Pokémon games on Nintendo Switch: all titles

Julia9 FEBRUARY 2026

Content

What are Pokémon games?
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! & Let's Go, Eevee!
Pokémon Sword & Shield
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
The newest Pokémon games
Nintendo Switch Online-games & Pokémon spin-offs

The Nintendo Switch now offers one of the most extensive Pokémon libraries of all Nintendo consoles. Thanks to the wide range of genres, you’ll always find a Pokémon game that suits your play style. In this overview, you can see all Pokémon titles currently playable on the console, complemented by games that will be released soon. Browse the list below and choose which Pokémon adventure you’ll begin!

What are Pokémon games?

A large green Pokémon with a pink flower on its back crouches on a glowing battle arena, while its young trainer stands watch behind.

Pokémon games are all about Pokémon: unique creatures with special powers. You’ll encounter them in all shapes and sizes, from small and cute to big and powerful. On Nintendo Switch, these games rank among the best Switch titles. The Pokémon Company and Nintendo launched the Japanese franchise in 1996 and developed it into a global media universe with animation, films, cards, games and merchandise.

On Nintendo Switch you’ll now find the largest and most varied selection of Pokémon games. You can choose from main titles where you catch Pokémon and battle with them in exciting fights, or spin-offs such as Pokémon Pokopia: a cosy game in which you rebuild a world. Thanks to their innocent and colourful style, many Pokémon games are among the best games for children.

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! & Let's Go, Eevee!

In a sunny forest clearing, an Eevee battles a fiery Charmeleon, surrounded by glittering balls of light, while their trainer watches from the background.

Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! are the first mainline Pokémon games for Nintendo Switch and reimagine the classic adventures of Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow. In these games you explore the iconic Kanto region and meet familiar characters such as Misty, Brock and Team Rocket. In Let’s Go, Pikachu!, Pikachu follows you everywhere on your journey. Would you rather share the adventure with Eevee? Then choose Let’s Go, Eevee! You can carry your partner on your shoulder like a small pet, pet them, feed them berries and dress them up in adorable outfits. You can also have another Pokémon walk alongside you, who will occasionally find items for you. Catching Pokémon is done via motion controls: you throw Poké Balls with the Joy-Con, similar to the throwing mechanic in Pokémon Go. Thanks to the accessible gameplay and a Pokédex focused on the original 151 Pokémon (plus a few extras), the Let’s Go games offer an easy-going entry point for both new players and returning fans.

Check out Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu!

Pokémon Sword & Shield

Inside a packed stadium, two Pokémon face off: a floating sword-and-shield and a fiery rabbit striker, as their trainers watch intently.

Pokémon Sword & Shield kick off a new generation of Pokémon adventures on Nintendo Switch. For the first time, the games introduce the Wild Area: a vast open space where you can catch Pokémon and see other players cycling around. Beyond that, you still travel from town to town as in the other games. Gym battles take place in gigantic stadiums, complete with cheering crowds, and revolve around Dynamax (the regional gimmick of Sword and Shield, where your Pokémon temporarily grow to an enormous size). This makes for spectacular battles that really shine when your Switch is connected to your TV. The games also received 2 expansions that let you explore new areas. The Isle of Armor focuses on training, while The Crown Tundra is all about exploration and Legendary Pokémon in a cold, expansive landscape inspired by Scotland.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

In an underground chamber, a small trainer stands among large Pokémon statues, with a giant Snorlax sculpture centred on a stone pedestal.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl are faithful remakes of the original Diamond and Pearl for Nintendo DS, bringing the Sinnoh region to Switch with a modern chibi style that clearly evokes the DS and 3DS games. The world, structure and storyline remain true to the original. For players who never experienced Diamond, Pearl or Platinum, these remakes offer the most accessible way to explore Sinnoh in the Switch era.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus

A crouching trainer in old style gear approaches two Bidoof in a vast purple tinted valley of grass, flowers and distant hills beneath a gentle sky.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes a completely different approach, putting focus on exploration and catching in an action-focused Pokémon game set in the distant past. You explore the untouched Hisui region, the old name for Sinnoh, and you might recognise locations, Easter eggs and references if you’ve just played Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl. The world consists of vast, wild areas such as icy plains, swamps and dense forests, with little civilisation and a strong focus on survival. Poké Balls have only just been invented, and you’ll often need to craft them yourself, along with other items, during your expedition. Your mission? Observe, study and catch Pokémon to compile the very first Pokédex.

Check out Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

A mounted trainer rides a futuristic Pokémon across a wooden bridge towards a village and Pokémon Centre, guided by a colourful minimap bottom right.

Where Sword & Shield offered an initial taste of open-world gameplay in Pokémon, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet deliver the series’ first fully open-world experience. Players explore a world filled with Spanish-inspired towns, food and Pokémon, while attending either Naranja Academy or Uva Academy, depending on the version. You discover the open world on the back of a Legendary Pokémon that resembles a motorbike, riding, swimming and flying through the game with the goal of becoming Champion. Along the way, you attend classes, build friendships with teachers and investigate a mysterious crater to uncover the secret of the Paradox Pokémon and stop a gang of bullies at school.

The DLC expands the adventure with 2 new locations. On a school trip, you visit Kitakami, a rural Japanese-style area where a local legend stirs the village. Blueberry Academy is a school beneath a dome in the ocean, where, as an exchange student, you explore various artificial biomes filled with unique Pokémon. Scarlet & Violet are available on Nintendo Switch, with an upgrade for Switch 2 that offers higher frame rates and improved resolution.

View Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Pokémon Legends: Z-A

On a sunlit rooftop terrace, a trainer commands Chikorita against a Flaaffy, while menus and attack names shine clearly across the battle interface.

Unlike earlier Pokémon games, Pokémon Legends: Z-A doesn’t take place in a world with multiple towns and regions, but in one sprawling city. You explore alleyways, climb across rooftops, dive into the sewers and discover special Wild Zones where you can catch Pokémon. Battles take place entirely in real time: you control your Pokémon directly to attack, dodge or Mega Evolve. At night, Lumiose City becomes the setting for the Z-A Royale tournament, where you face other Trainers to climb the ranks. The Mega Dimension DLC adds extra endgame content. The story takes place in an alternate version of Lumiose City, packed with new Pokémon, Mega Evolutions such as Mega Lucario Z, and challenging battles. Pokémon Legends: Z-A is available on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.

View Pokémon Legends: Z-A

The newest Pokémon games

Inside a futuristic stadium, several Pokémon clash under vivid lights, with a dynamic trainer on the left and Pikachu hovering above the glowing arena.

The tenth generation of Pokémon coincides with the franchise’s 30th anniversary, making 2026 already promise to be a big year. On Pokémon Day (27 February), The Pokémon Company hosts an annual livestream where the next games are revealed. It looks like that’s when we’ll be introduced to the new starter Pokémon, possibly the Legendary Pokémon, and the new region. According to rumours, this region is set on an archipelago resembling Indonesia and the wider Southeast Asia area, although this hasn’t yet been officially confirmed. While there were no Pokémon games in the Switch 2 launch line-up, it now appears that an exclusive mainline Pokémon title for Switch 2 is finally on the way.

Pokémon Day

Nintendo Switch Online-games & Pokémon spin-offs

A colourful top down map shows Pokopía, with paths, gardens, water and forest, as many roaming Pokémon gather around a central red roofed building.

Not all Pokémon games are about battling and Gym Badges. One of the reasons the Nintendo Switch ranks among the best handheld consoles is the huge variety of games, and that certainly applies to Pokémon titles. In Pokémon Pokopia, for example, you play as Ditto and rebuild an abandoned Pokémon world. By gathering resources, gardening and constructing buildings, more and more Pokémon return to help you with the restoration. For fans of photography and nature documentaries, there’s New Pokémon Snap, in which you travel through a wide range of natural environments and capture Pokémon in their natural habitat.

Prefer detective work and puzzles? Then Detective Pikachu Returns is for you: together with a talking Pikachu, you solve all sorts of mysteries while searching for your missing father. For action fans there’s Pokkén Tournament DX, a fighting game similar to Tekken, and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, a dungeon crawler with roguelike elements. There are also the free-to-play titles Pokémon Café ReMix and Pokémon Unite.