Pokémon meets Animal Crossing: Pokémon Pokopia is the strange new game revealed in today's Nintendo Direct
Play as a Ditto that transforms into a human in Pokémon Pokopia, an unusual new game from The Pokémon Company that bears a resemblance to Animal Crossing.
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Today, during the Nintendo Direct, Pokémon had a surprisingly strong presence. Normally, Pokémon announcements would be saved for a Pokémon Presents, the Pokémon-focused presentations, but today, there were three major announcements, including a brand-new game. We learned about five new Mega Evolutions that will appear in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, as well as DLC for the upcoming title, and an entirely new game that looks like a cross between Pokémon and Animal Crossing: Pokémon Pokopia.
Pokémon Pokopia looks like Pokémon meets Animal Crossing
The biggest Pokémon announcement was the reveal of the upcoming Pokémon Pokopia. This unusual Pokémon title has the player take on the role of a Ditto, the Pokémon that, at least in the games, can transform into any other Pokémon. But in Pokopia, Ditto transforms into a small human and learns new powers from other wild Pokémon that allow the player to shape and build the world around them.
In the trailer, Ditto learns to create grass from Bulbasaur and learns to water plants from Squirtle, and it appears there will be a lot more to learn from various other Pokémon across all the games. The world is full of cube-like shapes that immediately make comparisons to Minecraft. But there are also some similarities to another Nintendo property: Animal Crossing. Unlike Minecraft, it doesn’t appear that players will be able to use any block in the game to build structures; instead, a more simplified crafting system will be used to build furniture and buildings.
The trailer starts off with a somewhat ominous mystery. Ditto wakes up in a cave near a photo of themselves with an anonymous trainer. This doesn’t come up again in the trailer, but The Pokémon Company could be keeping some things hidden for future trailers. For now, all we know is that Pokémon Pokopia will be released sometime in 2026, and there will probably be more to learn between now and then.
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Author: Matt Buckley
Matt has been writing for Gamepressure since 2020, and currently lives in San Diego, CA. Like any good gamer, he has a Steam wishlist of over three hundred games and a growing backlog that he swears he’ll get through someday. Aside from daily news stories, Matt also interviews developers and writes game reviews. Some of Matt’s recent favorites include Arco, Neva, Cocoon, Animal Well, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Tears of the Kingdom. Generally, Matt likes games that let you explore a world, tell a compelling story, and challenge you to think in different ways.
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