I was thinking that Mega Baxcalibur would surely be slowly than base Baxcalibur, but these extra blurbs make me believe it'll be faster, and if that's the case, it'll instantly be Uber with only Mega Scizor being a decent check to it. However, Baxcalibur itself will probably be Uber, so maybe that's actually a moot point.
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Pokémon Presents - Pokémon Day 2025 - Pokemon ZA Info & Pokemon Champions Announced
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I was thinking that Mega Baxcalibur would surely be slowly than base Baxcalibur, but these extra blurbs make me believe it'll be faster, and if that's the case, it'll instantly be Uber with only Mega Scizor being a decent check to it. However, Baxcalibur itself will probably be Uber, so maybe that's actually a moot point.
Callin it now. +10 Spe only. Granted, 97 speed isn’t crazy, but speed tying Lunala and outrunning the cabal of base 90s, viable or otherwise is quite the treat. I’m also predicting M-Hera tier attack but that’s besides the point.
The soft, scattered celebration of BW felt like a bearish way for GF and TPC to acknowledge Unova and keep it relevant, without going all-in. BW are some of the worst selling core games, the Unova Pokedex is still pretty contentious, and GF is slow to respond to changing fan opinion. I've been a diehard Gen 5 fan since it released, and there was always a vocal group of fans upset with the downgrades in Gen 6, but XY sales speak louder than BW fans ever could. It's only in recent years that popular opinion shifted in BW's favour, partly due to 2010 kids growing up, but largely driven by fatigue and frustration over modern 3D-era Pokemon.
The nostalgia cycle is predictable, and it's a core part of TPC's roadmap, but I don't think they bet on BW and especially BW2 becoming such fan favourites. They hedged their bets, worried that sales of a BW remake would track with the original games, and that Unova merchandise would sell worse than Gen 4 and Gen 6. Even with BW's current popularity, that fear isn't unfounded. By every metric, Tepig was the least popular starter in Z-A, but I still think they were too bearish about Unova.
If the leaked roadmap holds true, and Gen 10 is followed by a Legends Galar game, there's a chance they'll miss the boat on a nostalgia cycle BW cash-in. The best bet for Gen 5 is putting the original games on Switch. It would help keep Unova relevant and accessible, and it would give GF and TPC concrete data about player habits and the popularity of each game. Vocal fans don't always show up, and 2010s sales data doesn't reflect 2025 demand. Having current player data for all the classic games would be invaluable to TPC and GF. If BW and BW2 are accessible and widely played, it could open the door for a proper BW3 sequel. Z-A proved that Pokemon sequel games are viable. It was a risky project, and wouldn't have been greenlit if XY sold BW numbers. That kind of risk-averse planning is probably why a Legends Galar game is in play, despite it being too soon for Gen 8 nostalgia. Switch Pokemon games did gangbusters, so the bean counters determined Galar was the least risky. As a fan, it certainly seems risky to revisit Galar given the sour reception to SwSh, but once again, the sales data speaks louder than the vocal fans.
I'll point one note in which you may be missing out on.
We're approaching the timeframe where almost all of the of the intended casual buyerbase (aka, kids and teenagers, not 30+ year old adults with nostalgia glasses) have had their first experiences of the game with the Switch. I'm speaking of the kind of people who buy pokemon "cause it's pokemon", and whose main gameplay approach is "beat the story, maybe whatever postgame story there is, then never touch the game again if not to run around with their lvl 100 Greninja for 4 hours punching wild pokemon (totally not my nephew on that last one)"
These players are used to the modern pokemon gameplay loop, no grind, easy and clear to follow instructions, map pointers of where to go, openworld or semi openworld structure, intuitive battle system and UI, etc.
These players don't... actually care for remakes at all. They care for their shiny new toy they will be able to hug as plushie later down the line. These players are also likely to have started playing pokemon with Galar itself so grown attached to some of the new Galar pokemon. It's reasonable at that point, from raw capitalistic standpoint, to try and bank on this new generation of nostalgia, rather than from the growingly disconnected adult playerbase.
Expecially after BDSP's relative flop (not that it didn't sell, but definitely wasn't received as well as any other remake), and the overwhelming success of both the Legends games, I can definitely see GameFreaks / TPCI seeing that in the bigger picture, Legends independant games are the correct way to revisit places. And on this point, Galar offers a lot of interesting choices: you can either go in the past (explore the history of the "original heroes", or how Eternatus and Dynamax came into existance) or in the future (what is the aftermath of Rose's arrest? What's been of Leon? Has Calyrex finally found peace? Is Peony still stuck in the Dynamax cave for the rest of his life searching for his poor girl?). Gen 5 world already sorta did this to itself since BW2 are direct sequels of BW, and as I was implying earlier, at this point they're mostly unknown entries that "exist" with the modern fanbase having little interest in going back to them.
And as extra, Legends games do offer the option to introduce new pokemon and regional forms (megas included). Remakes do not. That too is missed sales, because even for the more hardcore/competitive playerbase, even with the implication that with grinding you may be able to "buy" all pokemon in Champions, having them readily available on demand by just... owning the game is a pretty big deal. Let alone collectors who like to have a full pokedex in Home (living or not).
(On slightly related note, I find funny how BDSP did deliver in the request of giving us stronger, harder story battles, with many Gym Leaders having overtuned competitive-ready strategies, and that was actually one of the most disliked features of it I can read around of. Pokemon fans truly can't be pleased)
ORAS introduced a whole second batch of megas.
Let's Go introduced the Meltan line; it may have been designed as a Go tie in, but it was still for Let's Go
BDSP deciding to not introduce anything feels way more centric to how that game developed rather than a hard & fast rule. BDSP didn't even offer any altered designs for its characters, something remakes always did.
It would not surprise me if ILCA did another set of remakes that GameFreak would decide to add something new or different to them
I feel like we read in wildly different circles because I don't see a lot of people complain about those at all, mostly because the exp share flattens everything out until end game, especially these days.
And honestly I wouldn't even call them overtuned.
I didn't mean to discount the real appeal those games have. Like I said, the vocality of the core audience isn't always the best metric to go by. But I will offer a counterpoint to SwSh's lifetime sales, and that's the active playerbase for Pokemon Go. Go has more active players than any core game has lifetime sales. Go was undeniably an on-ramp for lots of players, and TPC has been diligent in using the platform to introduce that audience to more Pokemon species and cross-promoting new games. I met lots of people during my Go heyday who were lapsed or new fans who became heavily invested into Pokemon because of Go. They condensed 1996-2025 within a 9 year span, and cultivated a playerbase of diehard fans beyond the typical "fresh kids" and "stale stalwarts". Go's cadence of releasing and spotlighting Pokemon and regions has given new life to a lot of Pokemon outside the typical generation/remake/generation cycle, and helps drive the brand's massive merchandise empire. It's become this third platform for meeting and bonding with Pokemon outside of the games and anime, and that drives downstream merch like the TCG and TCG Pocket that capitalize on those Very Special Friend moments
Now, I agree with your point that a lot of these players won't play BW2, just like a lot of Switch-only players won't find them appealing. That data would obviously require context. Comparing active players for RBY with BW2 isn't valuable. But having every core game on the same system is useful for cutting past the noise and seeing what the core audience is actually playing.
I think BDSP's sales have less to do with the demand for remakes, and more to do with them being overshadowed by PLA and the obvious overlap those titles shared. That was by design, BDSP was a last minute stopgap to fill PLA's holiday spot when that game got delayed, and it was readily apparent from their promotional material. If anything, BDSP represents the floor for a mainline holiday Pokemon release. That's your Christmas moms and your fans who will show up for every mainline release. The dropoff comes from the pickier adult fans and the kids who were nearing or recently graduated from "kiddy stuff", the ones who PLA appealed more to. It's more to do with the tone, aesthetics, and quality of BDSP rather than how much or little was changed from the original. A faithful remake that was well made and looked polished would've sold better, but BDSP was never meant to be polished or prestigious. BDSP had one job, and that was ensuring a Pokemon game was on shelves for Black Friday 2021. By that metric, it was a success.
I mean that probably has more to do with the popularity of Johto than the unpopularity of Unova.
That's true. Also the unpopularity of Tepig compared to the other Unova starters
https://www.pokemon-cafe.jp/ja/pikachu_sweets/news/251121_3309.html
I think it's cute the pokemon cafe's going to serve real versions of the primal donuts
I think it's cute the pokemon cafe's going to serve real versions of the primal donuts
The average adult Pokemon fan's ideal difficulty level is "hard enough that I don't just OHKO anything but not so hard that I'm ever at risk of actually losing"
EDIT: also "no niche strategies or combos that I don't have prior knowledge of >:(((" (that's cheating ofc)
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This could totally just be Hardcore Fan Brain clouding my judgement but I genuinely think we're at a point where remakes have become a relative merchandising liability not due to lack of opportunities for new mons/forms (R_N already brought up the ORAS Mega selection) but moreso because of lack of opportunities for new human characters. Arceus admittedly didn't have much going on there besides Volo and Punished Ingo but Z-A represents a pretty extreme showcase of what I'm talking about where they essentially injected close to a new generation's worth of charismatic characters, something that would not have been possible with a straight remake of its notoriously lacking-in-that-aspect predecessor without enormous rewrites and redesigns. Like I dunno man, I'm fully aware that safebooru scrolling sessions probably don't represent what the median normie plushie buyer is most enthralled by from these games but it still stands out that all the drawings of Gwynn and Canari kissing absolutely dwarf anything involving the new Megas.
Also yeah if Legends Galar materializes around the 2028-29 range then it'll be coming right in time to cash in on the younger zoomers & gen alphas who grew up with SWSH: recall how HGSS coincided with GS' 10th anniversary. The prime window for new Unova content has passed. I regret to inform you that ILCA's Bastard Black and Wanker White will add less value to the brand than Sexy Witch Klara Ancestor
I feel like this an issue specific to X and Y. It's in the running for most bland cast of any mainline Pokémon game, and this in spite of competing with the very barebones Gens 1 and 2. You can only change so much before a game becomes unrecognizable as a remake. You also have to consider that they very likely wanted a bunch of new characters to go with the new Megas and fix a major complaint with X and Y's underutilization of the mechanic.
Besides, this is ignoring how a lot of the PLZA's hype was propelled by the return of characters people did care about. I don't think I need to remind you specifically about Emma.
The simple answer here is that many artists prefer drawing humans over potentially compacted creature designs. Easier to get good reference material of the former compared to the latter.
Also, shipping just be like that.
I imagine most people are fine with this outcome so we can avoid the monkey's paw curling its middle finger at us.
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So like didn't the tera leak mention they had plans to do an XY remake eventually, or something.
Maybe we don't need to do huge assumptions on why they did & didn't do something. Maybe they just felt like not having remake this gen. Maybe they wanted ILCA to just prioritize Champions and we'll get something next go around. Maybe they just wanted some extra space this time. Could be anything!
because it sure isn't sales (BDSP did more than L:A), it likely isnt less avenue for trainers (a solid remake can always redesign and revitalize interest in addition to adding new ones), it likely isnt designs (remakes have had plenty of new forms) and it wasn't ewwwww gross ILCA ruined everything (they proceeded to partner with to create a studio together for the purpose of making more Pokemon games including the VGC-focused game that will be the centerpiece of every competitive event). It also likely isn't anything pertaining to anniversaries causing things to miss the boat; sure you had 10th anniversary HGSS and BDSP was 15 years which because its a multiplie of 5 people give more precedence to but FRLG was 8 years after RB, ORAS was 12 years after RS, Let's Go was 22 years...it just seems like they do anything whenever they feel like it. Hell even Z-As original plan was 11 years after XY.
I dunno folks I don't think we can backseat corporate fanfic our way to the truth here.
Maybe we don't need to do huge assumptions on why they did & didn't do something. Maybe they just felt like not having remake this gen. Maybe they wanted ILCA to just prioritize Champions and we'll get something next go around. Maybe they just wanted some extra space this time. Could be anything!
because it sure isn't sales (BDSP did more than L:A), it likely isnt less avenue for trainers (a solid remake can always redesign and revitalize interest in addition to adding new ones), it likely isnt designs (remakes have had plenty of new forms) and it wasn't ewwwww gross ILCA ruined everything (they proceeded to partner with to create a studio together for the purpose of making more Pokemon games including the VGC-focused game that will be the centerpiece of every competitive event). It also likely isn't anything pertaining to anniversaries causing things to miss the boat; sure you had 10th anniversary HGSS and BDSP was 15 years which because its a multiplie of 5 people give more precedence to but FRLG was 8 years after RB, ORAS was 12 years after RS, Let's Go was 22 years...it just seems like they do anything whenever they feel like it. Hell even Z-As original plan was 11 years after XY.
I dunno folks I don't think we can backseat corporate fanfic our way to the truth here.
I think there's bits and pieces around their actual thoughts, because the teraleak info isn't dated too well. And also not the easiest to get hold of for minor things like this.
From the first wave of leaks, it was said that BDSP was a rush release due to no 2021 holiday release, as Legends was moved to Jan 2022, but remakes weren't something they were going to explore going forward for a while (or something like that) I don't think it was down to a "oh we hate them" cause as you said, they kept ILCA around.
And then when the next wave happened, they mentioned not giving Xerneas and Yveltal megas because they may want to do something with them for potential XY remakes, so no confirmation, but it does put remakes back on the table. But due to the people leaking not being.. great, we don't know what conversation happened when (or at least not to my knowledge)
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In terms of remakes in general I see it as Legends being the "remake" going forward. I can't see there being a traditional remake release again, but hey, who knows.
I’m not sure I’d venture to say the majority of Sinnoh’s characters are that much more popular than Kalos’s, though. Like, is Byron really that much more beloved than Valerie?
Sinnoh really just has the walking nuclear arsenal of popular appeal that is Cynthia. Legends: Arceus didn’t even bother to ancestorize a handful of DP’s characters.
My sense is that this all has a lot less to do with popularity (though I’m sure that’s a factor to some extent), and more to do with the game concept. Arceus was a game set in an early version of Sinnoh; the first game they’ve done that doesn’t take place in the series’s contemporary era, so they probably wanted to emphasize the connections between the people back then and the characters we know in the present. On the other hand, Z-A is entirely localized within Lumiose City, meaning that characters from other parts of the region have less of an intrinsic reason to be there, and not only that, but it’s also a Lumiose City that is in the process of evolving due to the consequences of XY’s story causing a chunk of the population to abandon ship.
ngl i think its just as simple as "They're moving onto revisitting a region whenever they have an idea or a reason to go back to that region". They wanted to bring back Megas (potentially knowing they'd want to make Champions with all mechanics) so they logically decided to make a new game set in Kalos. This is likely why Galar is in the drafts for Legends game as well - they know they want to go back to gigantamax forms some day so they're keeping the idea in the shelf til its time comes
I think people tend to expect TPC to follow some sort of pattern and get surprised when its "broken" but I feel like there simply wasn't a pattern to begin with. They do remakes whenever they feel like its fitting to do so, I doubt its a matter of "oh yeah now we are past the window of time for Unova remakes" or "they do remakes every even-numbered gen and always in gen order" or whatever. We've gone from "every game has a third version" to BW having sequels to SM having two new versions to Switch era all having DLC instead. I don't think we have to necessarily be like "oh they made a Kalos game right after a Sinnoh game so clearly they're skipping Unova because it didn't sell well" or whatever
I do think having remakes to make the older games more accessible would be a good thing but aside from that I much prefer the idea of them tackling a region because they had an idea for a freash take on said region rather than them tackling a region because its time for a remake and its the next one on the list
I think people tend to expect TPC to follow some sort of pattern and get surprised when its "broken" but I feel like there simply wasn't a pattern to begin with. They do remakes whenever they feel like its fitting to do so, I doubt its a matter of "oh yeah now we are past the window of time for Unova remakes" or "they do remakes every even-numbered gen and always in gen order" or whatever. We've gone from "every game has a third version" to BW having sequels to SM having two new versions to Switch era all having DLC instead. I don't think we have to necessarily be like "oh they made a Kalos game right after a Sinnoh game so clearly they're skipping Unova because it didn't sell well" or whatever
I do think having remakes to make the older games more accessible would be a good thing but aside from that I much prefer the idea of them tackling a region because they had an idea for a freash take on said region rather than them tackling a region because its time for a remake and its the next one on the list
There is a reason for which I (and others) always joke about "Pokemon players and trying to not find a pattern in everything Challenge (impossible)" after all.
In this case you're more right than you'd think, mainly because they admittedly said that they make (and remove) things as they feel and they don't actually follow any specific in first place.
Didn't that turn out to be another fanfic someone tossed into the recent batch of teraleak reveals? Similar to the doc detailing an overreaction to negative BW reveals leading to them holding back a bunch of new mons for BW2 and adding them in "truth and beaty" (X&Y) instead turned out to be fiction.
It's hard to keep track of what was legit and what was fake info people slipped into the flood.
(Or real info that people thought was fake, like the real Mimikyu form that was on its concept art that someone made fan art of and then people started to think it was fan art to begin with)
Alright, I’ll bite. When I think of Pokémon remakes and whether or not they realistically make sense to… exist, I think back to my standing theory that there are at least three, possibly an undiscovered fourth Pokémon timeline, because the thing is, every remake and Legends game so far fits into one of either the “Remake Timeline” (FRLG and HGSS) or the Mega Timeline (ORAS-present). At first I thought BDSP might be separate from the Mega Timeline but Legends Arceus connects with both BDSP and Legends Z-A now thanks to the museum lore, so by that logic ILCA Sinnoh and Gen 4 Sinnoh are not the same universe/timeline.
For all of the aforementioned reasons, Legends Z-A existing at all and seemingly still taking place in the existing Mega Timeline that the original X & Y started surprised me, especially since there’s no ILCA Kalos or anything of the sort to go along with it. Yet. You never know. Anyways, I’ve had my theories about this for a while now but I think what ultimately happened with Kalos and why they selected is had something to do with the Nintendo Switch 2 rather than any previously established release patterns. Conventional wisdom and the Teraleak both suggested Johto was next in line, most likely for 2024-25 as the leaks stated, but the remakes and Legends games have a second pattern too. Long story short, since Kalos was the first 3DS region and Legends Z-A is technically still the console’s first remake or Legends game in general, Kalos was chosen over Johto following the game director’s work on the Scarlet & Violet DLC in 2023, partially for the purpose of ensuring the Switch 2 could have a Kalos game… at all, when Johto at least had the 3DS Virtual Console ports and a remake of its own quite some time ago now.
Knowing what we know now from the leaks and from the idea that following previously established patterns isn’t always reliable should plans change during development, I do still think remakes are going to keep being released; I just think they’ll either be alongside Legends games like BDSP was or be interchangeable with Legends games. Because if you really stop and think about it, Let’s Go kind of is like a precursor to what Legends Arceus was going for, placing much more emphasis on catching and whatnot. Whether we get a remake or a Legends game for a given region will come down to two things- if it gets outsourced, and what region it actually is. Similar to 2021, it is very possible that we get our next true remake of a game and a Legends game being developed at the same time as one another, the only difference being they might not become for the same region. Let’s assume for a moment that happens in 2028 or 2029. Will the Switch 2, or at least the 2025 model, still be Nintendo’s newest platform? You might think it’s crazy to say that, but this same thing happened with the Game Boy Advance (2001) and the DS (2004), meaning the inevitable Pokémon Legends 3 could also be cross-gen between this and whatever Nintendo cooks up next. Again, you never know.
For all of the aforementioned reasons, Legends Z-A existing at all and seemingly still taking place in the existing Mega Timeline that the original X & Y started surprised me, especially since there’s no ILCA Kalos or anything of the sort to go along with it. Yet. You never know. Anyways, I’ve had my theories about this for a while now but I think what ultimately happened with Kalos and why they selected is had something to do with the Nintendo Switch 2 rather than any previously established release patterns. Conventional wisdom and the Teraleak both suggested Johto was next in line, most likely for 2024-25 as the leaks stated, but the remakes and Legends games have a second pattern too. Long story short, since Kalos was the first 3DS region and Legends Z-A is technically still the console’s first remake or Legends game in general, Kalos was chosen over Johto following the game director’s work on the Scarlet & Violet DLC in 2023, partially for the purpose of ensuring the Switch 2 could have a Kalos game… at all, when Johto at least had the 3DS Virtual Console ports and a remake of its own quite some time ago now.
Knowing what we know now from the leaks and from the idea that following previously established patterns isn’t always reliable should plans change during development, I do still think remakes are going to keep being released; I just think they’ll either be alongside Legends games like BDSP was or be interchangeable with Legends games. Because if you really stop and think about it, Let’s Go kind of is like a precursor to what Legends Arceus was going for, placing much more emphasis on catching and whatnot. Whether we get a remake or a Legends game for a given region will come down to two things- if it gets outsourced, and what region it actually is. Similar to 2021, it is very possible that we get our next true remake of a game and a Legends game being developed at the same time as one another, the only difference being they might not become for the same region. Let’s assume for a moment that happens in 2028 or 2029. Will the Switch 2, or at least the 2025 model, still be Nintendo’s newest platform? You might think it’s crazy to say that, but this same thing happened with the Game Boy Advance (2001) and the DS (2004), meaning the inevitable Pokémon Legends 3 could also be cross-gen between this and whatever Nintendo cooks up next. Again, you never know.
Fighting / Steel again.. what is their problem. Its description talks about defensive and further speed as well.
"Z Mega Evolutions such as Mega Lucario Z need less time to fire off moves after receiving an order. But Z Mega Evolutions also burn through Mega Power very quickly, making them less suited for long battles, so try to settle matches as fast as possible!"
"Z Mega Evolutions such as Mega Lucario Z need less time to fire off moves after receiving an order. But Z Mega Evolutions also burn through Mega Power very quickly, making them less suited for long battles, so try to settle matches as fast as possible!"
Mega Lucario Z Reveal!