Pokémon Pokopia Gets March 2026 Release Date, Brand New Trailer Coming This Week

I totally misread the headline as “…To Get A Bland New Trailer…” I was like, seems a bit harsh.

Up for giving it a go!

I'm really annoyed that the game isn't titled Dittopia, but I can at least accept the fact that Ditto isn't in fact called Ditto everywhere, hence the more uniform title choice.

Still...

sniff

EDIT: HOLD UP! A GKC for this too?! (Unless this is indeed just a "sample" image, in which case, did Nintendo not realise what a catastrophically awful look this would be?!)

But if so... un-freaking-believable...

I am all for this! Love the Dragon Quest Builders vibes. Loved my time with DQB2, though I'm not surprised this game will be a Switch 2 exclusive. DQB2 really struggled with busier builds and areas on Switch 1.

Edit: Apparently the article updated right after I commented. Please please PLEASE just be an example and not an indicator.....

Don’t by this game for the sake of physical games future, please. Even if you don’t get physical games, don’t ruin it for the rest of us.

Crazy part is that this is seemingly going to be a game-key card, even in the US. This is especially bad for Switch 2 exclusives, as there will be no other way to play the games.

GKC for Japan likely means the same for everywhere else

This is where it all starts.
This is Nintendo's test.

If it sells well enough, you can safely assume everything else will be GKC only from Nintendo from here on out.

If so, I'm out for good.

Really hope this ends up being good. Looks bizarre and lovely at the same time.

@Olliemar28 don't think Nintendo Life journalists should be criticising anything else for being "bland", that's a "pot-calling-kettle-black" moment right there.

Ooh, Pokopia has a release date now, that's nice-

GAME KEY CARD?! WHAT THE F***!!!

Can't wait for people online to be very normal about this being a Game Key Card, despite the fact for this game it wouldn't really be financially worth it to have it be fully on a 64 gig cart, since the game is 10 gigs big. And literally every other first party Switch 2 game up to Mario Tennis Fever and beyond is and will be on cart.

To further insult their consumers' intelligence, Nintendo thought that adding whimsical music to the GKC video would somehow make their crappy new practice palatable.

By all means charge less for the digital release if they're tying to avoid arousing the ire of digital buyers with an unfairly high asking price for smaller scale games, but stop screwing over the physical releases in the process.

Ive already said theyll take a hit now and get people used to this format later. Its gonna save them a lot of money longterm, but I wont be there to be part of it.

@Viator_ It's not even first party, technically.

As someone who probably spent a combined 100+ hours in the DQ Builders games on Switch, I am very interested in this title!

@JohnnyMind What’s the problem? I’m glad they included that and clarified that it’s not confirmed yet. I fail to see what the issue is.

Oh snap, this would be the first Nintendo-published GKC, right?

Hopefully a demo gets announced tomorrow as well. This game looks odd, but I'd like to try it out.

@JohnnyMind the game is depicted as a game key card in an official Nintendo advert. I’m sure Nintendo is fully aware of the implications that picture gave off and considering the multiple other ways “sample” can be interpreted and the negative connotation Nintendo gets for GKCs I have trouble believing that they would depict the game as a GKC just for this video but the not as an actual product

Give us a demo for this wholesome game!

Shows as a Game Key Card on the japanese website: https://www.pokemon.co.jp/ex/pocoapokemon/ja/

@JohnnyMind There’s an image of it right there in the article. I don’t think Nintendo would publish that image if the game weren’t on a Key Card.

Also, I’m glad to know that it is. My interest for this game just went WAY down unless its file size is less than 2GB or so.

I want to know more about this game before I buy the digital version of it. How many Pokemon and biomes are there? Is there a story mode and quests, or is it more chilled out and leisurely?

@sammarkvoort Oh yeah, not wrong. This is a TPC and KT ω-F game.

@LastFootnote for what it's worth, someone said it was around 10 GB, which isn't awful.

@Viator_ Yeah, TPC loves money, so of course they're going to go with the cheaper options.

@ElRoberico It’s not awful compared to AAA games that I’d normally only buy physically. It’s really awful compared to the indie games I buy digitally.

Getting a “first party game” as a game key card is making me super uneasy. I didn’t really care before since most physical games I buy are Nintendo published but now I’m really nervous.

Man who thought things couldn't possibly get any worse more disappointed himself for not realizing that they could in fact get worse than the fact that things are somehow worse than originally thought possible.

This is probably the closest we'll get to an official Pokemon "maker" game. Hopefully the game allows for creation of towns and routes. I'm also excited to see people re-create entire Pokemon regions.

Let's be honest, it being a GKC release will make no difference at all to its sales and Nintendo know this.

Maybe I'm just coping, but I feel like it doesn't make sense for them to use a placeholder Game Key Card box when physical pre-orders open in 2 days. Maybe this means it's not actually a Game Key Card, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I don't like the Minecraft ripoff look, but I like the overall style. If the reviews are good, I'll pick it up, as I like the Pokemon universe... Just not how GameFreak often presents it; so a new take is welcomed.

There it is. The March Switch 2 game.

Also, why does the internet pretend to be surprised every time a Switch 2 game is $70? That's the standard game price nowadays.

@ayto oh yes. $70 game keycard. Let's give it a go...

Wow $70 for a key card that competes with indie farming games. I get they can’t go head-to-head with Stardew Valley, but … $40? $50? seems much more reasonable for what looks like a 10-20 hour cozy game.

I'll probably buy Pokopia at or around launch despite not being super interested just to support a Pokémon Spin-Off that isn't mobile trash. For the entirety of the Switch we only got 3 Spin-Offs, and only one was an original game, which for someone who loved the Gen 1-5 Spin-Offs is sad.

$70 for a worthless bit of plastic? I knew Pokemon was scraping the bottom of the barrel when they advertised cut repurposed content as DLC and paywalled certain megas behind NSO. But now you quite literally are paying more for less. The game isn't even on the cart and they think this looks like it's worth $70? Gtfo.

I'll play Palfarm and support the indie developer over the giant corporation who is trying to patent game mechanics they had nothing to do with.

I would point out to people that this is Nintendo testing the waters. If they see people are willing to spend $70 on nothing? They won't hesitate to make the next Zelda, Mario, or DK game key card only. And if it gets to that point? Count me out. Im done.

@LoneWolfSones Nintendo themselves have finally seen the writing on the wall.

It already happened with the Switch 1, where 3rd party devs just pay for the smallest 4GB cart that doesn't even contain the entire game and you had to download an additional 10 to 20+ GB before you could play the game.

So the whole point of buying physical was already lost with the Switch 1. As what's the point of a physical copy, when only a fraction of the game is pre-loaded on the cart.

Fact is, cartridges are heavily outdated and too expensive to produce. Especially the large capacity ones that are now definitely needed for the Switch 2.
Its different with the big XBOX / PS consoles.
A blanc Bluray only costs 1-2 USD, whereas a high capacity Switch 1 / 2 cartridge cost 15+ USD.
Publishers are not willing to take that huge of a cut on their profits and they know they won't sell the game on the Switch 1 / 2 if they have to raise the price with 15 USD.

So the reality is that GKC is the way to go with Switch 2.

And when it comes to game preservation. Well that is pretty much dead too, unless they digitally store the games somewhere and keep them patched up.
As the vast majority of games these days are rushed and of poor quality and need months of large patches, before most of the major bugs and problems are fixed!
So having the initial game on a cart or Bluray for game preservation is just pointless as well, when the 1.0 version is often just broken and/or bugged to hell and requires at least a large day 1 patch (which is often the same size of the entire game) before its playable.

Let me get this straight, this game is being developed by both Game Freak (who likely just came with the concept, designs and the artworks) and Omega Force (who likely is in charge of everything technical), and even if it looks like the Pokémon life-simulation of many's dreams (mine including), there must be something about this game if it's going to cost that much, and besides, it still feels we're just scratching the surface.

But what's concerning me more is just how much games Game Freak can make at the moment. This was likely being developed at the same time Z-A's story development was ending, while they were working on fixing bugs and the DLC, and of course, the Gen X game, which is another thing.

Well, Omega Force can also work on a lot of titles simultaneously, and while I hope this one has a lot of content inside, it doesn't look that demanding enough to grant so much development resources. Who knows, one day they could make a Pokémon Warriors game.

Plot twist: You will be able to battle other Pokemon as you can build Pokémon centers

I know it's a controversial opinion in these hardcore circles, but I don't have an issue with Game Key Cards at all.

As the government said in the debate around Stop Killing Games, all games are effectively digital licenses these days, regardless of format.

The main benefit of a GKC over digital is that it's very often cheaper than the Nintendo eShop, and you can sell the game at your leisure.

Ugh, 70 bucks for a Game-Key Card, no thanks!

People are really still whining about key cards? Look guys, you own the game. Wii and DSi games are still re-downloadable, that's 20 YEARS and no sign of being pulled despite maybe 5 people still playing those consoles. Your key cards are safe for around the same time as the life expectancy of cartridges/SSDs then, and guess what? Developers get to design their games based on the speed of the internal Switch 2 SSD speeds which is one major factor that makes it a next gen console. AND you can still resell the game. People need to get a grip and come to terms, you wanted a next gen handheld and this was the only way.

@MisterStu Actually, we've already had an instance where Japan/Asia got a game-key card but the west got a proper physical, in the form of Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion. Expectedly, the PS5 version sold better in Japan while the Switch 2 version sold better in Europe.

Now, we can't say for sure something like that's going to happen again--but we also can't say for sure something like that's not going to happen again. (Also can't rule in or rule out a situation where the regions are reversed--as in Asia gets the proper physical and the west gets the game-key card.) Doesn't have to be the game this article's primarily talking about...

Why this game of all titles?