The latest Nintendo Direct has officially unveiled the next games in the main "Pokemon" franchise: "Pokemon Sun" and "Pokemon Moon," officially putting to rest rumors that the next game that would release would be "Pokemon Z."
The official trailer unveiling the new games starts off celebrating the 20 years that the franchise has been around, showing clips of friends and family playing numerous generations of the games such as "Pokemon Red" on an original Gameboy and "Pokemon Ruby" on the Gameboy Advance.
At the tail end of the trailer "Pokemon Sun" and "Pokemon Moon" are revealed, with the first official look at their logos. The trailer also states that the games will be available in nine different languages. For the first time in the series the games will be available in Chinese, both in traditional and simplified.
Simultaneous with the trailer's release was the launch of the original "Pokemon Red and Blue" for the Nintendo 3DS virtual console. According to the official Pokemon website, players will be able to transfer their captured Pokemon from the original 8-bit games to the Pokemon Bank and then take those Pokemon and use them in "Pokemon Sun" and "Pokemon Moon."
A report from IGN also breaks down the Nintendo Direct video and reveals that the game may see Pokemon being used simultaneously with vehicles, as evident in concept art where Blastoise is riding a firetruck and Machamp is riding a pick-up truck.
The report also points out that the palm trees and new building designs indicate that "Pokemon Sun and Moon" may be set in a tropical location, although this may be just for one city and not the entire setting of the games.
"Pokemon Sun" and "Pokemon Moon" are currently set to release for the Nintendo 3DS by the holidays later this year, although no specific release date has yet been announced. It is speculated, however, that the game will launch months after "Pokemon Go" is released for mobile devices around this summer or early fall.
