Pokemon Legends Arceus

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]