Pokémon Presents: 27th February 2025 @ 14:00 GMT

[Julius]

Next Thursday. Please be excited! 

Edited February 20 by Julius
Ashley totally didn't need to edit the day or anything I swear

[MindFreak]

Hopefully we'll see something from Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Other than that, surprise me!

[Dcubed]

Well, if they’re ever going to announce a native Switch 2 version of Pokemon ZA; it’s now or never.

[Glen-i]

My expectations for me liking Z-A are at literal zero. So it's only uphill from here.

I swear, if they try to fob us with Mega Evolutions, but with no abilities like in Let's Go, I'm gonna blow a gasket!

[Julius]

My expectations for this event right now are literally just Legends Z-A, give me those starter Pokémon and show me how the Legends format is going to work in Lumiose. Oh and yeah, just confirm new Mega Evos are on the way, too. A returned focus to trainer customisation would be neat to see, too! 

I'm really curious about when Z-A is going to drop, it's got to factor in (note: not into) the Switch 2 launch and I can see them not going with the typical November launch this time around. 

Not expecting mainline games on NSO - 30th anniversary next year seems the more obvious choice for when we're going to get those legacy mainline games on Switch, if ever, and as stated before I'll be shocked if they're on NSO and not sold piecemeal - but maybe some more spin-offs come to the service? There aren't too many left prior to the DS but the Ruby & Sapphire Pinball game on GBA would be a neat get, and hey, a nice surprise like TCG2 getting released in the West via NSO would be awesome. 

Would love a new spin-off or two, just not sure what they'd be. Explorers DX seems to be off the table for a bit, maybe something a bit out there like a PokéPark spiritual successor? 

[Julius]

Can't believe this is tomorrow! Very excited for what we'll see from Legends Z-A 

Anyone got any hopes/thoughts/expectations for what they'll show from the game? Any thoughts on starters? 

For me, I'm really curious to see how the game holds up technically. Both Legends: Arceus and Scarlet & Violet were technically atrocious when they were first shown – surely with seemingly more time in the oven, this will have a stronger initial showing, technically? 

As for starters, I imagine Kalos starters are either going to be native to the area and just running around or handed to us at some point in the game. I can already imagine Froakie swimming through streams just outside the city with Frogadier jumping around the trees, while Fennekin and Chespin run around on ground level. 

But, like Legends: Arceus, I think our initial starters are going to be a good excuse to revisit previous starters and give them either final evolutions which are regional forms or, obviously much more likely here, Mega Evolutions (doing both would also be beat but very confusing, too, given this'll seemingly be modern day Kalos just like X & Y were). With that in mind, for me?

• Gen I starters are off the table as they already have Mega Evos. 

• Gen II, Cyndaquil is off the table given we've got Hisuian Typhlosion from Legends: Arceus. 

• Gen III starters are off the table as they already have Mega Evos. 

• Gen IV is very firmly on the table as they didn't get anything across the remakes and Legends: Arceus – for shame! 

• Gen V, Oshawott is off the table because of Hisuian Samurott. 

• Gen VI starters have nothing (but I think they'll get Mega Evos and be captured elsewhere in the game/given as a gift, not a starter). 

• Gen VII, Rowlet is off the table because of Hisuian Decidueye. 

• Gen VIII are on the table because they don't have Mega Evos, BUT they did get Gigantamax forms in Sword & Shield's DLC, so I don't think we get them here. 

• Gen IX are a possibility but I can't quite see it happening myself – having a Pokémon turn up as a starter Pokémon two games in a row (outside of third/enhanced versions and sequels) would be a bit strange to me. 

It's weird though because Gen VIII and IX probably make the most sense geographically to make it into a game set in Pokémon Paris with what their regions are based on...but whatever, I'm taking them off the table! 

So that leaves me with what I think is a realistically narrowed down shortlist of Chikorita, Totodile, Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup, Snivy, Tepig, Litten and Popplio. 

So, for the Grass-type, I'm thinking it's Snivy. That design just looks like it's based on royalty and kind of snooty. In my mind? That makes it super French. 

For the Water-type, I think it's the toughest one to decide of the options left from my shortlist. I'm going with Piplup purely because you have a Pokémon whose final evolution (Empoleon) has a name which draws from Napoleon, so, uh, yeah. At the same time, Mega Feraligatr would be cool as all heck and fits best in my mind with what I think Mega Evolution is about (Pokémon going berserk with newfound power), but Primarina (the Popplio line) would also make sense to me for how big ballet is in France. 

Lastly, the Fire-type...I really think it should be Torchic to be honest (just with how the rooster symbolically ties into France), but it's not on my shortlist, so I won't consider it! Incineroar is in Smash and a very popular final starter evo and so I'm thinking they go with that, not really sure what the connection would be...Aristocats? 

With starter speculation out of the way, not sure how many new Mega Evos we'd see here (if any), but I feel like Mega Sylveon is a nail-on, and Mega Dragonite and Mega Flygon better be on the table, too! 

Oh, also, I just hope we're having straight-up battles on the streets, kind of Yakuza style, in this  

Edited 7 hours ago by Julius

[Ashley]

I saw a rumour that they were going to release two sets of games with the first four generations on each (something like Red, Gold, Ruby and whatever the forth is). Had to laugh at how obviously fake that is as Game Freak would only do that if they could charge £200 for the game. 

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

(something like Red, Gold, Ruby and whatever the forth is).

You mean the one that has a remake on Switch already?

Even more reason for never gonna happen.

Anyway, ooooh! Speculation? Lemme chime in here.

3 hours ago, Julius said:

Gen I starters are off the table as they already have Mega Evos. 

Someone's forgetting that Venusaur and Blastoise got only 1. It wouldn't shock me for GF to put them on par with Charizard.

Hell, if it isn't that, I expect them to give Charizard (and Mewtwo) a third Mega Evo Z!

3 hours ago, Julius said:

Gen IV is very firmly on the table as they didn't get anything across the remakes and Legends: Arceus – for shame! 

I disagree. I think the fact that these feature in three separate Switch titles now puts them more at risk at getting overlooked then the others.

Okay, except the Gen 9 ones, they're too new.

3 hours ago, Julius said:

Gen VIII are on the table because they don't have Mega Evos, BUT they did get Gigantamax forms in Sword & Shield's DLC, so I don't think we get them here. 

Considering that a few Gigantamax forms were meant to be new Mega Evolutions before Sword/Shield cut that Idea, I wouldn't be so sure. It'd be nice to see them repurposed. Mostly because Garbodor deserves it.

With all that said, I also think any starters that already have a Mega Evolution won't be the starters. Not great advertising if they just end up with the same Megas they already have.

So for me, that leaves Gen 2, 5, 7, and 8 as the likely candidates in my opinion. But that leaves me in a sticky spot, because those are the Legends: Arceus set, plus 8.

My guesses on what the starters might be, in that case, are:

Snivy, Litten, and Sobble.

Snivy's there because Gen 5 is not getting a remake, and it's there purely for appeasement.

Litten's there because Incineroar is stupid popular. Yes, the possibility of an Incineroar that's somehow better then the base one is terrifying. Didn't stop them from giving them to the likes of Garchomp, won't stop them here.

Sobble's there, because quite frankly, Inteleon is the perfect candidate for a regional variant in Pokémon France. Make it based on Arsene Lupin instead of James Bond, and you've got a winner!

Edited 4 hours ago by Glen-i

[Julius]

7 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Someone's forgetting that Venusaur and Blastoise got only 1. It wouldn't shock me for GF to put them on par with Charizard.

Hell, if it isn't that, I expect them to give Charizard (and Mewtwo) a third Mega Evo Z!

Sure, but like you go on to say, I think the fact they've got any Mega Evos at all *should* hopefully rule them out as being the starter Pokémon. Fully expect them to turn up elsewhere in the game, mind you. Well, at least Charmander...

But hell, Mega Evo Z would be dumb as all hell which makes it a very obvious thing for GF to do. I could actually see an alternative Mega Evo/whatever they're doing about regional forms be the way they justify Torchic being the Fire-type starter. 

8 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

I disagree. I think the fact that these feature in three separate Switch titles now puts them more at risk at getting overlooked then the others.

So what you're saying is that Gen IV will continue to get shafted...what else is new? 

12 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

My guesses on what the starters might be, in that case, are:

Snivy, Litten, and Sobble.

Hey, we've agreed on 2 of the 3 at least! 

I do like the InteLupin idea, the only thing that gives me pause is that I feel like the line is just too similar visually to the Froakie line, and at which point I would honestly just prefer they give us the Froakie line instead (I know I'm right don't @ me). 

I honestly have a feeling they're going to ignore our absolutely understandable justifications for our picks and throw Torchic in there. The French rooster is just way too iconic for them to ignore, I feel like. 

Anyways, I know you weren't the biggest fan of Legends: Arceus, Glen – is there anything in particular you'd like to see them do differently this time which could help win you over? I feel like the game is going to be starkly different in a number of ways given the urban setting vs open world terrain we had in Arceus, so it seems like there'd be a lot of opportunities to change things up and really differentiate the two. 

[Ashley]

3 hours ago, Glen-i said:

You mean the one that has a remake on Switch already?

Even more reason for never gonna happen.

Maybe it wasn't 4 sequential ones. 

But as you say, it'll never happen anyway.