Earlier this year, we reported that a Pokemon game would be coming to the Nintendo Switch, which has since then led to persistent speculation that Pokemon Sun/Moon would be the games that would be ported to the Switch. Now, Eurogamer is reporting that that is exactly what will happen, and that a Nintendo Switch version of the games is under development, with a release due in 2017.
The Switch version is going to be called Pokemon Stars, and will actually be a ‘third’ version of the games, an expanded release with more content, in the vein of Pokemon Yellow, Pokemon Crystal, Pokemon Emerald, and Pokemon Platinum. It will also be the first expanded third version release since 2009, which was when Platinum released.
The Switch version was actually shown a bit in the game’s reveal trailer (you can see Game Freak developers working on HD models), and was apparently in concurrent development alongside the 3DS version until the last few months, when development on the Switch version was put on hold to polish the 3DS version some more. Now development on the Switch game has resumed.
This will make it the first Pokemon game to hit a Nintendo ‘home console’, presuming one wishes to give the Switch that classification. For now, the rumor, while very credible, remains unconfirmed- for now, Pokemon Sun/Moon are out and available exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS (except for in Europe, where they will launch on November 23).
