Pokemon Sword & Shield Are Being Developed With A Focus On Handheld Mode

Core Pokemon has always been a handheld series, and that won't change with Pokemon Sword & Shield, despite it offering the ability to play the entire game on a TV. We haven't heard much about the next-gen Pokemon games, but we know they will introduce a new location, new Pokemon, and some new features into the mix. And most importantly, it will be the first core Pokemon game to release on the Nintendo Switch. That all said, while you can play Sword & Shield docked, Nintendo is especially focusing on the game's handheld mode.

According to Nintendo president, Shuntaro Furukawa, while the pair of Pokemon: Let's Go titles were devloped with the Nintendo Switch's TV mode in mind, Sword & Shield will put an emphasis on the system's other mode: handheld.

"These new titles, first announced in a Pokemon Direct in February, have generated a huge response from consumers," said Furukawa during Nintendo's recent financial call. "Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee!, which were released in November of last year, are designed to highlight the fun of Nintendo Switch in TV mode, for example by waving the controller at the TV screen to capture Pokemon.

"Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are being developed to emphasize the fun of playing Nintendo Switch in handheld mode. We want these games to be played not only by longtime Pokemon fans, but also by consumers whose first encounter with the series was on a dedicated video game platform with Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee!."

As you can see, the two new Pokemon games will try and walk the tightrope of catering to both hardcore, long-time Pokemon fans, and newer ones who were introduced to the series with last year's releases. How it will manage to do this, isn't clear. Nintendo hasn't really talked about the pair of games very much, but hopefully that will change this June when it undoubtedly shows off more of the two games at E3.

Pokemon Sword & Shield are in development for the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch only. At the moment of publishing, there's been no word of when the games will release, but we do know it will be sometime this year.

Thanks, Nintendo Life.

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