Pokemon Switch games get release date, Pokemon GO links teased

The highly anticipated Pokemon games for the Nintendo Switch were officially revealed today, along with a hint toward a connection to Pokemon GO.

New Pokemon games are finally on the way for the Nintendo Switch this fall, and it appears they will bridge the gap between traditional RPGs from the franchise and Pokemon GO. As expected, Nintendo revealed tonight that the games are called Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee, both of which will be available for the Switch on Nov. 16.

As you can see in the trailer below, the new games will have some RPG elements that gamers would expect from a console Pokemon game. But the mechanics of the simulated throwing of Poke Balls to catch everyone’s favorite pocket monsters sure looks a lot like Pokemon GO, and that’s no accident.

Even though the games are being developed by Game Freak and not Niantic, they’re clearly being positioned as a supplement to Pokemon GO, right down to the Poke Ball Plus peripheral that can be used in both games. On top of that, Nintendo teased  that something ” special will also be coming to the world of Pokémon GO, making the connection between both games even more appealing for Trainers.”

On top of that, a third Pokemon Switch game was announced and is available right now. Pokemon Quest is a free-to-play action RPG with simple touchscreen controls that you can download for the Switch immediately, or wait to play on mobile next month.

You want a trailer for that too? We can oblige:

Nintendo promised more info on Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee “in the near future,” and it hasn’t escaped our notice that E3 is right around the corner. It seems fairly likely that part of the Nintendo Direct the week of E3 will be about these new games, but we’ll find out for sure in just a couple of weeks.