Screenshot: The Pokémon Company Later this year, Game Freak will release Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the ninth generation of mainline Pokémon games, rounding out an absolutely killer 2022 lineup for the Nintendo Switch. In addition to a true open-world set in a Mediterranean-inspired region, they’re set to increase the total number of Pokémon from approximately …
Screenshot: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the next two games in the mainline Pokémon series, are coming to Nintendo Switch later this year, The Pokémon Company announced during today’s Pokémon Presents. The reveal came at the very end of the 14-minute livestream that showcased news for a variety of different games, …
Image: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Gen 9 starters have been revealed and they include a cat, a baby croc, and a duck. Do you have a favorite? I certainly do and it’s not my usual type. The surprise reveal of the next mainline games in the Pokémon series comes just …
Screenshot: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku Pokémon Legends: Arceus has sold like gangbusters, received largely positive reviews, and achieved the highest user score of any game in the series in years. That hasn’t stopped it from being mired in controversy when it comes to its graphics, however. A week after the game’s release, the debate …
Illustration: Game Freak For years now, Pokémon fans have been begging Game Freak for a more “mature” monster-collecting video game, ideally one that’s more difficult than the mainline games in the franchise. With Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it seems that folks might have finally gotten what they wanted–and it’s kinda unsettling. Let me explain. While Pokémon …
Image: Nintendo Pokémon. It’s the biggest multimedia franchise on the planet. Everyone knows what a Pikachu is. The Pokéball, a red-and-white sphere bisected by a black line, is immediately recognizable to even your most out-of-touch aunts and uncles. But it all started with a game: 1996’s Pokémon Red and Blue versions, for Nintendo’s original Game …
Screenshot: Activision The NPD Group released its annual tally of gaming sales for 2021 today, pretty much at the very second Microsoft announced it would buy mega-publisher Activision Blizzard for approximately the GDP of Luxembourg. The top-selling console game for 2021 was the same as it is as it is nearly every year: the latest …
Image: Arkane Studios Good Black characters in gaming are rare, and extraordinary Black characters are even more so. Despite the gaming industry continually improving in its portrayal of Black characters, protagonist or otherwise, it still struggles with the concept. I, like most Black gamers who have long had to deal with games that misrepresented our …
Screenshot: Nintendo / Kotaku Some of the initial reviews described Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl as incredibly workmanlike, and they were correct. These games are serviceable recreations that seem to do the bare minimum when it comes to adding anything new, let alone surprising. And yet for all of their mediocrity I can’t stop …
Screenshot: Nintendo A new pair of Pokémon games is out which means players will once again need to trade in order to complete each game’s full Pokédex. Fortunately, some in the community are pushing a unified list of trade codes and good manners to make it easier for players to exchange Pokémon between Brilliant Diamond …