Pokémon Presents - Pokémon Day 2025 - Pokemon ZA Info & Pokemon Champions Announced

I personally don’t think that’s anyone on the cover lol

The Presents being so early is sooo odd unless they’ve got some decent things planned for it. Even if they wanted to avoid being swamped by NS2 news that’s still pretty far out. Why not just announce in July?

I hope we get more Champions info. I’m so intrigued by their direction with that and it being a potential VGC replacement.

Since it’s the day after the Unite anniversary I hope there’s something substantial lined up for that too. That game is on life support rn.
 
Perriechu said:
I personally don’t think that’s anyone on the cover lol

The Presents being so early is sooo odd unless they’ve got some decent things planned for it. Even if they wanted to avoid being swamped by NS2 news that’s still pretty far out. Why not just announce in July?

I hope we get more Champions info. I’m so intrigued by their direction with that and it being a potential VGC replacement.

Since it’s the day after the Unite anniversary I hope there’s something substantial lined up for that too. That game is on life support rn.
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I assume they announced it early just as a way of saying "we have to announce the date & box now, but we won't be showing any information in June"
 
Perriechu said:
I hope we get more Champions info. I’m so intrigued by their direction with that and it being a potential VGC replacement.

Since it’s the day after the Unite anniversary I hope there’s something substantial lined up for that too. That game is on life support rn.
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Hey, all I want are more real spin-offs, whether those be returning games or remakes or new stuff entirely. None of that mobile micro-transaction crap, I’m talking real, authentic, effort and passion filled works of art along the lines of Colloseum/XD, Mystery Dungeon, Ranger, PokéPark, those kinds of things. This isn’t to say that the Switch doesn’t have a couple, but the number pales in comparison to previous Nintendo hardware and I will never pass up an opportunity to talk crap on newer games and praise the way things used to be. The Switch 2 could be the beginning of a new golden age for spin-off content, but we all know darn well that’s not going to happen. Gee, aren’t we so excited for this Presents that just going to be 15+ minutes of mobile games and a single Legends ZA trailer? Doesn’t that sound like fun?

Edit: I realize after typing this that my attempt at sarcasm might come across as disrespectful. I want people to enjoy whatever games they like, and I don’t have anything against fans of games like Unite. They’re just not my cup of tea is all, and I want the newer generation of Nintendo fans to be able to play older games too.
 
Amazing timing closing the thread lol

I absolutely love the cover illustration but I'm also extremely confused as to why it wasn't revealed earlier if it doean't have any real potential spoilers on it. No new Megas or anything, just a cool dynamic illustration like LA's.

No idea what the Presents is so early, but I honestly don't expect anything groundbreaking other than new Mega reveals, which is kinda huge on its own.
 
More info about the game, but the news just randomly dropped out of nowhere? I approve! This is my favorite way to get news about upcoming Pokémon games.

First, the release date. October 16th. I’m surprised, but in a very good way. I was expecting a November release as always, but for the first time since X/Y, we’re getting a game in October. On a Thursday, no less. Z-A will be released exactly 12 years and 4 days after X/Y, which is cool. Anyway, I’m very happy about this since November is usually a quite busy month for me, but October tends to be a lot calmer. So this should give me a lot more time to play… providing I get the game on the release date, not sure about that yet. Another thing worth noting is that outside of DLC, Z-A will be the first main series game since Arceus to not be released in November, and the second since X/Y. Neither of the Legends games have been released in November, which is nice.

Second, the cover art. It follows in the footsteps of Arceus and actually showcases the game, not just a cover legend. It is amazing and I love it. This is what the cover art for all main series games should look like. I like how it showcases a battle, which makes sense since Z-A will be focused on battling. In comparison, the cover art for Arceus focused on exploration and the mystery of the region, which was one of the themes for that game. So that’s really cool.

A new Presents in July. Maybe I’ll watch it. There are still more things I want to know about the game, so it should be interesting.

I’m glad that we finally have a release date for the game. I have more or less decided to get it, but I’m not sure if I should get it for Switch 1 or Switch 2. If I get it for Switch 1, then I can just get it on the release date, no problems. If I get it for Switch 2 and want to play it on the release, then I need to get a Switch 2 either before the release of the game, or alongside it. Which I’m unsure about. My original plan was to wait with getting a Switch 2 until next year since I have enough games to play as it is. But in that case, I won’t get to play Z-A until sometime next year. Not sure how I’ll do. Fortunately, there are a few months left before I need to make my decision!
 
So I think the cover art is definitely continuing the PLA theme - even which direction the trainer is looking in. Not gone unnoticed how the overall composition with a central focus on a specific part of the lore (mount coronet, Lumiose Tower) is that which rest of the adventure hangs around.

What I’m most surprised at is that there’s no new mega announced, and not on the cover either. There’s still, in my view, space on that front cover to add something in…
 
S.A.C. Martin said:
Not gone unnoticed how the overall composition with a central focus on a specific part of the lore (mount coronet, Lumiose Tower) is that which rest of the adventure hangs around.
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To be fair, almost every region in the core series has something like this. It’s tradition, albeit maybe a lazy tradition, to have some sort of important, often story-relevant location in the dead center of the region. The only region that arguably doesn’t is Hoenn, and that’s because they specifically designed Hoenn to be this “half land, half water” kind of style, if that makes sense. Kanto and Johto technically don’t either, but the two regions combined side-by-side share the Tohjo Falls, Victory Road, Indigo Plateau, and Mt. Silver. Sinnoh/Hisui has Mt. Coronet, Unova has the Entralink, Kalos has Lumiose City which itself has Prism Tower, Alola has the Aether Foundation HQ, Galar has the Wild Area, and Paldea has the Area Zero crater. If you want to go further some of the spin-off regions and other games like Mystery Dungeon have similar “central locations”, figuratively and literally.

Edit: Since some people consider Kitakami to be a sort of “mini-region”, I suppose we could throw in Oni Mountain and the Crystal Pool too.
 
Karxrida said:
Really sick cover art tbh. A lot of game covers nowadays (just in general) tend to be very static and boring while this one has a lot going on and is kind of striking.
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This isn’t a topic for this thread specifically, but now that you bring it to my attention, I think it could be fun to rank Pokémon games based off of their box art. The Legends games would rank highly- this is admittedly one of the best I’ve seen and I’m hoping this is what they actually end up using- and I can think of a few others I like off the top of my head too. Yeah, I know most of them are just a picture of the box art Legendaries or whatever but there’s definitely some things to like on a few of them.
 
Yung Dramps said:
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a shirtless soccer player celebrates with a fly emirates jersey

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
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How did I know that you were going to be tweaking out the moment I was able to see Emma on the Boxart hahahahahaha.
When I saw this for the first time, I knew who'd this appeal to.
 
bdt2002 said:
To be fair, almost every region in the core series has something like this. It’s tradition, albeit maybe a lazy tradition, to have some sort of important, often story-relevant location in the dead center of the region. The only region that arguably doesn’t is Hoenn, and that’s because they specifically designed Hoenn to be this “half land, half water” kind of style, if that makes sense. Kanto and Johto technically don’t either, but the two regions combined side-by-side share the Tohjo Falls, Victory Road, Indigo Plateau, and Mt. Silver. Sinnoh/Hisui has Mt. Coronet, Unova has the Entralink, Kalos has Lumiose City which itself has Prism Tower, Alola has the Aether Foundation HQ, Galar has the Wild Area, and Paldea has the Area Zero crater. If you want to go further some of the spin-off regions and other games like Mystery Dungeon have similar “central locations”, figuratively and literally.

Edit: Since some people consider Kitakami to be a sort of “mini-region”, I suppose we could throw in Oni Mountain and the Crystal Pool too.
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It's a common design conceit in general, not just Pokemon. Theme parks do the same thing, for example. Depending on the game it's a nice focal point, something that you can work towards, keep in your sights or weave in & out of with different contexts. .

Or go with the other design conceit: putting it at the top of the map and the one you are generally working your way up to. To that regard you can argue Galar's focal point Wyndon since it goes with the other similar design conceit: It's really obvious with the official art of the region, where the city pops with contrast against the icy surroundings and has the wall of Hammerlocke infront of it.

And of course nothing stops there from being multiple different focal points, not everything literally centers around or focuses on the one really major aspect like Sinnoh, Kalos & Paldea. Keeping in Galar can also argue for Motostoke (the major city you're traveling to first, largest city with a distinct theming, you circle around the first third of the region's belt for it, easily visible from the train station) and the Wild Area (a mostly unimportant chunk of land, but one you can weave in & out of twice throughout the game), Johto has Ecruteak & Goldenrod, Alola's disperate islands each have their own thing about their landmasses, etc
 
R_N said:
It's a common design conceit in general, not just Pokemon. Theme parks do the same thing, for example. Depending on the game it's a nice focal point, something that you can work towards, keep in your sights or weave in & out of with different contexts. .
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Yeah, having some sort of notable landmark you know is the center really helps with keeping track of your location. It's part of why the first Dark Souls works so well with its Metroidvania-esque layout despite not having any sort of map -- you know Firelink Shrine is more or less the middle of the game world.
 
AztecCroc said:
Uh, I'm pretty sure that's Annabel, not Emma. That hair's very purple.
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Oh, is that what Yung Dramps was excited about, I thought they were excited about the Mega Lucario for some reason (or making fun of its pose).

So, let's quickly address that... not sure. Like I don't think it's Anabel definitely. While she does use a Lucario in SM's Battle Tree, if I were to give her a Mega Pokemon it would be Alakazam which she's more commonly seen with (or better yet a new Mega Snorlax).

But her being Emma? Well, if you remove her giant ponytails I'll admit the hair does look similar to what's left; though at the same time would it be out there for another character to have that hair style (especially if this just turns out to be a random NPC thus would be using recycled assets). Also odd they have a Pikachu next to her instead of Mimi the Espurr/Meowstic(?). BTW I wouldn't write off Emma getting a (Mega) Lucario, I could see her going to the Tower of Mastery and a Lucario senses something special about her so forms a bond like the player did. But then again, it would be kind of disappointing as if they want a boss character with a Mega Lucario they can just use Korrina. And if they are introducing new Megas she would be one I'd like to see get one; not Meowstic but maybe Malamar (or Crobat, but I'd prefer a Gen VI Pokemon).

Yung Dramps said:
DONT FUCK WITH THE LOREMASTER BOY I KNOW THE EXPANSION SUIT WHEN I SEE IT
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If that's the Expansion Suit then it must either be a new one or got someone to modify it as it doesn't match the original suit. Once again, not impossible. They're in Lumiose City, if Emma needed to repair or modify the Expansion Suit she could probably have approached Clemont who I'm sure with some time could figure it out (which could lead credence to R_N's suggestion of more getting made, though I find that a stretch as something like the Expansion Suit would probably be pretty costly to make and increases the risk of someone of ill-will getting a hold of one). Though if that is her, then it's cute they have her wearing a brown jacket, homage to Looker's trench coat (and I guess also look a bit more like a detective).

I'm gonna err on the side of caution and wait for confirmation.
 
bdt2002 said:
This isn’t a topic for this thread specifically, but now that you bring it to my attention, I think it could be fun to rank Pokémon games based off of their box art. The Legends games would rank highly- this is admittedly one of the best I’ve seen and I’m hoping this is what they actually end up using- and I can think of a few others I like off the top of my head too. Yeah, I know most of them are just a picture of the box art Legendaries or whatever but there’s definitely some things to like on a few of them.
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I personally would LOVE to talk about Pokemon box art in a separate thread which I did in my nostalgia thread previously (
Post in thread 'S.A.C.’s Pokémon Nostalgia'
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/s-a-c-’s-pokémon-nostalgia.3757223/post-10505713)

I recently lined up my English and Japanese language editions to look at the differing kinds of box art:

IMG_6524.jpeg


IMG_6519.jpeg


IMG_5530.jpeg


No one is going to convince me that the Japanese Pokemon Crystal and the english Red and Blue games aren’t perfect and iconic.

God I miss watercolour box art.
 
No but you guys gotta understand: Forget being absolutely unprecedented for the main series, even with spinoffs accounted for story-relevant NPCs being featured on the box front and center is incredibly rare for Pokemon. For reference none of the three versions of PMD Explorers have Grovyle, Celebi or Dusknoir on the cover.

I would've been ecstatic if Emma had a role roughly equivalent to a Gym Leader or Trial Captain. AND I GET THIS?!
 
Not to derail from the current emma posting, but a new pokemon site showed up detailing new flashy artwork for mega pokemon, as well as dream world esque art for all megas!

https://www.pokemon.co.jp/ex/megaevolution/

While some of the flashy art i attached is awesome in its own right, we also have official art of Mega Salamence being grounded, Mega mapharos running around, and new poses for other megas as well.
 

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Count Bleck said:
Not to derail from the current emma posting, but a new pokemon site showed up detailing new flashy artwork for mega pokemon, as well as dream world esque art for all megas!

https://www.pokemon.co.jp/ex/megaevolution/
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Megas have had that style of art for a while, but what's fun is a number of them are new not just for the megas but the ones they mega evolve from!

The Lucario one is an easy comparison. The example giving the line is the old artwork, but they gave new art for it & Lucario in the "profile" below.

https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Category:Latias
Latias is another good example that I had on hand.
 
Yung Dramps said:
No but you guys gotta understand: Forget being absolutely unprecedented for the main series, even with spinoffs accounted for story-relevant NPCs being featured on the box front and center is incredibly rare for Pokemon. For reference none of the three versions of PMD Explorers have Grovyle, Celebi or Dusknoir on the cover.

I would've been ecstatic if Emma had a role roughly equivalent to a Gym Leader or Trial Captain. AND I GET THIS?!
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I vote we let Yung Dramps have this and allow you to enjoy every second of it. I absolutely adore seeing people get excited for extremely specific things that they care a lot about. I’m trying to think of what my equivalent to something like this would be. Eh. I’ll come up with something eventually.

Count Bleck said:
Not to derail from the current emma posting, but a new pokemon site showed up detailing new flashy artwork for mega pokemon, as well as dream world esque art for all megas!

https://www.pokemon.co.jp/ex/megaevolution/

While some of the flashy art i attached is awesome in its own right, we also have official art of Mega Salamence being grounded, Mega mapharos running around, and new poses for other megas as well.
Click to expand...
R_N said:
Megas have had that style of art for a while, but what's fun is a number of them are new not just for the megas but the ones they mega evolve from!

The Lucario one is an easy comparison. The example giving the line is the old artwork, but they gave new art for it & Lucario in the "profile" below.

https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Category:Latias
Latias is another good example that I had on hand.
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I have to hand it to these guys. Generational battle gimmicks were never my favorite addition to the franchise (more specifically, their impacts on competitive; I usually like them for single player) but one thing the Mega Evolutions and some of the G-Max Forms had going in their favor was their really cool concept art. Prior to Legends ZA’s full reveal earlier in the year I was wondering if we would get any of the ORAS Megas back or if it would just be the XY group, so that should be fun to watch play out. In any case, both groups including the 2014 concept art for the only native Kalos Mega, Diancie, looked really good back in the day but I think these might look even cooler than their “official” artwork you’ll see in guidebooks and whatnot. Shoutouts to a personal favorite Mega of mine that I’m hoping returns here- Mega Beedrill looks really sweet no matter how you style it.
 
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Yung Dramps said:
No but you guys gotta understand: Forget being absolutely unprecedented for the main series, even with spinoffs accounted for story-relevant NPCs being featured on the box front and center is incredibly rare for Pokemon. For reference none of the three versions of PMD Explorers have Grovyle, Celebi or Dusknoir on the cover.

I would've been ecstatic if Emma had a role roughly equivalent to a Gym Leader or Trial Captain. AND I GET THIS?!
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I was about to mention this. We are clearly just sad that our favourite NPCs have featured in 0 main covers while she is now right in the middle of one using a Pikachu and a Mega.

I can't relate, but this must be a dream for Kalos fans. And that's cool. It should be the entire point of ZA to begin with.

S.A.C. Martin said:
God I miss watercolour box art.
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I literally started with gen 3 and I still miss watercolor art for Pokemon in general. It's just so pleasing to look at and somrhow very fitting. I remember already being amazed back then by the art gen 2 Pokemon had (since gen 1 was updated because of the remakes).
In general most box arts ik the main series play it too safe. I know, ironic considerint we are in a thread about Legends. But most of them are literally the Sugimori art of the box legend slapped in a background. The Switch era changed that apparently for good, but it's still nothing crazy. Which I kinda get, kids are picking the version because of what box legend they prefer. But it's such a shame SV for example doesn't have covers based on the Books. Or at least something slighly dynamic like the Unova sequels or the mentioned Crystal.
 
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AztecCroc said:
That was a pre-order thing.
1.1_ProductTile_Pokemon_Scarlet_SteelBook_GWP_BeautyShot_NOE
1.1_ProductTile_Pokemon_Violet_Steelbook_GWP_BeautyShot_NOE
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Dude, I know about that one. I literally own the Scarlet one. That isn't how the Scarlet Books actual cover looks like. It's still Sugimori artwork of Koraidon, not the herald icon on the Scarlet Book. That's my entire point. You are confusing the Naranja Academy logo with the Scarlet Book. The later has only been used for the artbook.

Why do you keep trying to correct people with actually incorrect statements?
 
bdt2002 said:
I vote we let Yung Dramps have this and allow you to enjoy every second of it. I absolutely adore seeing people get excited for extremely specific things that they care a lot about. I’m trying to think of what my equivalent to something like this would be. Eh. I’ll come up with something eventually.



I have to hand it to these guys. Generational battle gimmicks were never my favorite addition to the franchise (more specifically, their impacts on competitive; I usually like them for single player) but one thing the Mega Evolutions and some of the G-Max Forms had going in their favor was their really cool concept art. Prior to Legends ZA’s full reveal earlier in the year I was wondering if we would get any of the ORAS Megas back or if it would just be the XY group, so that should be fun to watch play out. In any case, both groups including the 2014 concept art for the only native Kalos Mega, Diancie, looked really good back in the day but I think these might look even cooler than their “official” artwork you’ll see in guidebooks and whatnot. Shoutouts to a personal favorite Mega of mine that I’m hoping returns here- Mega Beedrill looks really sweet no matter how you style it.
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I'm hoping for Mega Talonflame
 
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