Analyzing Pokémon Day 2024

Lessons learned from Pokémon Presents

Howdy Cooltrainers and welcome back! As I write this from my cozy cave in Victory Road, there’s a dripping sound throughout the dungeon. The Rhyhorn are coming out of hibernation and the Machoke started their mating dances this week (don’t ask). Spring must be on the way!

Here’s hoping you all had a joyous Pokémon Day. Let’s do it.

This week’s rundown (estimated read time, 7 minutes):

Pokémon Presents - February 2024

Unless you’ve been living under a Golem for the past month (have tried, don’t recommend), you’ll know we got a brand new Pokémon Presents.

Clocking in at just under 13 minutes, this year’s Pokémon Day presentation was on the shorter end and almost exclusively featured mobile games. If y’all are new around here, you’ll know I don’t cover much mobile content.

Before we get into the new stuff (Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, and Legends Z-A), lets pull up the Ace scoreboard and see how I did with my predictions from last week. (Spoiler: pretty bad)

For mainline games, this was my order of most to least likely:

  1. Older generation ports to Switch - A Cooltrainer can dream, can’t he? Seemed like an obvious time to announce this with what I predicted to be a gap year before the next console arrived. Honestly, not sure these will ever happen at this point.

  2. Gen 5 third-party-developed remake - Genuine surprise for me that we didn’t get this. It’s still coming and it will still be Unova (Legends doesn’t follow the remake pattern but we’ll get into that next). My guess is November 2025 before a big Gen 10 arrival in 2026 for the 30th anniversary.

  3. Another Legends installment - I got one (sort of) right! I also predicted that it wouldn’t be Celebi/Gen 2. My guess was Gen 3, though kudos to all the people who dreamed about a Legends Zygarde game all the way back in 2022. Wishes do come true.

  4. Another Let’s Go installment - Did not think this would happen and was correct. Let’s Go was a one-off intro game due to the launch of the Switch and the popularity of GO. It does not represent a third wave of remakes.

Also surprised by:

  • The lack of a Pokémon TV successor. I put all my money on a paid Pokémon subscription service. I still expect this before the end of the year or Pokémon Day 2025 at the latest. It’s coming. Only a matter of when.

  • No spinoff or side games. Legends is part of the mainline series, remember. Even if we didn’t get any Gen 1-3 ports, I can’t believe something Pokémon wasn’t added to Nintendo Switch Online.

Image credit: Serebii

Introducing Pokémon Legends Z-A

Well how about that? I won’t say that no one had a Gen 6 Legends on their bingo card, but it was collectively WAY down on the list. Instead of an ILCA remake of Unova, Gen 6 is up next and finally getting its third act after 12 years.

If you haven’t seen the teaser trailer yet (or want to watch it again just because) here ya go.

Honestly, when it first started, I thought we were getting another Detective Pikachu game. Instead, it looks like the Legends series is going into the future, Bladerunner style.

A quick recap of Kalos in case you’ve forgotten or never played X/Y:

  • First Gen to introduce the Fairy type and Mega Evolutions.

  • The three themes of X&Y are beauty, bonds, and evolution.

  • The legendaries, Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde are inspired by creatures in Norse Mythology.

    • Fun fact: Masuda requested that the letters “X” and “Y” were the basis for the box art legendaries. The designs took 18 months to finalize (3x the normal length). Based on interviews, this was also the first time that Ken Sugimori didn’t design a Gen’s legendary Pokémon by himself,

  • The villain group is called Team Flare and are led by a man named Lysandre. They want to use an “ultimate weapon” to annihilate humanity

  • AZ is a 9-foot tall man who was a king 3,000 years earlier (during the Kalos war) and used the ultimate weapon to revive his beloved Pokémon, a unique variant of Floette. Use of the weapon led to the eventual creation of Mega Evolution.

Confirmed Facts ✅ 

  • Releasing in 2025.

  • Mega Evolutions are back, baby!

  • List of confirmed Pokémon (seen in the trailer).

  • The game is set entirely in Lumiose City (an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon).

Good bets 🤷‍♂️ 

  • Additional Mega Evolutions will be introduced for older and newer Pokémon.

  • Will release on the Switch, could also be compatible with the next Nintendo console too.

  • There are hints that the story/plot is connected to Legends Arceus. The main male character in Legends Arceus begins PLA wearing a Kalos design t-shirt. (However, the female main character starts with an Alola t-shirt). Take it for what it’s worth.

  • A futuristic setting is apparent, but hand-drawn blueprints hint at a time travel aspect into the city’s past.

  • Some potential connection between AZ (the 3,000 year-old king of Kalos) and the title, Z-A.

  • Following the theme of the first Legends game, none of the starters will be first-partner Pokémon from Kalos (Fennekin, Froakie, Chespin).

  • A lesser good bet (don’t grammar me) is that the Legends Z-A starters will be starter Pokémon that didn’t previously have mega evolutions.

  • Hunting for Zygarde cells, similar to the Legends Arceus wisps.

Total guesses ⁉️ 

  • Coming February 2025, followed by “Switch 2” and another release for Fall/Holiday Season 2025.

  • AZ’s Floette becomes an obtainable Pokémon for the first time.

  • Features some kind of “digital” Pokémon that are different than the Future Paradox Pokemon in Violet.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket

Legends Z-A is getting all of the attention but NOBODY expected a new format for the Pokémon TCG.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is a brand new app coming this year “that reimagines the experience of collecting Pokémon TCG cards in an innovative digital format.”

Players gets two free packs to open each day, including special variants of full art cards called “immersive cards” that zoom and pan to reveal an entire panorama inside the frame. Other cards feature “nostalgic illustrations” and new cards found only in the app.

You can trade with one another and engage in “quick battles” that feature more streamlined rules, likely similar to the simpler rules in Battle Academy, My First Battle, or Build and Battle Boxes.

The app is set for release sometime this year. Be sure to check out the Card of the week below for a preview of an immersive card.

Ace’s Take:

TCG Pocket could become a pivotal, hallmark moment in the Pokémon TCG. While we shouldn’t expect the same craze as early Pokémon GO, this has the potential to create waves in the casual fan base and wider community in a similar way. It could take the TCG to all-new heights.

The ability to trade digital cards and battle friends remotely (and quickly) combines two powerful adoption drivers: it’s easy and it’s a social experience you share with friends. As a collector and super casual TCG player, I’m looking forward to trying this out.

Kanto Starter Tera Raid Events in Scarlet & Violet

The OGs are back and ready to throw down, Tera Raid style. Get Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard (rerun) with the Mightiest Marks over the course of the next three weeks in Scarlet and Violet. (Plus they’re dropping Herba Mystica).

  • Venusaur (Ground Tera) - Tuesday, February 27, at 4 p.m. PST to Tuesday, March 5, at 3:59 p.m. PST.

  • Blastoise (Steel Tera) - Tuesday, March 5, at 4 p.m. PST to Tuesday, March 12, at 4:59 p.m. PDT.

  • Charizard (Dragon Tera) - Tuesday, March 12, at 5 p.m. PDT to Sunday, March 17, at 4:59 p.m. PDT.

Card of the Week

We’re taking a first look at an immersive Pikachu card coming to Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket (sorry, couldn’t embed the video directly to the email).

Random encounters around the internet

Obscure Pokémon Fact (from u/Mx_Toniy_4869)

Until next time,
Cooltrainer (Z is my middle name) Ace