Pokémon Day Predictions

In just less than three weeks time, we will once again have the best day in February upon us.

Pokémon Day!

I look forward to this day every year. Pokémon is something that is so dear to my heart and it's exciting to learn what will be coming up in the next year (or more) ahead.

This year marks Pokémon's 29th anniversary. It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating the 10th and even 25th anniversaries of this beloved franchise. Next year will mark the 30th anniversary and I'm sure they'll be planning some big announcements for that milestone, but what about this year?

I thought I'd write a small blog about my wants and expectations as we head into Pokémon Day 2025.

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To start out with, I will say that I am a person who does keep my expectations as low and as realistic as possible, so I will often try to not over-estimate what could be announced.

Do I think they'll be anything for Gen 10 in the announcements?
No, I don't think there will be.

This year's main game is going to be Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which we still have very little information for. I personally wouldn't expect a Gen 10 game release until at least the end of 2026 (around October or November of that year) and I feel they would save the announcement for it for the big 30th anniversary next year.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A logo.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is where the focus will be for main game news and after a whole year of silence since it's initial announcement, and the fact that the release is slated for sometime this year, it's a guarantee that we'll be getting some news about it on Pokémon Day.

Although the year long silence has been frustrating, I personally think it's a good thing that Game Freak are taking their time in developing this game and not trying to rush it out. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing more about this game. Playing Pokémon Legends: Arceus back in 2022 was honestly one of the most fun experiences I've had playing a Pokémon game in recent times. I absolutely loved it's storyline, the backstory for the Hisui (Sinnoh) region and it's gameplay mechanics. It really left me hoping that 'Legends' would become it's own little game series for the main games, as there is so much that can be explored with it in other regions and it seems like that wish was answered when they announced Pokémon Legends: Z-A last year.

As I mentioned, we know very little about 'Pokémon Legends: Z-A' currently, other than it's taking place within Lumiose City in the Kalos Region, focusing on the 're-development' of the city. Whether this is a re-development of the city in the past, or even in the future, is really yet to be seen.

Screenshot from last years trailer of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, showing the Prism tower in Lumiose City.

I personally feel it could very well be a re-development of the city in the past, into the Lumiose City of today. It's mentioned in the trailer that the re-development is 'a vision of beautiful coexistence between people and Pokémon', which makes sense as the next step in how people began living alongside Pokémon, after the divide between them and people, driven by fear and lack of knowledge, was explored in 'Pokémon Legends: Arceus'.

I can see the city gradually changing as you play through the game, like how Jubilife Village was gradually developed during gameplay in Legends: Arceus. Maybe you play as a trainer who is tasked to study the Pokémon that live within the city and how the re-development will best suit them, similar to how you were tasked to study the Pokémon of the Hisui region to create the first Pokédex there.

Whatever the game focuses on, I'm excited to see what the storyline for it is and where it will take us.

I'm hoping for Pokémon Day that we'll get a full trailer for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, showing gameplay and what starters we'll be getting to choose between, as well as a more concreate release date. 

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Outside of Legends: Z-A, I am expecting all the mobile games to give their up-coming updates for the year ahead. This is pretty much a staple for each Pokémon Day!

Though out of all of them, I think the one I'm most interested to hear an announcement for is Pokémon Sleep.

I honestly really enjoy Pokémon Sleep. It's a chill and casual game that I can check in with through the day and I've not once gotten bored of just chilling out with Snorlax and feeding it tasty meals.

What I'd most like to see from Pokémon Sleep for Pokémon Day is maybe the next legendries that they will bring into the game after getting Raikou, Entei and Suicune last year. It would be interesting to see what legendries they want to focus on next.

Artwork for the Pokémon Sleep Suicune event.

I think it will be too soon for them to announce any kind of new island, since there was a pretty big gap between Lapis Lakeside and the Old Gold Power Plant (which only released back in October), so I'm personally expecting the next island won't arrive until at least the summer.

It'll be fun to see what the other mobile games will announce and what events they may run for Pokémon Day itself. Pokémon TCG Pocket, which was announced on Pokémon Day last year, has been surprisingly fun to play. I didn't think much of it when it was announced, but I've really enjoyed collecting the cards and playing some of the events since it launched, so it'll be fun to see what announcements for future events that game has.

Also the immersive cards are just amazing in that game.

That's pretty much what I'm expecting, or would like to see in this years Pokémon Day announcements. I'm hoping they'll have some fun stuff that come out of the left field, outside of mobile game announcements and Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but even if they don't, I'd be just happy with just some Legends: Z-A news.