What can we expect during 2025’s Pokémon Presents?

The day we’ve all been waiting for has finally come. While some might count down to their birthdays every year, and others may look to the next year’s holiday season as the next thing to get excited for, February 27th is the day of the year that I continue to wake up for. Pokémon Day is less than 24 hours away, and you can bet your bottom Poké Dollar I am counting every minute until we get to see that coveted annual Pokémon Presents.

But what can we expect going into tomorrow’s presentation? Personally, I’m hoping for the long-awaited open-world Pokémon MMORPG that includes every region and ‘mon in the franchise, as well as remakes of Gens I–IX and the addition of the Aegislash line in Pokémon GO. And while I do think these expectations are obviously realistic, I also think it’s fair to look to the past (and future!) to start considering some other potential possibilities, announcements, and exciting news.

Let’s HM08 in, shall we?

 

Mobile News

 

Every fan’s favorite part of the presentation is the news and updates about the current mobile Pokémon endeavors, right? Based on what we’ve seen in the past and the continued and ongoing playerbases of several mobile Pokémon games, I think it’s more than fair to say that we’ll see at least a few headlines about these games. The difference this year, of course, is the addition of Pokémon TCG Pocket, which is obviously The Pokémon Company’s shiny new toy.

While I’ve seen some chagrin from fans in the past about games like Pokémon Café ReMix, Pokémon Masters EX, and even Pokémon GO hogging up time in the presentation, I suspect the addition of Pokémon TCG Pocket news will be a welcome one.

 

 

And with that, I actually think it’s pretty likely that we see the announcement of the next expansion for the game. I feel fairly confident that a couple upcoming events, such as the next Emblem or Mass Outbreak event, will be announced as well — but given the fact that Space-Time Smackdown has been out for about a month, a few details (or maybe even just a name/theme!) feels pretty likely.

In addition to TCG Pocket, I also think we should expect some general headlines about Café ReMix, Masters EX, Sleep, and Pokémon GO — likely along the lines of new Pokémon/characters/events being added to the former few, and upcoming events, plans, and Pokémon releases for the latter. I don’t anticipate anything wildly crazy or groundbreaking with these games, but I do think the presentation will provide some excitement for fans of these titles.

 

Pokémon UNITE

 

Another thing I’m quite confident about is the announcement of not just one, but several playable Pokémon for UNITE. They drop these new Pokémon at a fairly regular pace, and I think there’s still a lot of untouched ground that the devs are likely looking to explore. My guess? Announcements for three new Unite Licenses, with the first being available sometime in the next month — if not immediately.

 

 

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

 

Now, listen, I get it — everyone is waiting with bated breath for Legends Z-A news. I am too! I promise. But the thing is, I don’t think TPC is done with Scarlet & Violet quite yet. I’m rather confident in guessing that Legends Z-A is probably coming in the latter half of the year — probably holiday season — which leaves quite a lot of time between now and release. Almost an entire year’s worth of time, to be exact! And they’ve got to fill that time with something.

I want to stress that I don’t think we’ll be getting any major Scarlet & Violet updates. Like, I’m not sitting here thinking we’re getting a second DLC pass or anything like that. But! I do think we’ll see quite a bit of news for the upcoming months as far as events and distributions. At least one Tera Raid event? Yes! At least one Mass Outbreak event? Yes! Shiny Koraidon and Miraidon distributions? For all that is good and holy I HOPE SO. Regardless of the details, I think it’s fair and healthy to set your expectations along these lines. Just a few little nuggets to keep those of us still playing SV fed until Legends Z-A finally comes along to satiate us properly.

 

Pokémon HOME

 

Hoo ha! Bet you didn’t expect to see this section! Luckily for you, reader, I’m full of surprises, and I’ve thought of everything. I would be genuinely shocked if TPC failed to mention anything regarding the Shiny Mythical and Legendary Pokémon distributions that have happened through Pokémon HOME over the last few months. Dropping these massive, era-ending distributions out of nowhere was HUGE for a lot of us really dedicated fans, especially the ones truly committed to helping Professor Grand Oak complete his Grand Pokédex. Yes, not to brag, but I am her, she is me, I’m the one who already had full living regional dexes for every Switch game in HOME.

 

 

Regardless of whether you already had these huge tasks completed or not, though, I’ve seen all over social media that these distributions have inspired players to return to past Switch games that they may have otherwise never touched again. In some cases, players are picking them up for the first time! Obviously, this is a huge deal to TPC, and likely a factor in why these distributions have begun in the first place. All of this to say: I’m expecting some sort of discussion, news, or new announcement regarding these distributions, considering how big and defining they are.

 

Pokémon Legends Z-A

 

And finally, that brings us to the end of the presentation. “We’d like to tell you more about the upcoming game, Pokémon Legends Z-A.” I can hear it. I can taste it. A whole year with no news or information has all of us hungry and I think TPC knows it, and they’re going to give us just enough to hold us over until the next batch of news.

I think we’ll get a release date, an announcement of starter Pokémon, and a few gameplay/plot details. I think they’re going to leave it at that.

If we’re lucky, they may give us confirmation that the few remaining Pokémon still stuck in HOME will all officially be available in the new installment, but that may be a little too meta for this kind of presentation.

 

 

Anything more than this will be an unexpected treat, if I’m being honest, and I’m trying not to get my expectations up too high. That being said, I DO think that they’re going to tell us in no uncertain terms that more information IS coming, and they’re not going to leave us high and dry leading up to the release like they did in this past year. I think there’s even a possibility that they announce a dedicated Legends Z-A Direct in the coming months! But I do think that a relatively small portion of THIS presentation will be set aside for Legends Z-A, and that information will be minimal but impactful.

 

Remakes…?

 

I’m so sorry to be this person but, no. It’s not happening! I really don’t think it’s happening.

Listen — I’ll GLADLY eat my words if that turns out to be false. But here’s the thing. Let’s think about this realistically. WHY would they announce remakes?

We’ve waited a YEAR for new information about their currently-upcoming game, and I cannot for the life of me imagine a world where they want to shift conversation AWAY from that game — which they’ve meticulously kept under lock-and-key since its announcement—for ANOTHER set of new games. Now I know what you’re thinking: They announced BDSP and Legends Arceus at the same time! Those were only months apart! And yes, that’s true, however…

For one, those were set in the same region (sort of, but you know) and were both very obviously derivative of Gen IV. It’s clear to me that Legends Arceus was PART of the Gen IV remake cycle. I also think (and this is based off of absolutely nothing scientific) that the “Legends” concept was never meant to extend beyond Legends Arceus —  much like Let’s Go, I think it was meant to be a one-off gameplay-shift for a specific game, and the intense positive reception to Legends Arceus made TPC reconsider.

 

 

Additionally, Legends Z-A is definitively set in Kalos, the region for Gen VI. It wouldn’t make sense for a Kalos-based game to exist in the same remake cycle as Gen V, and furthermore, if it WAS going to exist in the same remake cycle, I think they would have announced Gen V remakes at the same time.

My best guess is that Legends Arceus was so well received, TPC is doing their due diligence in pouring every last resource they have into Legends Z-A to ensure that they’re delivering the best possible followup experience to players who were eagerly awaiting and asking for another Legends Z-A game—ESPECIALLY following the lackluster technical performance of Scarlet & Violet. I don’t think they’re sparing anyone, or anything, for remakes just yet — and if they are, those remakes are certainly not going to be presentation ready.

And for what it’s worth, I think the same thing applies to a Gen X announcement!

But also, like I said, I’ll gladly eat my words if I end up being so fiercely, passionately wrong.

 

My Hopes and Dreams

 

All this being said, it wouldn’t be a Pokémon Presents or a Pokémon Day without a little bit of delusional daydreaming… so, here’s my top five completely baseless hopes and dreams that I’m not actually confident will happen in any capacity.

 

1. GameCube is announced as part of the NSO + Expansion Pack, with Pokémon Colosseum added as a launch title and XD: Gale of Darkness confirmed for the future (or even both of them just confirmed for the future! That’s fine too!)—with HOME compatibility!
2. Gen I, Gen II, and Gen III are all confirmed as coming to NSO sometime in the future (with Gen III being compatible with the above if also announced)—with HOME compatibility!
3. Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2 on NSO receive compatibility with alleged Gen I and Gen II NSO releases
4. More storage added to Pokémon HOME
5. Phione, Manaphy, and Arceus are announced for Pokémon GO

 

In conclusion

 

There’s definitely some stuff I missed. I know I don’t have to tell you, Pokémon fan, how massively gigantic this franchise is — and most of the time, I actually think Pokémon Presents tend to be kind of unpredictable. As much of a Pokémon fan as I am, there’s only so much I can immerse myself in at once, so I’m positive there are things currently happening in the Pokémon world that I’m missing. Physical TCG news? Competitive Pokémon announcements? There’s no telling what TPC considers headline- and newsworthy, so our best bet is to just wait it out and be patient for the rest of the day until we’re all watching the stream through sleepy eyes. 

But it’s fun to speculate isn’t it?

 

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