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Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ latest trailer shows off big changes for battles

Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ latest trailer shows off big changes for battles

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Nintendo’s Pokémon Presents showcase released a new trailer and tons of new information

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Nintendo announced a ton of new information for the hotly anticipated Pokémon Legends: Arceus during today’s Pokémon Presents showcase. In addition to covering a new battle system, new regional pokémon, and the new skills trainers will need to catch ‘em all, Nintendo also released a brand-new, beautiful trailer.

Pokémon Legend: Arceus takes place in the Hisui region — a natural paradise filled with different ecosystems and stuffed all kinds of regional pokémon. Your goal is to help the Galaxy Expedition Team study and catalog the pokémon of the region by compiling the very first Pokédex.

Nintendo offered a glimpse into Pokémon Legends: Arceus battle system, which combines classic pokémon gameplay with a couple of new twists. One new feature is the Action Order bar that displays which pokémon’s turn is next. You can influence turn order and frequency by using attacks that fall into either the strong style or the agile style category. Strong style moves hit harder but are slower and increase the amount of time between your next attack. Agile style moves are weaker but faster and using them will give you multiple opportunities to attack in a row.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus also showcased the different kinds of pokémon inhabiting the Hisui region. Like Sun and Moon and Sword and Shield, Pokémon Legends will feature regional variants of pokémon who have specially adapted to life in the Hisui region. Some of these local variants, like the Hisuian braviary or the spirit possessed basculegion, will let you ride them to cross the vast and varied landscape.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a bold new direction for the beloved monster-catching franchise. The game’s emphasis on freely roaming through swaying grass as little bidoofs jump about has already drawn comparisons to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It seems that Nintendo wants to break the familiar format of previous Pokémon games by giving players a gorgeous pokémon-stuffed world and the leisure to explore it.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus comes to the Nintendo Switch on January 28th, 2022.