Last year Pokémon Day was excellent. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have been revealed; new content came for both Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl and Legends: Arceus; the latter received a new anime announcement; and the ream of mobile games and spin-offs: Masters Ex, Unite, Go, and Cafe Remix have all received their own minor updates. So, after the success of Pokemon Day 2022, the 2023 release was deeply disappointing.
Today’s highlight was Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC. Hidden Treasure of Zone Zero follows the format established by Sword and Shield, with a two-part expansion that brings more Pokemon from previous generations and new Legendaries to the game. There are some interesting designs, and I’m interested in the way the DLC looks to expand beyond the academy walls of Scarlet and Violet, but I confess I haven’t dug deep into Gen 9 yet: performance issues plagued the game at launch. , and it looks like they haven’t been fixed yet. With the game in its current state, the DLC looks pretty cheeky, even though it won’t be released until the fall.
Pokemon Sleep, an app that tracks your nighttime activity to attract like-minded friends, was Nintendo’s second most impressive reveal. Finally, coming over four years after it was first announced, it’s probably an interesting idea, but it’s not the kind of thing most fans expect. Pokemon Concierge looks lovely, but the briefest glimpse of a single psyduck isn’t enough to get me excited just yet.
Other than that, Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic looks great, and I’m sure the championship in Japan will be exciting, but both projects are too loose in their current form to be excited about right now. And with all that out of the way, all that remained was the same collection of mobile games; 3.5 years of Masters Ex, Zacian in Pokemon Unite, Paldea starters in Cafe Remix. Pokémon Go, at one point an oddly shiny jewel in the Pokémon crown, hasn’t peeked beyond a connection to Pokémon Sleep.
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The lackluster show was met with public disappointment from the community. On Reddit, a publicity thread (opens in a new tab) created the day before the live stream was flooded with comments criticizing the show as “dumb”, “disappointing” and “extremely disappointing”. In another post summarizing everything we didn’t get to see, a comment (opens in a new tab) says “the entire stream could have been summed up in one tweet” and that “we don’t have nothing we haven’t seen before.” I knew it was going to happen.”
After last year, the appetite for a surprise reveal was palpable, and fans were quick to arm themselves with lists of everything that might have been announced; The Nintendo Switch Online versions of Red and Blue are right at the top of this list, after confirmation that Game Boy and GBA games would be coming to the service; Three years after the last game, Mystery Dungeon fans have expressed their desire for something new; It’s been five years since Let’s Go Eevee, and the desire for a new Gen 2 release is palpable; even the anime, which reboots after 27 years as Ash and Pikachu’s swansong approaches, hasn’t received a trailer for its new season.
Nintendo is in a weird place right now. Reports suggest it won’t be at E3 due to a lack of upcoming games big enough to warrant its presence at the show. The company has repeatedly spoken out about how difficult it was to manage the Switch in its final years. But I don’t think the solution to this quagmire is to take the big franchises and put them in the spotlight for a relatively minor collection of announcements that offer more in terms of old mobile games than new projects for big games .
Few franchises are beloved and enduring enough to have their own day on the calendar, and I can understand why Nintendo feels the need to look into Pokémon Day, but that doesn’t mean you have to put on a big show every year. Mass Effect’s most recent effort is a prime example of balancing a fandom’s desire for recognition with its thirst for information: we’re far from anything BioWare has to brag about, so N7 Day 2022 s is built on the enduring enthusiasm of your community, letting them discover something without making a big show of it. With Mario Day just around the corner, I’m afraid Nintendo’s attempt at a Triple-Dip Direct is stretching the remaining limited Switch deals too far and turning community celebration events like these into little more than a business news explosion. .
The new Gen 9 update means that Scarlet and Violet DLC new Pokemon have been revealed.