We have finally reached the 30th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise — and you know what that means: Nostalgia central! Thousands of fans who have grown up playing, watching and reading media from the franchise are regaining interest once again with the recent announcement of games such as Pokémon Pokopia and the mainstream dual styles games – Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves.
The 10th generation mainline games were announced last month during a Pokémon Presents presentation on Pokémon Day, which is a celebratory day that commemorates the release of Pokémon Red and Blue. There is still much left unknown about this new generation for Pokémon, so we’ll be tackling predictions and hopes from the fandom!
Will Pombon’s final evolution stand on its hind legs?
There’s one thing that is really having fans speculate and talk, and that’s if the new starter Pokémon, Pombon, will evolve to stand on its hind legs or not. The majority are hoping for it to maintain its four-legged form, as Pokémon has a history of having their four-legged starters turn into two-legged ones.
Fan art predictions surrounding all three of the starters have been circulating throughout social media platforms, mostly depicting Pombon on its four legs. We can only hope that Pombon breaks the curse of the standing starter Pokémon that has notoriously affected Fennekin’s final evolution, Delphox.
Will Winds and Waves be affected by “Dexit?”
Before the release of Pokémon Sword and Shield (the eighth generation of Pokémon), each game had the capability of holding every Pokémon in the national Pokédex. Each game had a full list of Pokémon that could be found within it, while the national Pokédex was a full list of every Pokémon ever made.
Sword and Shield were the games to alter this dynamic drastically. It was announced that the game would not include the hundreds of Pokémon that you could normally transfer into any game. Outraged fans deemed this event “Dexit.”
The question is, will Winds and Waves follow through with Dexit? My prediction is yes. As much as I hate to say it, Dexit is here to stay. With the amount of Pokémon created throughout the past 30 years, I doubt the creators would want to recreate sprites for forgotten and barely used Pokémon.
What will the next legendary Pokémon typing be?
New legendary Pokémon, a very rare and powerful type of Pokémon, have yet to make their debut for the new games. Legendary Pokémon are usually used on the games box art and are mascots. Naturally fans have started up various conspiracies and ideas for what they will look like and especially what type they’ll be.
A Pokémon’s type is what defines its elemental nature, abilities, strengths and weaknesses. There are currently 18 types, including fire, water and grass. The legendary for Pokémon Winds is speculated to be a Flying-type Pokémon, while it is presumed that Waves will star a Water type. We can only wait to see what type of combinations these legendries will possess, but I hope to see a Flying-Fighting type in Winds along with a Water-Ghost type in Waves.
What Pokémon will be featured on the box art?
A prediction that has been gaining traction is the possibility of Mr. Windychu and Mrs. Wavychu, two costume/cosplay Pikachus, being box art Pokémon. Even though these two aren’t the usual legendries, this wouldn’t be the first time we see a non-legendary mascot. The Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee games included Pikachu and Eevee as box art mascots, as well as the original Red, Blue, Green and Yellow games featuring Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur and Pikachu. There could very well be a possibility for Pikachu and Eevee to star on the box art because of the amount of promotion they’ve gotten.
A new Eeveelution?
The franchise has not seen a new Eevee evolution since the release of Pokémon XY’s Sylveon in 2013. Currently, there are eight official Eeveelutions (Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon and Sylveon) covering Water, Electric, Fire, Psychic, Dark, Grass, Ice and Fairy types. Eevee has yet to evolve into 10 Pokémon types, including Normal, Fighting, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Steel, and Dragon.
Winds would be a great opportunity to introduce a Flying-type Eevee evolution but would present an advertising issue. If a Flying-type Eeveelution was introduced, many consumers could be more drawn to purchasing the Winds version instead of Waves. To avoid this issue, the creators could release a Bug-type evolution, as the game is set in a tropical climate. For now, we can only speculate about the possibility of a new Eeveelution joining the Eevee squad.
That’s all for predictions regarding the next and tenth generation of mainline Pokémon games! Until its projected release next year, the fandom can only hope for a new generation filled with good plotlines, new Pokémon and an overall exhilarating and fun adventure! For more information on the future games, visit the Pokémon Winds and Waves website, at https://windswaves.pokemon.com/en-us/.