Pokemon Legends Arceus: Wardens, Frenzied Nobles and more revealed

The Pokemon Company surprised us all this morning when they shared a bunch of new information about both the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes as well as the upcoming Pokemon Legends Arceus. While the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes brought news that was a bit of a letdown with the return of Hidden Moves, we learned of some possibly really excited stuff for Pokemon Legends Arceus.

The trailer showcases a lot of stuff we already knew was coming, such as some of the various outfits you can wear to really make your character stand out. But if you pay real close attention, there’s a lot of new information as well, some of which could hint at some very exciting revelations.

Firstly, it reveals there’s going to be characters known as “Wardens.” From the looks of things, these are going to serve as impromptu gym leaders of sorts. The weird thing is that while a lot of elements from this game are directly tied to Sinnoh, some of these wardens look inspired by trainers from completely different games. Like tiny cowboy Lian who looks like a child cosplaying Clay from Pokemon Black and White down to the EXACT same gem set up on the hat. And the trainer known as Mai who, when I first saw her I went “Whoa, Marley is in this?” because she is 100% Marley.

This opens up a whole thing where maybe this doesn’t just branch out to lead to the events of Diamond and Pearl but maybe everything.

Another really cool thing they did was introduce the concept of “Frenzied Pokemon Nobles.” No, these aren’t the guys at the local card shop trying to scam people out of rare cards. From the looks of things, these are the Pokemon Legends Arceus equivalent of boss fights.

As shown in the trailer, the player has to go up against an evolution of Scyther, a bug/rock type known as Kleavor. And as the name implies, this absolute monster replaces Scythers sickle arms and with FULL ON CLEAVERS. You fight it while it’s glowing gold with energy which, after beating, chills the heck down and stops glowing — allowing you to see it in all it’s horrifying glory.

This is a lot. So now, with one simple trailer, we know that there are going to be characters similar to gym leaders. We know that there’s going to be really fun-looking boss battles that look like something out of Monster Hunter. And we even know that there’s a possibility that this game could serve as a nexus point for all Pokemon games.

I, personally, can not wait. Pokemon Legends Arceus is due out for Nintendo Switch on January 28, 2022.