Nintendo
Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are quickly approaching and with it comes another set of games in the series being hampered by the increasing outdated tech of the Nintendo 3DS. We learned today in an interview with IGN that Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will be the last of the mainline titles released for the popular handheld.
Game Freak director Shigeru Ohmori said he believes the development has squeezed out as much as it can with the hardware.
“When we were making Pokemon X and Y, we really were trying to push the 3DS system to its absolute limits – which is what we thought we’d done. But when Sun and Moon came around, we completely redesigned the system, and actually ended up pushing the 3DS even further to what we thought was the most we could draw out of it.”
Pokemon X and Y brought the series to a full 3D look but also brought on a variety of performance issues. It was around those titles when the framerate drops became pretty noticeable in battle and that trend has continued into Sun and Moon, even with a New Nintendo 3DS. Ohmori says Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will represent the best that can come out of the Nintendo 3DS hardware.
“With Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon we’ve tried to eke that out more and really, really push the system to its absolute limits, and we’re now feeling that perhaps this is the maximum of what we can get out,” explains Ohmori to IGN. “So we’re really treating Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon as the culmination of our work with the 3DS system.”
During E3 2017 it was revealed that a new core Pokemon RPG was in the works for the Nintendo Switch.
On the bright side, it’s looking like the final set of games to hit the console will be good ones. We’ve seen a variety of new features that will be gracing these new games. Recent trailers have shown us new Ultra Beasts, walking Pokemon and even Mantine surfing. We can certainly think of worse features to be included in the Pokemon swan song on the Nintendo 3DS.
If you purchase either one of the virtual console releases of Pokemon Gold and Silver on the 3DS, you can get a Celebi for Pokemon Sun & Moon or Pokemon Ultra Sun & Moon. The offer is valid from now until to September 22, 2018.
Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon arrive exclusively for Nintendo 3DS family of systems on November 17, 2017.