Speculation Future Pokemon Game Speculation Thread

[Jersey Jimmy]

really cool how we've gotten to a point where TPCi are potentially maybe teasing gen 5 remakes and the fandom's response is near-universal unshakeable dread. truly a sign of a franchise that is definitely in a very healthy place.

 

[Sheep40]

I think that what they're doing is not a remake. It won't even be set in a past gen region at all.

So you are saying gen x starts this year?

 

[RileyXY1]

So you are saying gen x starts this year?

No. I think that they might do something completely unconventional and introduce a new region right in the middle of a gen, which they've already done earlier this gen with Kitakami.

 

[nickdt]

While everyone is 'expecting' Unova this year, us getting something Johto related is actually more likely, considering the original Johto games came out in 1999, which means 2024 would mark the 25th anniversary of Johto.

I personally would think we would get Johto before Unova as well (Anniversary aside), since Johto and Unova are the only games to date not having been featured as 3d regions and Blueberry resembling parts of Unova might be Gamefreak saying: You are getting Unova eventually, but not yet.

 

[holly]

While everyone is 'expecting' Unova this year, us getting something Johto related is actually more likely, considering the original Johto games came out in 1999, which means 2024 would mark the 25th anniversary of Johto.

I personally would think we would get Johto before Unova as well (Anniversary aside), since Johto and Unova are the only games to date not having been featured as 3d regions and Blueberry resembling parts of Unova might be Gamefreak saying: You are getting Unova eventually, but not yet.

omg I hope this happens, especially if it's a Legends game. I loooooooved legends arceus and would be sooo down for that but set in Johto.


Not really a fan of Unova so I hope that's not next. Feels too soon for it honestly with how much Unova stuff was in the Indigo Disk

 

[RileyXY1]

omg I hope this happens, especially if it's a Legends game. I loooooooved legends arceus and would be sooo down for that but set in Johto.


Not really a fan of Unova so I hope that's not next. Feels too soon for it honestly with how much Unova stuff was in the Indigo Disk

A Unova remake would just be too obvious considering how much Unova was shoved in our faces during the Indigo Disk. Plus it's not even the region we've gone the longest without visiting currently. That honor actually belongs to the Johto region, which we haven't visited since 2009.

 

[Juliyet]

While the Unova references were aplenty, I don't think they were big enough of the selling point to be considered a consolation prize for actual revisits. It being set in Unova was never even advertised pre-release aside from a single tease in the beginning of the teal mask. The way they were all secret with it until the last minute makes me lean more towards elaborate teases for something more compared to just being a replacement.

 

[Poke Dragon]

That's why I believe we will see Unova before Johto.

Sun and Moon and their Ultra versions were filled with references and callbacks to Kanto to the point where you can't go one entire island without at least one major Kanto reference or callback. Then the release after the Ultra games was LGPE. Remember, a game that's filled with so many references for a previous region is not going to be a replacement. If that was the case, then LGPE would not have been made at all.

 

[Nicolas721]

Some misconceptions/speculations in this thread that I'd like to address:

• Kitakami is as much of a reference to Johto as it is to Sinnoh or Hoenn, it's just another Japan-inspired region. Ogerpon and the guy who make the masks are explicitly said to "come from a far away land" and that "they looked very different to the others" which to me suggests another Poke-country altogether. And I don't understand how its graphics could be recycled to make Johto when if you take the festival and its decorations you're left with the most basic graphics ever. Also, looking at both parts of the DLC, there're more references to Alola than to Johto to be honest.
• Making a lot of Unova references only for a "haha gotcha" moment does not feel like Game Freak's way to do things, specially since the topic of Unova will start to be speculated again in 3 years anyway, it's actually possible those references exist so newer fans have curiosity about the region. And like a poster above said, the Indigo Disk is complementing rather than replacing anything from Unova, the Dream World, the WHOLE region and ALL characters are still unavailable in SV. Sometimes things are what seem.
• If we include the Virtual Console releases, Kalos and Hoenn are the regions we've spend the most without revisiting, so I don't think time without revisiting is an argument. Also, just like Game Freak couldn't keep a cycle where all Pokemon were programmed in the game they can't keep another with every region being available as soon as they can.
• I think the XYZ trio was not programmed into SV because of Zygarde. Every model was remade this generation and Zygarde having no less than 3 completely different forms made it low priority. Necrozma's forms reuse assets from Solgaleo and Lunala so they're not that hard to do (by the way RIP Ultra Necrozma) and Kyurem was programmed because in spite of what I said on point 2 they can't be that obvious.
• I'm sure there's a new game being released this year. The DLC probably sold well and all that, but it still does not compare to the hype cycle and interest that a completely new game generates, they need to please the investors. if there's a gap year coming it will probably be on 2025.

 

[Lapidot Matoi]

I would just prefer if Pokemon skips a new holiday game and just releases gens 1-3 on Nintendo switch online instead to give more development time for the next game (potentially in 2025).

 

[RileyXY1]

Some misconceptions/speculations in this thread that I'd like to address:

• Kitakami is as much of a reference to Johto as it is to Sinnoh or Hoenn, it's just another Japan-inspired region. Ogerpon and the guy who make the masks are explicitly said to "come from a far away land" and that "they looked very different to the others" which to me suggests another Poke-country altogether. And I don't understand how its graphics could be recycled to make Johto when if you take the festival and its decorations you're left with the most basic graphics ever. Also, looking at both parts of the DLC, there're more references to Alola than to Johto to be honest.
• Making a lot of Unova references only for a "haha gotcha" moment does not feel like Game Freak's way to do things, specially since the topic of Unova will start to be speculated again in 3 years anyway, it's actually possible those references exist so newer fans have curiosity about the region. And like a poster above said, the Indigo Disk is complementing rather than replacing anything from Unova, the Dream World, the WHOLE region and ALL characters are still unavailable in SV. Sometimes things are what seem.
• If we include the Virtual Console releases, Kalos and Hoenn are the regions we've spend the most without revisiting, so I don't think time without revisiting is an argument. Also, just like Game Freak couldn't keep a cycle where all Pokemon were programmed in the game they can't keep another with every region being available as soon as they can.
• I think the XYZ trio was not programmed into SV because of Zygarde. Every model was remade this generation and Zygarde having no less than 3 completely different forms made it low priority. Necrozma's forms reuse assets from Solgaleo and Lunala so they're not that hard to do (by the way RIP Ultra Necrozma) and Kyurem was programmed because in spite of what I said on point 2 they can't be that obvious.
• I'm sure there's a new game being released this year. The DLC probably sold well and all that, but it still does not compare to the hype cycle and interest that a completely new game generates, they need to please the investors. if there's a gap year coming it will probably be on 2025.

I don't count the VC releases, because you can't buy them anymore. Since the 3DS and Wii U eShops shut down last year there is no way to acquire the VC releases legitimately except to hunt down a used 3DS on a website like eBay that already has them installed.

That's why I believe we will see Unova before Johto.

Sun and Moon and their Ultra versions were filled with references and callbacks to Kanto to the point where you can't go one entire island without at least one major Kanto reference or callback. Then the release after the Ultra games was LGPE. Remember, a game that's filled with so many references for a previous region is not going to be a replacement. If that was the case, then LGPE would not have been made at all.

I think that the Kanto callbacks in the Alola games were done specifically because of the 20th anniversary and not as a hint for LGPE. Also note that XY also have heavy Kanto references and callbacks in them, to the point where they basically copy pasted a location straight out of RBY.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

I am incredibly biased since it was the setting of my first Pokémon game owned by myself, but I actually would prefer a Johto game over Unova game this year

 

[Poke Dragon]

I think that the Kanto callbacks in the Alola games were done specifically because of the 20th anniversary and not as a hint for LGPE. Also note that XY also have heavy Kanto references and callbacks in them, to the point where they basically copy pasted a location straight out of RBY.

It wasn't just because of the 20th anniversary, the Kanto callbacks and references were also done to mention an older region to a new generation of players who have never played a game set in Kanto before and get them curious enough to buy the game that's set in the region. It's simply another form of marketing a near future game inside the current game, something that Game Freak has always done in one form or another. Another point is that at the time of Sun and Moon's release alongside their Ultra versions, Kanto was last seen in HG/SS, for an older region to get constant references and callbacks out of nowhere in a new game isn't done to replace the said region, but rather get the new generation of players to want to buy the game in which said region is featured in.

 

[RileyXY1]

I'm dreading the possibility of Gen 10 being rushed out this year if Nintendo really is launching their new console this year.

 

[Yung Dramps]

I'm dreading the possibility of Gen 10 being rushed out this year if Nintendo really is launching their new console this year.

This is 100% not happening, Gen 10 is def gonna at the very least get until 2026 to cook to coincide with the 30th anniversary. Whether that'll be enough or if it's too little too late, who knows

 

[RileyXY1]

This is 100% not happening, Gen 10 is def gonna at the very least get until 2026 to cook to coincide with the 30th anniversary. Whether that'll be enough or if it's too little too late, who knows

I'm not thinking that's happening . I'm personally thinking that we'll see Gen 5 in 2025, fitting with the usual three year gap for new generations.

 

[Adelon]

I suspect we're NOT getting Unova remakes. Or at least not right away, I have this gut feeling we're going to see a "remake" of Crystal with a special twist. Just like LGPLGE was bascially Yellow. The 25th anniversary of Johto is coming. Unova can wait for another generation. I'm hoping there will be a third bird introduced so that Luigi and Hoh Oh are part of a trio. Maybe it will be based on an elephant bird and represent the land. Though tbh I don't think Johto really needs more new Pokemon, maybe save it for Kalos or Alola.

I'm seriously tempted to make a fake leak on 4chan about a Pokemon/Palworld crossover with BDSP-style graphics just to see their reactions. They hate Pal World over there.

 

[Sheep40]

The late gen remake pattern is LOLrandom at this point

 

[Poke Dragon]

I never believed in any pattern saying a remake happens only in every other generation, that to me is just grasping at straws for reasons why a remake simply can't happen in an odd-numbered generation.

 

[nickdt]

This is 100% not happening, Gen 10 is def gonna at the very least get until 2026 to cook to coincide with the 30th anniversary. Whether that'll be enough or if it's too little too late, who knows

Yeah no... there is no way Gamefreak can stretch Gen 9 until 2026, since there isn't only the games we have to take into consideration, its also the VCG, TCG and Merchandise and all three of those are pretty much spent after the 3 year cycle.

At the very least, stretching the VCG is very hard to do, since in its second year, it already becomes stale because everyone and their mothers will use the same Pokemon over and over and if BDSP/Legends Arceus are any indication, the gen 2/5 remakes or a legends game aren't gonna impact the VCG in any capacity, since they didn't for gen 8 either.

Even stretching the TCG is potentially problematic, while you can keep producing new cards, if they don't get any new Pokemon, whats the point.

So Gamefreak kinda has to release gen 10 in 2025.