Detective Pikachu Announced With "Live Action" Trailer

[Steven Bogos]

Detective Pikachu Announced With "Live Action" Trailer

Detective Pikachu will be released in Japan next month.

Way back in 2013, we heard about a Pikachu spin-off [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129085-Next-Pokemon-Title-is-a-Detective-Game-With-Pikachu] Nintendo was developing, which would see the yellow rat turned into a detective. Now, it has officially announced the new game with a live action CGI trailer, and surprising us all by announcing the game's Japanese release for February 3.

The trailer shows Pikachu donning Sherlock Holmes's famous deerstalker cap, walking around a city, talking to suspects (in a very non-Pikachu style voice), and doing other detective work. The player acts as Pikachu's trainer, and will team up with him to solve mysteries. Nintendo is billing the game as a "cinematic adventure".

Back when we first heard about the game, Nintendo was talking about using facial recognition technology [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128936-New-Pikachu-Game-Features-Terrifying-Pikachu-Man] for the game's Pikachu. Given the range of emotions on Detective Pikachu's face, I think it's safe to say that they pulled it off.

The game will be released at the low price of 1,500 yen (about $20) on the Nintendo eShop. There's no word on a western release for Detective Pikachu right now, but we have reached out to Nintendo of America for clarification.

Source: The Pokemon Company Japan [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9j9RWkPstc]

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[EyeReaper]

This is everything right in the world.

Nintendo. You can't blue ball us now. You gotta bring Pikachurlock Holmes over to America. and make an amiibo of him too.

 

[StormShaun]

That voice...
Pikachu's voice.

I... I can't tell if that's awesome or REALLY hilarious (in a good fashion).
Boy, I am rather flabbergasted.

 

[Bad Player]

「俺は探偵じゃないぞ。名探偵だ！」

Detectives? Check.
Pokemon? Check.
Sexy man-voice? Check.

Yup, this thing is perfect. I'm insta-buying this, can't wait for next week!

 

[FillerDmon]

....
*eyes bulge*
*breathing intensifies*
*begins heavily vibrating in place*
Must. Have. Western. Release.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

Honestly, the best part of it? The lip sync. I've been laughing for minutes.

 

[MeatMachine]

...

Well, I guess this alone fully compensates for the 6 generations of Pokemon games that were absolutely terrified of changing from the original formula.

If there's one thing the Japanese excel at, it's defying expectations with their seemingly infinite weirdness.

 

[Auron225]

If you sat me down and explained to me that you were going to make a Detective game starring Pikachu, I'd be laughing at you, not with you.

The trailer... I don't know why I like it but I do. Whoever came up with the concept is either insane or a genius but more likely both.

 

[Dango]

Maybe Nintendo's taking the petting mechanic out of Fire Emblem so they can put it in this game.

That's the way it works, right?

 

[CaitSeith]

Well, that talking Pikachu isn't creepy at all... D:

I wonder what kind of gameplay this "cinematic adventure" will have.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

He has a pet boy. Do they capture and pit humans against each other in this world then? Finally!!

 

[ccggenius12]

Please tell me he has a flask of ketchup because of how "hard-boiled" he is.

 

[Flathole]

oh HELL yes. release this in all languages and world peace will be achieved

Well, that talking Pikachu isn't creepy at all... D:

I wonder what kind of gameplay this "cinematic adventure" will have.

im hoping its an H-game. we see a brief clip of a girl kissing pikachu, so you had better be able to "evolve and grow" with any characters in the franchise canon. i demand full-frontal nudity, without blurring or black bars, on the western release.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

This is the best thing i've seen all day.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I'll be the skeptic of the group, since no one else seems to want to (and also because I'm not very impressed with the concept anyway). So after the rousing success of launching a new IP with Splatoon, Nintendo is suddenly getting shy and falling back on shoehorning known IPs into what could have been new franchises? The idea of a mystery-themed game would have been the perfect time for them to introduce a new character (especially if they intend for this to be a one-off anyway) for us to potentially fall in love with and maybe launch a whole new series of games.

Instead we have this trailer that, I'll be completely honest, looks like a joke concept. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the game WILL be bad. Just that I'm disappointed that yet another potential new IP opportunity is squandered on being yet another Pokemon spin-off.