It looks like someone came by and pulled the brown part off Rowlet like a shirt and left the bowtie all messed up around the top of its head.
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Pokémon Day 2026 - Pokemon Winds and Waves coming 2027! Champions April 2026
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
Idk if this is a hot take. But I think Gecqua is a top 3 first stage starter design.
I love everything about it. The contrast of the beautiful colored eyes with the rest of its body. The water droplet motif embedded throughout. The smirk on its face. Just drips personality.
Very hopeful for its final stage. I feel like it might be Water/Dark but we'll see.
I love everything about it. The contrast of the beautiful colored eyes with the rest of its body. The water droplet motif embedded throughout. The smirk on its face. Just drips personality.
Very hopeful for its final stage. I feel like it might be Water/Dark but we'll see.
Gods I can't unsee it, jeez. And knowing GF... that could very well be the shade of the Gecqua shiny.It looks like someone came by and pulled the brown part off Rowlet like a shirt and left the bowtie all messed up around the top of its head.
also... yeaaaaa I'm ngl I don't know how to feel about doing another grass bird, especially with Rowlet being a home run to me. And I mean, it was 10 years ago, but Rowlet is still a relatively newer Pokemon.
It's rare for me to say but if I did get these games I'd go with the Fire starter this time around. Usually I pick Grass.
Y'know I do respect that take a lot, and I do normally like designs like it. I just found it outta place but I can't pretend there's no merit. I hope it ends up Water/Poison or Water/Psychic, IDK if it'll be Water/Dark ngl.
i think theres a lot of mammal bias because a fire dog and a fire fox are much closer vs an owl and a bird that most likely isnt even a strigiforme. like theyre so close they share an entire subfamily, while its most likely these two birds wont even share an infraclass clade, some of the most distant an animal can be while still existing in the same larger group (in this case aves)
Also something that's been bothering me.
Browt has lines delineating the talons from the rest of the foot, despite the fact that they are the same color. Normally that would just be left as like a sharp toe with the inference that there's a talon there but without showing it.
In the official art it doesn't even interrupt the shading it literally looks like the line was just slapped on after.
In the official art it doesn't even interrupt the shading it literally looks like the line was just slapped on after.
Well, that certainly was a game announcement! I'm generally excited, but as usual, the announcement revealed little of what specifically to be excited about. As Pokémon is a money-printing franchise, it was inevitable that Gen 10 would follow Gen 9, and yesterday's announcement did little other than confirming that "yup, Gen 10 is coming".
That being said, I have a scattering of little thoughts about it still. In no particular order:
That being said, I have a scattering of little thoughts about it still. In no particular order:
- I think the new region looks great. Pokémon does have a tendency to loop back to tropical regions all the time, but it's been a while since Alola by now, so I guess we're due for another.
- I vote for WiWa as the "official" abbreviated names. "WiWa" is better than the also-proposed "WaWi" due to a little phenomenon called "Ablaut Reduplication", or "The I-A-O" rule. When similar sounds are grouped together, the order of presentation generally goes I before A before O. "Tic-Tac-Toe", "Bing-Bang-Boom", "Wishy-Washy", "King Kong", etc. "Tac-Tic-Toe" or "Kong King" just sounds a bit wrong. So "WiWa" it is.
- People seem to compare Browt to Rowlet a lot. Yeah, they're grass birds, I get it. But no mention about how its body structure is entirely identical to Torchic? Big head, tiny body with nearly non-existing wings, tuft of hair on its back, small beak ... granted, Torchic doesn't have eyebrows, and Browt has only three toes. In motion, they're going to look very similar, though.
- Likewise, Pombon reminds me a lot about Fennekin (although better proportioned), and Gecqua evokes images of Sobble. I suspect they are going to differentiate themselves a bit as they evolve, though. Pombon better not become humanoid and martial.
- Speaking of evolutions, I've recently given starter typings a thought in the "what's the deal with the Ice-type in-game" thread. The gist of it is that after Gen IV, Game Freak seems to have wanted the starters' secondary typings to form a type triangle that doesn't interfere with the primary type triangle. Since only Dark, Fighting, Ghost, Psychic and Normal don't have any interactions with either Fire, Water, or Grass in the type chart, and Normal's lack of advantages over other types makes it a poor fit for a type triangle, we've seen a lot of repeated typings in recent games. Fairy is occasionally used too, since it only barely interacts with Fire by being not-very-effective against it. Unless the philosophy changes, I don't expect these starters to be any different either. We'll get something like Grass/Fighting, Water/Ghost, and Fire/Dark again.
- One sentence on the official webpage has me slightly worried: "You, the player, will become the main character in this adventure when you dive into the world of Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves. The outfit your character dons will differ between versions." Does this mean that character customization is removed again?
- The characters also seem to carry hover boards. Or Switch 2s with very large Joy-Cons, I suppose. I guess these will be our main method of overworld traversal this time, picking up upgrades that lets us swim, dive, scale cliffs, and eventually fly across the region.
- Following the traditions of Prism Tower, the Battle Tree, Hammerlocke City, Mesagoza's academy, and Prism Tower again, it seems the new region will once again feature a great and fancy structure with an amazing view of the surrounding area, which we will be unable to climb to actually see the view. Could be a hotel this time? There seems to be a great holiday theme to the games so far.
- Speaking of which, the new Pikachu forms look like boomers on vacation. Sunburn and all.
Meanwhile, I'm generally of the opinion that all vertebrates are equally boring. I may be mostly an Arthropoda fan, but there's still a lot of underused phyla without it.
people on the internet are making so many soyjak memes about the grass starter, its insane.
I'd go for WiVes. Sounds better. Also WiWa sounds specially weird in spanish and its pretty similar to wawa, meaning bus in Canarias. Also in english, wives is just 1 phonem, so it flows better off the tongue than WiWa.
The presentation was a nothingburger from my perspective, I tuned in only for Champions news, which they promised, only to show an ad that didn't reveal any new information besides a vague April release. I later found out that actual information was on the website instead, so thanks for that, TPC.
Aside from that tiny nuisance, I guess what they showed was pretty cool, though I either do not engage with whatever they showed or don't own a Switch 2 to be able to care. Gen 10's reveal trailer was pretty cool, the starters look neat, save for the Pombon, who I am dismissive about. I'd personally pick Browt, I like me a cutie with a resting bitch-face.
I won't make a comment about graphics or anything, I want to see actual gameplay footage first.
Aside from that tiny nuisance, I guess what they showed was pretty cool, though I either do not engage with whatever they showed or don't own a Switch 2 to be able to care. Gen 10's reveal trailer was pretty cool, the starters look neat, save for the Pombon, who I am dismissive about. I'd personally pick Browt, I like me a cutie with a resting bitch-face.
I won't make a comment about graphics or anything, I want to see actual gameplay footage first.
Now that you bring this up, this is a really interesting observation, especially since you describe the hover boards akin to the Switch 2's Joy-Cons.
I wonder if this means using the hover boards will use the Switch 2 Joy-Con's mouse-like features where you use the Joy-Cons detached and rub them across a surface like an external computer mouse.
Game Freak loves making use of every Nintendo handheld's quirkier features in the debut games on each platform, and leaning into them. The Game Boy and GBA didn't have much to offer but things like trading back in Red and Blue were conceived based on the idea of connecting two Game Boys with a Link Cable. Diamond and Pearl on the DS really leaned into the DS's dual-screen interface and the bottom touch screen, both from something simple like the battle UI to quirkier features like The Underground and Poffin making, and even simple things like the Poketch being on the bottom screen and having multiple side features present on it. X and Y leaned into the 3D aspect of the 3DS, both with the series transitioning to 3D models and the 3DS's use of autostereoscopic 3D, which X and Y uses in battles to make them pop out even more. Not to mention things like Pokemon Amie, which allows players to play with their Pokemon and fully leans into the strengths of 3D models. Not to mention Roller Skates to make use of the 3DS's Circle Pad. DP made use of the DS's wireless Wi-Fi connection, and XY also leaned into the PSS for both that and the 3DS's Street Pass. Even Sword and Shield does this too to an extent. While Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee came first and made use of the Switch's Joy-Cons for motion control, Sword and Shield did it too with Pokemon Camp and using the motion controls to cook. Not to mention the Joy-Con's HD rumble which was used in certain Gym puzzles and also for Dynamax.
Given that precedent it's very likely that Winds and Waves will lean into the Switch 2's individual quirks as well, as Pokemon's big inaugural game on it. Legends: Z-A was a Switch 1 game first and foremost ported to Switch 2 to have improved performance, but Winds and Waves is fully a Switch 2 game and the start of a new generation as well. The Switch 2 has "mouse controls" where you can use the Joy-Cons like a mouse, which a few games like Drag N Drive use, and I think it's very likely Winds and Waves could lean into that. Maybe those hover boards will have the option of using the Switch 2's mouse controls in that way.
Hello there! I am new to Orange Islands and want to comment on my thoughts for the trailer. As a VGC player, April feels... late. First of all I think all the water looks incredible. Mainly, I'm excited at the starters because NEW MONS! Browt: ummm....... this one is interesting because the brow concept is cool. I hope it gets Chlorophyll. Pombon is what all my friends are picking. they say CUTE DOG OMGOMGOMG... i say fire/fairy potential? neat. AND THEN GOD SAID LET THERE BE GECQUA!!! Gecqua is SO CUTE AND IS MY FRIEND. with grovyle as my fav mon, having another gecko starter is epic. My prediction is Grass/Griund, Fire/Fairy and Water/Poison. Thanks, cya!
I need a new Eeveelution.
It has been too long!
It has been too long!
There is a thing that GameFreak has been doing at the very end of their early trailers for more recent titles where they include a vague tease of a gimmick or concept for the game that is revealed in the next full trailer. For Scarlet/Violet an early trailer showed a crystalline background with a Poké Ball being thrown, which was a tease for Terastal and I believe that was revealed during the next full trailer. For Legends Z-A the end of the trailer/overview combo showed the Rotom phone receiving a Promotion Match which was slightly ominous in tone, and the Z-A Royale was properly revealed during the next trailer.
I believe that there was a similar mysterious vague tease after the title reveal for Winds/Waves, where it cuts to black and we clearly hear a storm for a few seconds before the sound fades abruptly. I feel that after the clear and peaceful weather we see in the gameplay segments, there will definitely be a major aspect of the game relating to storms, with perhaps gameplay being affected accordingly. There is a blurb on the official website that mentions "even the forces of nature that block your path at times." Not to mention the suspicious Gyarados-shaped dark cloud that was spotted...
It could also be related to the inevitable new battle super-mechanic, that perhaps has storm-related visuals, or even the title legendaries which could have some sort of storm-based forms. Either way, I admit it's pretty vague as far as teases go, but I definitely don't believe that GameFreak included those storm sounds at the very end for no reason.
I believe that there was a similar mysterious vague tease after the title reveal for Winds/Waves, where it cuts to black and we clearly hear a storm for a few seconds before the sound fades abruptly. I feel that after the clear and peaceful weather we see in the gameplay segments, there will definitely be a major aspect of the game relating to storms, with perhaps gameplay being affected accordingly. There is a blurb on the official website that mentions "even the forces of nature that block your path at times." Not to mention the suspicious Gyarados-shaped dark cloud that was spotted...
It could also be related to the inevitable new battle super-mechanic, that perhaps has storm-related visuals, or even the title legendaries which could have some sort of storm-based forms. Either way, I admit it's pretty vague as far as teases go, but I definitely don't believe that GameFreak included those storm sounds at the very end for no reason.
I didn't pull that idea out of thin air, various leakers have made the claim that some of the delays are related to fallout from the tera leak, and have suggested that some content/plans have gotten scrapped/reworked because of it. Apparently the delay to 2027 is allegedly a relatively recent decision. While GF are obviously not going to scrap everything and start from scratch, we know from the development betas of ZA that Game Freak is happy to tweak major things even late into to development (e.g., the battle royale in ZA's case). Whether or not that has anything to do with why we're waiting until 2027 is speculation about possible reasons, not a claim that this must be what happened. I am simply stating that if the delay were to have anything to do with tera leak adjustments, or even just GF's indecisiveness about features, we shouldn't expect the games to go above and beyond polishing the performance to avoid a repeat of the SV launch.
I am not opposed to longer dev times, but personally I would rather the extra time comes from projects overlapping to maintain the 3 year new gen cycle. I disagree that 5 years is not too long (in terms of a gap between generations); I think 3ish years has proved to be a good time between generations to reboost interest by adding a bolus of new Pokemon. I think Pokemon's ability to stay relevant for 30 years is due to their relentless pumping out of new games and media.
If the current delay is because something came up and they need more time to fix the performance and avoid their embarrassment with SV's launch, so be it, but I doubt the extra time is going to resolve the things people like to complain about, like dexit, no battle frontier, graphics, asset reuse, etc. We can already see that while the water looks good, the graphics are still pretty similar to SV. I predict that when the games come out we will be inundated with comments like "they took 5 years for the 30th anniversary game and still didn't bother adding in every Pokemon?! Lazy greedy GameFreak!!!1"
i mean sure if the only thing you care about the franchise is absolute dominance of mainstream relevancy, 3 years is good. But ill be honest id like the games to also be good lol
Also, like. The rest of the franchise is still kicking. Pumping out merchandise, active anime, they just got a huge infusion of new designs to make merchandise out of. Even a new spin off!
I think the series, can, in fact, whether this storm.
e: Like the games survived one (1) year before putting out a new game that still sold well (& somewhat reviewed well) that had a bunch of new designs. Are megas on par with ne Pokemon? Not necessarily. But it probably collectively those 40 or so new designs are on par with "what if avalugg, was rocky" and "everyone likes enamorus right?". I think it can survive one (1) additional year, especially when we now have a promissory note of "hey here's the new game, check out these starters, check out how nice we look now, coming next year"
If future generations continue to follow this pattern, likely whatever is the next "inbetween" will have new Pokemon if that's all that truly matters. DLC will likely also space things out more as Z-A was a...special case, most likely.
but in general I cannot fathom these extra year (...singular...) between games causing Pokemon to tumble down in relevancy so bad that we have to go back to shorter times.
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Like we’ve got mobile games that make bank, and possibly more spin off titles in a similar vein to Pokepia and the Mystery Dungeon DX, and DLC (likely a year or a year and a half after the game release) for the games would be more then enough to help pad out the time between new generations.
Plus with Champions (likely, definitely) having access to all mons they could easily make some unique tournaments between the years
As for the new starters and WIWA, I’m really impressed ngl. Granted SV were in the pits with how flat the world was, so anything better then that is an improvement.
But by itself without that, it’s really not that bad, I’m legit excited to see more.
The starters are pretty alright.
Browt is properly the weakest link for me, it honestly suffers a little from being a simple little bird. It’s tough to say where it will go, but it’s got a lot of potential ngl.
Pombom is just, so cute, I love Pomeranians as a dog because they’re just so fluffy and adorable. And Pombom is so cute. But I really, really hope it doesn’t evolve to be Bipedal, I just want a huge Fire Dog Barang or some equivalent.
Gequa is pretty neat ngl, reminds me of my sisters old Littlest Pet Shops she had when she was a kid. It’s one that could go in a few different direction for its evolution, but I do expect it to be the more sassy evolution, possibly either a Psychic type or a Poison type. And here’s hoping it’s more of a Swampert and less of an Intellion, you know?
Plus with Champions (likely, definitely) having access to all mons they could easily make some unique tournaments between the years
As for the new starters and WIWA, I’m really impressed ngl. Granted SV were in the pits with how flat the world was, so anything better then that is an improvement.
But by itself without that, it’s really not that bad, I’m legit excited to see more.
The starters are pretty alright.
Browt is properly the weakest link for me, it honestly suffers a little from being a simple little bird. It’s tough to say where it will go, but it’s got a lot of potential ngl.
Pombom is just, so cute, I love Pomeranians as a dog because they’re just so fluffy and adorable. And Pombom is so cute. But I really, really hope it doesn’t evolve to be Bipedal, I just want a huge Fire Dog Barang or some equivalent.
Gequa is pretty neat ngl, reminds me of my sisters old Littlest Pet Shops she had when she was a kid. It’s one that could go in a few different direction for its evolution, but I do expect it to be the more sassy evolution, possibly either a Psychic type or a Poison type. And here’s hoping it’s more of a Swampert and less of an Intellion, you know?
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I do wonder if they'll do anything fun beyond just shuffling around mechanics and maybe "tiers" of Pokemon (like SV has been doing). The current road map just shows the usual battle seasons. SV was...weirdly light on "gimmick" battles even despite running for so long. Compare with SWSH which had a bunch of them.
It'd be kind of funny if Champions was the home of all the serious stuff and then WiWa's PVP is a bunch of casual battles and Gimmick tournaments. Champions is on season 4A - Tera + Mega, no Restricted, Sublegends allowed meanwhile WiWa is like "so what if you could only use middle stage bug pokemon"
Fun little aside on this is that they reiterate several times that not every Pokemon is available from the jump and they even have graphics showing the season plans and how new seasons will add more Pokemon.
On a large enough time scale this doesn't matter that much, of course....
-Buzz Lightyear 3020
It is kinda funny though since, wasnt the whole reason (atleast the accepted reason among fans) that the games can't be delayed was because the mainline games were driving the whole franchise? (merch, cards, anime etc.)
To be honest i always questioned how true that was as well..
The box storage situation in Champions seems more concerning than expected. It still starts off at 30, but the Japanese website only mentions two ways to increase it both by purchases, a one-time Starter Pack (https://www.pokemonchampions.jp/ja/plus-starterpack/) for +50 box storage and the LGPE battle theme + 50 training tickets/30 mons tickets shown as their own item icons. There's also the membership subscription (https://www.pokemonchampions.jp/ja/membership/) that just mentions more box storage (no number)/saved team slots/missions/music options as well.
It does seem multiple copies of a mon are shown here. Whimsicott is shown in row 2/column 3 and row 5/column 4, with the latter seemingly being a separate set on the current battle team.
It does seem multiple copies of a mon are shown here. Whimsicott is shown in row 2/column 3 and row 5/column 4, with the latter seemingly being a separate set on the current battle team.
I still assume you'll be able to buy more storage in-game (or through the *~*battle pass*~* rewards) but it's all still worth a solid lol
doubly so because the english side of things never updated anything to mention the battle pass or the membership or the starter pack (well I assume THAT is on the eshop) or even the Dragonite gift. I think the kalos starters + floette & the Home stuff are only mentioned on the pokemon.com news article about it.
e: Also just an idle thought about being able to have multiples of a given Pokemon means that you can't buy pokemon (or obtain via battle pass) to remove them from the shop line up.
In terms of when WiWa releases in 2027 I'm thinking Spring or Summer. The game is clearly too far along to only be released at the very end of the year (compare to LZA where we got no gameplay at all) but at the same time launching in January or whatever would feel like too short of an additional wait to be worthwhile. I think my proposed timeframe makes sense in terms of "Ok, we're making good progress but we need just a bit more polishing time for a project of this scope"