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The Pokemon Company has a 24-minute briefing on news and reveals for the Pokemon franchise. All the announcements have been summarized here.

The first announcement is that the Pokemon World Championships will be taking place in Anaheim, California this year. There will be an exclusive card given away, and a Toedscool event.

Pokemon Concierge is next up. New episodes will be on Netflix on September 4th.

Aardman animation studio discusses its upcoming stop motion animation project. Titled Pokemon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd and Pichu, it'll be out sometime in 2027.

Pokepark Kanto is an outdoor attraction in Tokyo. It'll be opening soon. The goal is to broaden fans' ideas on how Pokemon interact with each other. The park will be split into two sections--one is a town, and the other is a forest where all the Pokemon live. It will open next year.

Pokemon Go Fest 2025: Max Finale is taking place this year.

Carmine & Sinistcha are being added to Pokemon Masters EX.

Lapras is getting a new outfit tomorrow, and Alolan Meowth, Totodile, and Minccino will get pirate outfits too, in Pokemon Cafe Remix.

Pokemon Sleep is adding Amber Canyon.

Pokemon Unite is getting Latios and Latias. Electrode Volleyball is a new mode coming to the game.

The Pokemon TCG is getting the Mega Evolution expansion on September 26.

Pokemon Friends is a new puzzle game for phones. Every day you solve a puzzle you unlock a plushie that you can decorate in your virtual room. Available today.

Scarlet and Violet are teasing a new Tera Raid tomorrow. Players will need to win these raids a million times together in order to catch the Pokemon in the raids.

Pokemon Champions will have a ranked mode, and private matches. There will be a mode that allows you to edit their EVs and attacks. It'll release next year.

Pokemon Legends Z-A caps off the broadcast. We get a new trailer showing the characters and Pokemon available. Mega Dragonite is a new form shown off. During the day, you can catch Pokemon, and at night, trainers will fight you. There's tons of new clothes and hairstyles. There's sidequests you can do. Pokemon are Mega Evolving on their own and out of control, and you'll have to fight them as bosses. Launches October 16.

 

[ChronosNotashi]

Dude, we could get a PMD Sky remake or something in the interim but no, can't even put that much effort eh? I really liked the Rescue Team PMD remake.

Maybe Spike Chunsoft is too busy with other projects to dedicate manpower to a PMD game right now? Or they are working on one, but neither they nor The Pokemon Company are ready to reveal anything about it yet?

Spike Chunsoft only develops/publishes around 2-6 games a year, and their most recent Mystery Dungeon game was the Shiren the Wanderer game released just last year. Not to mention the gap between Pokemon Mystery Dungeon releases seems to get wider with each release, and I would not be surprised if part of that is people often expecting the next PMD game to be bigger and better than the game before it (especially in the case of the next one - people will be expecting more than simply a 3D remake of a previous title).

 

[RetroNerdGamer]

Maybe Spike Chunsoft is too busy with other projects to dedicate manpower to a PMD game right now? Or they are working on one, but neither they nor The Pokemon Company are ready to reveal anything about it yet?

Spike Chunsoft only develops/publishes around 2-6 games a year, and their most recent Mystery Dungeon game was the Shiren the Wanderer game released just last year. Not to mention the gap between Pokemon Mystery Dungeon releases seems to get wider with each release, and I would not be surprised if part of that is people often expecting the next PMD game to be bigger and better than the game before it (especially in the case of the next one - people will be expecting more than simply a 3D remake of a previous title).

Ooooh I forgot about the whole "Spike Chunsoft does PMD" thing. That was so my bad. Either way, dying for a PMD Sky remake. But to confirm, Spike develops PMD and TPC/Game Freak have nothing to do with it besides the Pokemon skin so to speak?

 

[ChronosNotashi]

One concern I have is the technical performance. We all saw the embarrassing launch that was violet/scarlet. I wonder if the lack of anything meaningful to show is due to ZA being in a poor technical state and that they are still scrambling to fix it.

Well, there's going to be a Switch 2 Edition that seems to have consistent framerates based on the trailer, so the only thing we have to worry about on the technical end regarding that is the base Switch version. We still have about 3 months before release, so they might still show more details leading up to release, and are likely saving some of the more "meaningful" stuff for that.

That said, one of my main questions right now is regarding the Furfrou trims and whether or not they'll be transferable to Pokemon HOME without reverting to Natural Form. Because if they can be transferred from Legends Z-A to HOME with the trims intact... -evil chuckle that turns into a Mark Hamill Joker laugh while looking at all of the shiny Legendaries on GTS asking for Diamond Trim or Pharaoh Trim Furfrous-

 

[Lumpofcoal]

Well, there's going to be a Switch 2 Edition that seems to have consistent framerates based on the trailer, so the only thing we have to worry about on the technical end regarding that is the base Switch version. We still have about 3 months before release, so they might still show more details leading up to release, and are likely saving some of the more "meaningful" stuff for that.

That said, one of my main questions right now is regarding the Furfrou trims and whether or not they'll be transferable to Pokemon HOME without reverting to Natural Form. Because if they can be transferred from Legends Z-A to HOME with the trims intact... -evil chuckle that turns into a Mark Hamill Joker laugh while looking at all of the shiny Legendaries on GTS asking for Diamond Trim or Pharaoh Trim Furfrous-

I'm still willing to give them some benefit of the doubt. But from my POV, I have less trust now in the trailer being an indicator of potential performance. I remember that scarlet/violet had smooth trailers as well but the end product ended up being a far cry.

 

[ChronosNotashi]

Ooooh I forgot about the whole "Spike Chunsoft does PMD" thing. That was so my bad. Either way, dying for a PMD Sky remake. But to confirm, Spike develops PMD and TPC/Game Freak have nothing to do with it besides the Pokemon skin so to speak?

That is correct, somewhat. As far as actually developing Pokémon games, Game Freak almost exclusively works on mainline games, with The Pokémon Company licensing the Pokémon IP to other developers for spin-offs (or remakes, in the case of Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl - Game Freak was already working on Legends: Arceus at the time and were putting all of their Pokémon-related manpower into that and early Scarlet/Violet development). The Pokémon Company also typically handles publishing in Japan for these games, with Nintendo handling worldwide publishing (with the exception of certain games; such as Pokémon GO, which was formerly developed and published by Niantic, who has transferred ownership and development/publishing to Scopely as of this year).

As for the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, only the Pokémon part is TPC's domain. The Mystery Dungeon games themselves are mostly developed by Spike Chunsoft, and MD games not developed by them are only developed with their permission. So we have to wait for both TPC and SC to decide when they want to start development of a new PMD game before we start seeing anything.

 

[raxadian]

There is many discarded and unused Pokemon designs that Gamefreak technically still owns.. and they went with something a kid could and probably did make back in Gen 1 and 2.

https://m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_unused_Pokémon_and_character_designs

Yes Dragon4 looks a bit too much like early Charizard but that early design for Dragonair had potential.

Also there is the early designs in the Japanese Pocket Monsters Red and Green, making Mega Dragonite look more like his original sprite would have been cool and nostalgia bait.

 

[Xzi]

Being able to change EVs and natures in Champions is pretty neat, that's a feature that probably should've been added to all Pokemon games a long time ago though. It's not enough on its own to pull me back into engaging with the IP consistently.

 

[Moogley]

The graphics are improving at least. In about 5-10 years, we should be back up to GameCube quality.

 

[BlusterBong]

I mean, it's hardly shocking to see Nintendo/The Pokemon Company/Game Freak continue to make pokemon games still, especially consitering how Viacom/Paramount/Skydance/whatever they'll call themselves next week still relies quite a large amount on SpongeBob, one of the highest grossing media franchises ever made and Disney continues to leave the Simpsons and Family Guy on life support dispite the many people still wanting them to pull the plug.

 

[HinaNaru Cutie]

i just wanna make a question here if anybody can fill me in here ... um what happened to the lore, characters of x and y?? why aren't they in the game and why are they showcasing new characters as if the story from x and y is just gone..-im confused.

but um yeah i was not even interested in watching it because i knew it hasn't been the same since yeesh.. for me i believe it was when sword and shield was hyped up to be releasing. after that i only watched the trailer for legend arcs - forgot the dang name dont drag me on this .

but um i only watched that trailer and gave up when they just ditched the actual pokemon like its not the same at all they legit rebooted the entire pokemon itself that i dont find it interesting or even want to waste my time with it anymore, and it sucks because i do like pokemon grew up with it thanks to my sibling but now its... dreadful to know any new news about it.. so bleak.

but yeah...

 

[ChronosNotashi]

i just wanna make a question here if anybody can fill me in here ... um what happened to the lore, characters of x and y?? why aren't they in the game and why are they showcasing new characters as if the story from x and y is just gone..-im confused.

As far as I'm aware, the story of X and Y isn't gone per se. It can be implied that Legends Z-A takes place some years after XY*, since AZ now runs a hotel with Eternal Flower Floette (recall that they were reunited during the ending of XY's main story), and Enma (from XY's post-game story) is now an adult and leading the detective agency (and possibly sporting a modified version of the Expansion Suit under her jacket). Even one of the members of Team Flare, Mable, returns as acting director of the Pokémon Research Lab, possibly having reformed after Team Flare's downfall.

We may or may not see other characters from XY make a return (Professor Sycamore, for instance, may be elsewhere in Kalos or the world, if Mable's managing the lab in his place) but a couple of the new characters are either part of Quasartico Inc. (which is the company leading the urban redevelopment of Lumiose City) or Rust Syndicate (which could potentially be the antagonist group this time around).


*It should be noted that after XY's release, it became trickier to estimate when the main games take place in the timeline (since official details regarding the timeline stopped after XY - the only judgment beyond that being a 2-year gap between XY and SMUSUM), and Gen 8 made this even harder by having no significant enough references to the previous regions to help estimate when the events of Sword/Shield occurred. Best guess I can make is that the gap between XY and Legends Z-A is likely no more than 5-10 years, if we:

1. assume Z-A's events take place at roughly the same time as Scarlet/Violet. which potentially has a similar gap between BW2 and The Teal Mask/The Indigo Disk - this does somewhat depend on Lacey's age (likely 15) and when she was born relevant to when BW2/XY take place, since she and Drayton (who is at least 18, due to having to repeat the same year at least 3 times) are the closest link to the older games due to being the daughter and grandson of Unovan gym leaders, respectively; and
2. consider the amount of time it could take to get Lumiose City to the point that it's at right now, since it can take more than a couple years to redevelop a city that's as large as it is.

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

Not sure what to think of this game honestly. I already have dread provided the crapfest that was Sword, Shield, Scarlet, and Violet. I can't speak much on Legends Arceus because quite frankly I wasn't really interested in that one (though the little I have seen of that game, it didn't look promising). Mega Dragonite looks stupid though, I mean of all the really cool mega evolution designs we got in X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire, why does Dragonite get a shitty mega design? Guess I'm still going to stick to generation I-VII.

 

[GamingIsDead]

Dragonite looks like ass.

 

[KanaKonpaku]

Yeah this was... quite disappointing. Didn't need to be a direct, would've made for a subpar email too. I have no problem with them making new Pokemon games, with the only expectation that they at least are GOOD. Last few games haven't been the best, and Z-A looks to be "okay" at best, and the rest of the announcement was very "meh". Well, that's modern Game Freak/The Pokemon Company, it seems...

 

[ftjiso]

pokemon presents is always disappointing probably the worst ongoing nintendo event there is. not sure what people were expecting. mega dragonite design looks terrible IMO. gamefreak would've made tons of money if they re-release the mainline pokemon games but they refuse to do so. instead, they remake pokemon diamond and made it mediocre. the last pokemon game i've enjoyed was x and y.

 

[lordelan]

And the award for the most pointless presentation video of all time goes to...

 

[ChronosNotashi]

pokemon presents is always disappointing probably the worst ongoing nintendo event there is. not sure what people were expecting. mega dragonite design looks terrible IMO. gamefreak would've made tons of money if they re-release the mainline pokemon games but they refuse to do so. instead, they remake pokemon diamond and made it mediocre. the last pokemon game i've enjoyed was x and y.

To be fair, it wasn't Game Freak that developed Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl. It was ILCA that developed those, as Game Freak was working on Legends: Arceus and Scarlet/Violet at the time. Still, despite being mediocre remakes (and having a number of issues - looking at you, untransferable Spinda), they still sold a total 15.06 million - just barely under twice the sales of Platinum, and below the original Diamond/Pearl's combined 17.67 million sales.

Hilariously, Legends: Arceus made more or less the same number of sales on its own - maybe more since the 15 million point was reported. Hell, people considered it the real "Gen 4 Remake" of Gen 8, and it was even reviewed better than the actual 4th-gen re-releases/remakes. Turns out rose-tinted glasses can only go so far.

 

[Maximumbeans]

... Are the only patch notes that I give a shit about. Looks like i will continue to avoid using it

Also Pokemon Legends Z-A being almost exclusively in an urban cityscape environment is a big L here. Really thought the trailers were just showing one city but no it appears this city is the entire game world

I remember seeing a map that has some of the other locations outside of the city on it, I think we'll be able to visit other towns in the full game.

And honestly while I enjoyed everything after Let's Go... I feel like S/M, Ultra S/M and Let's Go were kinda peak before things went down hill.

Hard agree. I've tried everything up to date, but outside of the Legends games, the vast majority of my time with Pokemon is now with the older titles. I've also been getting into ROM hacks, which are much more engaging than I thought they'd be (when they're not ass).

 

[zxr750j]

I will buy the Switch version, if they'd made a themed switch2 I would have bought that one. So still no swtich2 for me...

 

[Ondrashek06]

Ok, this is about MK8DX but pretend that the logo is Pokémon