When it was announced earlier this year that a “core RPG Pokémon title” is being developed for the Nintendo Switch, many fans wondered what this would mean for the franchise, which, up to this point, has released mainline games exclusively on handheld consoles. Some thought that it would mean the end of the 3DS family of systems (which includes the 3DS, 2DS, 3DS XL, New 3DS XL and New 2DS XL) relatively soon, since the Switch Pokémon game is slated to come out as early as next year. Some new information was just revealed that seems to imply that this might be the case.
In a recent interview with GameSpot, Shigeru Ohmori, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon‘s producer, said that the upcoming games, due next month, will be the last main series Pokémon games for the 3DS. Ohmori stated, “We’ve been working with the 3DS hardware since Pokémon X and Y. Even then we wanted to get the maximum power and maximum potential out of the 3DS, and ever since then we’ve continued to try [to do] that. With X and Y we thought we’d got as much as we could out, but then Sun and Moon came along and we pushed even harder and got as much as we could out of the system at that time. And now, again, with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, we’ve tried to make this the pinnacle of our work with the 3DS system and make it a culmination of all our efforts to get the absolute most out of the system that we can.”
Some may remember the rumors of Pokémon Stars, which some fans thought would be the third entry for the Generation 7 games as well as Pokémon‘s debut on the Switch. When asked if Stars is real and whether it will be coming out on the Switch, Ohmori said, “there are [currently] no plans for that in particular.” This response would seem to imply that Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will be the last entries in the 7th Generation and that, starting with Generation 8, Pokémon games will come out on the Switch and future hybrid consoles. Or maybe Ohmori just meant that a game specifically titled Pokémon Stars isn’t in development.
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are set to release on November 17 for the 3DS family of systems.
