Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Coming to 3DS This Year

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company threw some surprise announcements our way in today’s Direct livestream, including Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, coming to 3DS this November.

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon take players back to the Alola region with an alternate storyline from last year’s pair of Pokémon titles, Sun and Moon. The last 20 seconds of the above trailer give us a short look at these new games where Pikachus abound and legendaries Solgaleo and Lunala take on mysterious new forms.

Though there likely will not be a whole new generation of Pokémon, players will see some creatures not present in last year’s games, according to director Junichi Masuda.

Players discovered the group of extradimensional Pokémon called Ultra Beasts for the first time in Sun and Moon in the Alola region. Based on the names of these revamped versions, we’re expecting Ultra Beasts to be even more of a focus than before.

A press release from this morning convinced players Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon would make their way to Nintendo Switch as well as 3DS, but Nintendo has told Kotaku this is not the case. The new titles will release only on 3DS systems. The initial press release was a “clerical error.”

Though fans were hoping for a mainline game on the Nintendo Switch, looks like we’ll have to keep crossing our fingers for that one.

In addition to the 3DS titles, the Direct also revealed Pokken Tournament DX for Switch and Pokémon Gold and Silver coming to the 3DS Virtual Console this fall.

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon launch November 17th, 2017.