Pokemon Sun and Moon were one of the biggest game releases of 2016, with the game helping the Nintendo 3DS sell more units as well. Around the release of the game, a third game was rumored to be coming to the Nintendo Switch sometime in 2017 and now a listing on GameStop’s website that has since been removed may lend some credence to that rumor.
The Pokemon franchise has always found a home on Nintendo handhelds dating back to the Game Boy, but consoles only received spin off games like Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Stadium, and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. While the GameCube era Pokemon games had a little more of an RPG element to them, the mainline games have remained as handheld only.
When the Nintendo Switch was announced however, which is set to combine the home console and handheld experience in one system, it would make sense that the Pokemon franchise would also have to transition to this new system as well. Ahead of the big Switch presentation on Thursday night, GameStop created a Switch page on their website that included the following text:
“Nintendo Switch games will include new title offerings from Mario, Splatoon, Zelda, the NBA and more! You will even be able to play Skyrim on the go, or Pokemon at home with the Nintendo Switch”
Multiple sources have provided screencaps of this, but since the page has been updated that removes this portion. This could be an outright mistake that will not come to pass, but more than likely it seems that this was something they just didn’t mean to post as part of the description of the console yet. Even so, it doesn’t confirm that we’ll see a mainline Pokemon game, such as the rumored Pokemon Stars, come to the Nintendo Switch, as it could just be another spin off title. However, it seems the “Stars” might just be aligning for this to be the case. Whether this would be shown at all at the reveal event this Thursday is another story though.
