New Paradigms

With the reveal of the new upcoming members of the Pokémon main series of games - Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon - in yesterday's Direct, this raises questions and wonders for the progression, direction, and paradigm of the main series of games. While it's true that this progression has changed several times, there are also a few things that can be gleaned from how things have progressed. This also provides hints for what the future may bring.

Now, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon at first glance are a lot alike to Black 2 and White 2; in fact, they're too alike. They still have what looks to be Solgaleo and Lunala, but they're rendered in a fusion style as with Reshiram and Zekrom + Kyurem. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, however, have the premise of an "alternate story" rather than a "sequel" as with Black 2 and White 2. In any case, they're established as a new pair of games rather than an expected "third game" or a prior generation remake, the latter of which had also been speculated in some circles (for the fourth generation) prior to yesterday's reveal.

Based on this, it seems that there are two ways to consider the "third game" concept. One way to think about it is that the "third game" has been cast aside, as a proper one has never been made after the fourth generation. On the other hand, the other way to think about it is that the "third game" concept lives on in the "second pair" games as well as new prior generation remakes starting from the third generation remake for the sixth generation games. This leads to wonder if the fourth generation remakes are really just being shelved for a successor console, for play with the eighth generation.

"Third game" futures are not the only speculation. The planning of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon for release on the 3DS and not on the Switch effectively extends the lifetime of the handheld console. This and the slated Pokkén DX on the Switch also appears to affirm that the Switch is not the successor to the 3DS despite its nature of partial portability. Thus a successor to the 3DS would be truly portable and have new capabilities that would make it desirable for playing the main series of games as they are and (hopefully) will be.

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are not game changers, but they do present a change-up to people's expectations of the Pokémon main series paradigm, which has changed over time as well. Then again, this means that any paradigm for the main series is not set in stone, and we may be due for another change years down the road. Until that happens, prediction through speculation and reasoning is useful to consider how and what we will play.