Wes is on his way back to the desert, and many fans would like him to get there sooner.
Nintendo has confirmed that Pokémon Colosseum, its GameCube spin-off from the early 2000s, will come to Nintendo Switch 2 through the GameCube Classics library. That puts the game’s return more than two decades after its original release. It sounds like good news, but the fans who care most about the game are mostly reacting with impatience.
The sequel arrived first after a year of waiting
Much of that frustration has played out on Reddit. A user in the game’s subreddit noted that more than a year has gone by since Nintendo first announced Colosseum for the Switch 2.
“It’s now a year since the Nintendo Direct where we were shown that Pokémon Colosseum would be added to Nintendo GameCube Classics on Switch 2,” the post said. “Wonder what the hold up is, especially as XD came out already. Hoping they’re somehow adding the extra Pokémon for all, or maybe Home compatibility?”
The XD part is what makes the wait sting. Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, the 2005 sequel, is already available on the service, so the follow-up made it there before the original.
Fans have some surprisingly good theories
Fans were quick to offer their own reasons for the delay. One user pointed to the order in which Nintendo showed the games in the original presentation.
“XD was shown before Colosseum in that presentation. They definitely just felt XD was better to do first, whether that’s because of theming or mechanics/polish or being generally easier than Colosseum,” the user said, adding, “that’s my take, anyway.”
Another fan offered a more specific idea, tied to the way the game saves your progress.
“My theory is that it’s for something to do with the save feature. If you ever played the original, you know you can only save at PCs, and with the load state function in the glorified emulator, that totally changes how hard the game is. So I wonder if they are trying to find a way to circumvent it,” the user said.
The save theory seems the more likely of the two. If a game’s difficulty depends on players only being able to save at PCs, that balance falls apart once they can reload any time they like.
Why a GameCube spin-off still matters to people
For anyone who missed it, here’s a quick summary. In earlier Pokémon games, you met random wild Pokémon as you explored. Colosseum dropped that system and had you “snag” Pokémon from other Trainers instead, and it offered both single-player and multiplayer battles.
You play as Wes, a former member of Team Snagem (the pun is deliberate), as he travels through the desert region of Orre. His mission is to save “Shadow Pokémon,” whose hearts Team Cipher has darkened, by snagging them from other Trainers.
Wes is helped by Rui, who can see which Pokémon have been afflicted with a darkened heart. The whole premise depends on her ability.
When it launched, Colosseum did well with both critics and buyers. Its success was enough to earn a sequel, Gale of Darkness, in 2005.
No release date yet
At the time of writing, Nintendo has not given an estimated release date for Pokémon Colosseum on Switch 2. It also hasn’t offered any explanation for the delay.
Fans hope the wait means Nintendo is quietly improving on the original, perhaps with extra Pokémon, Home compatibility or a fix for the save issue. None of those possibilities has been confirmed.
For now, the sequel is available, the original still isn’t, and Wes remains stuck in Orre.