Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Diamond/Pearl remake dates revealed

There will be a new Pokémon game released this year and it won’t be too long after that until 3D open world adventure Pokémon Legends.

Whatever secrets Nintendo might be planning to reveal at E3 next month, some of the most important information about the next two Pokémon games has already been announced: their release dates.

As suspected, remakes Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl will be out in time for Christmas, with a launch date of November 19.

However, the considerably more ambitious Pokémon Legends: Arceus will be out on January 28, 2022, which is probably a lot sooner than most people imagined, given the game was only announced this February.

No new information or footage was offered for Arceus though, just the box art and the promise of a ‘bold new direction’ that combines ‘action with RPG elements’.

What this seems to mean in practice is a fully open world environment (not just the separate areas from Sword and Shield) and battles that can be started in real-time but then played out using the traditional turn-based combat system.

The fan response to Pokémon Legends: Arceus has been cautiously optimistic but there’s been some disquiet at the low-tech approach and cartoonish graphics of Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl.

Rather than being based on the tech of the last mainline entry (Sword and Shield in this case), as is usually the case with Pokémon remakes, the games barely look any better than the original 2006 Nintendo DS games, just with the 2D sprites swapped for 3D graphics.

Again, beyond the reveal of the cover art there isn’t much new information to persuade people one way or the other, beyond a very vague promise that ‘various game functions have been colourfully revitalised’.

Finally, a new update for Pokémon Home has also been announced today, which adds the Catch Calendar function. This lets you arrange your pokémon according to the date you caught them and then view them from multiple new angles.

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