Published Jul 1, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT
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Pokémon is having one of the biggest years in its 30-year history. Although we didn't get a mainline entry this year (that's slated for 2027), there's a long road ahead for Pokémon Winds and Waves, and we'll see new Pokémon soon enough. Whether any of them will rival the classics is yet to be seen, but given how many of the Gen 9 arrivals came out swinging, we could see some gems as we head into release.
With that in mind, there could be hope for legacy games. While we have gotten remakes of classic titles, a few of them remain on hardware that is no longer in circulation. HeartGold and SoulSilver (remakes of Gen 2) are stuck on the Nintendo DS. Similarly, Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby (remakes of Gen 3) are stuck on 3DS.
Thanks to a new statement from Nintendo's president on X, fans are starting to wonder if that could change.
Point-blank, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa was asked whether DS and 3DS games would ever make it to Switch 2 hardware. Here's what Furukawa had to say: "I can’t answer your question specifically, but we are working to make our valuable back catalog playable on current hardware wherever possible." So you're saying there's a chance?
Although much of this is classic corporate speak, the fact that investors care about the back catalog at all suggests that Nintendo could eventually release more classic games on the platform. Fans have speculated that Nintendo is looking for a way to port DS and 3DS games to Switch for ages, and now that talk continues into the era of the Switch 2.
With the Switch 2 turning a year old, we could see more aggressive marketing from Nintendo as it enters a bold new hardware era. Sony and Xbox hardware are getting even more expensive, and the Switch 2 could be a good alternative, even though its seen its share of price hikes as well.
Strangely, Game Freak hasn't announced a remake for Gen 5 (Unova), despite the perfect opportunity recently at the same Pokémon Presents that unveiled Winds and Waves. It's an unfortunate situation for preservation, as Gen 5 was polarizing at the time of release but has since been touted as one of the freshest entries in the series.
We'll see if Game Freak remakes it anytime soon (the fact that there are sequel games to tie in also makes the project tougher), but for now, we have Gen 10 of Pokémon to look forward to. Hopefully, more retro releases are peppered with those mainline entries.
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