'Pokémon Sword' And 'Shield' Ditch The Nintendo 3DS For The Switch

Nintendo has finally pulled back the curtain on its long-teased “Pokémon” game for Nintendo Switch.

In a short Nintendo Direct video, “Pokémon Sword” and “Pokémon Shield” were officially announced and are due out later this year, via The Verge. It will be joining a surprisingly stacked 2019 schedule for Nintendo that includes “Super Mario Maker 2,” “Animal Crossing,” and many more.

While the new games will introduce the typical trappings longtime fans have come to expect, like a new region and Pokémon to catch, the biggest departure is that this was designed from the ground up for the Switch.

Last year’s “Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu” and “Let’s Go Eevee” were, at their core, loose remakes of “Pokémon Red,” “Blue,” and “Yellow,” the very first games on the original GameBoy. It did borrow some elements from “Pokémon GO!” when it came to catching Pokémon; otherwise, it was very familiar to longtime fans.

“Pokémon Sword” and “Shield” were designed from the ground up for the Switch, taking advantage of the more powerful platform. The game appears to offer more detailed graphics than the “Let’s Go” games seen in the environments, characters, and Pokémon. Outside of that, there is still a level of mystery around what will set this apart from its handheld predecessors.

That said, this is the first proper Pokémon RPG developed for the console since 2003’s “Pokémon Colosseum.” And with E3 only a few months away, it will be worth keeping an eye out for more details around these new games.