Everything announced at the Pokemon Presents

Okay let's start with exactly how long this live stream is going to be. According to a tweet from Gematsu:

"The Japanese premiere link for tomorrow's Pokemon Direct broadcast is up, and metadata reveals its runtime is 12 minutes and 52 seconds."

Now that might not sound like much, but actually it's pretty close to the average running time of most of the Pokemon Presents streams. 

The major 2021 event was just over 20 minutes long and revealed Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and the first Gen 9 Pokemon, and then the 2022 event - as flagged by Joe Merrick - was only 14 minutes long and still managed to cram in the bigger Scarlet and Violet reveal, Pokemon Legends Arceus DLC and more. 

Let's take a look at some updates we can be pretty sure we're getting, starting with Pokemon Sleep. Earlier this week, the most relaxing Pokemon game going announced its next big update, which is set to drop on February 29.

The headline change in update 1.3.0 is a boost to max levels, raising Pokemon, Recipe, and Trainer levels from 50 to 55, and adding a handful of quality-of-life changes. It comes off the back of the introduction of a new map earlier this year, which is why this might seem like a slightly smaller update, but these boosts have been relatively well-received by players.

Pokemon Go is also likely to make a substantial showing - just yesterday, Niantic confirmed the arrival of a new season - World of Wonders looks set to put a relatively colorful spin on the game, with an intriguing rift opening in the sky in its trailer. If I had to guess, that could be linked to a new region, or it could mean the arrival of Paradox Pokemon from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet - 'mons that are adapted to life in the distant past or the far future.

I'm guessing we'll find out a bit more about World of Wonders, which is due to run from March 1 to June 1.

Another game that just dropped a substantial update is Pokemon Unite, as Patch 1.14.1.2 went live mere hours ago. This looks like a pretty standard balance run (you can check out the patch notes for yourself if you don't believe me), but I imagine we'll here a little bit about the Shiny Rayquaza that's currently appearing on the Theia Sky Ruins battle map until March 12. 

I'm not 100% sure whether this will make it into the Pokemon Presents showcase, mostly because it looks like a patch aimed firmly at the pre-existing Pokemon Unite fanbase. You might argue that that's the same as the Pokemon Sleep update, but as that's a newer game, I could see Nintendo trying harder to push new players towards it. I suppose we'll find out soon.

We've already discussed Pokemon Concierge and its (well-deserved) new episodes, but I'd also take a pretty solid guess at some more TV show news. 

With Ash Ketchum coming to the end of his journey with his recent Pokemon League win, The Pokemon Company has rebooted the series with two new protagonists. That series, dubbed New Horizons in English, debuted in Japan in April last year. The English dub came to the UK via CBBC in November, but the US Netflix release was recently pushed back a little under two weeks - with New Horizons due to hit American audiences on March 7, I'd put money on a trailer featuring in today's show.

That's what we already know about, but I think it's time for some speculation - what big Pokemon games might we get? There are actually plenty of options, so let's have a quick run down.

Let's get one thing out of the way right away - I don't think we're seeing Gen 10 games today. There are plenty of reasons why we could, foremost among them the fact that the time between new Pokemon games tends to sit in the 2-3 year mark, and we're within that window now.

However, we only just wrapped up Scarlet and Violet, with the second part of its DLC releasing in December, with an epilogue in January. Couple that with the performance issues and relatively poor critical reception, and I doubt Nintendo would rush to push out a full-fledged new iteration.

Couple that with rumors that the Nintendo Switch 2 is on its way, with a potential delay from Autumn 2024 to early 2025, and it feels difficult to imagine Nintendo pushing such a flagship title - one that would certainly be a major seller of a new system - on a console that's phasing out.

If I had to guess, I'd say that we're looking at Gen 5 remakes. Black and White, and their sequels, are some of the most beloved games in the series, and we're now coming up on three years out from the last Pokemon remakes - 2021's Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl - meaning that this could be the perfect time for Gen 5 to rise from the ashes.

What shape that might take remains to be seen. The original Gen 1 remakes - FireRed and LeafGreen - were pretty close to the then-current style of Gen 3. Then, the Gen 2 remakes were similarly close to the then-current Gen 4. Gen 3 took a bigger twist away from its most closely-tied games, but the Gen 4 remakes took on a very different style with its chibi-like art.

Gen 4 and 5 are my biggest blind spot when it comes to the mainline games, so I'm not really sure what these potential remakes might look like. I've seen some speculation that they'd be somehow tied into Johto, or that Black/White and Black 2/White 2 could all be tied together into one bundle, but that's pretty much just guesswork at this point.

We should also consider Nintendo Switch Online (+ Expansion Pack) and the fact that The Pokemon Company could bring some classic titles to the service. 

Currently there are not many Pokemon titles available on the Switch, outside of the actual releases of course. 

These are the only Pokemon games available through Nintendo Switch Online so far:

• Pokemon Trading Card Game from the Game Boy Color
• Pokemon Stadium from the N64 – NSO + Expansion Pack
• Pokemon Stadium 2 from the N64 – NSO + Expansion Pack
• Pokemon Snap from the N64 – NSO + Expansion Pack
• Pokemon Puzzle League from the N64 – NSO + Expansion Pack

Honestly I'd pay good money to replay Pokemon Red / Blue / Green / Yellow again for that Gen 1 goodness. But also my absolute faves are Silver and Gold, so you know I wouldn't mind them either. 

They were available on the 3DS (and there were even limited edition 2DS consoles released to celebrate) but you had to buy them individually at around £10/$10 per title. Crystal was also available there too, so maybe it's time for a Switch revival. 

I also think it's too early for us to see anything of Pokemon Arceus 2 - rumored to be called Pokemon Legends Celebi - despite the fact that it's been two years since Pokemon Legends Arceus came out. somehow

Here's the link all. Countdown begins

OMG LISTEN TO THE MUSIC IT'S RED AND BLUE MUSIC

I'm an idiot, it was the music from the Pokemon Presents teaser video, but STILL.

Pikachu is being followed by all the Unowns. 

Did it spell anything?

"new games"?

New Tera Raid Battles for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet coming. 

Pokemon Go is up first with a collaboration event with the upcoming Pokemon Horizons TV series on Netflix. 

Pikachu wearing Cap's Hat coming with a new unique move.

Liko and Roy also joining. 

Pokemon Sleep up now, much to our own Ali Jones' delight. 

Legendary Dogs are coming to Pokemon Sleep.

Pokemon Masters Ex now up - the game I actually forgot exists, sorry folks. 

It's celebrating 4.5 years with new trailers, Pokemon Creator (photo mode) and more. 

Pokemon Cafe Remix is up now - wow they're whipping through this. 

Gimmighoul Coins are coming. 

Ne tup is Pokemon Unite with new Pokemon joining the fray today, as part of a special event for Pokemon Day. 

Okay, something new... 

a new Trading Card mobile game?

Pokemon Trading Card Pocket does that say?

Collect and trade cards, collect new favorites, trade with friends, quick battles.

It's a new Pokemon Trading Card experience with immersive cards. 

Two packs per day at no extra cost.

Coming in 2024.

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is the name. 

Creatures Inc and DNA both helping to create the game. 

"Hard at work developing digital cards".

Paper quality and printing process important for physical cards, but for this they're looking at ways to make cards special digitally. 

That includes immersive cards that gives you the impression of leaping into the cards. 

Battle System intended to be super quick. 

Reaffirmation that it's coming in 2024, but expect new information soon. 

One more video!!

Game Freak.....

Urban co-existance?

My boy Pikachu's had a little glow up?

It looks a bit like Paris?

Circular city. Lumiose City. 

Pokemon Legends ZA?

Releasing simulatenously in 2025. 

Pokemon Z&A? Releasing together, or on both consoles at the same time? AKA Switch 2.

If it's a new Pokemon Legends game, will it be in the past?

The trailer was interesting. On the one hand, it was very futuristic, but then the talk of urban development plans would suggest that perhaps it's more in the past. 

Now we've watched the trailer a hundred times, let's recap what the biggest announcements were shall we?