CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Pokémon Legends: Arceus

2022 role-playing video game

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ105688771 ↗
Source-derived summary

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. It is part of the eighth generation of the Pokémon video game series and serves as a prequel to the fourth-generation titles Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (2006). The game was first announced as part of the Pokémon 25th Anniversary event in February 2021, and was released worldwide on 28 January 2022.

The game follows the protagonist, who is sent back in time and travels through the Hisui region, which is based on the island of Hokkaido during early Japanese colonization. The game is centered around exploration of the region's several open areas populated with Pokémon, with its main objective being to complete the Pokédex by catching all Pokémon. Pokémon Legends: Arceus was a commercial success, having sold over 14.83 million copies by 31 March 2023. It was also a critical success, receiving generally favourable reviews, and being nominated for several end of the year awards, including Best RPG at The Game Awards. A second Legends game, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, was released in 2025.

Gameplay

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an action role-playing game that maintains the core gameplay of past mainline entries. The player can freely explore the game map, which is divided into five large areas of individual biomes.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” as 2022 role-playing video game. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pokémon, Legends and Arceus.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2022, 2006, 2021, 2023—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2022-01-28. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Pokémon, Legends and Arceus providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Pokémon Legends: Arceus”, the useful work is to connect “2022 role-playing video game” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q105688771. 1 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 5 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2022, 2006, 2021 and 2023.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Pokémon Legends: Arceus”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Pokémon Legends: Arceus primary sources, Pokémon Legends: Arceus archive and Pokémon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pokémon Legends: Arceus”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.