Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl may well have only been around for a few weeks, but the next Pokémon game headed to Switch really isn't far away.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus launches on Nintendo's platform on 28th January, accompanying the recent Diamond and Pearl remakes by taking fans on a fresh take through the series' Sinnoh region. As you probably already know, the game is set to take the series in a whole new direction, offering up open world-style sections to explore and battles that play out right where you are, in the open.
Thanks to a new episode of the Cat Mario show that airs on Nintendo's Japanese YouTube channel, we've been treated to some brand new footage of the game today. The footage (seen in the video below starting from the six-minute mark) gives us possibly our best look yet at how these battles and wild Pokémon encounters truly take place.
As you can see, the Pokémon themselves are minding their own business in the wild – as you approach, they become aware of your presence and can attack or be captured. Rather than triggering a battle sequence, as fans will be used to in the main games, Legends: Arceus appears to shift from exploration to battle and back to exploration pretty seamlessly.
There's lots more footage where that came from if you've missed past trailers (see here, here, and here), and it's certainly shaping up to be one of the most interesting games released in the series for some time. Seven weeks to go, folks!
[source youtube.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 42
The game looks ok. I was expecting something like Monster Hunter Rise quality of graphics but that is fine too.
The best description I could give is "budget BotW style" looks
You gotta give Gamefreak props for trying something new in a time classic formula Pokémon games are selling better than ever, I have faith in them despite what the haters say and I can't wait to play this game!
Just pre-ordered! I am quite excited to see how this one plays. I really hope it isn't padded out with pointless tasks but we shall see. ChimChar I am coming for you
If you are in UK it is £39 on ShopTo.net which is a great price (although price goes up if you add faster delivery options).
@Zuljaras At least the resolution seems to be better than in MH Rise (not in this video since the bitrate or something seems to be bad but for example in the Voltorb video)
As a pokemon fan, it's hard to not get excited! But where did that Shinx disappear too?
I really want this to be good, but GameFreaks track record is hard to ignore. The graphics are still poor, but more worrying is the fact this carefully scripted clip is the closest we’ve had to live gameplay. The game comes out in a month and it feels like we barely know anything. I’m not optimistic but hope to be proven wrong.
Looks pretty good. One thing that worried me was the the catch goals would be tedious.
But I think the ability to catch Pokemon without triggering battles should keep the gameplay smooth and not feeling stop-start every time you wander across a pokemon.
They were smart to add all of the Action Elements into the game.
The graphics seem fine to me, the visuals have a good style, don’t see what the whining is about
This game looks so fantastic, I cannot wait until it comes out. The pokemon games just seems to getting better and better for each one that is released. First let's go, then sword and shield , and then diamond and pearl remakes and now legends. The switch is getting the best pokemon games ever. I will take these games over final Fantasy games any day of the week.
@gamefreak.
You guys had a hard time, with baby fanboys lol.
I am not a pokemon fan, but i love RPG games, this game will enter my library. I like this style.
It's nice to see them try to do something a bit more creative and different for a change. It looks a bit more low budget and janky than I would have liked though so it's hard to get super excited for it. I think I'm likely still going to give it a chance (unless it looks worse and worse as we get closer to launch and see more of it) but if I just end up disappointed again then that's probably it for the series for me.
@Mattock1987,
Some people will complain no matter what.
This game looks great to me. I'll buy it, for sure.
Jeez, Shinx tackling the player makes my heart skip a beat. I don't even want to contemplate the real horrors that the game has in store...
Looking forward to this game and won’t hate it just because it’s Pokémon
MeowMeowMeow!
Indeed, I'm am so glad these guys are back. I dream of a world where all video game news must be delivered by Bunraku cats. Imagine how much better the video game awards would have been. Heck I wouldn't even complain about having to listen to an all cat orchestra. Puppets or real cats, either works really.
I guess Pokémon is cool too.
I still can't get my cat to say Nya
@Munchlax Maybe that's the strategy they're going for right now. Letting the game surprise you hopefully in a good way
Obviously it's not the prettiest game in the world, but the environments seem like a step up from S/S's wild areas. I'm more concerned about how these spaces are utilized, tbh. Hopefully there's some level of environmental interaction in this game.
This whole thing is a massive experiment, so it could turn out poorly, but I'm really liking what I'm seeing.
@Zuljaras You were expecting Monster Hunter Rise-level graphics out of something developed by Game Freak? I'm not even sure what to tell you.
@Ralizah I really love the Pokemon franchise and I am blindly believing that some drastic progress will occur someday!
I know that if the formula is not broken don't fix it but still I want something grand from this franchise. Unfortunately the name itself sells so it alone can carry this for many years to come
Had to mute the volume because the voice was grating, but the game looks neat!
@MegaVel91 If they want it to sell, why wouldn’t they make it look as good as possible in the prerelease rather than relying on “pleasant surprise”?
I hope they fix the framerate
@Munchlax Because people would still buy it regardless because of the Pokemon brand alone.
@Zuljaras This very much seems like GF going out of their comfort zone. They don't need to. The laziest Pokemon releases seem to sell better than the ones hardcore fans seem to love. So I'm glad they're striving to push the series forward and aren't simply resting on their laurels.
Dear The Pokémon Company,
The Game Awards exists, and is a great way to capitalize on marketing because Pokemon is a widely-known brand. A big game like this should automatically spark anticipation at a big event. Please consider joining The Game Awards next year.
This is going to be interesting. If it flops then GF will stick to the tried and tested formula, especially with the success of the remakes. I am really hoping this is a success and is the beginning of change for the better into the future.
@wanghosom i second this
Still pretty ugly, but you know what? It looks fun. I’m not foaming at the mouth for the game, but I can see myself grabbing this
Definite improvements. It looks better with every new video.
@mangaTom You don't know that.
So they all just wonder back and forth aimlessly then?
It is quite interesting to see Gamefreak making this interesting attempt of evolving the series. I can see the advantage of creating a more immersive experience. Like almost simulating closer to an actual Pokémon anime episode. With the recent announcement of Sonic Frontiers, it seems there is a common approach in the vision of implementing familiar gameplay with cinematic visuals. You can almost see that Nintendo and Sega want to go into the world of movies and theatre in a big way, and bringing games and cinema together as the future. That is probably why they wanted yesterday’s Sonic Frontier reveal as a “visual trailer” so people can start getting that seamless feel, alongside with Sonic 2 movie trailer that was shown. Does make me wonder if developers figured out a new paradigm with enough gameplay to make this work.
I'm just realising it, but is this the very first time they won't be 2 flavours of a Pokémon game???
@UglyCasanova
That's what I noticed most about the trailer. Really wished gamefreak would have utilized monolith to help develop. I also think programming the Pokemon to interact with the environment and rival Pokemon based upon their type and etomology would require more work.
Only time will tell how this turns out.
Getting sick of all the fanboys buying and defending that crap Game Freak duct tapes together every year. It looks bad, runs even worse (on a system which is EXCLUSIVE to), and it didn't have any new idea in almost three decades. The saddest thing is: people buying and defending it means they will never do better.
Remember, Pokémon Fans buy every Pokémon game just based on the brand. It's the answer to every question! These games all just try and sell to Pokémon fans and only Pokémon fans, who will buy whatever they sell them.
You see, what happened is that there were 16 million Pokémon fans in 2016, then half of them were "dusted" by the snap in 2017, the avengers brought them back to life in 2018, they somehow cloned the true fans 10 million times or so in 2019, and based on projections, another 5 million were cloned this year.
That's why Game Freak is always like "should we just use crap graphics and put no effort into it seeing sales will not be effected" and Nintendo says "Absolutely! The 10 million+ fluctuations in sales numbers are just because the true fans keep disappearing and reappearing, it has nothing to do with game quality"
That's a much better explanation then stylist choices and budget / timing limitations.
@Borland most pokemon fans don't actually give a ***** about the graphics and a lot of the ones that do tend to be too be more rightfully salty about "better graphics" being the excuse for dexit.
this games actually looking pretty good considering teaching gamefreak to make 3d stuff is akin teaching rocket science to a goldfish...
@Rhaoulos Colliseum and XD exist. Arceus isnt a main series game
Is it me, or is the lighting looking less saturated compared to the trailers? I hate when they add contrast filters to trailers, it's just decieving :/
On the gameplay, it's looking really interesting, there are surely some wild items out there. I hope they don't make the experience share obligatory here though.
I can't believe we're just seven weeks and they still haven't revealed everything the base game is made of. This game deserves its own direct, really.
@NinTempo true, but feels like it could become its own spinoff series. It's still a full game, not a crappy arena only like coliseum. And even let's go had 2 flavours even if they aren't main series games
This looks interesting. More open area goodness.
Game looks pretty lifeless compared to other Nintendo titles from even 2017. I'll get the game though since their gameplay mechanics are pretty addiciting. Hope they add voice acting someday instead of being cheap about it
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