Official Pre-Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield Speculation & Leaks thread

[Joker901]

We also had Magearna revealed before Sun and Moon was announced, and they stretched her thin for a couple months to distract from the news gap before May. We don't really have anything this time around, so unless they're planning to run Mewtwo flat with not-news for a few months... they definitely gotta give more meat than they did with Sun and Moon.

We have hope.

 

[Cainhxrst]

anyone know if the japanese pokemon twitter account teased anything before the direct announcement in 2016? or did it just come out of nowhere?

I remember reading through the old speculation thread and pretty much everyone had their mind made up a week in advance that we would have a pokemon day announcement even though nothing was officially announced. The direct wasn't announced till the 24th. I'm hoping we have a repeat of that this time

 

[Bolt Strike]

The region videos definitely feel like a countdown, the fact that it ends on Pokemon Day which then kicks off a 5 day event is far too much promotion for this to be absolutely nothing.

I like the way these videos are focusing on traveling to landmarks across the region, that's a good sign. That seems to indicate that the game will be very exploration focused, and that's one element the series desperately needs more of.

 

[Dorothy]

No matter what Gen 8 gives us, many will feel Pokemon isnt the same anymore.

And in fairness to Gen VIII, that's been the case with every generation.

 

[Scruffyjay]

And in fairness to Gen VIII, that's been the case with every generation.

Yeah, I feel like every generation changes more or less the same amount. There are some big jumps of course (bw to xy graphical change, dppt use of lower touch screen + special physical split), but those are not even that huge. Of course gen 5 is different than gen 1 and gen 7 is different than gen 3, etc.

It's the natural evolution of video games.

 

[William-Jdubz]

And in fairness to Gen VIII, that's been the case with every generation.

Even Gen 2 felt that way for some fans, you'll never please everyone nor should they.

 

[William-Jdubz]

Yeah, I feel like every generation changes more or less the same amount. There are some big jumps of course (bw to xy graphical change, dppt use of lower touch screen + special physical split), but those are not even that huge. Of course gen 5 is different than gen 1 and gen 7 is different than gen 3, etc.

It's the natural evolution of video games.

Def agreed here. Gen 8 will have its fair set of changes too, that no doubt many fans will love and many will gripe about.

 

[Joker901]

I'm not expecting anything but a groundbreaking game from gen 8. Like huge changes. I don't know if I'm gonna like it or not, what I know is that it's about time to change a lot of things that have been basically the same for 23 years.

 

[multiingbe]

I'm not expecting anything but a groundbreaking game from gen 8. Like huge changes. I don't know if I'm gonna like it or not, what I know is that it's about time to change a lot of things that have been basically the same for 23 years.

It definitely feels as though the general flow of the game can be maintained and expanded upon in ways that will be wonderful for both old and new players, while many aspects of it can be changed quite a bit to fulfill previously impossible ways of bringing potential ideas, from all of the basic inspirations for the game, to many ideas that appeared along the way that might really work now!!

 

[Silktree]

TPCi doesn't get much revenue for DVD sales, the distributors have more control about that.

What is this based on? It seems akin to saying that only Nintendo make money out of the games, which they obviously don't. And it isn't as if preparing these videos takes much longer than a site update, which they do for DVD and Blu-ray news.

I think they used anime footage so they could be more or less comparable to each other, and using game footage would lead people to get interested into 5-12 year old games.

Instead they're getting nostalgic about the old shows; I don't see how that's any better for game news. And if this countdown is oh-so important, then why are the non-US branches of TPCi ignoring it?

 

[TexasBugTrainer]

I'm not expecting anything but a groundbreaking game from gen 8. Like huge changes. I don't know if I'm gonna like it or not, what I know is that it's about time to change a lot of things that have been basically the same for 23 years.

I don't think I can say I'm expecting Gen 8 to be groundbreaking, but it would be welcome. Recently they've been giving little passive buffs to some of the types, i.e. Dark being immune to Prankster boosted moves and Grass being immune to powder and spore moves. I would love to see even more changes to the game to help the types feel mechanically distinct from each other beyond the damage charts.

 

[Oriden]

Instead they're getting nostalgic about the old shows; I don't see how that's any better for game news. And if this countdown is oh-so important, then why are the non-US branches of TPCi ignoring it?

=P Aw you buzzkill, talking sense.

Theory on why non-English twitters might be ignoring it- things in the region videos like the jelly donuts thing are pretty language-specific, so the countdown is clearly something that the English twitter just elected to do on its own and... admittedly, it may just tie in with the Pokemon marathons starting on Pokemon Day. Twitch.tv is doing one and Disney XD is going to be airing select episodes.

I like to think that it doesn't necessarily rule out a lead up to Gen 8 but... yeah, there are reasons to believe that it doesn't support it either.

 

[prog rocker]

=P Aw you buzzkill, talking sense.

Theory on why non-English twitters might be ignoring it- things in the region videos like the jelly donuts thing are pretty language-specific, so the countdown is clearly something that the English twitter just elected to do on its own and... admittedly, it may just tie in with the Pokemon marathons starting on Pokemon Day. Twitch.tv is doing one and Disney XD is going to be airing select episodes.

The jelly donut thing is, sadly, not English specific. The Latin American dub, for example, get their lines from the English version. Which made it kinda jarring watching Ranma 1/2 call those things "rice balls" and then immediately see the episode "Primeape Goes Bananas". This exact thing happened to me once.

EDIT: In other words, Pokémon didn't get as lucky as Digimon. We got every single episode of that completely uncensored.

 

[Oriden]

The jelly donut thing is, sadly, not English specific. The Latin American dub, for example, get their lines from the English version. Which made it kinda jarring watching Ranma 1/2 call those things "rice balls" and then immediately see the episode "Primeape Goes Bananas". This exact thing happened to me once.

EDIT: In other words, Pokémon didn't get as lucky as Digimon. We got every single episode of that completely uncensored.

XD Welp, there goes that theory- jelly donuts for all!

 

[Cute Charm]

Instead they're getting nostalgic about the old shows; I don't see how that's any better for game news. And if this countdown is oh-so important, then why are the non-US branches of TPCi ignoring it?

To be fair, travel videos seem to be an American thing or at least an English speaking thing made by and for other English speakers thinking about traveling. Or at least the type they're parodying here are.



Even if it leads to an announcement, I'm sure the others will post that and only that and won't bother with the countdown.

It's also worth noting that only the US Twitter has the pokemon day header and avatar. All the others have the LGPE headers and default avatars.

 

[Oriden]

Hmm... well, if the English Twitter is the only one flipping shit over Pokemon Day, I suppose that's because the activities are English-specific (I'd say US, but Canada got in on it too). I guess the other countries/languages didn't plan anything? =(

Although, kinda has to make you wonder a little about those pokemon facts... since they're apparently significant enough to be posted in multiple languages.

 

[Cute Charm]

The only ones that seem to be doing the pokemon countdown are the US, France, Germany, Italy, and the Spanish twitters. The Japanese one and the UK one aren't. In fact the UK one is doing nothing and their last post was 3 days ago.

 

[Joker901]

I think that when they'll be ready for an announcement, all their languages social media will follow the same street. Honestly I've also never believed that they would announce gen 8 through an American limited event. If an announcement is gonna happen it will be through a proper pokemon direct. This is not Let's go anymore, a spin-off they've tried to sell as a main serie game. I don't know what's going to happen during those 5 days in America but I'm expecting an official announcement before or during Pokemon Day on their official media accounts. What happened last year didn't go well at all, with journalists reporting what they understood or supposed from the conference and people getting small amount of news, not even 100% accurate, on twitter.
In my mind it's Pokemon Direct or skip Pokemon Day and wait for next time.

 

[EternalPKMNfan]

I bet like last year, the countdown will lead to nothing. Even though a new generation is coming this year, I don't it's gonna be revealed on the 27th. I think March is a safe bet. Just saying

 

[Scruffyjay]

I don't think anyone is saying that the gen will be announced with the countdown, just that it'll coincide with it. Like a direct a few hours before and the tweet after, or a tweet for gen 7 the day before the direct and no gen 8 tweet (most likely because no anime screen caps for it yet).