NintendoEarlier this year, we got a first look at an unexpected Pokémon spinoff through a Nintendo Direct showcase. Pokémon Pokopia looked a lot like a Pokémon-themed Animal Crossing game in its initial reveal, taking place in a village where the player has Pokémon for neighbors, focusing on taking care of their needs. Now, a ten-minute extended trailer for the game shows just how much Pokémon Pokopia will differ from that inspiration, while unveiling new Pokémon types for the very first time.The new Pokémon Pokopia starts off with a surprising face — that of an alternate form of Tangrowth, who seems to serve as the player character’s mentor. Professor Tangrowth, as the Pokémon is called, also reveals that Pokémon Pokopia takes place in a region that’s been abandoned by humans and Pokémon alike, leaving a ruined Pokémon Center in the middle of what once must have been a thriving town.To get the settlement back up and running, players will have to put in a bit of work to get new Pokémon to settle there. Planting patches of grass is enough to catch the interest of some types, while others need more specialized habitats. The kind of terrain, foliage, and even decorations like workout equipment and trash cans, will affect which Pokémon show up, lending their help to restoring the town. Once they arrive, Pokémon will let you use their signature skills, and some like Lapras and Dragonite will even give you the ability to transform into them, allowing you to swim or fly from your starting town.Pokémon Pokopia will also feature a camera you can use to snap photos around town, or turn it around to take selfies with your villagers. The new trailer also shows that you’ll be able to customize your character with a range of hair styles and skin tones.Professor Tangrowth is the player’s guide in Pokémon Pokopia. | NintendoThe biggest new feature shown off in the extended trailer is Pokémon Pokopia’s multiplayer mode. Up to four players can play together in one town at the same time, with the ability to build and complete requests from Pokémon together. Game Share can be used to play with friends who don’t own Pokémon Pokopia, whether they’re on Switch 2 (the only platform the game is available on) or the original Switch.While its multiplayer aspect is the most substantial new gameplay reveal, an even more surprising addition to Pokémon Pokopia is a few brand-new Pokémon variants. While no entirely new species appear in the trailer, different versions of existing Pokémon are shown off at the end. The first is a more colorful Smeargle, seen painting on a canvas below a flickering street lamp. That leads into a ghostly white Pikachu illuminating a series of lamps, which in turn shine on a moss-covered Snorlax. All of these new variants appear in a much darker location lit by lamps and bioluminescent plants, though what exactly it is and how it will show up in the game have yet to be revealed.Pokémon Pokopia includes new variants of Pikachu and Snorlax for the first time. | NintendoThe new trailer offers a lot of interesting details about the upcoming game, but it arrives just after one much more poorly received update. Just days before it debuted, Nintendo revealed that Pokémon Pokopia will be released on the controversial Switch 2 game-key card, which requires players to both insert a cartridge into their consoles and download the game from the internet in order to play. While that may not spoil the mood for anyone who’s planning to play the digital version, it does make the physical version of the game much less appealing. And for anyone who’s going the digital route, preorders have also opened for Pokémon Pokopia on the Switch eShop.As disappointing as the game-key card reveal is, the new trailer does a lot to show how Pokémon Pokopia could stand out from similar games. The need to tailor your environment to attract certain Pokémon could give a nice structure to the game compared to more freeform life sims, and the potential to uncover even more new Pokémon variants could scratch the shiny-hunting itch of longtime series followers.Pokémon Pokopia will be released on Nintendo Switch 2 on March 5, 2026.