Some are convinced Nintendo’s making room for Pokemon Stars’ debut.
Nintendo did some housekeeping on its American and Japanese YouTube channels this week, and an old Pokemon-themed Nintendo Direct was taken out with the trash. Confused by the sudden deletion of the archived stream, fans are theorizing that it’s a sign of an imminent Pokemon Stars announcement.
The particular video Nintendo took down was last February’s reveal of Pokemon Sun and Moon, which came at the end of a short presentation for the series’ anniversary. Joe Merrick of fan site Serebii.net pointed out that the video was gone on NeoGAF, offering his own hypothesis as to why.
“[Nintendo still has] the X & Y one up,” he wrote of a previous pair of Pokemon games announced in a Nintendo Direct. “We never had an enhanced version of X & Y that could muddle the message. Typically they remove videos when things like that could happen.”
The hope is that Nintendo is gearing up to reveal Pokemon Stars, the rumored Nintendo Switch re-release of Pokémon Sun and Moon. A Eurogamer report from November said that Pokemon Stars is set for a mid-2017 release, but there’s been little proof that that’s the case.
Even with little to go off but a video that’s spontaneously disappeared, many fans predict that a new Nintendo Direct is coming soon to take this one’s place. This speculation may be undercut by the fact that the original X & Y reveal is also gone from YouTube, although the expanded Pokemon-focused Nintendo Direct that followed remains online.
Still, Nintendo does tend to keep an immaculate archive of Nintendo Direct presentations, and the Sun and Moon reveal served a greater purpose of celebrating the franchise as a whole.
The Sun and Moon video’s removal — combined with widespread forum chatter about a possible new Nintendo Direct installment airing sometime soon — may be all the proof that the most obsessive of Pokemon fans need. Reddit, NeoGAF and Twitter users are running rampant with pleas for a Pokemon Stars reveal, especially in the lead-up to E3 2017.
From the battlefield of Valentia comes Alm, one of the two protagonists in the upcoming game #FireEmblem Echoes. #FEHeroes pic.twitter.com/HxE4niGvt6
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 11, 2017
@NintendoAmerica Pokemon direct when. Do u want my money or not?
— NeverEverGiveUp? (@Minnale101) May 11, 2017
All these hints Nintendo is dropping in preparation for that potential Pokemon Direct is so nerve wracking!!
Something big is coming soon!!
— The Indian Stallion (@MegaLucarioX) May 10, 2017
Nintendo have removed the Sun&Moon direct and reveal trailer from YouTube, possibly to stop confusion with I don’t know…
POKEMON STARS?
— Chris (@wwechritter) May 11, 2017
A mainline Pokemon game has never been revealed at E3, meaning that now seems like a good time for Nintendo to announce Pokemon Stars, should it exist. But as another tweet points out, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company tend to follow their own unique timetable when it comes to Pokemon reveals.
Fact: No mainline Pokémon game has *ever* been announced at E3. Stars could be announced at any time, even in May.https://t.co/eM4ddOHio9 pic.twitter.com/ya0VHWZOJN
— Dystify (@Dystify) May 2, 2017
We’re in a down period before E3, so this kind of wild speculation seems like a way to pass the time. We’ve reached out to Nintendo and The Pokemon Company about the video’s removal, but we’re not getting our hopes up yet for any news about the rumored Pokemon Stars — or otherwise — just yet.
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