Pokemon Go Plus Comes Out September 16th

Less than a day after Niantic Labs announced that Pokemon Go was coming to the Apple Watch, Nintendo confirmed that the Pokemon Go Plus peripheral device will be released on Friday, September 16th.

The Pokemon Go Plus connects to a player's smartphone via BlueTooth and acts as an alarm of sorts to indicate when PokeStops or Pokemon are nearby. Players will need to have Pokemon Go up and running on their phone in order for the device to work, but the Pokemon Go Plus is meant to allow players the freedom of moving around without having their phone out all the time.

According to Nintendo's news release, the Pokemon Go Plus will alert players whenever a Pokemon or PokeStop is nearby. Players can press a button on the Pokemon Go Plus to throw a PokeBall at a wild Pokemon, but only if they've previously caught it before. Players can also use the Pokemon Go Plus to interact with PokeStops and collect new items.

The Pokemon Go Plus was first announced last year with a planned release date of July, but Nintendo pushed back the release several months, allegedly to work out compatibility issues with some Android devices. Many criticized Nintendo for delaying the device's launch, in part because Pokemon Go's popularity seems to have peaked back in July.

There are also some questions as to how useful the Pokemon Go Plus will be to players. Obviously, the Pokemon Go Plus is obsolete for Apple Watch owners, although the Pokemon Go Plus's $35 price tag is a lot more affordable than a $300 Apple Watch. The device also doesn't work unless your phone is actively running Pokemon Go, so the device won't exactly cut down on battery usage, although it might make the "Battery Saver" function a little more useful.

Still, the Pokemon Go Plus quickly sold out at most stores when pre-orders first became available and Amazon, GameStop, and other major US retailers haven't reopened orders since July. It might be difficult for fans to get their hands on the Pokemon Go Plus next week, as Nintendo's peripherals have traditionally been hard to purchase without pre-ordering.