• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Have you ever regretted looking at leaks?

Have you ever intentionally looked at Pokemon game leaks?

  • Yes, and I don't regret it

    Votes: 21 77.8%
  • Yes, and I regret it

    Votes: 6 22.2%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    27
Joined
Dec 15, 2009
Messages
1,122
Reaction score
2,084
In the lead-up to a new Pokemon game release, leaks have become somewhat inevitable. Some fans can't get enough of them, while others avoid them at all costs. What's your stance on leaks? Have you ever looked at them, and if so, do you feel that they enhanced or detracted from your experience of the game in any way?

I looked at all the new Pokemon leaks for Alola and Galar, and while I did have a lot of fun doing so at the time, I regret it now. I feel like I was robbed of the opportunity to discover those Pokemon by myself, especially for Sword and Shield which kept a lot of its new Pokemon under wraps. Even for Sun and Moon, which showed most of its new Pokemon in trailers, it would have been nice to be surprised by Nebby's evolution at least.

I'll admit that sometimes, good can come out of leaks. Amidst all of the controversy surrounding Dexit and Sword and Shield's graphics, the r/SwShLeaks subreddit was an oasis of excitement and enthusiasm. There was a real community spirit there - everyone was planning out their teams and drawing Snom fanart. Ideally though, this is the kind of thing that should be happening in discovery threads on release day, when everyone can participate.

On the whole, I feel that leakers are doing the Pokemon fandom a disservice. Fans who don't want to be spoiled are being spoiled (either accidentally, or because they lack the self-discipline not to look), while fans who do enjoy seeing the information could have had that same enjoyment on release day. So I find it difficult to see how leaks benefit anyone. But if you're someone who feels that leaks have actually made you enjoy a game more, I'd be really interested to hear your point of view!

I also wish that leakers would stop leaking for their own sake! Why put yourself at risk like that? I hate to think that someone might have got themselves into a ton of legal trouble just so that I could see a new Pokemon a few weeks early.
 
I generally look at leaks, and I generally don't regret it - if I'm disappointed by what I see it's because what I see is... disappointing, not because it's been spoiled.

That said, this broadly only applies to the Pokémon themselves and I try hard to stay away from story, location and progression spoilers. I actually ended up playing myself in a good way during SwSh leak season - with everyone and his dog expecting Rose to take up the villain mantle, I thought I had conned myself out of a plot twist when I saw Oleanna's frustrated expression in the screenshots (not that having a scheming Oleanna as the power behind the throne wouldn't have been a great curveball). As it happens, Rose's distant and lighthearted nature threw me off and it was actually very satisfying to uncover his creepy earnestness. I can't wait to see more of him in the manga and see what happens when he gets his freak on in that media.
 
Last edited:
I think I’ll regret looking at anything other than the official trailers. This is for pretty much anything that I want to go through unspoiled. Already, I’ve seen stuff for Silksong, and a bunch of movies that I want to watch/play unspoiled. So, yes, I do regret leaks being something I can’t resist.
 
I've been looking at leaks since before Pokemon: Black and White came around, so I've been accustomed to such an occurrence.

I get why leakers are frowned upon, but I wouldn't say I've even tried to resist the chance to see just what Pokemon is in store for the upcoming generation; it helped that at least Gen 7 in particular had an utter cornucopia of Pokemon that I instantaneously adored by design. (Ex. Araquanid)

As for the lattermost point by the starting post: well... yeah, it does seem like a scary adversary to even anticipate... but let's be honest, Nintendo as a whole has never been... particularly competent/reasonable when it comes to legal issues. They have an utterly archaic mindset towards fan-created content, for one.
 
When it comes to new mons and features that weren't shown, I found in SWSH's release cycle that I actually liked being spoiled. Actually seeing some of the mons I was looking forward to seeing like Yamper's evolution and starter evolutions hyped me up even more for the game and helped confirm who I wanted on my team. It was actually really helpful knowing that Rapidash did in fact gain the Fairy type and whatnot. In the case of the starters it gave me time to warm up to them because I was...pretty disappointed initially. If I hadn't gotten time to get used to them I would have been pretty shocked when I saw Cinderace. I avoid story leaks like the plague and managed to avoid them pretty well for SWSH and previous titles except getting the fact that Hop gets the other legendary spoiled, but I had to practically get off the entire internet until release to do it.

That said, I do see your point. I remember that while this forum did a pretty good job keeping spoilers to a certain thread, Twitter was more difficult and once spoilers I didn't want to see started coming up I was in a nervous state wanting to see discussion but not wanting to be spoiled. But when you know that information you really want to know is just a few clicks away, it's hard to resist the urge. I was originally not going to spoil myself on all the Pokemon, but I couldn't resist and did it anyway. I just ended up being glad I did.
 
I'd say I'm at the point where I can't really tell if I like looking at leaks or if it's a thrilling habit that I simply can't kick. I do get the satisfying adrenaline rush from them, but how genuine is that? I don't think I can really say for sure if I would rather discover things as I play through the game for the first time. Even when I was young and playing the likes of Red and Gold, I was already familiar with all of the Pokémon in those games thanks to the anime, the TCG, and other external publications. The sole Pokémon that I can actually recall discovering "naturally" is Absol, which was definitely a cool feeling, but evidently not so much so that I've ever considered it important to replicate.

I guess I've just decided to go with the flow - leaks are going to happen, and I'm most likely going to see them, so I might as well try to enjoy them. (With Pokémon, anyway. When it comes to looking at leaks for other media like movies and TV, I have much more of an intention behind my decision, because I feel like I can understand the story and artistic aims better if I know in advance what they're heading toward; plus, my spoiler-free wife and I have so many of the same interests that I can usually get the "wow first-time shock" experience vicariously through her while also watching with foreknowledge.)

I don't think I've ever "regretted" looking at leaks per se, but I do have very mixed impressions of the Sun & Moon leak season. There was a lot of good hype for the games due to their status as a 20th anniversary commemoration and all of the fresh, new ideas that they included, but there was also a lot of misinformation going around and a couple of elements that for whatever reason just got on my nerves (namely Ho-Oh and Lugia "hidden in the clouds," Shigeru Ohmori's Junior Alchemist Academy, and Rockruff and the Starters' "secret").
 
I don't regret looking at leaks at all, when too much information is being held private, I start to question whether the games themselves are worth my time and money. Knowing at least some of the major details is when I start being interested.
 
That's suddenly triggered memories of Gen VI spoiler season - specifically, the promise of 'one of the most important pieces of news in Pokémon history'. That turned out to be fairly apt, because the news in question was the reveal of Mega Evolutions, sparking a wave of unprecedented anticipation to see which old favourites were getting the new love.

My own excitement was heightened by some canny trademark digging that revealed a two-dozen strong selection of species which were slated for new merchandise, all of which were popular final evolutions ripe for a Mega, including Kangaskhan, Heracross, Latios and Latias and - crucially - my beloved Pinsir. I didn't get confirmation until the game was in someone's hands but that was a day of Much Rejoicing.

Curiously, Jynx was also on that list. I do wonder if it was earmarked for Mega-hood at one point in time.
 
That's suddenly triggered memories of Gen VI spoiler season - specifically, the promise of 'one of the most important pieces of news in Pokémon history'. That turned out to be fairly apt, because the news in question was the reveal of Mega Evolutions, sparking a wave of unprecedented anticipation to see which old favourites were getting the new love.

Translations in the circles I frequented knew it as "the scoop of the century" and my god it sure felt like it. An EVOLVED Blaziken!??!?? I still vividly remember the night those scans were first posted.

Curiously, Jynx was also on that list. I do wonder if it was earmarked for Mega-hood at one point in time.

I always caution against reading too deeply into datamine leftovers, but y'know...

 
the only prerelease cycle i followed was sun and moons and based on how the pokemon company told us literally 90% of the game im not sure what actually counts as a leak or not....... but i do remember seeing all the blurry corocoro scans that revealed rockruff and other basic pokemon. i guess the biggest leak i saw was when the entire game was datamined and playable a week early or something and i really didnt regret seeing the entire game because i already wasnt going to buy the games so why should i care about spoilers?? though i feel with bdsp im going to watch leaks like a hawk because im excited about sinnoh remakes but also wanna see what comes out of them in order to gauge if i actually want to buy them or not and i will have no regrets
 
I only look at what I need to know, such as the dex, the new Mons, new mechanics, and generally anything else revealed in pre-release time like trailers. I avoid any and all story spoilers like my life depends on it so that way I can go in blind, or as blind as possible, as some "hints" about the story are often revealed in trailers. This also applies to any other new game outside of Pokemon that I'm interested in purchasing. However, outside of those few "hints" I avoid any spoiler that involves the plot or anything related, only focusing on certain aspects like cast, Mons, new mechanics, and so on and that's about it. No matter how tempted I am about the plot I will always, always avoid any plot spoilers so that way I can experience the games with completely fresh eyes and mind.
 
For the most part I don't usually want to look too deeply at leaks, but Sw/Sh was an exception because of just how little we were getting officially. If I was going to plunk down the cash I needed to know what I was getting.
Didn't regret it. The plot didn't have any genuine twists to give away, really.
 
I don't really like leaks. Back in gens 4 and 5 I was all about leaks. I think back then it was fun to see the new pokemon but then later get to discover its English name. In gen 6 I spoiled everything and that made me decide to not spoil myself anymore. Gen 7 kinda sucked cuz I tried really hard not to see anything, but official reveals basically showed everything anyway, so I was like "darn, I might as well have looked." Gen 8 was the best for me, I avoided leaks at all cost, I think the only thing I accidentally spoiled was opening a spoiler with a picture of Inteleon in it, but even then I closed it before getting a good look. It was really refreshing being able to actually discover new things, and then after getting well into the game I could look things up like evolution requirements and such, and discover some more things I wouldn't have found on my own.

So like, I guess I don't HATE leaks, but they make me mad because it takes more effort to avoid them. I basically had to convince my google and YouTube profiles that I don't like pokemon for it.
 
No, because I actually form my teams before the games release. I look at the full dex leaks but usually I try to avoid story spoilers.
And i know for a fact I have to see the starters final evolutions because the starter I wanted to originally pick ends up having my least favorite final evolution and vice versa. I wanted to to pick litten and sobble when they were first revealed but i ended up picking rowlet and scorbunny for Decidueye and Cinderace when the games launched
Also leaks get me really hyped for the games in general, unless they're disappointing.
 
I tend to follow the leaks for a game, and very rarely do I find myself regretting it. A lot of the hype around the Pokemon games for me also revolves around the buildup, especially when it comes to a new Gen. While there is A LOT of garbage, there will be the occasional rumor that is actually really interesting, so I don't mind sifting through the "leaks" to try and find if there are any real ones. And then when we do get the real leaks, it's great discussing what we think of them. Particularly for mew gens, I also like having the leaks so I can know what Pokemon are in the game before. I like to do more team planning before I enter a game (or at least a relative idea) because I worry if I don't I'll completely miss out on a new Pokemon.

That being said, I like to stay away from leaks containing whole game announcements (also dependant on whether it's an ew gen or not. If something gets leaked before we have any announcement of an announcement, then I'll probably look at it. But if we have knowledge that there's going to be an announcement and there's a leak, I'll try to wait). I don't mind if it's just news that gets leaked, but I like to keep whole game announcements a surprise for myself. Back in February, I believe the contents of the Pokemon Presents were leaked several hours before and I decided to avoid the leak (even though I was suspecting we were getting Sinnoh remakes). I was very glad I did because the rush of emotions I felt when I saw Legends Arceus for the first time was an experience I never would have been able to have if I saw leaks before.
 
i kinda don't mind them, tbh o:

i think leaks have a sort of appeal of discussion to them, which i think is the point. while i may not always be in discussion of what the leaks could mean with others, i still find leaks themselves pretty interesting and i don't really regret stumbling upon them. if anything, i kinda hope to see more of them =P they're the fun part when it comes to pokemon gaming speculation~
 
There was a time where they seemed to almost show everything that was in the game, and that just made it unsatisfying. However, not knowing the pokemon just made it tedious as well. So, I will go with just the pokemon.
 
Honestly, watching people reacting to leaks (both fake or real) is more fun than looking at the leaks themselves. Seeing the hype build as the actual game is being leaked a few days before release is super amusing too.

In general I like to avoid stuff like plot details, but IMO, the stories of the Pokemon games are usually predictable anyway, so I don't really care that much. There's nothing else I think I would be mad about if I were spoiled.
 
Not at all. I like knowing what Pokemon designs will look like in the next game before I purchase it, as that is a huge factor for me.

And as previously mentioned, most Pokemon stories aren't substantial enough for spoilers to be upsetting/surprising. Though I'll usually avoid those just in case they pull out a decent story like with Sun/Moon.
 
Please note: The thread is from 2 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom