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Pokémon Community Thread 4: "Your Portal to What's Hip and Happening in Sinnoh!"

I'm curious what they are going to show in the Super Bowl ad... those aren't cheap.
We're definitely getting Z announced in February though.

Kinda sucks that Diancie and Hoopa aren't part of the monthly distributions.
Wait, are those artworks for the distribution Pokemon new?
 

JoeM86

Member
Neither is Pokkén.

Or Go.

Or the mythical distributions.

Pokkén and Go had a 5 second clip in the video.

Mythicals are year long, yes.

However, that in no way means that there won't be a main game. You're really jumping to conclusions, my friend.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope you get proven wrong soon :p
 

aceloop

Neo Member
all the Pokemon are level 100 from the Mystery Gift for 20 year anniversary...


BOOOOOOOOOOO!




I am a Pokemon trainer i want to train them all.


To the Pokemon box they go than and stay for ever....
 
Oh, believe me, I do too, but all this stuff today's setting off big alarm bells in my head.

I honestly don't see why. It's made since for a while now to announce on the anniversary and I don't see how them announcing the basic outline of the year's plans affects that at all.
The got the anniversary plans out of the way and then in a month and a half when/if they announce a new game the focus can be all on it at that time.
 
I honestly don't see why. It's made since for a while now to announce on the anniversary and I don't see how them announcing the basic outline of the year's plans affects that at all.
The got the anniversary plans out of the way and then in a month and a half when/if they announce a new game the focus can be all on it at that time.

The press release is pretty unequivocal about what we can expect to be playing this year, emphasising Pokkén and Go, and not so much as hinting at anything else. If they did have a mainline game coming, what sense does it make not revealing that in advance and having it as a centrepiece of the upcoming lineup, rather than just pretending that it doesn't exist? It's not like a Z reveal would be some massive surprise, anyway.

This is setting aside that a Kalos third version would be a bloody weird thing to save until the twentieth anniversary to announce.
 

Chase17

Member
They may just be spreading everything out throughout the year. To announce everything right now may have been too much. I think ORAS wasn't announced until May in 2014, there's still plenty of time.

I see what you mean about how they could be hyping it throughout the year though.
 
They may just be spreading everything out throughout the year. To announce everything right now may have been too much. I think ORAS wasn't announced until May in 2014, there's still plenty of time.

I see what you mean about how they could be hyping it throughout the year though.

My question is not why they didn't announce it today, it's why they didn't already have the announcement done and out of the way so they could include it as part of the overall anniversary promotions.

If Z is coming out this year, they're being awfully funny in how they're promoting it.
 

harmonize

Member
What are they even holding back besides a game announcement itself? Advertising Zygarde for the past few months, beginning the anime arc about it, and revealing Volcanion isn't crowding the anniversary, but a game announcement somehow would? That doesn't make sense, they're not trying to space out anything.
 
Clearly they don't want to announce the game too long before it comes out, I mean ORAS was only 6 months from announce to release so I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to follow a similar timeline for the final Gen VI game.
 

Chase17

Member
What are they even holding back besides a game announcement itself? Advertising Zygarde for the past few months, beginning the anime arc about it, and revealing Volcanion isn't crowding the anniversary, but a game announcement somehow would? That doesn't make sense, they're not trying to space out anything.

At this point they could just be saving the announcement for Feb 27th, which would make some sense. That would be a huge announcement for the actual 20th anniversary day, even if everyone knows Z is on the way. I would see that as "spacing" it out. You have to get a lot of the info dropped today out there now as it releases next month, but they could still be saving the actual announcement of Z (despite their teasing of it).

But who knows? A lot of this depends on when the game is actually releasing, that would have a big impact on when/how they decide to release it. For example, if the game isn't releasing until October/November this year, I could see why they wouldn't haven't announced it yet.

Edit: Pretty much what ArchedThunder said.
 
Clearly they don't want to announce the game too long before it comes out, I mean ORAS was only 6 months from announce to release so I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to follow a similar timeline for the final Gen VI game.

ORAS was basically standing alone in terms of promotion of Pokémon, though- it wasn't surrounded by other Pokémon games, or in the midst of a huge promotion push for the franchise in general. Z would be. It's an entirely different kettle of fish.

Also, if they didn't wish to announce it too far in advance, starting the Z anime a year in advance of the game releasing is a damned funny move.
 
ORAS was basically standing alone in terms of promotion of Pokémon, though- it wasn't surrounded by other Pokémon games, or in the midst of a huge promotion push for the franchise in general. Z would be. It's an entirely different kettle of fish.

Also, if they didn't wish to announce it too far in advance, starting the Z anime a year in advance of the game releasing is a damned funny move.
That was not the only time games were announced six months before release. X and Y went an abnormally long time between announcement and release and that was nine months, not substantially longer than six. B&W2 had only four months between announcement and release.
 
That was not the only time games were announced six months before release. X and Y went an abnormally long time between announcement and release and that was nine months, not substantially longer than six. B&W2 had only four months between announcement and release.

There is indeed precedent for leaving a relatively short time between announcement and release of a mainline game, I'll grant you that.

What I don't understand is why they'd do it this time out. The Pokémon Company issue a press release detailing what they're doing this year, include a section showing off this year's video games, and neglect to include what would surely be the centrepiece of the lot? Why?
 

ebevan91

Member
There is indeed precedent for leaving a relatively short time between announcement and release of a mainline game, I'll grant you that.

What I don't understand is why they'd do it this time out. The Pokémon Company issue a press release detailing what they're doing this year, include a section showing off this year's video games, and neglect to include what would surely be the centrepiece of the lot? Why?

Maybe it's not ready to be announced.
 
Simple, they just don't want to announce it until a date they have decided on and they didn't want to hold back announcing their anniversary plans because they hadn't announced the game yet.
You're really reading WAY too much into today's stuff.
 

-Horizon-

Member
Yep 20 fun years of catching Pokémon. Though I didn't get into the series till 99 so the number is off for me, but eh who cares?
I don't even remember what year I started playing them, too early in my life. All I remember is being absolutely fascinated by pokemon red when I was at a friend's house.
 
77NXYVS.jpg

I got the Pokémon Center Arcanine plush today!

 
I don't even remember what year I started playing them, too early in my life. All I remember is being absolutely fascinated by pokemon red when I was at a friend's house.

I don't remember when I got into the series, I was a wee boy, but I remember I had been begging my parents for Pokemon for a long time (I didn't even have my own GameBoy, I was just going to play it on my older brother's) and then come Christmas 99 I got a GameBoy Color and Pokemon Red, I went crazy.

Man, I've been wondering for a long time how I got so into Pokemon without having the channel the anime aired on or having any of the games. It wasn't through one of my brothers and I know it wasn't through any friends because I didn't make any friends that were into Pokemon until after I already had my GameBoy. The only think I can think is that maybe I saw something in a store or a commercial and it grabbed me. I guess it might have been the TCG too though, but for some reason I want to say I didn't start getting Pokemon cards until 2000.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
So Coro Coro...

>Secret 3: It actually... hates humans...!?
>Apparently Volcanion is a Pokémon that hates humans. Just what happened between it and humans in the past!? And what will its relationship with Satoshi be like?
>It has a huge quarrel with Satoshi!? Apparently this is going to turn into an unprecedented fight of a journey!?

Apparently Ash and Volcanion have a quarrel "of the century". Volcanion steals Serena?

I don't think Ash having underpowered mons is his fault at all. If anything, he's the one responsible for making Team Rocket as beloved as they are. All of your other complaints should go to the other staff. The episodes he did write were pretty damn good.

Fromw hat I heard he was the one responsible for making Ash those though. Like he didn't want him to win the league.

Why not? American ad with a followup trailer worldwide is possible. We had announcements in Japanese with a trailer for the west following before.

But usually they're worldwide first.
 
So, we're getting a "Major Announcement that will change the world" related to the movie next month.

I'm quietly thinking that it's a Gen VII Pokémon, myself.
 

Firestorm

Member
But usually they're worldwide first.
They also don't usually premier at the fucking super bowl. It'll either be Pokemon GO, Gen 7, or something none of us have heard of yet. They're paying $4.5+ million to an audience of 110+ million people. It won't be something small like Pokken, anime, Z, or the movie. I think GO fits demographics best. Even Gen 7 doesn't sound big enough unless it's on NX or Wii U or something else that helps it stand out from Gen 6.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
It's definitely Go.

My point though is that it won't be a major game announcement since they usually are targetted worldwide. Go fits more since the consumer-base and audience fits.

So, we're getting a "Major Announcement that will change the world" related to the movie next month.

I'm quietly thinking that it's a Gen VII Pokémon, myself.

What are the chances of new forms, or "trainer-evolution"?
 
What are the chances of new forms, or "trainer-evolution"?

Would they really "affect the entire world", though? Maybe if Bond evolutions are a wider thing than just Greninja, but even then formes and Megas aren't normally hyped up this much unless they're something genuinely new and big like Mega Mewtwo Y was. Hell, even the Mythical legendaries aren't generally built up like this.

I mean, I've expanded on why I think we're probably getting a Gen VII Pokémon at some point this year elsewhere, so it wouldn't shock me if it was next month it was happening.
 
I'm pretty sure the "Change the world" thing is just in reference to the plot of the movie. Someone in the other thread had a pretty good guess of it being a new form for Volcanion that has some ability to heavily effect the world, which would be a natural extension to his name partly coming from Volcano. He hates humans, so maybe this new form has the ability to wipe out all humans.
 
Do note we don't have the movie title yet and they typically reveal the full title in February/March each year
If Volcanion is the main star with no further unknown Pokémon to be revealed, it does rather beg the question why they haven't revealed the title yet. Last year they kept it hidden until February because they hadn't revealed Hoopa yet, but they've already played the Volcanion card.

I miss the days when they'd partially reveal the title in December. It made the speculation more fun- I remember the wild guessing surrounding Phantom Champion Z before it became Phantom Champion Zoroark.
 

ash_ag

Member
They also don't usually premier at the fucking super bowl. It'll either be Pokemon GO, Gen 7, or something none of us have heard of yet. They're paying $4.5+ million to an audience of 110+ million people. It won't be something small like Pokken, anime, Z, or the movie. I think GO fits demographics best. Even Gen 7 doesn't sound big enough unless it's on NX or Wii U or something else that helps it stand out from Gen 6.

Bingo. Almost every single person in that 110+ million has a smartphone, but it's not even a guarantee all 15m 3DS owners in the US will watch Super Bowl. GO has a clear aim to appeal to the older audiences too, making it even more appropriate for such event. My guess is around 20 seconds of an enthusiastic live-action GO ad, followed by an acknowledgement of the 20th Anniversary celebration and the other products it entails.

I know many people are still heavily invested in Z, but I'm going to say the possibility of a Gen 7 Pokémon tease/introduction around February is extremely likely, and that could well be the context. Since we'll get the 19th movie's full title next month, the two events could well be connected between each other, and with anything that might come out of Pokémon Day.

Incidentally, this is a bit of a shot in the dark, but February 8th (which is when the Super Bowl is for Japan) is technically the Chinese New Year. We have quite a few monkey and ape-based Pokémon already, but it would be pretty fun if a newly-introduced 'mon coincided with the very much hyped Year of Monkey. :p
 
If Volcanion is the main star with no further unknown Pokémon to be revealed, it does rather beg the question why they haven't revealed the title yet. Last year they kept it hidden until February because they hadn't revealed Hoopa yet, but they've already played the Volcanion card.

I miss the days when they'd partially reveal the title in December. It made the speculation more fun- I remember the wild guessing surrounding Phantom Champion Z before it became Phantom Champion Zoroark.

The title probably has something to do with the whole effecting the world thing.

EDIT: I still don't get why anyone thinks that they'd make all these Zygarde forms and not have a game (or games) to go with them...
 
I think that IF (and emphasis on if here) Z isn't happening this year, it'll be because plans changed, not because they never planned to do it in the first place.

If, for example, Game Freak decided to make a concerted effort to get onto Nintendo's next console as early as possible this time in order to establish a foothold on the platform before any pressing competition *coughYokaiWatchcough* could make the jump, and were then told that Nintendo were pressing forward with the plans for the NX earlier than they initially intended, I could imagine them sacrificing Z in order to ensure that they are able to turn more resources towards getting the next generation out as soon as possible, leaving them with a variety of formes that they have to give an anime arc to in the absence of them getting their own game.

Hey, it's all just speculation, but that's the fun of it!
 

ash_ag

Member
EDIT: I still don't get why anyone thinks that they'd make all these Zygarde forms and not have a game (or games) to go with them...

They'll be in the next game, but that game doesn't have to be Z. These Pokémon were introduced in September, and there are lots of things being done with them right now, like in the anime. If anything, it would be pretty odd if Zygarde got an exclusive game by the time it's old news franchise-wide.

Given Zygarde Cell's nature of being scattered around the world, a tie-in with GO may be waiting to happen. Granted, the next Game Freak game will also definitely provide some further elaboration on its lore, but we'll see to what extend that happens.
 
I'd be severely disappointed if the just left Gen VI hanging, but at the same time I'd be excited for the new Generation.
I still don't think there's any reason to think they won't finish Gen VI this year and release Gen VII next year.

They'll be in the next game, but that game doesn't have to be Z. These Pokémon were introduced in September, and there are lots of things being done with them right now, like in the anime. If anything, it would be pretty odd if Zygarde got an exclusive game by the time it's old news franchise-wide.

Given Zygarde Cell's nature of being scattered around the world, a tie-in with GO may be waiting to happen. Granted, the next Game Freak game will also definitely provide some further elaboration on its lore, but we'll see to what extend that happens.
They wouldn't be the focus though, and that'd be weird and it'd feel like Zygarde got robbed. And if Zygarde is a focal point of Gen VII that'd be even weirder, focusing on a previous Gen Pokemon wouldn't feel right.
 

ash_ag

Member
They wouldn't be the focus though, and that'd be weird and it'd feel like Zygarde got robbed. And if Zygarde is a focal point of Gen VII that'd be even weirder, focusing on a previous Gen Pokemon wouldn't feel right.

Something done in the post-League quest could be pretty big. I would argue that Rayquaza and Deoxys were done more justice in Delta Episode than Xerneas and Yveltal were done in XY. Imagine, say, a Zeta Episode of sorts dealing with Zygarde. But I guess we'll see. :)
 
Something done in the post-League quest could be pretty big. I would argue that Rayquaza and Deoxys were done more justice in Delta Episode than Xerneas and Yveltal were done in XY. Imagine, say, a Zeta Episode of sorts dealing with Zygarde. But I guess we'll see. :)

Zygarde is directly tied to the Kalos region though, so unless Gen VII's region is to the east of Kalos just outside of the map and Kalos is a post game reward similar to Kanto in GSC it wouldn't really make sense.

...I'd actually be kinda down for that.
 
Zygarde is directly tied to the Kalos region though, so unless Gen VII's region is to the east of Kalos just outside of the map and Kalos is a post game reward similar to Kanto in GSC it wouldn't really make sense.

...I'd actually be kinda down for that.

Gen VII's region to be based on Germany confirmed.

Or the UK please god.
 
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