While Pokemon X and Y may be just around the corner, Nintendo have never been ones to rest on their laurels. With dozens of games released over the years, the designers over at The Pokemon Company must rarely ever sleep, as they spend their time in an infinite loop of coming up with ideas, testing out concepts, and looking for the next big thing. And the next big Pokemon thing is sounding very interesting indeed.
As is often the way with these things, the news comes from a rather non-traditional source. The Japanese public broadcaster, NHK, are soon to air a documentary about The Pokemon Company, including an interview with the CEO and President, Tsunekazu Ishihara. On the channel's official website, they feature a description of the upcoming show, which, when translated, reveals a few pointers as to a new game.
Apparently, the Pokemon company started work this summer on a brand new Pokemon game. Promised to feature Pikachu in a "bold way", Ishihara is apparently concerned that, if the game's a bit of a flop, it might do damage to Pika's incredible popularity. But with few other details forthcoming, and an infamously tricky translation from Japanese being all we have to go on, is there anything we can do to draw any conclusions about the upcoming game? Probably not - but it's always fun trying.
The first bone of contention is arguably which platform any game would be on. With Pokemon X and Y being mere days from release, and the Wii U still flagging in terms of sales, is there a chance this could be the long awaited Pokemon outing on the Wii U? With the 3DS practically overflowing with Poke-goodness, the signs for a Wii U iteration are stronger than you'd think.
At a Pokemon Game Show in Japan, a trailer was shown that told the history of Pokemon games, from the originals on the Game Boy all the way through their N64 heyday, to the upcoming Pokemon X and Y. So far, so normal - but the video ended with a clip of a mysterious, potential Pokemon game that's unlike anything we've seen before. With graphics far beyond the capability of the 3DS, was this a hint that a Wii U instalment was coming? Skip to 2:14 for the interesting bit:
Sticking with the Wii U again, is there a chance we could see a sequel of sorts to the much delayed Hey You Pikachu? Released on the N64, the game used a bundled microphone to let you talk to your very own pet Pikachu, as kind of the world's greatest virtual pet game. He'd come running at the sound of your voice, or follow instructions to the letter - so long as you didn't have a particularly strong accent, which is part of the reason it was so eternally delayed. With a semi-sequel released on the GameCube by way of Pokemon Channel, is a similar, Pikachu themed game going to make it's way to the Wii U, possibly with and added hint of Pokemon X and Y's Pokemon-stroking Pokemon-amie mode? It'd make great use of the GamePad - and it's certainly not impossible.
Just look at his little face.
To take our super-sleuthing hat off for a second, though, we'll have to concede that we actually know very little about the upcoming Pokemon game, and it's nigh on impossible to guess at what they could be doing. With so many different Pokemon, and even Pikachu themed games over the years, it could almost literally be anything. A special Pokemon X and Y with Pikachu taking centre stage in the vein of Pokemon Yellow? A mini-game collection, with Pikachu as a game show host? How about a follow-up to PokePark: Pikachu's Big Adventure? At the moment, we'd settle for a sequel to Pokemon Puzzle League - but whatever Pikachu puts his cute little face on, we know we're probably going to end up buying. Just look out our hat and slippers for proof of that.
