It's a fact that Pokemon is the single highest-grossing media franchise of all time. So it makes sense that when new games are announced in the series, levels of excitement and anticipation go through the roof. Earlier this year, Pokemon Legends: Arceus and remakes Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were officially revealed during the February Pokemon Presents. As expected, fans were excited to hear more about all three titles and were looking to E3 2021 for more information.
This week, however, exact release dates and pre-orders for Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl were announced a few weeks ahead of this year's E3. While all new Pokemon information is welcome with open arms, the timing of the announcements has made fans question what sort of Pokemon news, if any, will be presented this summer. A rumored Pokemon Presents seemed to be in line with E3 2021, but the announcements might have debunked the rumors.
Will There Be A Pokemon Presents this Summer?
Opinions on the existence of the rumored digital event vary greatly, but when looking at the facts, it's clear that there are arguments for both sides. One side seems to think that fans are overdue for more information on the three new Pokemon titles that are releasing in just a few short months. The other side thinks that the release date announcement dropping unceremoniously earlier this week is a sign that nothing's coming and that The Pokemon Company needed to get the information out before E3 to help temper expectations.
While it's true that the seemingly random release date announcement had odd timing, it would be even odder if The Pokemon Company showed up with no Pokemon Presents when there's so little time between now and when their new games release. For this reason, it seems likely that Pokemon fans will be getting more details in the coming weeks. After all, while release dates certainly are important, the content of the games is what really matters.
What Will Be in the Rumored Pokemon Presents?
Pokemon is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, but it seems like a lot of the major anniversary content was in February's Pokemon Presents. The nostalgic trip through memory lane with the six-minute "25 Years of Non-Stop Adventure" video that opened the Pokemon Presents was a great way to address the fans who've been with the franchise since the beginning and show newcomers what the highlights of the series have been. While it certainly wouldn't go amiss, it doesn't seem like any future Pokemon Presents will have anything as elaborate as what was shown in February. There may be other, smaller content addressing Pokemon's history, but something as long as what was shown before doesn't seem likely.
New Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl Gameplay
From the brief trailer shown off earlier this year, it seems like Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are going to be pretty standard remakes of the Nintendo DS era originals. Other than a slight shift in art style and updated battle animations, the remakes seem to be keeping things simple and not changing anything major about the base games. If they are adding new features, they should be shown and explained at the rumored Pokemon Presents.
Just about every Pokemon remake has altered the original in some way to either update it for more modern expectations or to change things around entirely like in Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee. It doesn't seem like Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will be doing anything drastically different like with the Let's Go games because if they were, the changes would most likely have been shown off in the initial announcement trailer. Either way, fans are excited to see what changes, if any, are coming to Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, so a Pokemon Direct would be the perfect place to give them what they want and show some gameplay or at least some sort of overview.
Seeing gameplay from all three upcoming games would be ideal, but if only one is going to get a spotlight, it should be Pokemon Legends: Arceus. It seems like The Pokemon Company listened to some of the feedback it received for the issues fans had with Pokemon Sword and Shield and are hoping to address them with Legends: Arceus. The initial trailer did showcase some gameplay, but it left a lot to the imagination. It's unclear how each mechanic connects to one another and what the overall goal of the game will be.
Showing Pokemon Legends: Arceus gameplay will do a lot to help fans understand what the game actually is. There's been plenty of speculation around its standing as a mainline Pokemon entry or if it's a spinoff in the same vein of New Pokemon Snap or Pokemon Ranger. Comparisons have been made to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Legends: Arceus' visual style and gameplay, so a Pokemon Presents would be a great time to clarify what exactly the game is.
Other Pokemon Content
While Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are all on the minds of Pokemon fans, there's still plenty of other content that could be shown off during a Pokemon Presents. Yes, it would be very odd if the rumored presentation had no reference to the big games the company is scheduled to be releasing soon, but with how crazy things have become in the last year or so due to COVID-19, it wouldn't entirely be out of the picture.
Other content that could potentially be included could be some sort of DLC or DLC pass for New Pokemon Snap, a major Pokemon GO update, or new content for Pokemon Masters EX. As unlikely as it seems that Legends: Arceus, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will be excluded from any upcoming Pokemon Presents, there's still enough to whet fans' appetites until more information on the mainline games is available.
With how close the releases of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl are, it feels almost certain that more information on the games is coming soon. As odd as it is for their release dates and pre-order information to drop so soon before major industry events, it just doesn't make sense that those small pieces of information are all that's on the immediate horizon for the future of Pokemon. Remember though to take all this information with a grain of salt as no Pokemon Presents has been officially announced at the current time of writing.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus releases on Switch on January 28, 2022.