Nintendo recently took down an old Nintendo Direct video from last February on its American and Japanese YouTube channels, which revealed information on the company’s newest games Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon.
Fans have speculated that Nintendo took down the videos in order to prepare for the announcement of Pokémon Stars, the rumored HD remake of Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon coming to Nintendo’s newest console, the Switch. The Switch recently broke Nintendo’s record for the best console launch in the company’s history, according to Digital Trends.
The video itself displayed a supposed HD remake of one Pokémon featured in the new games, Pikipek. Since HD Pokémon were not in the 3DS version, it is possible that this model will be used in the rumored upcoming Switch game.
The video removal hasn’t been the only source of suspicion. In January, GameStop accidentally leaked a listing for a Pokémon game and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the Switch, according to Digital Trends. The listing was quickly removed and Nintendo commented that Skyrim will be coming to the Switch, leaving out the mysterious Pokémon listing. The Japanese Pokémon Center also added a line of merchandise called “Look Upon the Stars” based off of Cosmog, supposedly a reference to Pokémon Stars.
Rumors of a new Pokémon Switch game came into fruition when a Eurogamer report said that several sources informed them that “ a new version of Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon will launch for the Switch.” In the report, Eurogamer reveals that while Nintendo has made remakes in the past, this one will be different because it is on a different console than the original games, something that hasn’t been done before. Also, GameInformer reported that Pokémon franchise developer Game Freak were looking to hire individuals who can create models on the Wii U and Playstation Portable on an unnamed popular franchise.
This wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo has created a third game meant to be a remake for previous Pokémon games, including Pokémon Yellow being the remake of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Platinum coming after Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl. The company has also made remakes for older games, like how Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver are remakes for Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver.
This speculation may be implausible, since the Nintendo Direct that announced Pokémon X and Pokémon Y is also not available for viewing anymore, according to Polygon. The focused Pokémon Direct on these two games, though, can still be found on Nintendo Japan’s official YouTube channel.
Some of the new content that is rumored to be shown in Pokémon Stars, aside from the HD update, is new Pokémon and the ability to have Pokémon walk beside the player, a long-time dream for Pokémon fans. This was discovered after dataminers revealed early code that showed different Pokémon walking in Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, according to VG247. The new game will have the same map, though, and the ability to trade between the Switch game, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, as Eurogamer also reported.
The Switch has sold 2.74 million units, with launch title The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild selling 2.76 million units, despite being not being released during the holidays, according to TIME. This could give Nintendo incentive to create a Pokemon game for the console due to its rapid success. Also, GameInformer reported that within the first two weeks, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon sold over 3.7 million units in America, which could be another incentive to move the game to the Switch.
The game is rumored to be announced within the month of May and would be released either mid to late 2017.
Featured image via Wikipedia.
