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

I’m aware of most of the pros and cons of both abilities. What I’m trying to say is that based on the sample sets for some of the past formats, Multiscale may not have been that relevant in VGC during those specific times, which further backs up your point that I quoted.
 
Darn, got busy and couldn't really do my deep dive into the Presents, at least not the major Pokemon Z-A stuff. I'll be also busy tomorrow but I'll at least have more time than today, so here's my thoughts on at least the first half of the Presents:

English:
Japanese:

For whatever reason, Pokemon Company decided to have an hour long pre-show where Pikachu DJs played club remixes of Gen I music. It was just for fun, a bit of entertainment for those who arrive early. I wouldn't be against having another one, though quite a bit of effort went into this so I wouldn't be surprised if it was a one-off or will happen every once in a blue moon.

I appreciate that it wasn't just "hype" music remixes but they did put on a show. Throughout the performance visual they had several visual things going on:

1. At certain points another DJ Pikachu with different neon glasses took over hosting. First starts with one in green Grass-type glasses, then red Fire-type, blue Water-type, orange Electric-type, and finally one with glasses that color-shifted and the frames were Pikachu-shaped. They also had their transition between them unique (usually going along with the current stage effect) and at the tail end we had all 5 together. If I were the Pokemon Company I'd at least put up a set of the glasses on sale, with or without a Pikachu plush.

2. The Pikachu crowd had some neat things going on with it. Obviously throughout it got bigger, but early on a Pikachu off to the right curls up and falls asleep (not waking till the near end). Oddly there was a part with Jigglypuff's song and the PokeFlute theme though that didn't have anything to do with the sleeping Pikachu, bit of a missed opportunity there. Though the one thing everyone likely noticed was during the blackout & Lavender Town theme a Mimikyu sneaks in (vanishing halfway though the Lavender Town section). You know, Pikachu is fine and all, but I wouldn't mind if maybe they at least have more of the Pikaclones join in on these things (or at least Pichu and Raichu).

3. Finally, at least for the English performance, there were the stage effects. Throughout the spotlights & stage lights moved and changed colors to match the music. On eitherside of DJ Pikachu were tower speakers that would get struck with electricity and steadily fill up with light. About halfway the performance a blackout occured and shifted the performance to a dark room only lit by the display screen, DJ set, spotlights, & stage lights. Finally near the end the speakers stayed lit and changed colors along with the final DJ Pikachu's glasses (and the sound bars on the DJ set).

4. But as hinted at, the English viewers got a simplified version of the visuals. The Japanese version had some additional stuff.

* First they had a screen overlay like it was a livestream: "LIVE" was displayed on the top left corner, there was a "viewer count" that steadily went up, and on the right side there was a list of "viewers"... all whom were Pikachu (though most were written in Japanese katakana, though occasionally there was ones written in English, Chinese, & Korean; some other "names" showed up in katakana (like at 30:05 & 35:50) but I have no clue what they were).
* Second, while the livestream overlay was mostly aesthetic, it did have one interactive effect on the performance. Next to the "viewer count" was a lightning bolt which filled up as more "viewers" joined, and when it got filled that's what caused the electricity to fill the stage speakers. The first & third time the speakers filled up the "Evolution" song played and a little guessing game (I think?) popped up asking what song was coming up next. The second time the speakers fill up is when the blackout happened. The fourth was the final time and they stayed lit (though the "viewer counter" lightning bolt kept filling to continue striking the speakers with electricity).

While I can understand wanting to remove the list of names as that would have been tedious to redo in English, I don't get why they removed everything else. "LIVE" was writtne in English and the "viewer count" was just a number and has the interactive effect we still saw in the English performance. And I don't think the guessing game part would have taken much effort to translate as the part written in katakana was static. Oh well, I provided a link to the Japanese one incase you're curious.


1:03: Why just Psyduck? Psyduck is barely in the artwork. Is this Masuda's doing? EDIT: Apparently this has been a thing since 2023... Okay, I can get them not wanting people to actually play these cards, but could they have a more interesting (yet useless) effect? Or maybe this was meant to be a snide toward Masuda. "Hey Masuda, we don't want this card to have any play value, so we're going to use your favorite Pokemon to do so".
1:40: Odd choice, but being a Gen IX Pokemon it at least makes more sense than Psyduck.

2:15: Did Luxio say something bad and thus excluded?
2:31: :diglett:: "Yeah, you just planted a garden in our living room!"
2:43: Haru crossed a Legendary Pokemon or Hex Maniac, didn't she?
3:39: :psyduck:: "Girl, did you forget he dumped you for a Lopunny?"

4:24: Of course the Aardman series was going to be set in Galar, it's the only place in the Pokemon world that can have Britich humour.
4:49: Shaun you look a bit different.
5:23: 2027? Jeez. I'm going to guess this is a whole series than? Like more than 4 episodes like Pokemon Concierge is?

5:47: Oh shoot, a new PokePark! I thought the series ended on the Wii... OH, they mean the physical place.
6:20: Speak of Masuda and he shall appear.
7:11: Oh, Bidoof & the Drilbur family, nice to see more than Gen I Pokemon, but why is it called PokePark Kanto? *Does research* Ah, so Yomiuriland is in Inagi, Tokyo... for those who don't know, the real Kanto region is where the Tokyo prefecture is located. So if they open up PokeParks elsewhere do they have to be within the borders of the real world place a region is based on? Like PokePark Unova would have to be in New York City?
7:17: Remember when Marts were seperate from Pokemon Centers? I say this as if we haven't just finished the remakes being in regions where that was the case.
7:22: Huh, that's an odd looking Pikachu, it's orange and has a long tail...

8:15: Oh come on Pokemon GO, are you serious? To get Eternatus we need to skydive? Not all of us own parachutes, ptsh!

8:59: Wow, look at all the Masters EX Trainers in their special outfits with their Legendary Pokemon partners... oh, and here's normal Carmine and Sinischa... may have wanted to switch the order there.

9:14: Pokemon Pirates of the Caribbean!... It's Cafe Mix, now with Lapras (as an employee, not a dish, though since there's now an overabundance of them (and hurting the fish Pokemon population) I guess they would be legal to hunt again).

9:56: So we have all the Beasts, when is Ho-Oh appearing in Sleep?
10:08: Amber Canyon, don't know much about Pokemon Sleep but that sounds like a good place for some Fossil Pokemon to appear.

11:30-13:28: Pokemon Friends. Their new "Pokemon (Thing)" app. I guess Pokemon Company have seen the increasing popularity of quick daily puzzles such as Wordle and Connections and decided to throw their hat into the ring. So, what types of quick daily puzzles could Pokemon do? Maybe solving battle scenarios, like what Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness did with Battle Bingo & Battle CDs? There's a version of Pokemon Wordle that uses Gen, Types, Height & Weight, could do something similar. No, instead it's just a hodgepodge of common logic puzzles with a Pokemon skin and when you finish one you get a digital plush to decorate a room... Why? What's the point of this? And this is the best you can come up with? Say what you want about GO and Sleep, but I can see them having a greater purpose that really no other app out there is able to do because of the Pokemon branding and offers something that either offers a reward for the core series games (Pokemon caught in GO can be transferred to HOME) or adds lore/flavor to the Pokemon World (such as Sleep's Dex). But there feels like there's nothing really here; there's other places on the web you can do quick daily puzzles, and has nothing that I can see to keep even a casual Pokemon fan interested.
 
How typical that Presents in the summer always happen during the week I'm away on holiday with limited Internet access. Oh well.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what to think about Legends Z-A. At least I'm pretty sure I was wrong about the game having other habitats from which you can bring in more Pokémon, since the previous trailer doubled down on the city focus of the game (trainers battling at night), and now it's being reinforced by showing more of the story and sidequests happening in the city itself. If there's more to the game than the city, it doesn't fit with anything we've been shown so far. It would be conceivable that they hid the scope of the game in the first full trailer, but now we've had three. The main selling points are surely out by now. And I wouldn't say I'm impressed so far.

I'm not entirely sold on where that leaves us. It seems that they are going all in on the atmosphere and intrigue of Lumiose City as the game's main draw, but what we've seen so far doesn't really convince me they've managed to pull it off. Exploring the city, catching and battling with Pokémon is once again the main focus of the gameplay, but the Pokémon appear to be restricted to very small and quite samey environments, which is concerning. The enviroments were always one of the big draws of the franchise in general and especially Legends Arceus. You travel across the land, searching far and wide from beaches and forests, by way of cliffsides and deserts, to volcanoes and snowfields, to find Pokémon in their natural habitats. But this time, they're all hanging out in parks and on street corners? Okay, sometimes they appear to be themed parks and street corners, but still, the habitats don't seem to be much bigger than a football field at most. Are they really, for instance, cramming in all desert Pokémon in one desert-like park that's small enough to throw a Poké Ball across? It seems like it won't take a minute to explore the full extent of each habitat area, as opposed to the hours you could spend getting lost in the landscape of Legends Arceus.

So what is the trade-off, the advantage we get over that game? As far as I can tell, there's a lot hinging on the story and its sidequests this time. The main story seems not to be anything special (rogue Mega Evolutions threaten city, guy who has just stepped onto the lowest rung of the established trainer ranking system is asked to do something about it, evil organizations are probably behind it), but the sidequests could be charming. Maybe. There's also the new battle system, which needs to be quite engaging to make up for the other shortcomings of the game. But overall a lot seems to depend on whether they manage to make Lumiose City as charming and vibrant as it needs to be for this to even reach a run-of-the-mill level of Pokémon experience.
 
R_N said:
Tierno didn't even get Ludicolo the first time. He got Crawdaunt (marraccas, swords dance), roserade for petal dance (& probably the masquerade aesthetic) and...Talonflame. Which you can squint and say some kind of sky dancing since they gave it Swords Dance & Aerobatics.
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its okay the anime made up for it in spades
4B4d0s.gif
 
Count Bleck said:
its okay the anime made up for it in spades
4B4d0s.gif
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I suddenly get how this annoying rival group member who has a hobby as their only personality trait is popular enough to have a (probable) relative in Z-A. Anime Tierno looks cool! :D

Just so this isn't a one liner bashing XY's rivals, did Lida say something about a Dance Dojo or was I just imagining that? I'm asking because of a really small thing in XY. On Route 14 Tierno says he was at a Dance Dojo. That really stood out to me because I saw that after exploring the north of Lumiose City and one building had a Black Belt who said he was advertising martial arts as dancing to bring in more students. It's a really minor detail most people wouldn't catch. Kind of like Lida, Tierno's (probable) relative, also mentioning a Dance Dojo instead of just both being dancers.
 
I'm actually pretty frustrated at how bad the marketing team has been showing off the new battle system. I can understand not wanting to bog trailers down with technical explanations, but c'mon! This is the hot new thing about the game! You have moves like Sandstorm and Whirlpool having a physical presence on the battlefield now! We might even have beam-struggles, but the trailers just refuse to show the combat for more than 2 seconds before cutting off, so I can't be sure!

It's almost like the marketing team has no idea what's cool about the Legends games or how to sell them, so they just go on autopilot and make trailers like any other Pokémon game. They were so unfocused and unconfident about Legends Arceus that up until release a lot people didn't know what to think about it other than "you throw Pokéball at Pokémon".
 
Lontra Assassina said:
I'm actually pretty frustrated at how bad the marketing team has been showing off the new battle system. I can understand not wanting to bog trailers down with technical explanations, but c'mon! This is the hot new thing about the game! You have moves like Sandstorm and Whirlpool having a physical presence on the battlefield now! We might even have beam-struggles, but the trailers just refuse to show the combat for more than 2 seconds before cutting off, so I can't be sure!

It's almost like the marketing team has no idea what's cool about the Legends games or how to sell them, so they just go on autopilot and make trailers like any other Pokémon game. They were so unfocused and unconfident about Legends Arceus that up until release a lot people didn't know what to think about it other than "you throw Pokéball at Pokémon".
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ORRRR you may be overestimating how big of a difference the combat is.

They may very well know it's nothing impressive, just slightly fancier version than regular combat, so they rather hype the thing they know will sell, the new mega.
 
Worldie said:
ORRRR you may be overestimating how big of a difference the combat is.

They may very well know it's nothing impressive, just slightly fancier version than regular combat, so they rather hype the thing they know will sell, the new mega.
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Nah I agree with Lontra. The people who make the trailers don't get the benefit of the doubt from me when it comes to properly showcasing mechanics changes: Reminder that we didn't even know about how multiple Pokemon could gang up on you at once in Arceus until the game got leaked. Meanwhile Z-A is out here swapping PP for stamina bars and turning some moves into actual battlefield traps, god only knows what cool stuff they're hiding
 
Worldie said:
ORRRR you may be overestimating how big of a difference the combat is.

They may very well know it's nothing impressive, just slightly fancier version than regular combat, so they rather hype the thing they know will sell, the new mega.
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When the battle system being different in some manner was one of the first features showcased, it stands to reason people would expect to see more details leading up to the release. If it's not that different as you suggest, then that's the marketing team's screw up for touting it as a major selling point early on and showing things that do insinuate significance like real time movement and positioning.
 
Already speculating for the VGC meta for Champions, my thoughts on how viable the mega evolutions will be. This is assuming they'll all be available.

1753889313731.png


Explanations for S-B.
Kangaskhan got slightly better, Scrappy pre mega also makes it immune to Intimidate now.
Trick Room is much more consistent now, though with Sucker Punch Mega Mawile isn't completely reliant on it.
Mega Salamence is as strong as ever, Dragon Dance, mixed, special attacker, it can run whatever it wants and run it well.

Both Mega Charizards are really strong in their own right, X is a deadly set up sweeper, Y is a sun boosted nuke
Expanding Force gives Mega Gardevoir 2 powerful spread nukes, and with Pixilate Hyper Voice the Dark types can't stifle it either.
The additions of Heavy Slam and Psychic Fangs has given Mega Metagross way better STABs to fire off.

Mega Blastoise was vastly improved with Shell Smash, though it does have major 4mss
Mega Gengar could be very strong, but if Flutter Mane's around it will have very strong competition. If it's not there though...
Was torn between C and B for Gyarados, went with B since I still think it's better than the mons in C but it's still not great.
Mega Scizor could be strong with its powerful priority, but it will struggle with Incineroar around.
Tyranitar might not be the strongest mega anymore, but it's still strong on full on sand compositions
Manectric is a strong offensive pivot, Lightning Rod pre mega also lets it protect its teammates.
Mega Camerupt hits like an absolute truck, and takes non Water type hits well. Being able to underspeed and deck Amoonguss in Trick Room is nice too.
The buff to Inner Focus pre mega has been a big help for Lucario, letting it dodge Intimidate pre mega. Also likes having Chien Pao around for both the Sword of Ruin damage boost and its ability to blow through bulky Ghost types.
 
Sugarbear said:
Already speculating for the VGC meta for Champions, my thoughts on how viable the mega evolutions will be. This is assuming they'll all be available.
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I think your speculation is flawed at start, because we don't know how Champions will work.

Most importantly, we don't know the interaction between mechanics. Will Z-moves/Tera/Dynamax be there? Will they be able to be used at same time or even combined with mega evolution? What about the movesets (several pokemon gained/lost moves over generations)? Will they even get balance changes? (like ability or stat changes, since we saw these happen over the last 2 generations. Expecially important for megas that have bad abilities like Garchomp or Audino)
As well as what other pokemon will even get megas? The opportunity cost of using your mega will always factor in the viability of one or another.

Honestly as is, any speculation based on "how megas were in gen 7" is basically pointless until more news of how Champions will work come out. There's too many questionmarks.
 
Worldie said:
I think your speculation is flawed at start, because we don't know how Champions will work.

Most importantly, we don't know the interaction between mechanics. Will Z-moves/Tera/Dynamax be there? Will they be able to be used at same time or even combined with mega evolution? What about the movesets (several pokemon gained/lost moves over generations)? Will they even get balance changes? (like ability or stat changes, since we saw these happen over the last 2 generations. Expecially important for megas that have bad abilities like Garchomp or Audino)
As well as what other pokemon will even get megas? The opportunity cost of using your mega will always factor in the viability of one or another.

Honestly as is, any speculation based on "how megas were in gen 7" is basically pointless until more news of how Champions will work come out. There's too many questionmarks.
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The first trailer showed a Mega Charizard X clashing with a Tera Water Dondozo, implying that you can’t mega and tera the same Pokemon (similar to the natdex formats).

Also, I enjoy theorymonning
 
Sugarbear said:
Also, I enjoy theorymonning
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So do I, but there's little point in theorymonning when we know nothing of the game other than "the presence of multiple mechanics at same time". May as well theorymon gen 10 games at this point.

I definitely enjoyed theorymonning how interesting Tapus interaction would have been with Paradox pokemon before DLC 2 happened, sure that was a lot of useful time spent.
 
Gonna speedrun my Z-A impressions since I'm starting to actually post in here

>The game looks great and I think it's likely gonna be peak. PLA is in my top 3 so if this game is even better than that, it may be my new #1 favorite.
>I think it's interesting that they decided to set the whole game in one city. Pokémon games usually don't focus on urban settings so it's fascinating to see a game that takes a big creative risk like this.
>Mega Dragonite is cool, people are just mean
>The new battle system looks really neat. I wish they'd show more of it, though the Gamescom demo is definitely gonna give us a better idea of how it looks. It looks like you can also use moves even when not in battle, so I think that'll make for some very unique and satisfying gameplay
>All the character designs so far are flames, including the protags
 
Regarding the Game's marketing, do wanna say that its not too out of the ordinary for Pokémon to have most of the big exciting stuff only be revealed in the later half of the year

PLA was announced in a Pokémon Day but all its other trailers only really started in August

SV had the title drop + starters in Pokémon Day but we only had the first proper look at the game (+ a few characters, Lechonk, Smoliv and Raidons) in June, and everything else from story beats to new mons to even Terastal were announced after August


I think with ZA it feels a little off since its gonna be releasd earlier than usual and was also announced last year, so it feels like we've been going for a while without much info. But I do believe we will start to see more trailers with more substantial info soon, judging by how past games went

Worlds is also happening soon and we usually have new things announced during its closing ceremony - that's how they revealed Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Slowbro before. I could see this year's closing ceremony focusing a bit more on Champions but I'd be surprised if we get nothing new about any Megas
 
AquaticPanic said:
Worlds is also happening soon and we usually have new things announced during its closing ceremony - that's how they revealed Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Slowbro before. I could see this year's closing ceremony focusing a bit more on Champions but I'd be surprised if we get nothing new about any Megas
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I wonder if it would be at all possible for them to reveal one of the new Megas in the context of Champions because they expect it to be VGC relevant (e.g. what if one of them has Intimidate) with a little note at the end going "oh yeah if it wasn't obvious it'll be making its mainline debut in Z-A"
 
AquaticPanic said:
Regarding the Game's marketing, do wanna say that its not too out of the ordinary for Pokémon to have most of the big exciting stuff only be revealed in the later half of the year

PLA was announced in a Pokémon Day but all its other trailers only really started in August

SV had the title drop + starters in Pokémon Day but we only had the first proper look at the game (+ a few characters, Lechonk, Smoliv and Raidons) in June, and everything else from story beats to new mons to even Terastal were announced after August


I think with ZA it feels a little off since its gonna be releasd earlier than usual and was also announced last year, so it feels like we've been going for a while without much info. But I do believe we will start to see more trailers with more substantial info soon, judging by how past games went

Worlds is also happening soon and we usually have new things announced during its closing ceremony - that's how they revealed Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Slowbro before. I could see this year's closing ceremony focusing a bit more on Champions but I'd be surprised if we get nothing new about any Megas
Click to expand...
Yeah the news cycle for Z-A has been weird but it was weird for PLA too so it might just be a legends thing. I think Legends really thrives off of doing the unexpected so this kinda makes sense. Pokémon has been a lot more tame with its pre-release news since gen 8. I think they tend to strike a decent balance these days but the year-long wait for anything Z-A was pretty odd. They *could* reveal new megas at Worlds but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't given Legends bears little relevance to it. Not to mention Gamescom is right around then too and will have the game.
 
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