Prerelease:Pokémon Legends: Arceus
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
 | This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. |
Pokémon Legends: Arceus was announced on February 26th, 2021, and was released just under a year later. While not much information about the game's development has been shown at this time, some changes can be peeked at through the various trailers revealed before the game's official release.
Development Timeline
 | To do: We don't currently know much about the game's development, as interviews and other media on the development is scarce, if any exists at all. Fill this timeline out more once more information becomes available. |
- 2018
- Late 2018 - Pokémon Legends: Arceus enters development.
- 2021
- February 26 - During the Pokémon Presents 25th Anniversary livestream, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is shown off for the first time with a reveal trailer. Release date is set for "Early 2022".
- May 26 - The official Pokémon Twitter account reveals the game's finalized Box Art and a release date of January 28th, 2022.
- August 18 - A new trailer is released, showing off more about mechanics, the story, and gives a look at UI elements, which were absent from the footage in the previous build.
- 2022
- January 28 - Pokémon Legends: Arceus is officially released.
Gameplay Trailers
| To do: The trailers were released in several different languages and different footage was used for each, sometimes showing differences between different trailers. Document these different versions.
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Feb 26th, 2021 Reveal Trailer
- Overall texture resolution/quality and the game's render resolution seems lower than final.
- In the Cobalt Coastlands, Piplup are shown spawning near Ginkgo Landing, unlike in the final where they have no chance of spawning there, and instead spawn next to a pond near the top of the map, near Islespy Shore.
- The pink flowers that sprout near patches of shorter grass in the Obsidian Fieldlands look much less refined in the trailer, with a seemingly lower texture resolution.
- The visual effect for hitting a Pokémon with a Pokéball is missing, along with the other visual and audio effects for Pokéballs being different than the final.
- The animation frame-rate of some Pokémon in the overworld when up close is much more choppy than the final, suggesting some bug with the LOD system the game uses, or incomplete animations for some Pokémon.
- Battle animations seem less refined in this build, with fewer visual effects surrounding them for flare on most moves shown.
- The NPC outside the left side of the entrance gate to Jubilife Village (the right side in the footage) with a Buizel, Dorian, is missing.
- A few loose papers seem to be missing from the floor around the sides of Cyllene's desk inside Galaxy Hall.
- UI elements seem to be absent; Whether this is for cinematic reasons (since this is a trailer) or because they weren't yet implemented is not confirmed, but since screenshots with UI do exist from the same time-frame as this trailer's release (as seen here), it's likely the former.
August 18th, 2021 Trailer
- The overworld UI is noticeably different, with a different icon for the Arc Phone, Satchel, and Pokédex, along with no names under items in the item roulette, nor Pokémon names and health bars in that roulette.
- Piplup is still shown spawning near Ginkgo Landing in the Cobalt Coastlands, instead of its final spawn location.
- In the Obsidian Fieldlands, Snorlax and Munchlax are shown spawning on the Horseshoe Plains, when in the final, neither can be found in that section of the Obsidian Fieldlands, with Munchlax only having a small chance to spawn near Deertrack Heights, and Snorlax only being available as an Alpha that spawns near the wall surrounding Verity Lake, on the landpath to the Sandgem Flats.
September 28th, 2021 Trailer
- The trailer seems to pull gameplay footage from two slightly different builds:
- An earlier build without the labels under the item roulette (and likely the Pokémon, but with a finalized design for the Arc Phone, Satchel, and Pokédex UI elements, seen in the first minute or so of the trailer (This build has to be later than the August 18th trailer build, as said UI elements weren't finalized in that build).
- A later build with the UI element of Pokémon and Item names showing in the roulette, plus the other changes from the previous build.
- The hairstyle selection menu is shown with the backdrop of such being a cloudy sky, while in the final it's a blurred view of the inside of the Hairdresser's Shop.
- The clothing selection menu is shown with no blur on the background of the overworld, while in the final the same blur while in other menus is applied here as well.
Images
Pokémon Legends: Arceus Webpage (February 26th, 2021)
The initial launch of the official website for Pokémon Legends: Arceus contains at least one screenshot which shows off a major difference.
Battle UI
| Website | Final |
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The Battle UI at this point is quite different from the final, with basically every element having some difference in appearance or positioning:
- The colourful calligraphy swipe where the player's current Pokémon and its stats are shown is positioned higher up, and has a much brighter shade of blue.
- The opposing Pokémon's stats are shown in a similar fashion to the player's stats in this build, while in the final they are placed above the head of the Pokémon.
- The Gender Markers for the Pokémon are hard-edged diamonds, instead of rounded squares.
- The Health Bars in this build have a design that looks more like a straight calligraphic swipe, while in the final they are a simpler, rounded rectangle.
- The party indicator is shifted to the bottom-left of the screen, but in the final it's nested neatly under the calligraphy swipe's curve. The Pokéballs used in the indicator have a brighter icon that looks to be drawn more as if you're looking straight at the Pokéball at it's latch point. The final has an icon with more muted colours and a design that suggests the view of the Pokéball is from slightly below the latch.
- The design of the move selection menu is different, with a similar shape to the final, minus the hard diamond shape on the right side of the move icons, and with thick type-coloured outlines, a different font, and without any indicators of Move Mastery (which a Level 70 Gallade would almost certainly have in the final).
- Elements like the move icons and black cinematic bars do not yet have transparency.
- The Move Description window (that shows the Power, Accuracy, etc of the currently selected move), the Action Order and Status Info buttons, the button prompts in the bottom-right, and the level indicator for the opposing Pokémon are all missing from this screenshot.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus Webpage (August 18th, 2021)
The update to the official website on August 18th has a mix of screenshots within the Gameplay tab that seem to range from a build similar to the August 18th trailer build all the way up to a final-looking build.
Overworld
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The item and Pokémon roulettes on the overworld are missing the names of items and Pokémon at this point, along with missing health bars on the Pokémon roulette. The left side UI elements are not yet finalized, with the Arc phone looking more like a regular cell phone, the satchel instead just being a generic square with items over top of it, and overall the icons being more rounded than the ones used in the final game. These screenshots seem to be from a build similar to the August 18th, 2021 trailer's build.
Battle UI
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The names of Pokémon in the Pokémon roulette are CAPITALIZED in this build, which places it somewhere between the August 18th and September 28th later build's footage, as in both of those it's either missing entirely or is as it is in the final release.
Crafting Menu (Crafting Table)
| Website | Final |
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The icon for crafting was changed from a more conventional-looking Hammer and Pokéball(?) design, to a more simply designed mallet with no other object in the icon. The icons showing how many of an item are in your satchel/storage were also slightly changed.
Hairdresser
| Website | Final |
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The backdrop for the Hairdressing menu is a cloudy sky, rather than a blurred view of inside the Hairdresser's shop. This screenshot in particular seems to have been taken from the footage recorded for the September 28th trailer, as the exact same frame can be seen in it.
Clothier
| Website | Final |
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When in the Clothing selection menu at the Clothier, the overworld does not get blurred out. Like above, this screenshot seems to been taken from the September 28th trailer, as the frame shown here also shows up in that trailer.
