Original Pokemon Games Finally Coming To eShop

It’s happened at last, fellow Pokemon trainers. After several years of watching Pokemon spin-off after Pokemon spin-off appear on the eShop, we can now play the original Pokemon titles on our Nintendo 3DSes. Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow will all be arriving in the Nintendo eShop on February 27, 2016.

These titles will preserve the original games in all their black and white, pixelated glory….though we don’t have high hopes that MissingNo or Glitch City will make an appearance. Weird, infamous glitches aside though, it is completely possible to “catch em all”, even though the days of Link Cables are long gone. The Nintendo 3DS’s wireless communications system will serve to let you trade your Pokemon with friends nearby, no cable required. There’s only 150 Pokemon (or 151? Will they let us catch Mew?) in these versions, and all three are compatible with one another, so collecting every species should be a piece of cake for veterans.

February 27th is the same date the game were originally launched, now 20 years later. It’s a big anniversary for Pokemon, and we should expect to see even bigger things from them in 2016. This is just the first. Bring it on, Pokemon!