It’s official: Pokemon Winds and Waves will not be released on Nintendo Switch.
The website for the new games outright confirms this, stating that they “will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 in a simultaneous worldwide release in 2027.” This will mark the first time that a mainline Pokemon game will be released exclusively for Nintendo’s latest system, as every title released since Pokemon Sword and Shield in 2018 has been on Nintendo Switch.
This might be frustrating to those who don’t want to invest $450 or more in a new system to play the latest Pokemon game, but I believe Nintendo Switch 2 exclusivity was the right decision for Pokemon Winds and Waves.
While the Pokemon games on Nintendo DS and 3DS were some of the most technologically impressive games on those systems, the Nintendo Switch games have been a disappointment from a presentation standpoint. Pokemon Sword and Shield were famously met with backlash for their low-quality in-game textures and the fact that they didn’t feature every previous Pokemon.
Pokemon games looked and played roughly throughout the entire Nintendo Switch generation, as Pokemon Legends Z-A, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus all struggled to maintain stable frame rates. They looked console generations behind compared to other open-world games on Nintendo Switch, even a launch title like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. When Nintendo has to apologize for the state of Scarlet and Violet at release, you know something is wrong.
When Pokemon Scarlet and Violet got a Switch 2 update and Pokemon Legends: Z-A got a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, many of those problems went away. While they still looked a bit sub-par compared to other modern open-world games, there were no frame-rate issues, as the games consistently ran at 60fps. Those games become much more enjoyable to play when the frame rate is constantly hitching and slowing down the experience.
Pokemon Winds and Waves (Game Freak)
If Pokemon Winds and Waves were released on Nintendo Switch, they’d likely feature many of the same problems. I’m no programmer or engineer, but I can see how having a large open world where players can seamlessly explore islands and dive underwater to encounter Pokemon would be too intensive on the original Switch. On Switch 2, Game Freak is allowed to be a little more ambitious with what Pokemon Winds and Waves can offer.
If the choice is between the next Pokemon game being a Switch 2 exclusive or having a really bad Switch 1 port, I’m alright with the former. Now, Game Freak just needs to deliver games that look good and run well on Switch 2 to prove that the exclusivity decision was worth it. Make the long wait until 2027 worth it.