Everyone’s favorite pocket monster, Pikachu, will soon be returning on everyone’s favorite “pocket” console: the Nintendo Switch.
In a major press conference held on May 28, the Pokémon Company announced a sequel to the Nintendo 3DS’s Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, although the announcement left much to be wanted. Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of the Pokémon Company seemed to be intentionally obscure regarding details of the sequel. The original 2016 game ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger, so it is still entirely speculation whether the sequel resolves its predecessor’s storyline or works on expanding it. One thing’s for sure though, it will not have the same ending that it did on the big screen.
The sequel, vague as it may seem, is under a lot of pressure from Pokémon fans. The original Detective Pikachu, garnering “mixed or average reviews” from Metacritic, and lukewarm responses to its movie adaptation (although it is an undeniable box office success), fans seem to be expecting something more complicated and lengthier for the second time around. At this point though, it seems that the worst-case scenario for Pokémon fans hopeful about this announcement is if the “new” game ends up being a simple port.
This sequel’s announcement was just one among a slew other updates, such as the unveiling of a Pokémon Center in Shibuya PARCO, a cloud-based service for all of your Pokémon titles called Pokémon Home, and Pokémon Sleep, arguably the weirdest one from the press conference.
Like the announcement for the Detective Pikachu sequel, Pokémon Sleep provided few details on the game. Niantic CEO John Hanke put an emphasis on the game rewarding and encouraging a good night’s sleep.
“We love exploring the world on foot, and that can’t happen unless we have the energy to embark on these adventures,” he said at the event.
A companion device called the Pokémon Go Plus+ (not to be confused with the Pokémon Go Plus) will be used to track its users’ sleep. Launch is expected in 2020. Don’t sleep on it.
