Firstly, happy Pokémon Day! I hope you’ve had a good one. With Pokémon Day, we also got a Pokémon Presents and all the hype built around it. Would we get more Legends Z-A news? Gen 5 remakes? A Let’s Go! Johto game? Gen 1–3 Switch ports? Well, one thing was for sure: we were going to get updates for Pokémon Go, Café ReMix, Masters EX, Pokémon Sleep, and new TCG Mega EX cards. As I expected them, I knew to wait them out when they came and then we got some Scarlet/Violet news:
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
We get new Rotom phone cases (woo), new mass outbreaks with a red/blue/green theme starting on 28th February, and new Tera Raid Battles with Meowscarada, Skeledirge, and Quaquaval. And future raids with Dragon types that will have the Mightiest Mark.
Pokémon Champions
And then an announcement that came out of nowhere.
Pokémon Champions appears to be a battling game akin to Pokémon Stadium or Pokémon Showdown with all the usual mechanics (including Megas AND Terastallization) from the main series and you can also bring Pokémon from Pokémon HOME (which also means Pokémon from GO and SV can join the game via HOME too). And it’s available to play on Switch, Android, and iOS.
Pokémon Legends Z-A
We got some more Legends Z-A news! As you can see from the thumbnail, we now have our three starters: Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile! The game does appear to be set exclusively in Lumiose City and we saw some more Pokémon available to encounter including Clauncher, Mareep, Bunnelby, Furfrou, and many more.
We also have more information about the battle mechanics which appear to be more action RPG-y with the ability to move around during battles and dodging attacks.
In addition to type matchups, there will be new gameplay mechanics to consider, such as the precise timing for swapping out your Pokémon or using moves, the different lengths of time moves will take to launch, and how big an area the moves will impact. This unprecedented style of Pokémon battling is one of the most thrilling parts of this title.
And we got introduced to new characters including:
- Urbain and Taunie, your friends/rivals
- AZ (remember AZ? He’s back, in hotel owner form) and Eternal Flower Floette
- Jett, the CEO of Quasartico,
a large corporation driving Lumiose’s urban redevelopment plan with the aim of shaping the city into one that belongs to both people and Pokémon
. - Vinnie, her secretary
Zygarde is in the game (because of course). And Megas are in it (but we already knew that; no new Megas confirmed though).
So what’s the verdict? I think this was a very good Pokémon Presents. I know a lot of people were upset because they didn’t get everything they wanted but that’s the price you pay for believing in unsubstantiated hype for a year and relying on leaks that didn’t end up happening. If anything those leaks meant that Game Freak and TPCi could be more careful about what they revealed and how. We got just enough to wait until around November and there are plenty of raids and mass outbreaks to keep us going for a couple of months. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
