Surprise! Nintendo officially confirmed during its E3 presentation that Metroid and Pokemon are heading to the Nintendo Switch.
That shouldn't be as surprising as it is; these are some of the oldest and most popular game franchises in the world. Yet there hasn't been a console-based Metroid game since the release of the much-maligned Metroid: Other M in 2010, and Pokemon's presence on the Switch was previously limited to Pokken Tournament DX, an expanded version of a Wii U fighting game with new characters and other additions.
Nintendo didn't offer many details about either game. The new Metroid title is Metroid Prime 4--the first entry in the Prime sub-series since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption debuted in 2007--and Nintendo said that it's "now in development." Chances are good that this latest entry is being developed by Retro Studios, which made the rest of the Prime series and hasn't released a game since 2014's Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
Composer Alexander Brandon, who worked on the cyberpunk Deus Ex series, also recently said this in a Facebook post:
I'm currently working with Retro Studios here in Austin. As much as I'd like to say more (except the work is incredibly exciting and the team is awesome), I can't. :)
We have even fewer details (or guesses) about the Pokemon game heading to Switch. The Pokemon Company's Tsunekazu Ishihara said only that Game Freak has "... begun developing a core RPG Pokemon title on Nintendo Switch. It may not release for more than a year, but we hope you look forward to it all the same."
The emphasis otherwise went to Pokken Tournament DX, which will be playable at E3 and heads to the Switch on September 22. That isn't a whole lot to go on, but we suspect the Pokemon on Switch hype train will keep on chuggin' all the same.
