In the lead-up to the holiday season, Nintendo has been getting celebrities to promote the Switch and its extensive library of games in brief commercials. So far, there have been actors like Neil Patrick Harris and Jessica Alba playing games like Big Brain Academy and Mario Golf: Super Rush.
It turns out though that Nintendo has also given some of these superstars a chance to play games that aren't even out yet. According to Elle.com, singer Christina Aguilera mentioned how her family supposedly got to try out Pokémon Legends: Arceus when filming her 'My Way' promo. Well, kind of... while she did get to see it in action, it was actually her daughter who went hands-on with the upcoming release, due out next month. Here's what she had to say about it:

“[While shooting the campaign], my daughter was able to fall in love with a new game. We had a brief moment to [try out] Pokemon Legends: Arceus [due out January 28, 2022]. It's so gorgeous, the graphics and the setting that you get to explore in, so she was loving that so much, she wouldn't give me a turn. But that was on set and yeah, it's just such a great way for your family to connect.”
In her latest Nintendo ad, Christina can be seen playing Super Mario 3D World, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and the Switch version of Big Brain Academy. Perhaps we'll see a future Nintendo commercial featuring her and her family playing the latest Pokémon game.
In the same interview, Aguilera mentioned how she had a lifelong history with Nintendo - stating how she's a "diehard fan":
“I was playing the Nintendo NES [the company's first gaming system in North America, which came out in 1985], and I think that was the first one where you had your Marios, your Donkey Kongs... So I go way back, and honestly, to this day, you can still find some gaming systems. I literally have the arcade games too in my house, so that's what a diehard fan I am of Nintendo.”
What do you think of Nintendo's 'My Way' commercials? Think they'll help sell some Switch over the holiday season? Looking forward to the new Pokémon game? Leave a comment down below.
[source elle.com, via nintendosoup.com]
Comments 44
I'm somewhat convinced to buy this game because it's an entirely different take on the Pokémon formula, but at the same time...how much faith do I have in GameFreak?
I'm surprised the environments looks so sparse compared to Breath of the Wild. Still looking forward to the game, though.
I still wait and see with Legend Arceus since other games on other machines caught my interest more than Nintendo Switch games recently.
I think a lot of people are going to find this game underwhelming. For lack of a better term, it's shaping up to be "Baby's first Monster Hunter" which isn't a bad thing but there's nothing that looks revolutionary about the game that other titles have already done. Game Freak is really playing catchup with the industry. It's definitely the most creative take on the series but compare this to Pokemon Colosseum/XD on Gamecube and you can tell there's much more potential to be untapped.
Her ringtone kinda sounds like the codec from MGS.
@Meteoroid I don't mean to diss Legends Arceus and I'm looking forward to what it brings to Pokemon but I'm just saying the creative output of Game Freak/Pokemon Company just never reached the same heights as the mid 2010s with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Conquest, Pokemon Colosseum/XD and so many more experimental spin-offs. As unique as Legends Arceus looks, it still feels like it's playing things safe, and that's totally ok, Pokemon is a game targeted for younger individuals. I enjoyed my time with the series back then but I'd much rather play something else nowadays.
@ModdedInkling Agreed, I'm still hard pessimistic at this game looking a the recent pokemon games.
Plus there are way better looking games on my radar next year along with a lot of others I still haven't gotten yet.
I will say, I’m more excited and optimistic about this one than the recent BD/SP.
How can we all tell GameFreak that we want voice acted NPCs, an open world, Pokémon that can learn more than 4 moves, ability to see all Pokémon out in the wild/no random encounters…I dunno what else I want. All I know is the series needs a little boot to the buttocks. I’ll probably be getting this new entry
I don’t get the appeal of these expanded celebrity focused ad campaigns. I mean sure. They’re kind of like testimonials. Nintendo is clearly going after millennials with families right now (household of 6 all having a Switch is certainly more lucrative than selling 1 family 1 Wii), but I just don’t see it adding a whole lot of value. Oh well.
I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of a millennial mom, who has 10-12-year-olds being able to connect with Christina Aguilera playing Animal Crossing as her personal driver drives her home. I'm from that generation. I grew up in the 90s. My older sister liked her music. She also gamed on the side. IDK. lol it's weird.
I get the Brie Larson thing. They don't really show her celebrity lifestyle in the ads. If you didn't know who she was, she's just a person enjoying video games.
@ChromaticDracula they tried that in let's go and and people complained they don't do it and people complain lol so they are in a lose,lose battle
I want a gritty take on the pokemon series. Where it's battle of life and death. Have Atlus develop a pokemon game SMT style.
I'll be waiting for reviews on this one. I want it to be good because it's about damn time the Pokemon formula is shaken up and Game Freak shows some ambition, but given their recent track record I just can't go off of trailers alone.
@Axecon A few problems with your assessment:
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon was developed by Spike Chunsoft.
Pokemon Conquest was developed by Koei Tecmo.
Pokemon Colosseum/XD were developed by Genius Sorority.
Comparing Legends Arceus to the first two really isn't a fair comparison, and even with Colosseum/XD, it was basically a semi-mishmash of the mainline and Stadium games.
Legends Arceus despite being a spin-off is a glimpse of the direction that the series could be heading going forward, if GF decides to stick to it. A lot of new ideas for the series are being field, even if other games have done same or similar systems or even better.
That's part of what has me excited for it: I want to see if this will lead to new frontiers for the series.
@Meteoroid @iLikeUrAttitude
Yeah, pretty much what you two said sums up my feelings about this game. There's this level of uncertainty towards Game Freak, ESPECIALLY considering how they seem to be the only developers working on this game; it's not like Breath of the Wild where the Zelda team have some of the work outsourced to Monolith Soft to work on landscaping or having Sakurai choose Bandai Namco to work on Smash with him and his wife.
And of course comes the part where they are completely ignoring the level of standards that the rest of the Nintendo-published games have: a modernized art style. They have Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 for direct reference in how to make a modern, 3D anime. Heck, they could even be looking at Bandai Namco.
Oh Em Gee Christina Aguilera's daughter likes it?! I wasn't sure before but I'm SOLD now!
How do you connect in the most anti-social Pokémon game?
@WoomyNNYes I mean, comparisons to BotW are moot, since BotW is open world, and this game isn't, but yeah the environments seem pretty barren. I guess it's the intention, given how this is before proper civilization cropped up in Sinnoh.
I'm glad that she enjoyed her experience. Hopefully it will be the same for the rest of us.
@ModdedInkling I say give it a try and see if you like it.
@ModdedInkling
Even knowing that Game Freak was not entirely responsible for the state of Pokemon, I still wonder why this "aggressive" attitude towards them? Seriously, that resentment is bad, seriously, very bad.
And I say it because seriously, are you going to enjoy the game? Just because you are "waiting" for a bad result instead of thinking positive and enjoying a game as it should be, for fun.
@SakuraHaruka Having too much positivity is as unhealthy as too much negativity. A even dose of optimism and pessimism is key to a achieving a steady balance.
@Bratwurst35
What you say is true, however, recently with so many "sad" things outside of video games (pandemic at most), so that the recent problems in video games are magnified in such a way that there is negativity for things without necessity of negativism...
Well, in short, there is already too much negativity and sometimes for nothing (and very unfair for many and sometimes, very annoying..., really)
I hope this game does not s#ck. I am not a pokemon fan, but this game got my attention.
@Medic_Alert Merchandise is the ultimate goal at the end of the day. Sad. But with that said they do have enough money to where they could if they truly wanted to, diverge and create something unqiue. I wouldn't mind some experimentation with the formula to see what does and doesn't work.
Risks and rewards can sometimes pay off in a big way. BOTW took a risk and changed Zelda in such dramatic fashion that it payed off big time. Becoming the highest selling Zelda game in zelda's entire history.
While playing it safe really means you aren't at risk for any failings, it can lead to serious stagnation. BOTW broke down every zelda game and rebuilt it back up, taking the best parts and tooling them even better.
I'll personally wait to play it. I was a little bit disappointed with Sword and Shield, and was probably wanting for to much change that Gamefreaks is not ready to put in their pokemon games.
I'll wait and see!
Edit : I lied, I bought it day one and I'm having a blast haha
@MegaVel91

"Pokemon Mystery Dungeon was developed by Spike Chunsoft.
Pokemon Conquest was developed by Koei Tecmo.
Pokemon Colosseum/XD were developed by Genius Sorority."
take note that Pokemon Mystery Dungeon & Pokemon Conquest are 2 different types of crossovers. PKMN:MD is one of the Mystery Dungeon series which is a series of games that have a similar format with most of them being made by Chunsoft with charecters licensed from other franchises
Pokemon Conquest/Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition is a more direct crossover.
Pokemon Colosseum/XD were done with gamefreak's oversight.
"Legends Arceus despite being a spin-off is a glimpse of the direction that the series could be heading going forward"
it's not a spin off, calling it one is like calling YLGPE/GSCHGSS/RSEORAS/DPPtBDSP/BWB2W2/XY/SMUSUM/SwSh a bunch of spin-offs
Arceus may be the first January game I buy in quite some time.
@Medic_Alert True, but atleast one can imagine.
Happy to see so many talented developers in the comments, can't wait to play your games.
@Meteoroid
I'm saying Game Freak should be outsourcing some development to some of Nintendo's other developers, considering this is Game Freak's first go at a different formula. I don't know where you got the idea of referencing other franchises from.
@SakuraHaruka
I'm not in the same boat as the people who absolutely hate Pokémon. They literally look for reasons to hate the game because the lack of a National Dex. I'm just looking for a reason for them to draw me into their games again, because I have lost quite a lot of interest in Pokémon over the past years.
@Shadowmoon522 Except, no? You don't make sense.
FRLG/HGSS/ORAS/BDSP are remakes. Plat is a special version like Yellow and Emerald. B2W2 is a sequel. USUM is like Yellow and Emerald as well. The expansions of SwSh are just that. Legends is none of these.
Legends Arceus is a new game that is a prequel designed like a GF-made spinoff. And unless GF or TPC say otherwise, a spinoff it'll remain.
@mr-duster
Yeah, I'm pretty much sold on it, given it's a different take on the formula.
Wow, that ad makes me so sad, how did they make it look so sad?
I like how every Pokemon article on this site has to turn into a flame fest because a couple of people want to express their hate towards the game/franchise. If you agree, fine. But if you don't just ignore them. They are the minority after all
This is most certainly not going to be the game that people are building up in their minds lol.
@MegaVel91 "Except, no? You don't make sense.

FRLG/HGSS/ORAS/BDSP are remakes. Plat is a special version like Yellow and Emerald. B2W2 is a sequel. USUM is like Yellow and Emerald as well. The expansions of SwSh are just that. Legends is none of these."
yes, it's new and different so it's easy to assume that it's not main series. hell, people are still in denial about LGPE being main series despite the fact that their even listed with the main series games on the Japanese website: https://www.pokemon.co.jp/game/
when you click the checkmark box by 『ポケットモンスター』シリーズのみ表示する it filters the games so that only the main series games that are currently out are listed.
『ポケットモンスター』or "Pokemon" series is the official way main series games are referred to in Japan and the description of the Japanese legends arceus trailer(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRmio2BUZ0A) states
「アクション」と「RPG」が融合した新たな『ポケットモンスター』シリーズ作品、『Pokémon LEGENDS アルセウス』がNintendo Switchで発売決定! 遠い昔のシンオウ地方を舞台に、『ポケットモンスター』シリーズの枠を超えたこれまでにない"
which translates to
"Pokémon LEGENDS Arceus", a new "Pokemon" series work that combines "action" and "RPG", will be released on Nintendo Switch! Set in the Sinnoh region of the distant past, it has never been beyond the boundaries of the "Pokemon" series.
in other words, it's a main series game that does not follow the same gen 1 format that most of the main series games and referring to it as a spin-off is the same as referring to any other main series pokemon game thats not RB or G as a spin-off
@ModdedInkling more than I have in porting companies lol. If only they'd give bandai permanent reigns. What they've helped put out in Pokemon games so far and smash too, have looked brilliant and played well.
The main Pokemon 2d games,Pokemon stadium, hey you Pikachu, Pokemon pinball, Pokemon collasium, pokken tournament, Pokemon snaps, sword and shield, and this game Arceus legends are like some of the best Pokemon games. I hope it does well. You can tell when they put effort into a new game, it shows. Some of their games are just the same old crap but this looks pretty unique in ways and I'm excited to explore it. Now all we need is a Pokemon kart racer lol
@Shadowmoon522 You had me until you decided to be a smarmy arse with that gif. Now I'm just going to ignore you.
So, it seems she really likes Nintendo hehehe, and she's hot. Reading a lot of complains and criticism on the messages. Really doesn't matter, this game will sell anyways hahahah.
I haven't been excited for a Pokemon game since Gen 5. White and Black 2 to be precise. None of the newer games caught my attention.
This one, tho.... This one. I always told myself if Pokemon ever changed their formula completely, I would be hooked. I am glad I have survived this long, because they finally did it. They finally decided to dip their toes in something a tad different. I am very excited for this new game.
And who cares about celebrities? I don't.
I hope what she's saying is true and this game offers an excellent start to a promising year for Switch. Like really, this game seriously needs to become a success in every major respect.
I'm buying it to show gamefreak I want the series to take risks. I understand how much work goes into these games, and that's why it's funny that seeing the open world elements to this game gives me the same feeling I have seeing a cute kid imitating their parents. (Aww... 💗 they're trying)
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