 2019, but they're definitely aiming for late 2018. Literally ALL material for the game says "2018 or later". Everyone from Masuda to Nintendo are basically saying that the game is aimed for 2018, but may delay to 2019.

You cannot discredit Masuda, even if you could discredit Reggie.

 

[Plubio]

You cannot discredit Masuda, even if you could discredit Reggie.

Oh, when Masuda said this? Maybe I've missed it? I'm pretty sure he haven't talked about the Switch game :/

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Oh, when Masuda said this? Maybe I've missed it? I'm pretty sure he haven't talked about the Switch game :/

Didn't he say "a year or more" at E3? Or it was someone else? If so, my apologies. A year or more is definitely in line with 2018 or later.

 

[Plubio]

Didn't he say "a year or more" at E3? Or it was someone else? If so, my apologies. A year or more is definitely in line with 2018 or later.

Ah, you're mistaked. It happens, don't worry ^^;. The man who talked about the Switch game is Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of TPC.
And, yes, you're right. He said "it will take more than a year to be ready" or something like that but that's... pretty vague I think? I don't think he's talking about this year (USUM) so...

I mean, obviously I could be totally wrong. But I can't see Game Freak rushing up two generations in three years.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

The exact quote was to the effect of "It may not be ready till more than a year". It was not definitive. We're definitely meant to expect a 2018 aim, but it may delay, all the same. Basically, they want to avoid the backlash they'll get if the game is not ready till 2018 for some reason by saying "more than a year" (TPC) and "2018 or later".(Nintendo (Not just Reggie, but also Nintendo's release schedule)).

 

[Tuoko]

They may not be able to complete it in 2019, but they're definitely aiming for late 2018. Literally ALL material for the game says "2018 or later". Everyone from Masuda to Nintendo are basically saying that the game is aimed for 2018, but may delay to 2019.

Did you mean to say they may not be able to complete it in 2018?

I do think this is the case, though. They're aiming for a 2018 release, but it'll probably release in 2019. Sorta like how DP was meant to release in 2005, but got delayed to 2006.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Yeah, I don't see how 2018 or later is that much different from a year or more beyond actually mentioning a specific year. They may want to get it out as soon as possible, but they're still not setting any firm release date for the games yet. The games are in development, so they may not be ready next year, but they included that in the off-chance they are available or more likely so that people won't forget that a main series Pokemon title is heading for the Switch.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Did you mean to say they may not be able to complete it in 2018?

Mostly that. GF are aiming for 2018, but aren't sure if the games will be complete by then. In case they aren't complete, GF have they statement of "more than a year" to fall back on to avoid backlash imo

 

[DoctorWhy]

2 years

Lol, you call me delusional (though I am not the originator of the "1 year" statement, only repeating what I have read--other users have stated the same time in previous pages/related threads, and assumed they were correct), yet you specifically noted that ORAS was made in no more than 2 years. He asked Ohmori to be director on ORAS in 2012. So, we know that development didn't start until 2012. It states that Masuda asked Ohmori to be director on the 10th anniversary of RS. Whether this is purely a reference to the year, or as close as the month of the anniversary, we do not know. But based on this statement, we can only be certain that ORAS started development by November 2012 (the month of the actual anniversary). ORAS were released in November 2014. At first glance, this appears as almost exactly 2 years of development. Which is fine, but considering that the last few months were primarily localization and debugging, we can see that basically all of the main development was finished in less than 2 years. But hey, go ahead and call it 2 years. But we know for a fact that ORAS's development (thanks for the article link btw) took no longer than 2 years, at most. I appreciate criticism, but it would be stronger if you didn't say 2 years was a delusional development time when simultaneously linking to an interview confirming it was no more than 2 years of development time.

Didn't he say "a year or more" at E3? Or it was someone else? If so, my apologies. A year or more is definitely in line with 2018 or later.

As previously noted, it was Tsunekazu Ishihara who said this. But that doesn't change the validity of the statement. He's the president of TPC. And it was stated, at least in translation, to be "a year or more." Which, literally, would mean July 2018 and forward. In addition, if they weren't aiming for 2018, I highly doubt they would've announced it this year at the risk of potentially undercutting USUM for no good reason. So yeah, aiming for 2018, but most likely 2019.

 

[Plubio]

I appreciate criticism, but it would be stronger if you didn't say 2 years was a delusional development time when simultaneously linking to an interview confirming it was no more than 2 years of development time.

I should have worded that better, my bad.

Recycling assets for a remake (like ORAS in this case) shouldn't take more than two years. What I was trying to say with my follow statement (which I should have implied there, my bad) is about a new generation game — kinda difficult to make a new engine in 2 years. And, of course, that ORAS wasn't obviously a-1-year game.
For some reason I moved into the Switch after saying that, but it was directly tied to it.

I'm sorry

 

[DoctorWhy]

I should have worded that better, my bad.

Recycling assets for a remake (like ORAS in this case) shouldn't take more than two years. What I was trying to say with my follow statement (which I should have implied there, my bad) is about a new generation game — kinda difficult to make a new engine in 2 years. And, of course, that ORAS wasn't obviously a-1-year game.
For some reason I moved into the Switch after saying that, but it was directly tied to it.

I'm sorry

It's all good, sorry haha. And I totally agree with you there. New generation games are minimum 3 years, and I think they should take more time. New engine, new Pokemon, new region---soooo more than 2 years. Yup. XY took 3 and it felt rushed lol. Please, take 4 years for Gen VIII, GF. I cited ORAS as a support for the idea of Kanto/Johto sequels coming instead of Gen VIII, since they could reuse SM/USUM assets, simply ported to the Switch.

And I do admit my 1 year statement was fallible. It was at least 1.5 years, closer to 2 most likely. Considering that the Switch game likely started development in 2016, though, would give it a solid 2 years. #KantoJohtoSequels

 

[Plubio]

I cited ORAS as a support for the idea of Kanto/Johto sequels coming instead of Gen VIII, since they could reuse SM/USUM assets, simply ported to the Switch.

That's an interesting approaching but I have two concerns about it.
The first one is: 7.5 generation? A new one?
The second one is related to the first one. I don't know if you (or people around here) know about the Pokemon origin marking (probably yes, but just to be sure).

According to Sun and Moon datamine, there are two more free spaces on Generation 7 — which seems to be Ultrasun and Ultramoon.

Mmm. This is a mess.

 

[PurplePopplio]

Kanto has had probably.... 4 new coats of paint: GSC, FRLG, HGSS, Mega Evolutions in XY (majority Kanto Pokemon till ORAS came along making Hoenn Pokemon a compulsory choice) ,Alola Forms (all Kanto).

Oh, my math gimped up, Kanto has had 5 coats of paint. And there's no guarantee that we won't see more Kanto pandering after the sequels...

Overall, no release other than any Alolan game for Switch will disappoint me. Imo, the best time to learn for Switch was to release a USUM version on the Switch along with the 3DS releases, but well, they've missed the chance...

Those aren't new coats of paint. LGFR was basically the same Kanto with upgraded graphics and the Sevii Islands. GS and HGSS barely did anything to upgrade Kanto at all. Megas and Alolan Forms do help the Kanto Pokémon, yes, but not the region itself.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Those aren't new coats of paint. LGFR was basically the same Kanto with upgraded graphics and the Sevii Islands. GS and HGSS barely did anything to upgrade Kanto at all. Megas and Alolan Forms do help the Kanto Pokémon, yes, but not the region itself.

For me, Kanto Pokemon focus is also focus on Kanto itself. And they had the opportunity to improve Kanto in the aforementioned games, they didn't take it... that's a different story. But it's fully true that we have a lot of Kanto updates (not to mention the fact that BW basically made a 'remaster' of every prominent Kanto Pokemon and XY took heavy inspiration from Kanto (including getting a Kanto starter almost alongside a Kalos one and entirely copying the layout of an entire forest)).

 

[Bolt Strike]

Those aren't new coats of paint. LGFR was basically the same Kanto with upgraded graphics and the Sevii Islands. GS and HGSS barely did anything to upgrade Kanto at all. Megas and Alolan Forms do help the Kanto Pokémon, yes, but not the region itself.

I mean, Kanto's not really alone there (points to Kalos). Game Freak doesn't seem to want to update region design that much in general, mainly the Pokemon and story.

 

[PartTimePokemonMaster]

What if it is a new generation game being planned for 2018 (maybe 2019)? What if the game is on par with SM/XY in terms of content and story, but they supplement the games with paid DLC? I enjoyed XY and SM, but I hope they don't go this way. As I think about it and some of you all stating an openness to DLC (probably not like this though), I am starting to think that this could be a plausible plan of action for GF and TPC to release a new game in a time effective way. What do you all think?