Pokémon Previews
January2024
Soapbox Game Freak Could Actually Learn A Thing Or Two From Palworld
No, Pikachu doesn’t need an assault rifle
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Lowell locks and loads up the Pokémon-inspired game that's been the talk of the town since it launched on Steam and Xbox Game Pass last week... You...
September2023
Round Up The Previews Are In For Detective Pikachu Returns
The first impressions are here
Super Mario Bros. Wonder isn't the only major release arriving on the Nintendo Switch next month. In case you missed it, Detective Pikachu is also back in Detective Pikachu Returns - a follow-up to the 2018 3DS release. Ahead of the game's release, the first "hands-on" previews have now been released and so we've...
July2023
Hands On Pokémon Sleep (Open Beta) - An Absolute Snoozefest
Pokémon Let’s Go (to bed)
Pokémon Sleep was finally released in select regions earlier this week as an open beta for Android devices. After being the butt of all jokes when it was originally announced and then experiencing a series of delays, it now officially “launches soon” according to The Pokémon Company. Developed by Select Button...
November2022
Hands On Want To Feel Like A Real Pokémon Trainer? Try This Premium Poké Ball Replica
Just don't throw it, ok?
If there's a single object which instantly calls to mind the massively popular Pokémon series of video games, it's the iconic red-and-white Poké Ball. Sure, there are more powerful and accurate balls to use in the game, but the original version is the one that everyone remembers – and it has become a symbol of the...
October2022
Hands On Pokémon Scarlet & Violet's Performance Distracts From Neat New Features And Flourishes
Smeargle used Struggle
Recently we were invited by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo to pop down to TPC’s UK headquarters in London to give a build of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet a right ruddy going over. It’s less than a month until launch – and we were informed that the build we played was not the final release build – so how is...
January2022
Hands On Knobs, Bums, And 4D Armrests - Getting Comfy In Secretlab's New Pokémon Chair
Well, it's more like "bums on"
If a person's life story can be told through the state of their office chairs, then mine would be near-unpublishable. I have left a trail of destruction in the wake of my sedentary lifestyle: hard-wearing workhorses passed down from my parents, a fancy Herman Miller at my former job, and the peeling faux-leather...
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October2021
Down the path of a farming sim
This year's selection of Pocket Monster-catching video games has been a point of contention for fans since they were announced back in early 2021. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are from-the-ground-up remakes of the 2006 Nintendo DS games that fans have been begging for for years, so what’s the issue?...
March2021
First Impressions 13 Things We Learned in New Pokémon Snap
A Pokémon game with voice acting!
Nintendo were kind enough to invite to an extensive viewing of the long anticipated sequel to Pokémon Snap. We got to see multiple playthroughs of the Beach level during different times of day and even caught a glimpse of the games tutorial which revealed even more details, many of which have yet to be publicly...
June2019
Hands On Pokémon Sword And Shield’s Dynamax Mode Has Us Shook
Adding a whole new dynamic to battling
As our first Galar stadium demo battle began – our on-screen character stepping into the crowded arena to a roar of cheers – the ground was quite literally shaking beneath our feet. No, that’s not a metaphor. Thanks to the subwoofers installed in our station at Nintendo’s E3 booth, and the more...
June2018
Hands On Catching A Curveball With The Poké Ball Plus, The Switch's Latest Must-Have Accessory
I Choose You!
Since my first playthrough of Pokémon Blue back in 1998, I’ve had a bit of an on-again, off-again relationship with Game Freak’s monster-collecting magnum opus. I certainly consider myself to be a fan, but I haven’t finished a main game since SoulSilver, and a 2016 summer spent scouring the countryside for Kanto critters in...
Hands On Revisiting Kanto With Pokémon: Let’s Go! Pikachu And Let’s Go! Eevee On Switch
Blending the new with the old in fresh ways
Suffice to say, fans were suitably surprised when Nintendo lifted the lid on Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!; instead of the follow-up generation to Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon that many expected, Nintendo teased a reimagining of one of the first games, with some Pokémon GO...
June2017
First Impressions Prepping for Round Two with Pokkén Tournament DX
Once more into the fray
Pokkén Tournament was a game that perhaps never had a proper chance to shine. After its debut in Japanese arcades, the fighter saw a console release on a platform that was in the autumn of its life, and which hadn’t been all that impressive (in terms of sales) to begin with. It was no wonder, then, that Pokkén Tournament...
October2016
Hands On Pokémon Sun and Moon - Special Demo Version
Demonstrative indeed
Demos have come an awfully long way over the years, even to the point where these bite-sized chunks can be considered full games in their own right; you only have to look at the Bravely series to know what we're talking about. So it was no surprise when Nintendo announced the arrival of a demo for the upcoming Pokémon Sun &...
Hands On Checking Out A New Generation In Pokémon Sun and Moon
Talking 'bout our generation
From the off it's clear that here's been a tremendous level of effort from Game Freak to make Pokémon Sun and Moon another notable evolution of the Pokémon series; whilst the jump from Black and White to X and Y was like a Bulbasaur becoming an Ivysaur, the jump to this generation is more like a Magikarp becoming a...
July2014
First Impressions The Thieves And The 1000 Pokémon Steals Its Way Onto 3DS In Japan
But is it Robin Hood or Dick Turpin?
We've taken a look at The Thieves and the 1000 Pokémon before, but now the free eShop title has been released in Japan we can share some more info and screenshots of this delightfully bonkers little game. You start out by picking one of the three initial Pokémon from Pokémon X and Y, and then you basically...
February2014
Hands On Storing Pocket Monsters in Pokémon Bank
And going last-gen with Poké Transporter
Pokémon Bank, the online store app just recently released in Europe to accompany Pokémon X & Y, is a simple utility; at first glance you essentially take in its entirety. It's a storage box for all of your Pokémon. As such, you know what you're going to get; in Pokémon Bank, you will find 100 boxes...
August2012
Hands On Learn With Pokemon: Typing Adventure
Gotta type 'em all
On Saturday, Nintendo Life was lucky enough to get a sneaky preview of Nintendo and Genius Sonority's most bizarre upcoming release, Learn With Pokémon: Typing Adventure. The version we demoed was the Japanese version, Battle & Get! Pokémon Typing DS, complete with the Japanese Bluetooth keyboard add-on. The aim of Pokémon...
