Pokkén Tournament DX, and Pokémon UltraSun & UltraMoon are confirmed for release this year.
Today’s Pokémon Direct confirmed the long-standing rumour that we’d see an upgrade to last year’s Pokémon Sun and Moon. Alas, we didn’t hear anything about the mooted Stars for Nintendo Switch, and instead saw a brief glimpse of two new 3DS titles, Pokémon UltraSun and UltraMoon. The games will feature new brand new Pokémon and revised gameplay, and are due for release on November 17, 2017.
Also announced was Pokkén Tournament DX, an upgraded port of Bandai Namco’s popular Wii U fighter. The game combines elements of Bandai’s own Tekken franchise with a range of Pokémon characters that will be expanded in DX with the addition of Darkrai, Scizor, and Decidueye among others. The game will be released on September 22, 2017, and playable at next week’s E3 expo in Los Angeles.
Pokémon Gold and Silver were also confirmed for release on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, also arriving on September 22, 2017. Both titles will be compatible with Pokémon Bank.
Although we’re looking forward to Pokkén Tournament getting another outing, we’re slightly disappointed that Stars doesn’t exist – officially, at least. That said, with its much larger install base, bringing UltraSun and UltraMoon to the 3DS makes a lot of sense, and follows the precedent set by the DS release of Black 2 and White 2 in 2012.
As of April this year, Pokémon Sun and Moon have sold a combined 15.44 million copies on 3DS. Only 2013’s Pokémon X & Y have performed better, with an almighty 16.11 million units sold according to Nintendo’s most recent earnings report.
