To Fool, Or Not To Fool? April 1st Pokemon Leak May Be Real!

Maybe another clue as to what we can expect in late 2018

Over the Easter weekend, specifically on April 1st 2018 an image surfaced on the net and its all about Pokemon. This image is an alleged screenshot of the new Pokemon game that’s slated for a 2018 release date on the Nintendo Switch. A lot of people have speculated that this might be fake because of a couple of reasons:

• Graphics are too similar to Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon on the 3DS
• This came out on April Fool’s Day

Now let me give you some supporting evidence here as to how this leaked image can actually be real – someone on Twitter by the name Pixelpar tweeted this image, and he is also known and credited for leaking info that turned out to be true in the past regarding Pokemon. Take a look at his tweets below:

Pixelpar mentions the screenshot he received lines up with what Pokejungle has said when he broke the news about certain features coming back to Pokemon in this next title. Here are some of the key points that seem to make this leaked screenshot to be true:

• PokéRide seems to be coming back, or at least the concept of riding Pokémon in the overworld. Similar to Pokémon X & Y, the trainer is riding a Lapras to navigate a water-based route. The bulky gear that Lapras wore in Generation VII is gone, and the trainer doesn’t appear to have the Pokéride gear (or a specifically sporty outfit) on.

• Following Pokémon may also be coming back. Whether any Pokémon can follow you or just a select few remains to be seen. In the demo an Eevee is perched on top of its trainer’s head while surfing on Lapras. It’s hard to imagine something bigger having that much leeway or how it would be handled. Our source followed up and said that Eevee would stay outside of its Pokéball and follow the trainer when they docked back on land.

• Battles start by running into a Pokémon; or atleast it seems like it. Unlike previous installments in which players would randomly trigger battles while walking through grass, or surfing across the water, the water visibly and clearly show Pokémon models on the route swimming underneath and around you. Whether they aggressively try to chase you down or not also remains to be seen.

One more thing… the route looked suspiciously like one we’ve traveled before in a previous game. Hmm…

All of this seems either pretty convincing or pretty extreme of a hoax to pull for April Fool’s Day, but you know what…I can’t put it past anyone to do this since I was fooled by most of the jokes. In this day and age it’s not hard to create something like this and say “this is a new leaked image of Pokemon Switch, it’s totally real!!”

On the other hand it’s not that hard to believe to be real. It’s coming to the Nintendo Switch, and we all know by now the graphical power it has. This is also Pokemon, so no one knows the direction they’re going in that regard. Personally, I love the animated style over the 3D style. I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels like this. There were other rumors out there that said Pokemon is going to have an open-world concept, so can you honestly say you wouldn’t love an open-world, animated style Pokemon game?! As big of a fan as I am of this franchise, I’m not going to get my hopes up.

How do you guys feel about these “leaks” and “rumors”? What would you like to see in the next Pokemon game for the Nintendo Switch? What WOULDN’T you want to see? Comment below and let me know. Share this with some of your friends and see what how they feel about this!