Pokémon Crystal (3DS Virtual Console) and Pikachu New Nintendo 2DS XL out on January 26th

14 December 2017 Lite_Agent Game Freak, Pokémon Crystal, The Pokémon Company

Back in September, Nintendo released Pokémon Gold and Silver on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. If you were wondering where Pokémon Crystal was, and whether or not Nintendo was saving it for later, we now have the answer: it’s releasing on January 26th in Europe, North America, and Japan. Just like Gold and Silver, it will cost 9.99 € / $9.99 / 1 111 Yen.

Here’s the debut trailer for the game:

For those of you who never heard of Pokémon Crystal before, it’s an expanded version of Pokémon Gold and Silver. Among the new features, there’s the possibility for the player to choose between a boy or a girl as playable character… a first for the Pokémon series! It’s also the first Pokémon game to introduce animations during Pokémon battles.

Also, after completing the game, you will be able to encouter Celebi in a special event. In the original version (on GameBoy Color), you needed to use a special accessory, but Pokémon Crystal on Virtual Console lets you encouter the mythical Pokémon as part of the main game.

Naturally, Pokémon Crystal will be compatible with Pokémon Bank, allowing you to transfer Pokémon to Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. In fact, with this release, you will now be able to transfer Pokémon from all 29 core games in the series to the latest entry!

Other features of Pokémon Crystal on Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console include:

Link Trades and Link Battles via local wireless
Time Capsule: trade and battle Pokémon from Pokémon Red Version, Pokémon Blue Version, and Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition.

Also, in Europe and Japan, the game will be available at retail, though with only a download code inside the box. In Japan specifically, the box also includes various goodies: magnets, a poster of the Pokémon from the Johto region, and some stickers.

Of course, players in Japan will be able to buy a download card for the game, instead of purchasing it directly from the Nintendo eShop, or buying the physical release. Download cards will be available from January 8th, because it’s on that day the game will be available for pre-purchase on the Nintendo eShop. It’s safe to assume Europe and North America will also get the pre-purchasing option on the same day!

Finally, here’s various pictures for the game: