Those ready to jump on board the Nintendo Switch hype train, as The Pokémon Company President and CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara spoke about the possibility of a Pokémon game on the Switch.
“So far, Pokemon has been developed for complete handheld game machines,” says Ishihara in a google-translated interview with Toyokeizai Online. “Therefore, if you are going to give out Pokémon to the Switch, do not do it the way you have just done.”
That comment suggest that if Pokémon were to make its way to Nintendo’s new home/mobile console, The Pokémon company may have to rethink their approach. That’s not new for the house of Pikachu, as for the most part, Pokémon titles outside of the main handheld entries offer completely different experiences. Most recently, Pokémon Go offered a more streamlined, yet immersive take on the formula by integrating Ingress technology allowing trainers to literally go out and catch Pokémon and take over gyms.
Dating back to the Nintendo 64 days, the first side entries in the series offered up unique experiences not found in the main games. Pokémon Stadium allowed players to partake in battles without the exploration, or grind of the traditional titles, while also allowing player to square off in tons of mini games. Pokémon Snap, on the other hand, offered up an on-rails experience where players take unique photos of their favourite pocket monsters, without actually catching them. And then there’s Hey You Pikachu which was more of a tech demo for the microphone attachment than anything else. The GameCube hosted the side entry that was closest in kin to the main titles with Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, a larger RPG experience that fans know the series for.
Still, there hasn’t been a meaty experience for Pokémon fans on a home Nintendo console since Pokken Tournament, and that certainly changed the formula up quite a bit. But if Ishihara’s comments are anything to go on, there is a chance something could happen on the Switch,
