2023's Pokemon day featured a variety of announcements, but it was missing one thing that could have made a lot of fans happy. Pokemon Day gave out information about Pokemon GO, as well as about the upcoming Pokemon Sleep app in one of the franchise's most unexpected moves to date. The biggest announcement of the evening was the reveal of the much-rumored Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC, which promises a bright future for the Gen 9 games. Even with how many exciting announcements Pokemon Day featured, there was still some disappointment for long-time Pokemon fans who wanted to play old games on the Switch.
Pokemon Day was hyped as a major news day for the franchise, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC leaks driving further anticipation for all the possible reveals. Naturally, speculation about what could have been announced was rampant. Some theories were accurate, such as the aforementioned Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC. On the other hand, a lot of predicted announcements ended up not coming to pass. While what did get announced did include a lot of worthy games, what was missing may have been more significant. In particular, there was one announcement that would have been a major gift to fans of retro Pokemon titles.
Pokemon Day Was the Perfect Time to Announce Switch Ports For Game Boy Pokemon Games
When the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance expansions for Nintendo Switch Online were revealed, despite previous Pokemon rereleases on Nintendo 3DS, no Pokemon titles were included. Neither lineup had one at launch, and aside from the spinoff Pokemon Trading Card Game, none were announced for the future either. With how iconic the first three generations of Pokemon games are, it would have been a great surprise for Nintendo to have held off on their announcement for Pokemon Day in order for it to have more impact. Instead, Pokemon Day came and went without a single mention of the Game Boy titles.
The Game Boy Pokemon games still retain a respected place in Nintendo's history, and they are undoubtedly among the Game Boy games Nintendo Switch Online needs. Pokemon Red and Blue were the starting point for what would become one of the most successful multimedia franchises in history, and they're two of the highest-selling games ever to come out on the Game Boy to boot. Their legacy is incredible, and they warrant a place on Nintendo Switch Online's library of Game Boy games more than almost any other title. The same can be said for the Generation 2 and 3 games as well.
With the classic Pokemon games nowhere to be found in the Pokemon Day presentation, it leaves the fate of their hypothetical rereleases in limbo. While NSO's Game Boy expansion gives Pokemon hope, there's no timeline for the series' first mainline games to join the service. What could have been a phenomenal moment for Nintendo and Pokemon instead ended up being a missed opportunity. As it stands, the first three generations of Pokemon are unavailable on the Switch, and it remains to be seen whether this will be fixed at all.
Revealing even just Pokemon Red and Blue would have been a perfect way to end the festivities of Pokemon Day, similar to how the tail end of the recent Nintendo Direct revealed NSO's Game Boy and Game Boy Advance expansions, to begin with. The Switch not rereleasing classic Pokemon is wasted potential, and even with the Scarlet and Violet DLC being announced, it leaves a significant hole in what Nintendo could have provided to their fans. The Pokemon Game Boy games will still remain some of the best titles that have yet to land on NSO, and that makes 2023's Pokemon Day just a bit disappointing.
