A huge chunk of Pokemon’s back catalog will become unavailable after March 27.
Nintendo is marching forward with the closure of its 3DS and Wii U stores which will result in a lot of games becoming unavailable after March 27, 2023. What you might not know is how few Pokemon games will be available after that date with 75 percent of its extensive back catalog being lost to time, at least temporarily, once they’re shuttered.
Phil Salvador is the person responsible for the research demonstrating how few Pokemon games will be available after the big day later this month (thanks, GamesRadar). Most of the Pokemon games that will remain accessible once the 3DS and Wii U stores close are the ones you can currently play on Switch. So Scarlet & Violet, Legends: Arceus, and any other Switch titles.
The handful of Pokemon games available through NSO’s retro console libraries will also still be available, like Pokemon Stadium, and of course Pokemon Go and Unite will both still be around. However, as demonstrated by Salvador’s pie chart, almost a third of the 88 Pokemon games released so far will become unavailable to buy or play once the Wii U and 3DS stores close, joining the 41 percent that are already unavailable.
Among the games Pokemon fans will no longer be able to play if they don’t own them already are Red & Blue, Yellow, Sun & Moon, and Detective Pikachu. Particularly surprising for that last one considering the success of the movie bearing the same name and recent reports suggesting the long-rumored sequel is still happening. Another Pokemon Sleep situation, perhaps, which was re-revealed this week and confirmed to be coming later this year.
The only silver lining provided by Salvador’s research is that one percent “available soon” slither of their Pokemon pie. That represents the Pokemon Trading Card Game which will be revived through the Game Boy’s library on NSO. Hopefully the same will be applied to other Game Boy and GBA titles in the near future. The biggest surprise during last week’s Pokemon Presents was that confirmation the new libraries will be getting Pokemon games wasn’t announced.
