Pokemon announcement teased for Japanese Jump Festa

The yearly Jump Festa convention in Japan is a celebration all things nerd culture, with anime, gaming, and manga taking the spotlight. Surprisingly, Nintendo's Pokemon have never made a showing, despite fitting nicely into all three of those categories. This year, however, Nintendo will be bringing their pocket monsters to to the show. While we don't know what the reasoning, there's been a promise of "surprising information" that has us exceptionally excited.

"Pokemon makes first appearance at JF!!" the latest issue of Shōnen Jump teases. "Surprising information on the show floor?" If that wasn't inticing enough, the magazine also teases a "big surprise" at the Pokemon booth.

We're obviously crossing our fingers for a new Pokemon game – maybe the third game in the Black/White series for the DS (or 3DS) – but we're cautious to get too excited. Jump Festa also has a large anime presence, so there's just as good of a chance that it might be a new Pokemon movie as there is a game. Still, why would Nintendo suddenly bring Pokemon to the show after all these years unless they were planning on bringing something big? 3DS Pokemon big?

We won't have to wait too long to be cripplingly disappointed, though – this year's Jump Festa takes place on December 17 and 18 in Japan. We'll keep you posted.

Hollander Cooper

Hollander Cooper was the Lead Features Editor of GamesRadar+ between 2011 and 2014. After that lengthy stint managing GR's editorial calendar he moved behind the curtain and into the video game industry itself, working as social media manager for EA and as a communications lead at Riot Games. Hollander is currently stationed at Apple as an organic social lead for the App Store and Apple Arcade.