Topic: Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee!

Yeah. If it's coming, it'll probably be soon.

Pixelpar lost his bet though.

@Octane I'm thinking if we could see something before E3, and I could see it given last years Pokemon Direct that was just 2 weeks before E3, so its not out of the question that it could drop anytime between now and then. I used to think we would find out more about the game at E3, but now that we know that Smash will be playable at E3, just about everything else they announce will be buried. The Pokemon Company usually does its own thing, so who knows?

@TheTetrisGuy Smash won't ''bury'' Pokemon.

I think Pokemon Switch will become the NX's replacement (i.e. lots of rumours and no official information for a long time).

@Octane You think so? I love both franchises, but what are people more excited for, Smash or Pokemon? I would argue we've had a surplus of Pokemon games in the last few years.There were 4 main line games, 2 Mystery Dungeon games, an Art Academy game, a Picross game, like 5 mobile games, 2 versions of Pokken (3 if you include the arcade version), a Rumble game, and Detective Pikachu. That's 18 games in the past 4 years! I realize that a lot of people ignore the spin offs, but thanks to all these games Pokemon is always in the collective conscience, but Smash has always been an event. For people like me and you, yeah we are going to notice and be excited for both. But for the average consumer? Smash will come up on top.

@TheTetrisGuy One answer: sales.

The best selling Smash Bros. was Brawl with 13 million copies sold, followed by 3DS with 8 million and Melee with 7 million. The ''worst'' selling mainline Pokemon game is, as of now, Sun and Moon with 15 million copies sold. Red and Blue moved more than 31 million copies back in the day. Sales indicate Pokemon far more popular than Smash.

@Octane That's right... from a specific point of view. Not including 3rd versions or remakes (if your curious, the worst selling is Emerald with 6.23 million) the worst selling is Black and White 2 with 8.53 million sold. And there are multiple factors that don't make it fair to compare the sales of the two franchises.

1. The 2 versions, I know people that every time one of these release they buy the both versions just for collectors sake and only ever touch one of the versions.
2. The games are generally cheaper than full price smash games, Smash is usually priced at $60 while Pokemon is usually $40. (Also, don't forget about Smash 4 DLC, the cost of all that is literally buying the game twice)
3. The fact the Nintendo handhelds sell better than consoles. The DS and Gameboy/Game boy color are the 2nd and 3rd best selling consoles ever respectively.

So while Pokemon does usually sell better, there are a lot of factors at play that make that so. Even if you 100% disagree with everything I just listed, do you really think that sales really mean one is more popular than the other? What do you think people like more, watching the Pokemon World Championships or seeing Melee or Smash 4 at EVO?

@TheTetrisGuy @Octane So an update for you.

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire launched, here in the UK at least, on the same day as Smash Wii U, which was ALSO Black Friday.

The game did just fine.

I think (or I hope, anyway) that we can safely assume that this will be a new generation. If the worst selling Pokemon games are third versions or third versions split into two (BW2, US/UM) than it's not really fair to compare those to a pair of games starting the generation.

Pokemon will do fine whenever they release it.

I do think this is a new generation, and I also think it will launch holiday 2018. The movie coming this summer says it all; Zeraora is featured and is the last Pokemon in the Alola Pokedex. For both Gen 5 and Gen 6, the last Pokemon of their Pokedexes not only featured a Pokemon from the following generation (Mega Mewtwo for Gen 5 and Magearna for Gen 6) but also released in the summer preceding the release of the games from the following generation. If they unveil any new Pokemon or mechanics from Gen 8 in the upcoming movie (such as a new Eeveelution) Gen 8 is almost certainly coming holiday 2018.

Apologizes if this has been brought up earlier, I'm just now gonna follow the thread. But something I would really appreciate is if they trimmed down on battle messages. For example, instead of just displaying "A critical hit!" and "It's super effective!", right when the HP bar starts dropping there can be pop-out text saying "critical hit" and "super effective", so you don't need to press through more text. For a Nintendo comparison, think Xenoblade 2 when you inflict Break, Topple, Launch, or Smash. Now replace that with "critical hit" or "super effective". They could probably also streamline more stuff like status inflictions, though perhaps confusion will remain as is.

I think the biggest thing I'd like from a new Pokemon game (aside from opening up the world a ton) are some QoL features that quicken the paces of battles by trimming all the unnecessary downtime.

@TheTetrisGuy The people buying two versions are the only the biggest fans of the franchise, the vast majority only buys one version. I count B2W2 and USUM and third versions. They're no different from Yellow, Crystal, Emerald and Platinum, it's just that they decided to make another two versions to milk the fanbase, because why not.

All of those things you're saying are valid points, but the thing is, more people play Pokemon every generation, so it isn't a stretch to think that more people are looking forward to Pokemon as a result. Either way, it doesn't really matter, it's beside the point. What matters is that Pokemon is big enough to release in the same year as Smash. Especially if Smash is coming in September, and Pokemon is a late November title. That's two months apart, more than enough I think!

Game Freak has been implementing QoL features lately. I wouldn't be surprised if this happens.

@Octane If you still want to look at sales, Pokémon has been selling less and less every generation. Anyway, we’re getting away from the main point. If the question is “Can Pokémon and Smash release the same year with some space in between each other?” With that, absolutely, no problems. The question was “If Pokémon and Smash get huge information drops, will Smash overshadow Pokémon?” With that, my opinion is the same.

Why can’t they both just be relevant? Like why does one need to overshadow the other, when they both are huge franchises with their own fan bases.

Because this is a gaming discussion and one thing needs to be objectively better to make my weewee look bigger and everyone elses look small!!!!111

@MarcelRguez The answer is yes.

Both games have released before at the same time. They are both powerful franchises enough to not overshadow each other.

Plus they can reveal a new Pokemon for Smash and segue into the games.

And my above comment was a snarky reply to "Why does one need to overshadow the other"

Pokemon will sell more... initially. But people should remember that Smash is an evergreen title. It'll keep selling high years down the line.

Compared with Pokemon, where after a new game, interest in the older version decreases.

Now something that I've been contemplating is not a holiday release for Pokemon, but a March release. That's still fiscal year 2018, which can still fit into Nintendo's schedule while giving them the most time possible to work on the game. March releases are nothing new for Pokemon - look at HGSS and BW1 in the West. That'll give Smash more time to breathe while Pokemon is its own beast at a comparatively less cramped spot.

Of course, they can sell both at once like they did with ORAS and Smash 4 and still make gangbusters. But hey.

@MarcelRguez I really doubt Pokemon will be fully unveiled at E3 and the Pokemon Switch announcement last E3 was probably just a last minute addition to counter the backlash of Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon not being Stars.

All I’m saying is if we get Smash and Pokémon at the same time, I think people will be more likely to care about Smash than Pokémon. I think that it would be smart do have a repeat of last year and have a Pokémon direct before E3, not at exactly the same time. I’m not saying ones better than the other, I’m not saying one needs to overshadow the other.