Samtendo09
Ability: Light Power
I fell for it back then when I naively think the Gen 3 remakes are gonna be released during the fifth generation. But if anything, ORAS couldn’t even be called a by the book remake due to important inclusion of Mega Evolution and new Mega forms.Also the "Unova got to be in Gen 9 when its remakes are supposed to come out in Gen 10" is feeding into the mindset of patterns that many Pokemon fans make the mistake of falling into, that Game Freak has to follow a specific pattern of releases, formula, and everything.
Game Freak doesn't follow patterns. The concept of "patterns" is a myth and Game Freak can deviate from any perceived patterns at any time. Unova could very likely be getting its new games this generation as follow up games, especially since we're not even halfway through Gen 9's time yet. There's more room for more Gen 9 games and they can do whatever they want whenever they want. If they want to do a Unova revisit this generation, whether it be a BW3 as I said, they'll do it this generation, it's their series and games and they can do whatever they want.
There is no pattern as to when remakes/old gen revisits come out. HGSS, ORAS, and PLA may have been two generations apart from each other, but FRLG and HGSS for instance were only one generation apart from each other, with FRLG being Gen 3 while HGSS was Gen 4. Before Gen 6 most of us thought Ruby and Sapphire remakes were going to be in Gen 5, but they skipped a generation, and it happened in Gen 6 instead because the 3DS was more appropriate to have the ORAS they wanted to make. Heck, LGPE is considered a mainline game and a remake of Yellow and is between ORAS and PLA as basically a second Kanto Remake and technically took place in Gen 7.
If they decide they want to visit Unova again this generation, they'll do it, and in whatever manner they want. Nothing is saying it has to happen specifically in Gen 10 and on the Switch successor, nor that it specifically has to be a by-the-number remake. The fact that Sinnoh was revisited in Gen 8 is not stopping them.
Patterns are a myth. There isn't, and never was, a pattern to how generations of Pokemon are structured. Stuff like "remakes have to be every other generation" or "every generation has to strictly be three years" or "every base game is followed up by a third version or whatever" are merely fan perception and not actual rules Game Freak abides by. They don't abide by rules as to how they design each generation's games. They do what they want in any given moment.
There’s also consideration of the sheer parallels between the Weather Trio and the Aura Trio, it does feels like Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde are spiritual successors to Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza respectively while being distinct in their own right. ORAS only solidify the parallel further with Primal Kyogre’s Primordial Sea and Primal Groudon’s Desolate Land, alongside Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby respectively.
It is clear that ORAS was planned in advance much more than a Pokémon Z. ORAS aren’t just remakes, they are also an indirect sequel to XY by expanding on the Mega Evolution lore and by introducing more Mega forms. As sad as we never got Pokémon Z yet, it is still a better showing compared to how Z-Moves and Dynamax were shown in one region, and then dropped almost entirely, limiting their potentials. Terastalization, while also in just one pair of games, got the nice benefit of also available in Kitakami and even Unova, even if their expansion are still minimal.
It does beg me a question; if Unova is going to be revisited on a full game in either Gen 9 or Gen 10, what could it possibly be? I don’t want to guess as it would violate the “do not wishlist” rule. But there’s something that might be a sign of something else…
There’s the existence of Kingambit, the new cross-gen evolution for a Gen 5 line, and Archaludon and Hydrapple, two new cross-gen evolutions discovered in Blueberry Academy that is stationed in Unova.
- Kingambit might have a good chance to be included in the possible upcoming Unova game since the Pawniard line is introduced in Unova.
- While Hydrapple may be a result of a recent and unexpected discovery by Dipplin learning Dragon Cheers, Archaludon feels like it was there the whole time, it just that Metal Alloy wasn’t exported to Galar yet. It’s also such an irony that Unova, the region infamous of absolutely no cross-gen relationship with past Pokémon, ended up being the place where those two are discovered for the very first time.
- There’s also Basculegion, though that one’s more associated with Hisui considering their Japanese origin. Still, it and White-Striped Basculin aren’t found only in Hisui, as they managed to stay alive through years and live Kitakami, so a possibility of getting a White-Striped Basculin via in-game trade isn’t out of question.
One thing for sure, I’ll give Game Freak credit for getting ready for different plans for different future revisits.