The latest Pokemon Presents, a virtual conference to show off the latest games and announcements from the Pokemon Company, was hosted on Feb. 26 to celebrate the franchise’s 25 year anniversary. The event started off with a montage dedicated to the past 25 years of the Pokemon franchise. It showed brief video portrayals of each major step in the franchise’s history; from video games, to the popular trading card game, to the movies and television shows and even to mobile games like Pokemon Go.
After the introduction montage, the Pokemon Company president and CEO Tsunekazo Ishihara thanked fans for their dedication to the Pokemon franchise. He then introduced Takato Utsunomiya, the chief operating officer at the Pokemon Company. Utsunomiya gave viewers an inside look at the Pokemon franchise’s already announced upcoming game, Pokemon Snap, as well as trailers for two newly announced titles. Here’s a quick recap of everything that was announced during the Pokemon Presents 2021 showcase.
New look at the New Pokemon Snap video game
Viewers got to take a more in-depth look at the upcoming remake of the classic Pokemon Snap game, originally released in 1999. The new game is slated for release on April 30 and is dubbed “New Pokemon Snap.” The game’s remake is made specifically for Nintendo’s most recent console, the Nintendo Switch. In the game, the player explores different regions full of pokemon and captures different photos of them to use as scientific data to better understand them. The new trailer gave players a look at new tools that were not available in the previous game, such as photo editing tools, a sort of social media platform to share your photos and let other players rate them and more.
Remakes of Pokemon Diamond & Pokemon Pearl games announced
Many fans were rallying for remakes of the early 2000’s games “Pokemon Diamond” and “Pokemon Pearl,” but hardly anyone believed it would happen. To the loyal fanbase’s surprise, the Pokemon Company announced remakes of the classic games “Pokemon Diamond” and “Pokemon Pearl.” Unlike previous remakes of the main title Pokemon games, these games are not being developed by Game Freak studios, and instead by ILCA Inc., who worked on other Pokemon titles such as “Pokemon Home.” The games are bringing back the original “Pokemon Diamond” and “Pokemon Pearl” game director Junichi Masuda, which was a relief to many fans who were worried about the integrity of the remake by a different studio. The new games, titled “Pokemon Brilliant Diamond” and “Pokemon Shining Pearl,” are given a general release date of late 2021.
New open world Pokemon game announced
The Pokemon Company announced a third new title, called “Pokemon Legends: Arceus,” that took many fans by surprise. This game had few details released about it besides the short trailer that was shown during the showcase, but appears to be almost entirely open world, much like one of the first titles announced for the Nintendo Switch, “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.” In this new game, players explore a time before Pokemon were domesticated and gain true insight into the lore of the Pokemon world. This game is slated for release in early 2022.
