Nintendo Officially Teases the Return of Pokémon's Best Trilogy

12 hours ago 16

Published Sep 22, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT

Hannah has been writing about horror, sci-fi, and all things nerdy since 2021. At Collider, she covers news and conducts interviews, along with contributing features that dive deep into genre storytelling and why it works. If there’s something lurking in the shadows, she’s probably already writing about it if she's not too busy watching a tape from her VHS collection.

Pokémon fans rarely need much encouragement to begin searching an official post for clues, especially when three beloved games have remained inaccessible on modern hardware for years. The franchise’s 30th anniversary has already created new opportunities to revisit its past, making almost any carefully selected piece of classic footage feel potentially significant. A new video from Pokémon’s official Japanese account, however, has given Hoenn fans considerably more to investigate than a familiar Pokémon or piece of nostalgic music.

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire introduced players to the Hoenn region in 2002, with Pokémon Emerald expanding the adventure two years later. Although the games received full remakes with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire on Nintendo 3DS, the original Game Boy Advance versions have never been re-released through Nintendo Switch Online. Their continued absence has become even more noticeable as Pokémon makes additional pieces of its earlier history available again.

A new post from Pokémon’s official Japanese account has sparked speculation that Ruby, Sapphire, and potentially Emerald could be headed to Nintendo Switch. The account shared high-resolution gameplay from Ruby and Sapphire that does not appear possible on the games’ original Game Boy Advance hardware, suggesting the footage was captured through emulation or an unreleased port. The clip is also exactly 30 seconds long, matching the Nintendo Switch’s built-in capture limit, and was posted exactly two months before the Japanese anniversary of Ruby and Sapphire.

Hoenn Would Be a Major Addition to Nintendo Switch Online

Pokémon has not officially announced any of the Hoenn games for Switch, but the details mentioned above make this considerably more convincing than the franchise’s usual fan theories. Bringing the original Hoenn trilogy to Nintendo Switch would restore access to several of the franchise’s most influential games. Ruby and Sapphire introduced abilities, natures, double battles, Pokémon Contests, and fan-favorite creatures including Mudkip, Treecko, Torchic, and Rayquaza. Emerald later combined elements of both versions and introduced the Battle Frontier, which remains one of the series’ most frequently requested post-game features.

A re-release could also become more important as Pokémon continues moving away from its older handheld infrastructure. Compatibility with Pokémon HOME would potentially allow players to carry creatures caught in Hoenn into newer games, although no such support has been announced. Previous classic releases have shown that Pokémon is willing to preserve older adventures while finding ways to connect them to its current ecosystem, which could soon evolve to be bigger than ever.

For now, the alleged tease may simply be anniversary nostalgia rather than the beginning of a larger announcement. The unusually specific focus on Hoenn has nevertheless given fans a credible reason to watch Pokémon’s upcoming announcements carefully. If Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald really are preparing to return, one of Pokémon’s most beloved regions could finally become playable on modern Nintendo hardware.

Release Date 1997 - 2023-00-00

Network TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC

Directors Shigeru Omachi, Koji Ogawa, Fumihiro Ueno, Hideki Hiroshima, Maki Kodaira, Makoto Ooga, Ayumi Moriyama, Keitaro Motonaga, Shigeru Ueda, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Minoru Ohara, Yoshitaka Makino, Kiyoshi Egami, Makoto Sokuza, Bjarne Heuser, Naoki Murata, Kenichi Nishida, Tomoe Makino, Masahiko Watanabe, Hiroaki Takagi, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Ryohei Horiuchi, Yoshihiro Oda, Hiromichi Matano

Writers Junki Takegami, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hideki Sonoda, Yukiyoshi Ôhashi, Yuka Miyata, Takeshi Shudo, Shouji Yonemura, Shinzo Fujita, Michihiro Tsuchiya, Deko Akao, Reiko Yoshida, Aya Matsui, Junichi Fujisaku

Franchise(s) Pokemon