Pokemon Anniversary Switch 2
By
J.R. Waugh
Published 19 minutes ago
J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com.
His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2023.
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Nintendo is celebrating an occasion that comes about as often as a shiny Maushold family with Pokémon's 30th anniversary. Coming up on February 27, 2026, the date will commemorate 30 years since the launch of their flagship series of games with Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, with the latter option instead localized as Pokémon Blue in the West.
While this is an exciting occasion in and of itself for fans of the mainline franchise, especially for its glory days, it begs the question of what Nintendo and The Pokémon Company could do to celebrate. On the official Pokémon Company X account, their post marking the occasion quickly took off, with one key demand in the replies: release the classics.
Simply put, Nintendo Switch Online's "Nintendo Classics" catalog now has multiple Pokémon games available, yet none of which are part of the mainline RPGs everybody knows and loves. The request is simple: release the original handheld classics on the available console libraries, namely Game Boy and Game Boy Advance.
Pokémon Needs to Release Its Greatest Classics on Nintendo Switch Online
With popular spinoffs like Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Snap, and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness on the way, the franchise already arguably has a strong presence. But adding the first three generations to correspond with their home consoles on the Nintendo Switch Online service would be a massive addition, including:
- Pokémon Red
- Pokémon Blue
- Pokemon Yellow
- Pokémon Gold
- Pokémon Silver
- Pokémon Crystal
- Pokémon Ruby
- Pokémon Sapphire
- Pokémon Emerald
- Pokémon Fire Red
- Pokémon Leaf Green
However, the nature of Nintendo Switch Online's titles might make this tricky. Pokémon Stadium joined the library on April 12, 2023, but doesn't appear to have support for transferring Pokémon from save data, and it's uncertain whether this would change. This catalog would be emulated, so it's certainly a difficult question whether Pokémon would be locked to a particular game.
For many players, though, this is potentially a non-issue. Simply allowing one to capture and grow their Pokémon to have retro competitive battles would be incentive enough to subscribe and play. Some may even simply prefer to enjoy the journey of getting the Gym badges and beating the Elite Four. It's still a golden opportunity for Nintendo.
Mainline Pokémon RPGs Would Be a Killer App for Nintendo Switch Online
Pokémon's Ash holding his cap over his eyes and looking solemn.
It's hard to argue with whether even modest fans would hesitate to subscribe to the regular or even pricier Expansion Pack option for the Switch. After all, considering the increasingly out-of-control resellers' market for retro games, and the pricey Pokémon cartridges from yesteryear, this is an affordable, two-tiered option. Obviously, transferable Pokémon would also be ideal, but not entirely likely.
Obviously, transferable Pokémon would also be ideal, but not entirely likely.
Naturally, regular subscribers would still get a treasure trove of Gen 1 and Gen 2 Pokémon games, more than enough for regular enjoyment. For those who go the next level for Expansion Pack subscriptions, the Gen 1 remakes, Fire Red and Leaf Green are wonderful upgrades with plenty of quality of life and battle system features from Gen 3.
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Gain deeper context on Nintendo and Pokémon classics by subscribing to the newsletter for curated coverage, detailed analysis of retro releases and emulation questions, plus thoughtful takes on how these games matter to collectors, players, and preservation. Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.Some features from Nintendo Switch Online's emulated catalog would have to be removed. Much like Luigi's Mansion lacking rewind support, save states would obviously also need to be disabled in the Pokémon games, to prevent abuse of the mechanics. However, given that MissingNo. still appeared in the 2016 digital re-release, all bets are off if Nintendo were to play ball.
Pokemon
Created by
Satoshi Taijiri, Ken Sugimori, Junichi Masuda
First Film
Pokemon: The First Movie
Latest Film
Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle
First TV Show
Pokémon
First Episode Air Date
April 1, 1997
Current Series
Pokémon
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