Pokemon Fans Furious About The ‘Inexcusable’ Reveal Made This Week

Last Tuesday, the Inquisitr reported that Nintendo and the Pokemon company had delivered a live stream in which they revealed three new Pokemon titles set for release in the new few months: Pokken Tournament, a Pokemon battling Tekken-style fighting game for the Nintendo Switch, and Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. What the report could not have anticipated, though, is how incredibly angry the stream would make the Pokemon fanbase, who now feels they were lied to.

Let’s get out of the way the main reason Pokemon fans are Poke-pi**ed off. The new main series Pokemon games, Ultra Sun and Moon, are not coming to the Nintendo Switch, the company’s newest hardware. Instead, the “new Pokemon game for the Nintendo Switch” that was promised is Pokken Tournament Deluxe, a game that has already been available in a slightly less fully-featured form for months on Nintendo’s Wii U.

Paul Tassi, a Pokemon guru who writes for Forbes, argues that Nintendo’s decision to exclude their Pokemon Sun and Moon follow-ups from what should be their new flagship device demonstrates “a new level of incompetence” on the company’s part. With the move, Tassi says, Nintendo is doing a massive disservice to fans everywhere who were excited about Pokemon moving onto the new platform.

The Pokémon Company clarifies Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon is not coming to Switch. https://t.co/DmLTgg6SU6 pic.twitter.com/6AlKH9cjKx

— Game Informer (@gameinformer) June 6, 2017

Not only that, adds Pokemon-themed Youtube content creator Dookieshed, but it is almost as if Nintendo set Pokemon fans up for disappointment by claiming for the majority of the stream that a new Pokemon game for the Switch was about to be announced. Yes, they did technically make good on that promise when they finally unveiled the “new” game near the end of the stream, but “new Pokemon game” would seem to suggest a new entry in the franchise’s main series, not a spinoff that is not even of the same genre as Pokemon Red, Blue, Sun, and Moon.

“No one cared for Pokken Fighter Deluxe,” notes ProtoMario, a gaming news commentator. “What they wanted was not Ultra Sun and Moon. What they wanted was a real entry on the Nintendo Switch, a real Pokemon Stars.”

When he refers to “Pokemon Stars,” ProtoMario is talking about the long-rumored Pokemon title that would bring together the best elements from Pokemon Sun and Moon and would be available for the Switch.

Polygon reports the rumors rose from “evidence” like Pokemon’s issuance of lots of star-themed merchandise to coincide with the release of Sun and Moon. There were even a few news reports, which obviously turned out to be untrue, that flat-out stated a director’s cut of the games called Pokemon Stars would be coming in 2017.

To be fair, the reports point out, the decision to relegate Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon to the 3DS makes logical sense on Nintendo’s part. Only about 3 million people currently own Nintendo Switches, says Youtube Pokemon authority PDWinnall, and 67 million have a 3DS. That being said, most critics seem to think making a Nintendo Switch-exclusive Pokemon main series game would have drastically increased the device’s sales.

“Bringing Pokemon to the Switch would make the system outright immortal,” writes Tassi, “a must-buy beyond a must-buy for many fence-sitting consumers.”

Judging by all the backlash to the Nintendo Direct, Pokken Tournament Deluxe will not have the same effect. In fact, ProtoMario recounts, “#WiiU” was actually trending on Twitter after the stream. That’s a pretty extreme case of rejecting the new hardware.

The let-down of not getting the next Pokemon games on the Switch was made even worse by the fact that for over a decade now, Pokemon fans have been clamoring for one of the signature RPG adventures on a console. The Switch, a handheld console hybrid, is the next-best thing, and people were very hyped about the prospect of finally seeing their childhood dream become a reality. Needless to say, those hopes will have to wait at least a few more years.

It seems that the only way Nintendo and The Pokemon Company can sweep this incident under the rug at this point is by producing some of the best Pokemon games ever in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. They’re not off to a great start, as many fans have commented the alternate forms of Sun and Moon legendary Pokemon Solgaleo and Lunala shown off during the announcement are too over-designed, but it is still far too early to call with any reliability.

The Inquisitr will keep you updated on every bit of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon news as it comes.

[Featured Image by Nintendo]