'Pokopia' Brings Town Building Joy To The World Of 'Pokémon'

Video Games

Sep 15

Image from Pokopia — Image Source: Nintendo Life

‘Gotta catch’ the news about the new Pokémon game designed especially for the Nintendo Switch 2. In a break from the usual collect-and-fight style games, Nintendo is bringing fans something a little more customizable. In Pokémon Pokopia, players explore as a Ditto. The character can transform and learn skills from other Pokémon to build a community, like The SIMS or Animal Crossing.

A new trailer showcasing the graphics and gameplay was released during September’s Nintendo Direct, and the gameplay isn’t entirely new, with echoes of many life simulation games, including FarmVille and the old-school Xbox series, Viva Piñata. Nintendo isn’t reinventing the wheel. Animal Crossing is the second highest-selling OG Switch game, so why would they? However, five of their top ten best sellers are also Pokémon games; putting Pikachu in a game pretty much guarantees good sales. It’s expected that the blending of this format and the hit franchise will lead to a massive smash, but we’ll have to see how hard the fans come for the pre-orders.

There’s no exact release date for Pokémon Pokopia yet, but it’s due sometime in 2026, and will be exclusive to the newly released Switch 2.