Gotta Catch 'Em All! - Pokémon Thread

The entire 30 year history of Pokemon! It's always kind of fun when we get these montages of all the old games.

You know, when you look at how many Pokemon there are now, it IS kind of crazy how far we've come over the years.



The Pokemon Game Music Collection. Huh. A little mp3 player that looks like a original Game Boy...and can only play these 45 cartridges worth of music. This is both kind of cool...and kind of shady all at the same time. I can't lie, it does feel like a money grab. I feel like you could fit all 45 cartridges worth of music on ONE cartridge, nowadays. But, I guess this does kind of make it more collectible, which is kind of fun. I guess it depends on what the price for the individual cartridges are? Or are they JUST available in this big box set? If so...that just feels like a waste of plastic. I guess that would save on having to build in a display to select the track on the Game Boy itself, though? Maybe this was actually the cheaper way to go? Weird thing. Kind of neat. But, definitely weird. Does this just run on batteries? Are there little batteries in the cartridges, themselves? I'm curious about some of the details about this. I guess this is kind of fun? I'm not sure how to react to this. What a weird left field thing to reveal.

We get a little bit of a..."ad", really, for the 2026 Pokemon World Championships. It looks fun, but I'll never go. "Don't forget to go to the Pokemon Center Store to spend all your money!"

The Trading Card Game guys know how to make a cool trailer. You can't tell me, otherwise. The art on the Cresselia/Darkrai card made me do a double take. I thought they were revealing some new gimmick or something. But, I think it's just stylized artwork.

Pokemon Go is celebrating it's 10th Anniversary! Oh...that makes me feel a little old. Time flies. Also there's a promo code to encounter one of the Kalos Starters: GOTOURKALOS.

In Pokemon Masters EX, the original artwork version of Trainer Red will be appearing! So...is this going to be treated as a time-travelling version of the character, or someone from another dimension? I guess it doesn't matter. They're having a 6.5 Year Celebration, where you can get a lot of gems for logging in! That's...not how anniversaries work, but I guess they just wanted to be included.

I am enjoying the birthday hat Pikachu transitions. You decorate for that party, Pikachus.

Pokemon Cafe Remix is having a event where you can get all the Starters. Neat. Cute.

For a second, I thought Pokemon Sleep was going to go all Five Nights at Freddy's on us. But, no, it's a Mew Mission, instead. Kind of a neat trailer.

Pokemon Unite is having a event where you get the Kanto Legendary Birds! Just what we need...more Birds. Also, a Electrode Volleyball World Tour is coming! I...don't know what that means!

The Trading Card Game Pocket mobile game is getting more cards! Not surprising, but I do like some of the art.



Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness is coming to Nintendo Switch Online...in March. And they don't seem to mention if it's going to be compatible with Home or not. Wait...so...they're NOT starting with the original Colosseum? Weird. I wonder if there's some technical problem behind the hold up?

We get a announcement that Fire Red and Leaf Green are coming to Switch. Weird that they didn't just save this for this presentation, but...fine? I don't know why they undercut their own reveal for this. They WILL be compatible with Home...eventually. No firm date on when. So...I'mma gonna wait. No reason to buy these games before they're compatible with Home. Maybe there will be some sort of online sale between now and then. I'm not holding my breath, but who knows?

Also, it's easy to miss, but the infographic shows that Pokemon Champions will have a "Link" to Home. Not a full transfer. So, maybe you don't have to directly transfer your Pokemon into Champions to play with them? You might just be able to synch up to Home and play that way? I guess we'll see.

Pokemon Champions! I don't know if this leather-longcoat guy is supposed to be anyone, but he's going HARD! And it's coming in April! Only on Switch, with the mobile version coming later, that's a little strange, since that's almost the entire gimmick. Odd that we aren't getting a firm release date, at this point, but whatever. I'll admit, I'm not totally sold on this game. I don't really care about battles or the competitive side of the fandom. And I was kind of hoping they'd reveal...something more about this game to excite me, personally. But, yeah, no real new information outside of a vague release month.

The Mega Garchomp Z event is now in Pokemon Legends Z-A! This is the last Mega we knew about, I think. And they don't mention anything else. So...I guess this puts a wrap on Legends Z-A? The trailer kind of gives away all the new Megas, too, so...sorry if you haven't beaten the DLC yet? Huh. I really thought we might get more than that. It feels kind of weird to end the game on Mega Garchomp Z. Oh well.

In Pokopia, we get another few strange new forms for various Pokemon. DJ Stereo Rotom! Neat! I could actually see this one showing up in the mainline games, eventually. It can play CDs that you find in game. And it's found in this weird, underground-looking cavern. This game continues to have a weird, post-apocalypse feeling and I REALLY want to know what's going on. Also, Chef Dente/Cook Greedent! It's cute. Hopefully, it's not cooking anything...sketchy. You never know with this game. I guess the food is a way to befriend other Pokemon and power yourself up. That makes sense. Huh, and you can transform into objects to play hide and seek with others in multiplayer. That almost feels unfair, but oh well. That's one big, blocky Ditto, alright. Seems like you can befriend Legendaries, too. I wonder if any of the Legendaries have new forms, too? I mean, they almost HAVE to for at least one of them, right? Maybe Mew, if they want to do something with the whole Mew/Ditto connection conspiracy theory. It releases March 5, so I guess we won't have to wait long to see.

"See! We talked about a LOT of stuff! So, don't you nerds dare complain about this Presents online!"



But, now, FINALLY...it's time for Generation 10!

These are some really nice pieces of art for every past game and region. One page for every generation, nice! I kind of want to see this art in a art book or something.

I guess we're going to be able to dress up Pikachu again, in these new games? Cosplay Pikachu returns? Or Partner Pikachu from Let's Go? At the very least...Vacation Pikachu is born! I wonder if that's JUST going to be for Pikachu, or for all your Pokemon? Probably just one, special Pikachu, is my guess.

And actually...thinking it over...it's possible that "Windychu" and "Waveychu" are actually....(Potentially BIG game spoilers via leaks, though it's mostly just speculation):

Oooh, I like that white tower, we see in the water! Is that the hotel? I'll admit...this kind of just looks like a scaled-up version of Scarlet and Violet, to me. It seems like it's using a lot of the same textures and models. I'm not sure how some people are going to react. But, it looks nice enough, to me. Hopefully, it can actually run well.

Oh, here are the new Starters! I didn't think they'd actually reveal the starters, yet! And they're...kind of in a odd art style? They all have such big heads. There's a grass bird Browt, a fire Pomeranian Pombon, and a water salamander Gecqua. Kind of similar to Rowlet, Litten, and Sobble, even if they have completely different "personalities". I think I like the fire Pomeranian the best, he looks like such a happy pupper! Given the name "Pombon", though...I wonder if he's going to evolve into a "bomb"? I think they're already growing on me. Gecqua is probably my second favorite. And Browt...we'll wait and see what the final evolution looks like. It could end up as my favorite overall, who knows?

This might be my imagination, but I wonder if they're giving us a hint about one of the new Legendaries with that suspiciously bird-shaped cloud in one of the shots.

And we will be able to Dive underwater. Neat! It's been a while since we could do that.

Winds and Waves! The rumors were TRUE! And they'll be out in 2027! So, not this year, which is a shame for some people. But, hopefully, this gives them a chance to polish these games up a bit.

I made 11 total predictions. So, there's a opportunity for 11 total points.

-I'm giving myself a full point for calling Winds and Waves not coming out until 2027. I know some people are going to be upset about that. No big game on the big anniversary year. But, it does make sense, to me. +1 point.

-No new DLC for Legends Z-A means no points for me. I really thought we'd get SOMETHING involving a Mega Deoxys or at least something to help with the Hyper Berry shortages in the game. But, no such luck. It really feels like Legends Z-A ends on a bit of a whimper with just Mega Garchomp Z coming out. But, I guess that's more MY opinion than anything else. There's nothing wrong with ending things there. Which means...I really have to buckle down and actually catch Rayquaza to finish the DLC. *SIGH* Time to grind for Hyper Berries...again. +0 points.

-They didn't announce Legends Z-A getting compatibility with Home AT ALL, which is a little surprising. You think they'd at least mention a timeframe for when we can finally move our Pokemon into Home. My boxes are full to bursting! So, we still don't know which Shiny Mythical we'll get for completing the Pokedex in Home. I could still be right about Shiny Hoopa, but no announcement means no points. +0 points.

-Nothing new for Scarlet or Violet, which is a little surprising, given how easy it would be to just do some sort of Shiny Legendary Tera Raid for the game. But, I guess Gamefreak's too busy working on Winds and Waves to give any support to the last mainline game. I guess Shiny Zygarde to go along with Shiny Rayquaza just isn't happening. That's a shame. +0 points.

-We're getting XD later, but no sign of Colosseum, yet. No shadow drop, and no announcement of comparability with Home either. I'm...giving myself a generous 1/2 point for XD being here, at all. It's kind of weirdly disappointing that we're getting XD, but not Colosseum at the same time. +0.5 points.

-We got a release window for Champions. But, no mention of any rewards for playing every "season" or anything. Honestly, as a primarily single player, I'm not seeing much reason to even bother downloading the game. But, we'll see. I'll give myself....1/4th of a point. +0.25 points.

-In Pokopia, I didn't get a weird, mutant Eevee, but we did get Chef Greedent and Stereo Rotom. This might be generous, but I'm giving myself a full point, here. I wonder how many other Pokemon will get new forms for this game, that we still don't know about? This game is actually looking pretty fun. If I was more into city-sim games, I'd be a lot more likely to play it. Also...I don't have a Switch 2, yet, so that's not happening for a variety of reasons. +1 point.

-We didn't get a Classics Collection, but we're getting FRLG digitally. No physical version at all. It got announced early, but I'll still give myself quarter of a point for it. +0.25 points.

-No theme park news. Which is a little surprising. Maybe they mentioned something in the Japanese version of the Presents? +0 points.

-No talk about Pokemon Legos AT ALL. Which is a little surprising. They don't usually miss a chance to shill their products during these things. They focused on the Game Music Collection, instead. Completely called that one wrong. +0 points.

-No anime movie, or special Captain Hat Pikachu to go along with our collection of Ash Hat Pikachu. Which...that was a big swing, I'm not surprised or disappointed about that. They don't usually talk about the anime at all during these Presents, for whatever reason. I still think it's possible that Liko could end up meeting Ash before the end of the Horizons anime. But, if they were doing another movie, they probably would have said something. +0 points.

So, by my count I got...3 out of 11 possible points. That's 27%. Not great, that's a failing grade, but I'm lucky I got anything AT ALL, I guess.

Overall, this Pokemon Presents was...maybe a little disappointing? We DID get to see A LOT more of Winds and Waves than I thought we would. And I'm actually growing to really like our new starters. That's the biggest thing. But, even given my relatively meager expectations, Pokemon found a way to deliver even less. It seems like this is kind of a "transition year" for Pokemon. Which is kind of a shame on the big anniversary. But, oh well. Maybe we'll get more announcements as the year goes on? I wouldn't count on it, but it's not impossible.

So, let's get the big stuff out of the way first. I think this is the "bad" ending to Winds and Waves.

Let's start with what we know, for sure:

This game is a post-apocalypse version of Kanto taking place sometime in the future. How far in the future is a little unclear. All the locations you can visit in Pokopia are locations in Kanto after some big disaster has happened all over the world. So, I guess we now know why they re-released Fire Red and Leaf Green, right now. It only makes sense to make some form of Kanto available to remind people of the original layout of the region!

The humans all left the planet in a spaceship. And they don't have enough fuel to make it back to the planet.

They kept the Pokemon safe by putting them in the PC storage system. Since, they couldn't take their Pokemon with them. And there was a failsafe programmed in, so the Pokemon would be automatically freed from the PC, if enough time passed without anyone to come check on them. But, only if they have a environment around they can survive in. So, this game is actually pretty clever. Instead of finding Pokemon in the grass, you're planting grass so that the Pokemon has a habitat it can thrive in.

And someone from Team Rocket is still on the planet. And, by the end of the game, you end up helping them "blast off" in a rocket of their own. And it sounds like they can bring more fuel to the humans in space, so they can return to the planet. I wonder if their "new boss" is actually a older Silver?

So, really, this entire game is about a little Ditto who's trying to fix a broken world...just so they can be reunited with their trainer who's lost somewhere out in outer space.

So...you know...just a chill, relaxing cozy game plot.



The disaster itself is left pretty vague, but we do get some hints.

It seems to be some sort of meteorological disaster. Storms and hurricanes causing problems in a "certain region", which eventually spread out to the entire planet.

And the volcanoes went inactive, at some point. Possibly caused by the crystals that are springing up underground, that you can see in what used to be Saffron City, turning it into a mass of floating islands.

There was a "conservation group" that was organizing relief efforts all around the world, and helping to get people off the planet.

So, with all this, personally, I think this entire game is the "bad ending" to Winds and Waves. We know from the leaks, that Gen 10's gimmick is going to have something to do with the weather. And the player character is a member of some sort of "conservation group" in the region. So, chances are, we'll be working for the same group that helped humanity escape the planet into space in Pokopia.

Plus, Winds and Waves is based on Southeast Asia. And you know what happened in the real life Southeast Asia? Several famous volcanic eruptions that affected the entire planet. Like Krakatoa and Toba and Tambora, causing things like a Year Without A Summer. So, chances are, we'll have to stop some sort of natural disaster from happening in Winds and Waves. Possibly involving some sort of sacrifice to a volcanic Pokemon. Plus, Southeast Asia is JUST south of Japan. So, in real life Winds and Wave's region should be just south of the Sevii Islands. So, it'd make sense that some sort of disaster in Gen X's region would first affect Kanto.

The underground crystals are likely a result of this Volcanic Legendary. This is probably further escalation of the crystal formations caused by the "Grimmick Legandaries" in each game. In every game, the crystal structures that are connected to the regional gimmick of the game keep getting larger and larger. And I think we're now seeing the tipping point, where the entire core of the planet is turned into a giant crystal! It's a escalation of the same phenomenon we saw in Area Zero in Scarlet and Violet. More on this theory, over here:



Then there's Professor Tangrowth's human, hinted at by diary entries and the broken glasses that Tangrowth wears. I think he MIGHT be Blaine? That would explain the glasses. But, it's possible it's no one that we know. But, it'd make sense that he'd be one of the people researching volcanoes. And that patch of grass by Pallet Town that has Tangela in it IS in between Cinnebar and Pallet Town.



There's talk about a Pokemon Life app, which sounds a lot like the Poke-Pelago from Sun and Moon. You raise plants to attract and care for Pokemon. I could see there being some sort of a similar minigame in Winds and Waves, too.



We do see a spacesuit. And it looks suspiciously similar to the suit you wear during the Delta Episode in ORAS.



That one letter about a little girl missing her Pokemon so much that she was crying every night is just so sad. Trying to replace it with a plushie didn't help, anything.



Chances are, Ditto's trainer is still alive. Even though "centuries" may have passed due to the state of the floating islands that get mentioned. I think they're planning on using "time dilation" to explain why less time has probably passed for the humans up in space compared to how the much planet has changed. Astronauts are said to age slower than people living on Earth, after all. So, while 1000 years may have passed on the planet, maybe only 10 years have passed for the humans up in space, or something.


On a lighter note, there's talk about scientists trying to make a yellow Shellos. So, we might see a regional version of Shellos in Winds and Waves. Maybe even partially a electric one, given it surrounded by Pikachu-themed merchandise in some pictures. Horsea also gets a mention, so maybe we'll see a regional variant for Horsea, too.