Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire Nintendo Switch Release Date Update Splits Gamers

Published Nov 15, 2026, 2:00 PM EST James is a gaming writer from London who has spent thousands of hours exploring titles from every genre. Though he has a particular affinity for multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft, Destiny 2 and League of Legends, he has also put thousands of hours into single-player experiences, from deep RPGs to epic PC strategies. When he's not playing or writing, he can usually be found supporting his beloved Brentford FC. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Whatever your favorite game in the series happens to be, there are some universally recognized high points that are deserving of all the praise they get. Near the top of that hypothetical list for a lot of people is Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire, the first installments in the third generation, which brought us two of the best Legendaries in the franchise to date. The games have remained relevant over the years thanks to the remakes, and a resurgence in the desire of fans to return to the older games between major mainline releases. Despite all of that, the games have remained frustratingly out of reach for Nintendo Switch players, who still can't enjoy the title as part of the console's collection of classic games. Now, news that they could be on the way has broken, but it seems as though they might take a little longer to release than we were expecting. Game Freak In case you missed the initial announcement, Shpeshal Nick (who regularly posts inside information about upcoming releases from Nintendo) shared a post stating that ports of Pokémon Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire were planned for late September/October. Given that we're now in November and we haven't heard anything from Nintendo about that, Nick shared a further post confirming that the plans have changed. "Reached out to my source asking for an update here (because everyone keeps asking me) and it seems this plan has changed. The ports apparently won’t make it by the end of this month. Will try and keep you posted when I get an updated timeline. Sorry to let people down," the post reads. As you might expect, there were all sorts of responses from fans who had been looking forward to playing the games. "Early October was a good window. November onwards, Ocarina of Time is the focus. I'm not expecting to see them now until around Pokemon day in February," one response read. While another added, "I can see it happening sometime in December/January." "Welp, it looks like it's Pokémon Day then... With RS, then Emerald releasing later next year?" a third said. It is interesting that they didn't choose to announce these ports as part of the ongoing celebrations around Pokémon's 30th anniversary. There have already been plenty of exciting tidbits around that though, so it may well be that they're looking to spread out some of the hype to fill in the gaps while we wait for Winds and Waves. Winds and Waves are set to serve as the first games of the tenth generation for the beloved creature collecting franchise, and it feels like a very important moment in its history. The next Pokémon games absolutely need to evolve the formula for the large portion of the player base who feel as though things have become stale in recent years. What we have seen so far looks like it has the potential to do just that, so let's hope Game Freak manages to turn that promise into something tangible. Released March 19, 2003 ESRB e Developer(s) Game Freak Publisher(s) Nintendo Engine Unreal Engine Multiplayer Local Multiplayer Franchise Pokemon