During a special Nintendo Direct for Pokemon Day, Nintendo has finally revealed its upcoming Pokemon games for Nintendo Switch, which seem to represent Generation 8. Named Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield, the games will be released in "late 2019." You can see the game in action in the trailer below.
The games are set in a new region named Galar, which looks to be similar in appearance to Britain. The three starter creatures were shown off in Nintendo's Pokemon Direct presentation; they are a grass monkey named Grookey, a fire bunny named Scorbunny, and a sad water lizard, Sobble. Gameplay was shown in the Direct but was not detailed extensively, though it seems like this will bring back random encounters, among other things. We've rounded up the big takeaways from what we've seen so far to help you get a handle on what to expect.
Sword and Shield are directed by Shigeru Ohmori, who previously directed Sun and Moon and has worked on the series since 2002's Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. Following Sword and Shield's trailer, which you can watch below, The Pokemon Company teased it was working on more in the Pokemon franchise besides these new titles. No more details were confirmed.
The Pokemon Company first announced it was working on new Pokemon games at E3 2017. Since then, the publisher said little else about the upcoming titles--only that they are "core RPG Pokemon titles" and that they would launch in the latter half of 2019.
The "core RPG" description is in contrast to the most recent Pokemon games, Let's Go, Pikachu and Let's Go, Eevee, which were released for Nintendo Switch in November 2018 as remakes of sorts of Pokemon Yellow. They incorporated some elements of the mobile phenomenon Pokemon Go in an attempt to ease newer players into the mainline series.
February 27 is Pokemon Day, The Pokemon Company's yearly celebration of its huge pocket monster franchise. Pokemon Go is holding a special event, with generation one creatures spawning more frequently along with shiny versions of Pidgey and Rattata.