​

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.

 

[Scarlet]

Ok, this is about MK8DX but pretend that the logo is Pokémon
View attachment 518121

but the whole joke there is that nintendo release a "new" bundle with mario kart 8 deluxe every holiday season, it doesn't work for pokemon lol

 

[DragonMals]

I watched this with my sister, and even we were disgusted with how much boring content there was to add to the place. Onlt interesting things was Pokémon Showdown and Pokémon Legends ZA.

At least they finally (hopefully) listened to the fans for once witb the clothing customization...

 

[DefaltPearce]

As many have said before, this could've been an E-Mail. Like Gamefreak is a lost cause, it's not even funny anymore.

 

[ftjiso]

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.

i mean yeah it's pokemon. even if there are bad pokemon games it's gonna sell well no matter what. pokemon scarlet and violet sold very well even with bugs and performance issues. sword and shield also did well.

i wish we got rereleased pokemon games and not remakes. but it looks like that's not gonna happen.

 

[retrospect]

The web is full of fan designs for Mega Dragonite, and The Pokemon Company wont want to be seen to be using anything close to any of those. Looks like we get what's left: a bad AI rendition if Dragonite.

 

[DefaltPearce]

The web is full of fan designs for Mega Dragonite, and The Pokemon Company wont want to be seen to be using anything close to any of those. Looks like we get what's left: a bad AI rendition if Dragonite.

Gamefreak is beyond salvation.

 

[SonowRaevius]

Mega Dragonite should have been blue

 

[nmagod]

Pokemon is the highest grossing franchise in the world; it's not going anywhere.

Highest grossing, highest funded, and it has direct input from its three parent companies and THEY STILL PUSH SLOPPY WORK like it's the greatest thing ever made.

At this point I'm convinced they're doing it on purpose. There's no possible way they genuinely thought the performance in Sc/Vi was acceptable. Sure, seeing tiny pokemon get blown away by strong winds was funny, but when average battles see a 40-60% drop in framerate you have inherent game issues that NEED to be addressed - and did they? Over the course of two DLCs and how many updates?

 

[Ambers_Crimson_8K]

Dragonite looks like ass.

looks or has! lol

 

[ChronosNotashi]

i mean yeah it's pokemon. even if there are bad pokemon games it's gonna sell well no matter what. pokemon scarlet and violet sold very well even with bugs and performance issues. sword and shield also did well.

i wish we got rereleased pokemon games and not remakes. but it looks like that's not gonna happen.

Well, as far as actual re-releases, they did do the GB/GBC games through Virtual Console, and...yeah. While we don't have any definitive numbers, the last noted sales number for all VC mainline Pokémon games combined was ~1.5 million. Which was...much less than even Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon (those combined had about 6x the total sales). And third parties weren't exactly pleased with the sales numbers for virtual console games, either. If we get any Pokémon game re-releases, they'll be limited to the NSO services (and likely locked out of HOME and such, since otherwise they'd have to remove save states/cloud saves).

Again, rose-tinted glasses can only go so far. If it doesn't translate to something profitable, even in the long-term, most developers/publishers won't really bother (outside of doing compilation collections released purely to maintain ownership of a dead/dormant IP; you know, like what Capcom's been doing to Mega Man and Konami with Castlevania until Haunted Castle Revisited). They're more likely to conclude that the time, effort, and resources put towards getting an older game working on newer hardware would be better spent...either remaking that same game or just making a completely new game.

(Edit: It just came to my attention that some time after the 3DS release of the Gen 1/2 games, there were changes to the guidelines for the PEGI rating that gives an automatic 18+ rating for games with any kind of gambling. This covers even the most simplistic forms of gambling, so this would likely put a number of the older Pokémon game within the PEGI 18+ range. Not something Nintendo would want to deal with.)

Post automatically merged: Jul 24, 2025

The web is full of fan designs for Mega Dragonite, and The Pokemon Company wont want to be seen to be using anything close to any of those. Looks like we get what's left: a bad AI rendition if Dragonite.

Which is fair. Ironic enough, DMCA and Fair Use Policy go both ways, and I would not be surprised if "fan artists" have sued developers/publishers in the past for allegedly "stealing" their works. It is likely that Game Freak isn't the only developer that has had to scrap asset ideas because they were too close to someone else's work to risk potential litigation.

 

[RetroNerdGamer]

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).

Yeah, I like this one for Emerald called R.O.W.E.
It's been fun so far. Any rom hacks YOU'D recommend?

Also not to disagree, but the newer Pokemon games are FUN, but they could be much more. At least not buggy messes like Scarlet was. Ironically I didn't run into any of the bugs so...hm.

 

[SS4]

Ohh, this means new Mega and other things will come out in Pokérogue soon!!!
yeah, i don't care about mainline pokémon games anymore, pokérogue gives me my fix of what i like about pokémon without the boring and tedious stuff lol

 

[Maximumbeans]

Yeah, I like this one for Emerald called R.O.W.E.
It's been fun so far. Any rom hacks YOU'D recommend?

I'm still a newbie as far as the scene goes so anything I recommend, you'll probably already know, my friend. ROWE is a solid shout, Unbound is probably known by everyone at this point. Recharged Yellow is full of charm and great if you just want Yellow's version of Kanto but in Gen 3. Crystal Clear is amazing if you love Game Boy Johto.

Also not to disagree, but the newer Pokemon games are FUN, but they could be much more. At least not buggy messes like Scarlet was. Ironically I didn't run into any of the bugs so...hm.

No, I completely align with what you're saying. It's not that the games aren't enjoyable—I actually had a really good time with Sword and Shield for the first, say, 65-75% of it. It's just that they don't have the heart and soul of the older titles. I don't feel pulled into the worlds anymore, I don't feel the sense of adventure.

 

[kuro0628neko]

I love Pokemon

unlike STD or SPA or SDA or whatever his name is.

Nowadays they're called STIs.

 

[The Catboy]

Wow, that was boring. Glad it didn't affect my views on pirating Z-A, which I am going to do

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

honest thoughts: i personally don't think this game is worth it and if i learned anything from SV and SWSH's launch, the game as it looks in the trailer is going to be the final game, one of the main reasons i'm not excited for it is because this game should've been Z right after X and Y, interviews claimed they wanted to make Z for the longest time but i mean it when I say it could've been possible had they placed the rest of gen 7 on the switch along with LGPE. SWSH, SV, PLA, BDSP, etc. were next gen steps that i don't think GF was ready for wholeheartedly and I think putting way too many next gen pokemon games on the 3DS really bit them and it shows.

things i like: i do like the fact that they are introducing new megas, that was something i think alot of people were expecting since let's go but never happened for some reason, i like the character custimization, it seems as versitile as it was in SWSH if not more, i do think the combat while seemingly a tad bit jank it does look more engaging than PLA, it sort of reminds me of ATB idk why, i do think there are good things here, but i think i'm going to sit out this entry.

Post automatically merged: Jul 25, 2025

Well, as far as actual re-releases, they did do the GB/GBC games through Virtual Console, and...yeah. While we don't have any definitive numbers, the last noted sales number for all VC mainline Pokémon games combined was ~1.5 million. Which was...much less than even Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon (those combined had about 6x the total sales). And third parties weren't exactly pleased with the sales numbers for virtual console games, either. If we get any Pokémon game re-releases, they'll be limited to the NSO services (and likely locked out of HOME and such, since otherwise they'd have to remove save states/cloud saves).

i think the reason why the reason why they haven't re-released those games is because of NSO's limitations, another solid argument is that re-releases aren't the focus as much as they once were, back in 2018 they didn't really have a big focus on VGC, mobile games, TCG, as well as short animations for younger demographics, though hints for what was to come was always there specifically for VGC and mobile games. when BDSP came out the fact that it was outsourced to another studio was enough to really see that re-releases in any capacity isn't really as predictable as it use to be so in a nutshell a BW remake or a classic pokemon collection or port will either be a make or break from how things have been switched up unfortunately

 

[ChronosNotashi]

i think the reason why the reason why they haven't re-released those games is because of NSO's limitations, another solid argument is that re-releases aren't the focus as much as they once were, back in 2018 they didn't really have a big focus on VGC, mobile games, TCG, as well as short animations for younger demographics, though hints for what was to come was always there specifically for VGC and mobile games. when BDSP came out the fact that it was outsourced to another studio was enough to really see that re-releases in any capacity isn't really as predictable as it use to be so in a nutshell a BW remake or a classic pokemon collection or port will either be a make or break from how things have been switched up unfortunately

You pretty much summed up what I was saying. The person I was replying to was claiming that re-releases would be a huge money maker for TPC and Game Freak, when in reality re-releases...aren't as profitable as one would assume. Trust me: I've worn rose-tinted glasses before, and it's an amazing experience at first - feels better than everything that came after. But once they come off, it quickly becomes clear just how much the older games have aged, and some of them not for the better. (For me, it was Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog - it wasn't until years later that I realized just how much they aged...and how it was primarily the Chao Garden that kept me playing SA2B back then.)

And that's why I feel the same way you do about it: you can't rely on nostalgia alone to determine sales, and re-releases have become more and more unpredictable. The most you can expect to get with them is the small crowd that have their rose-tinted glasses permanently super-glued to their faces, and who will shovel anything "retro" down their throats without a second thought. Same for remakes, really - they're hit or miss, depending on how much they change the experience.


As for the idea of a Pokémon Z...if I'm going to be honest, that ship kinda sailed the moment Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire released and stole the Mega Evolution mechanic for itself, and Sun/Moon adopted it as part of the post-game. Doing a Legends title to follow up on XY's story is possibly the best approach they could've went with honestly; expands the story/lore in a way that could feel more meaningful compared to getting another Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl-style remake (which didn't really add much of anything regarding story/lore, at least compared to Legends: Arceus).

 

[FunkySnake]

Pokémon Friends is a blast.

Is it just a collection of flash games? Fuck yeah I love flash games—I grew up with them.

Paying $10 for a collection of games I can enjoy on my phone for free? Fuck yeah. I appreciate mindless time-wasters that don’t bombard me with ads or feature micro games that aren’t enjoyable.

I've been playing it nonstop since it came out. Paying $10 for a game that I can add to my daily rotation for at least a year? I would be stupid not to.

Am I a fangirl? For Pokémon? Fuck yeah. Is there a game that even remotely compares to what Pokémon Friends offers on the Nintendo Switch? Not really. I use my Lite to play these games. It's going to be a game that I'm going to pick up and play for 5 minutes a day tops and that's all it needs to be. Is it perfect? No. Is it worth the price of admission? Absolutely.

 

[Defective1Up]

Why do the mobile games have better graphics than the main series titles? They need those guys on the main series teams.

 

[Moogley]

Why do the mobile games have better graphics than the main series titles? They need those guys on the main series teams.

The fact that they're mobile games IS the reason. Unlimited, scalable profit potential means the company will put its best people and resources there while the standard single-purchase games are reduced to the MINIMUM needed to sell copies to fans.

Only CEO oversight with artistic integrity can restore balance because it requires not maximizing profit for one second for the sake of making better games.

Current Nintendo leadership is not capable of doing that. Everything they've done in the last 5 years demonstrates this.