The Pokemon Company reveal three new Pokemon games

 
Last night three new Pokemon games were revealed for the Nintendo Switch, two of which will release this year. The news came from a press conference held by The Pokemon Company in Japan.

Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee are the names of the two different versions of the Pokemon game coming to Nintendo Switch on November 16, 2018. The new games are heavily influenced by the popular mobile game, Pokemon Go, and have a similar gameplay concept.
 

Return to the Kanto region and experience a classic Pokémon journey in a whole new way with Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! on the Nintendo Switch! Coming November 16, 2018: https://t.co/kXLdxUMjjA #PokemonLetsGo pic.twitter.com/EKzQsTbDuE

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) May 30, 2018

 
A third core Pokemon title was confirmed to be in development with a release window of 2019. It is believed that this game will follow the classic Pokemon format closer than the Pokemon Let’s Go titles do.

In the Pokemon Let’s Go games players will roam the Kanto Pokemon region, from the original Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow titles, in order to catch the 151 Pokemon found roaming around it. Players can now see Pokemon in the wild, and will need to catch them using either the Joy Con or a new PokeBall Plus peripheral for the Nintendo Switch.

Gameplay will revolve around building a Pokemon army, though no confirmation of whether Pokemon evolve with levels or on the same candy system found in Pokemon Go. While the game does allow players to battle with NPCs there are no wild battles, which will be a relief to players moving over from Pokemon Go.

The Pokemon Let’s Go games are playable in co-op and let players ride on their favourite Pokemon, including Onyx and Lapra. Throughout the whole adventure either Pikachu or Eevee will follow the player around, resting on their heads when necessary, in a similar way to how the feature worked in Pokemon Yellow.

The new PokeBall Plus peripheral allows players to upload their favourite Pokemon and take them with them wherever they go. Rewards are received when the Pokemon is returned to the game, in addition to when players trade Pokemon between Pokemon Go and the Pokemon Let’s Go games.

Developer Game Freak have not confirmed whether new regions and Pokemon will be added over time, but since players can move Pokemon from different generations into a dedicated park in the Switch title it seems likely.

Finally, another non-core Pokemon game has released for free on Nintendo Switch today, Pokemon Quest. The game is completely different to most other titles in the series, adopting Minecraft-style visuals. The game will work across smartphones and Nintendo Switch, with the mobile version releasing at the end of June.