Not going to pretend I know enough about copyright o say anything about showdown but I just can't see a world where this is the end of Smogon. Showdown wasn't made for 7 years after Smogon started.
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Pokémon Presents - Pokémon Day 2025 - Pokemon ZA Info & Pokemon Champions Announced
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
I wasn’t kidding that Pokémon suffered as much from the fanbase itself as with the companies at times, like at least once in another thread of this forum.
As for me…
I’ll take what I get for Z-A but I hope they don’t cause Mega Evolution to overstay their welcome by worsening game balance than before, especially if we get new ones. Having other trainers than just the rivals to use Mega Evolution is an obvious step-up from XY for sure.
Funny how the starters for this game almost exactly in terms of generation reps as before, only this time we have two Johto starters following Legends: Arceus’ Cyndaquil. Tepig to feel somewhat out of place at first glance but does fit in nicely, and yet the lil’ pig being chosen over Scorbunny, and the Johto mons over Snivy and Piplup, certainly throw a wrench on predictions given Kalos’ based on France.
They actually made a tweet about Patrat returning, it's hilarious
this guy is great btw, you should go watch his other videos on pokemon
Here's the rest of the trailer minimaps and my guess of their locations on the main map.
Charizard vs Pidgeot (bottom left, also note the Pokeball icon):
Kangaskhan vs. Garbodor (top right). This one has a weird angle to work with but I'm pretty sure this is it.
Wild Zone 1: (bottom, note the grass and road stripe)
Charizard vs Pidgeot (bottom left, also note the Pokeball icon):
Kangaskhan vs. Garbodor (top right). This one has a weird angle to work with but I'm pretty sure this is it.
Wild Zone 1: (bottom, note the grass and road stripe)
I was not expecting they make a Tweet outta that, but given the line is unavailable in all Switch games before this one, that is nice of them to point it out, especially for those who like the line.
The Elemental Monkeys are already in XY so I would not doubt they’d return as well.
I understand this post might get buried under a handful of others, and that’s okay. I just want to take a moment to apologize for some of the things I’ve said about this game. A random post? Maybe, but I’ve said a lot of ignorant or even just… weird stuff about Pokémon Legends ZA, and now that I’m uncertain about the future of Smogon and Pokémon Showdown thanks to a certain “Pokémon Champions”, I want to try and apologize on behalf of some of the things I’ve posted whether it be here or in the YouTube comment section. I plan on skipping out on Pokémon’s 2025 offerings, but I feel it necessary to reflect on my thoughts, for real this time, and take a much-needed healthy break away from Pokémon before my Johto-game-wanting self says something I’ll really regret.
As for the presentation itself- I didn’t watch it live since I was at work and had a meeting, but none of the mobile game segments or anything beyond Legends ZA interested me that much. Pokémon Concierge looks interesting enough, but I don’t morally support streaming services enough to want to watch it, unfortunately. I mentioned Pokémon Champions in the last paragraph, and I’m… let’s just say I’m interested to see how this plays out, and I don’t know whether or not to take Pokémon Showdown’s side if I’m being honest. And finally, the stuff we did get about Legends ZA irks me. The potential story bits and the characters aren’t what I have a problem with, but I fear the new combat might be a major turn-off for me beyond how I already feel about the fact it’s a Kalos game at all. All I’m going to say without being toxic is that they better keep Junichi Masuda’s directorial style away from this after how badly Let’s Go and especially BDSP went under his care. 5 out of 10 Presents overall, there’s a lot I would have done differently if I was in charge.
As for the presentation itself- I didn’t watch it live since I was at work and had a meeting, but none of the mobile game segments or anything beyond Legends ZA interested me that much. Pokémon Concierge looks interesting enough, but I don’t morally support streaming services enough to want to watch it, unfortunately. I mentioned Pokémon Champions in the last paragraph, and I’m… let’s just say I’m interested to see how this plays out, and I don’t know whether or not to take Pokémon Showdown’s side if I’m being honest. And finally, the stuff we did get about Legends ZA irks me. The potential story bits and the characters aren’t what I have a problem with, but I fear the new combat might be a major turn-off for me beyond how I already feel about the fact it’s a Kalos game at all. All I’m going to say without being toxic is that they better keep Junichi Masuda’s directorial style away from this after how badly Let’s Go and especially BDSP went under his care. 5 out of 10 Presents overall, there’s a lot I would have done differently if I was in charge.
Z-A does seem to go in a more stylized direction with the artstyle compared to S/V, it's subtle but definitely noticable, especially with the lighting enginegod please let us have good sinnoh remakes please
I'm seeing defense of Gen 8 now holy fuck i cannot be the only one who remembers the backlash those games got, the memes of "pokemon fans when they get exactly what they want" and "pokemon fans 6 years after a game was released" is so fitting rn
I don't want to whine about graphics too much but I think the issue is moreso not that the games graphics are "wii tier" or w/e the fuck fans who want the games to melt a PS5 want, but moreso htat they just... do not have a unique visual style at all. It's not that the graphics are bad or low quality or whatever, but there's no new personality. They stylistically are too close to SV to stand out. I really don't think it's that big an issue but it really does bring... yet another meme "pokemon fans when 3D and not 2D" my god
So what's going on with the Kalos gym challenge?
Maybe it's just some clever camera trickery to obscure the side that has it, or maybe I'm just stupid, but the Gym symbol on Prism Tower seems to be gone. Has Lumiose Gym been closed down? I don't see where else it could be on the map, and the biggest city in Kalos no longer having a Gym seems deeply odd from a worldbuilding standpoint. Maybe it's a temporary closure until the redevelopment is complete, but plenty of other facilities including public Pokemon battling spots seem to be in working order and Prism Tower itself doesn't appear to be undergoing any major renovations that we can see.
I wonder how much of this will be handwaved and what they'll actually bother to explain. Who are the current Kalos Elite Four and Champion, for instance? Will we be able to fight them? Before today I had the idea of Lumiose having its own 8 Gyms but again I'm not seeing anything of the sort on the map or trailer shots
Maybe it's just some clever camera trickery to obscure the side that has it, or maybe I'm just stupid, but the Gym symbol on Prism Tower seems to be gone. Has Lumiose Gym been closed down? I don't see where else it could be on the map, and the biggest city in Kalos no longer having a Gym seems deeply odd from a worldbuilding standpoint. Maybe it's a temporary closure until the redevelopment is complete, but plenty of other facilities including public Pokemon battling spots seem to be in working order and Prism Tower itself doesn't appear to be undergoing any major renovations that we can see.
I wonder how much of this will be handwaved and what they'll actually bother to explain. Who are the current Kalos Elite Four and Champion, for instance? Will we be able to fight them? Before today I had the idea of Lumiose having its own 8 Gyms but again I'm not seeing anything of the sort on the map or trailer shots
I expect this too. Showdown may exist as is, should maybe even axe NatDex but I would wager that if showdown creates the champions meta/vgc/gen10 whatever on showdown Nintendo will then see it as hurting their sales.
I'm going to make a bold prediction, based off of nothing but an idle thought I had watching the announcement, and say that at one point we will have to use the sync machine or something similar as part of the story. Maybe not necessarily for battle, though from the brief look we got at battles it seems like this system could actually work with it, but I think we'll use it.
Interestingly, they have not shown any Pokémon (other than the starters) that was not already part of one of the Kalos (Mountain, Central, Coastal) Pokédexes. Makes me wonder if the Kalos Pokédex will be left intact (which would bring the elemental monkeys out of retirement), perhaps including the Beedrill line and others that got a Mega in ORAS.
Audino?
I think you forgot to type anything cause your reply is blank.
Even if Showdown got shot down, ultimately, that wouldn't mean a lot at the end of the day because a new one would pop up and most importantly, the banlists would be as relevant as ever.
Smogon metas are too deeply entrenched in the community as a whole to be nuked like that.
Unless Lysandre pops up from his grave with a steel chair and the ultimate weapon on hand. Then we might be in trouble
It kinda looks like they're going with some Masters League style like the final season of the Ashnime.
It should work tbh.
I feel like some people ride the "pokemon is greedy and only wants money" to levels where it doesnt make sense. i wont say its impossible for pokemon champions to be paid, but i feel like it being free is also just as likely, esp since it has a mobile version and pokemon loves making free mobile apps. also like, theyd just make more money out of microtransactions in the app lol
the thing that makes me the most worried about Z-A's battle system isn't the controls but rather the enemy AI, that pyroar just standing still and taking a rock slide in the trailer was rough to watch
Is that what you interpreted from that final teaser with the Rotom-Phone? I had no clue what to make of that and haven't seen anyone else trying to make sense of it lolEven if Showdown got shot down, ultimately, that wouldn't mean a lot at the end of the day because a new one would pop up and most importantly, the banlists would be as relevant as ever.
Smogon metas are too deeply entrenched in the community as a whole to be nuked like that.
Unless Lysandre pops up from his grave with a steel chair and the ultimate weapon on hand. Then we might be in trouble
It kinda looks like they're going with some Masters League style like the final season of the Ashnime.
It should work tbh.
If Pokémon Champions was $60 on mobile platforms, it would be doomed to fail. I'm fairly convinced that it is either going to be free, or very low price. Of course, with NSO and Home subscriptions being in play, they do have a way to somewhat monetize this game in the long term, even before considering microtransactions.
Honestly I feel like it would probably be a standalone purchase but less because greed and more just "yeah this is a game they probably want to sell like they did with the old battle sims"
if anything the "greedy & only wants money" would point to the "F2P with extensive microtransactions" method
i think its a teaser for plot but i havent tried to uncover it because idk how much we can uncover without context: it was always gonna be a bit obvious that the prism tower is gonna be involved in plot in some way, its the most important point in all of lumiose, so im 80% sure its plot stuff, but not what kind of plot stuff
Ok, yeah, looking at the buildings more, yeah, those are really bad. It's better in the top one, but that's because most of it is in the distance. Not sure what improvements, if any, it's gonna get.
I think that you're being a bit too optimistic; even if clones do spring up the removal of the official Showdown server would cause significant disruption. The tier system for current generations is dependent on the existence of an official server with sufficiently high traffic to collect usage stats, which is threatened if the site needs to stay hidden or the devs/admins need to dissociate themselves. Maybe OU can get by with game counts reduced by 50-80%, but lower tiers would suffer matchmaking difficulties, volatile usage stats, and difficulty running reliable suspect tests.
Just woke up and saw Z-A graphics. I pray it'll be like SV where the graphics improve over time compared to their first reveal trailer. (And copium that the switch 2 will give us great lighting graphics and iirc, Creatures inc. making the graphics on the pokemon once again, as I liked the SV pokemon's detail they gave on them.)