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Pokemon-Themed Nintendo Direct Reveals New Upcoming Games ‘Ultra Sun,’ ‘Moon,’ And More

By TJ Denzer
Published on: 04:10 PST, Jun 6, 2017

It was set to be a big day for the Pokemon franchise today as Nintendo promised to deliver a slew of news involving upcoming projects for the monster collecting series. As promised, Pokemon developer Game Freak grabbed the gaming community’s attention today as they went live with updates and announcements on Nintendo’s latest presentation. During a Pokemon-themed Nintendo Direct, Game Freak announced a collection of new, upcoming Pokemon titles, including Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, and other major releases.

Much of the morning’s Nintendo Direct was handled by official Pokemon channels, such as the website where newly announced Pokemon games were immediately posted following their announcement in the presentation. Highlights of the stream included a trailer for a new port of the previously released Pokken Tournament on Wii U, now coming to the Switch as Pokken Tournament DX. The trailer finishes with an additional announcement of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon at the very end.

https://youtu.be/ue-CBOrLnb0

The trailer includes small glimpses of a few new pokémon coming to both sets of games. Pokken Tournament DX seems to feature local co-op in both traveling and docked format, local wireless, and online play, as well as support for both dual and single Joy-Con support. Pokken Tournament DX is set to release on the Nintendo Switch on September 22, 2017.

As for Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the titles are slated for the 3DS. No plans to release a proper Pokemon role-playing game on the Nintendo Switch have been confirmed. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon will feature a spinoff story with a brand new scenario in the Alola region, featuring new pokemon, new challenges, and more.

Despite only a brief section in the Pokken Tournament DX trailer, it has been confirmed that mega evolutions will be returning, allowing high-level pokemon to take on even greater forms. Additionally, the original Pokemon Sun and Moon top-tier legendary pokemon will also be able to achieve sleek new forms. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon will be coming to the Nintendo 3DS on November 17, 2017.

Although Pokemon Ultra Sun, Moon, and Pokken Tournament DX highlighted the presentation, Game Freak and Nintendo had more to give. Pokemon Silver and Gold, widely considered to be one of the best generations of the series, also made an appearance. The two games will be coming back as downloadable titles in the Virtual Console library of the Nintendo 3DS. The announcement was accompanied by another new trailer for the classic games.

Players will once again be able to explore the Johto region in the classic adventure. Furthermore, all of the co-op and competitive features of the original game, once consigned to a link cable on the Game Boy Color, will now be available through wireless play with friends. Battling and trading appear to be possible via the online and local networking of the Nintendo 3DS. Pokemon Gold and Silver will be arriving in the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on September 22, 2017.

This Pokemon-themed Nintendo Direct presentation comes less than one week before the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, set to begin on June 11, 2017, where Nintendo has a spot for a press conference. Although this may be all the Pokemon fans will get for now, Nintendo is expected to have a 30-minute conference and more reveals and surprises are most definitely forthcoming.

Nonetheless, it would appear that Pokemon fans will have a lot to choose from in 2017. Classic fans will enjoy Silver and Gold while Ultra Sun and Moon will deliver an enjoyable new adventure based on the new technology and systems that Game Freak has explored in the role-playing franchise’s latest outing. Furthermore, Pokken Tournament DX will be an enjoyable chance for players who missed out on the Wii U version of the game to pick it up while offering new features to players that may have been playing already. Even if the Pokemon Nintendo Direct did put out everything Pokemon fans can expect for the foreseeable future, it still stands to be a pretty content-rich year for the franchise.

[Featured Image by Nintendo]

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