Pokemon Conquest release date set for DS, is the new name for Nobunaga crossover

For Pokemon fans, of which there are many, the announcement of any new Pokemon game is reason to celebrate, but today's reveal is more exciting than most. Pokemon Conquest has just been announced for US release on June 18 for Nintendo DS. Why are we so overjoyed at this fact? Because we felt fairly certain this game would never be released outside of Japan.

Late last year there were rumors of a new Pokemon game to be announced in Japan, a game that ended up being Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition. It wasn't the sequel to Black/White we were hoping for, but the strategy game crossover that brought together pocket monsters with Koei's unique take on Japanese history sounded incredible (and incredibly niche). We were sure that such a specialized game coming out on the virtually dead DS had little chance of ever being launched outside of Japan. Thankfully we were very, very wrong.

The title has only been out a couple weeks in Japan, now Nintendo and Pokemon Company have announced it's coming to the US in a matter of weeks with a little name change. Could this be a sign Nintendo is relaxing its standards on what games are "too Japanese" for international audiences?