The annual Pokémon Presents livestream was held today, Feb 27—a.k.a. Pokémon Day—and it was short but sweet.
Tsunekazu Ishihara, CEO of the Pokémon Company, and Takato Utsunomiya, Chief Operating Officer, showed us a variety of videos about upcoming Pokémon games, with interjections from Pikachu and a group of Unown. What did we get?
Tera Raid Events for Scarlet & Violet
The last mainline Pokémon games were Scarlet & Violet, and if you’re still playing those then Pokémon Presents had some good news for you. From February 28 to March 17, players will be able to catch Mighty Venusaur, Mighty Blastoise, and Mighty Charizard in the Tera Raids.
A Horizons/Pokémon Go collaboration
Pokémon Horizons is the current incarnation of the Pokémon anime. It follows the adventures of Liko and Roy, who partner with a Sprigatito and Fuecoco respectively. And it’s coming to Netflix on March 5! So to celebrate, some new characters are arriving in the still highly-played mobile game Pokémon GO. Armarouge, Ceruledge and Charcadet will be available to catch, Pikachu will start wearing Cap’s hat from Horizons, and Liko and Roy will pop up in snapshot mode.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket
Remember back in the olden days when kids excitedly traded Pokémon cards on the playground? Well, the concept has gone digital now. Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket will allow you to collect cards, and take part in battles, using nothing more than your phone. It’s being developed alongside Creatures Inc, the people behind the original Pokémon TCG, and is due out sometime in 2024, although the exact date is yet to be set.
Minor game updates
Before the bigger announcements, we got a run-down of new Pokémon coming to Pokémon games. Raikou will be in Pokémon Sleep in March, and will be followed by Entei and Suicune at a later date. Pokémon Masters EX is about to get new sync pairs and a photo creator. Pokémon Cafe Remix is welcoming Gimmighoul, a Pokémon who debuted in Scarlet & Violet originally. And team battle game Pokémon Unite is about to add Miraidon, Falinks and Ceruledge.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A
They saved the most exciting announcement for last—we’re getting a new Pokémon Legends game! This is Pokémon Legends Z-A, and it’ll take place in the land of Kalos, the setting for the games Pokémon X and Y. (X-Y and Z-A, get it?)
The trailer aired as part of Pokémon Presents. Bear in mind, though, that it doesn’t contain any actual gameplay footage.
The official Pokémon YouTube channel describes the trailer in these words:
Pokémon Legends: Z-A, an ambitious new entry to the Pokémon video game series, will launch on Nintendo Switch systems in 2025!
A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is under way to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.
The footage shows Pikachu, the mascot of the Pokémon franchise, running through a rendering of a modern-day city. Along the way, he passes many other Pokémon going about their daily business and interacting with humans. That city, the trailer tells us, is Lumiose City, the main city in the Kalos region in the X and Y games. (But if you’ve never played those, the city may look familiar anyway, because it’s based on the real city of Paris.) What awaits us here? We’ll have to wait a year before we find out.
Extra Pokémon news
But some of the most exciting Pokémon developments were announced before this year’s Pokémon Presents. This evening, the Empire State Building will light up in blue and yellow to celebrate Pokémon Day. You can watch the party by tuning into any of the official Pokemon social media channels. Captain Pikachu from Horizons will be there!
And as all this wasn’t good enough, it was announced last week that new episodes of Pokémon Concierge, the adorable stop-motion Pokémon show on Netflix, have been commissioned! This show is about a young woman named Haru (voiced in English by Karen Fukuhara) and how Pokémon greatly improve her life. She’s not alone in that!
(featured image: The Pokémon Company)
