A Surprise Pokémon Game Just Dropped for Switch and Mobile

The Pokémon Company is releasing a new, unexpected game today: Pokémon Friends, a daily puzzle game you can download now for mobile devices, Switch, and Switch 2. The company revealed the game as part of a Pokémon Direct presentation that included new details on Pokémon Legends: Z-A and a Switch 2 bundle, Pokémon Champions, and more.

In Pokémon Friends, players untangle yarn—essentially solving different puzzles, like freeing pokémon from a box or fixing tracks—to make and collect plush toys. Once you’ve made a toy, you then get to decorate your room with it. Much like with typical games in the series, collecting is important. The yarn you earn from puzzles, which are randomized between a few different possible outcomes, dictates which plush toys you’re able to make. Early puzzles, which are touch-based, are pretty simple. Completing a route while drawing only one line, for example, isn’t much of a challenge when it’s the only line you can draw.

Pokémon Friends is free to download on iOS and Android, with puzzles offered daily. Players who want to unlock more puzzles will need to buy DLC packs for $15 each, or as a package for $26. On Switch platforms, the game costs $10 and includes the DLC.

The Direct also showed off more gameplay for Pokémon Champions, an online, battle-focused game, and the highly anticipated Pokémon Legends: Z-A, launching October 16. New to the Pokémon Legends universe: rogue Mega Evolutions, where creatures evolve on their own and wreak havoc; players will need friends’ help to take them down.

Nintendo is releasing a special Switch 2 bundle alongside Z-A, which includes the game and console, for $499.99. Notably, that price is the same as the system’s launch bundle with Mario Kart World. The company will raise the price of the original Switch in August for some regions.