9 Details We Spotted In Pokémon Winds And Waves’ First Trailer

This morning, Game Freak officially announced Pokémon Winds and Waves, the games that will kick off the next generation on Switch 2 next year. We saw around three minutes of footage of the game in motion, and though it is brief, there’s a fair bit to glean from what we saw. Let’s break down the first trailer.

The opening cinematic pays tribute to 30 years of Pokémon

Starting off the trailer is a cinematic showing several illustrations of a Pikachu traveling around the Pokémon world. Each drawing shows Pikachu in a different region from the first nine generations, from Kanto in Red and Blue to Paldea in Scarlet and Violet. It’s a cute way to lead into the next generation and also pay homage to the series’ 30th anniversary. As the trainer flips through their scrapbook, we end on an image of Pikachu looking out a window to a beach, which is revealed to be the space we’re in now.

Who are these Pikachu?

After strolling through memory lane, the trainer opens their house door and is greeted by two Pikachu that are glammed up and also notably darker than the average mouse, so fans are speculating that they’re Shiny. Their names are Mr. Windychu and Ms. Wavychu, but we don’t know much about how they’re involved in the story just yet. Given their names, they might be exclusive to the different versions similar to the professors in Scarlet and Violet, but that’s just a theory.

Well, it certainly looks better than Scarlet and Violet

Winds and Waves is the next open-world game in the Pokémon series, and for whatever it’s worth, it does look like a significant graphical improvement over Scarlet and Violet, which was raked through the coals for looking like a GameCube game. The environments have texture and character to them, which is more than you could say for the bland, flat appearance of the Paldea region. Could this finally be the end of the Pokémon graphics debates? Arceus, I hope so.

The new region feels like a bit of a throwback

While a lot of recent Pokémon games have been defined by city skylines, Winds and Waves seems like it has a much more nature-driven region than the series has routinely sported of late. Yeah, there are some human structures like what appears to be a giant water-based lab, but by and large we don’t see much of human civilization, and it gives it more of that grounded, earthy feel that is much more akin to previous generations. It makes me wonder if it will have the same gyms and Pokémon League structure of previous games, or if we might be spending more time exploring the wild environment instead.

Different outfits for both games

Like Scarlet and Violet, Winds and Waves will change some of the player’s outfit accents depending on which version they’re playing. It’s unclear if this is justified in the story the way it was by having different school uniforms in Scarlet and Violet, but the Winds protagonist sports a white and blue rancher hat, while the Waves hero wears a darker blue cap. Hopefully Winds and Waves doesn’t pull back on the excellent fashion and customization options from Legends: Z-A and we still get a plethora of looks and outfits to choose from.

The Pokédex seems eclectic

We didn’t see many of the new Pokémon that will debut in Winds and Waves, but we did see a lot of the returning ones and it looks like a nice spread from the previous nine generations. So don’t worry too much about it being another Kanto-filled adventure.

Pikachu didn’t get a makeover

Early leaks for Winds and Waves included what appeared to be a redesign for Pikachu that would have further slimmed him down from his original round look. However, based on the footage we’ve seen, it looks like Game Freak didn’t use this updated design, which is fine by me.

The starters are the star of the show

The only new Pokémon we saw in this first trailer are the three starters: Browt, Pombon, and Gecqua. The grass-type bird is described as “lively, but it can also be a bit clumsy” and we know it photosynthesizes the leaves on its brow. Pombon is a Pomeranian fire dog that has a “heat-generating organ within its lungs” and is “guileless and friendly.” Lastly, Gecqua rounds out the trio with its water attacks that it springs from its tail, and is “intelligent and maneuvers shrewdly while putting on airs​.”

There’s a focus on underwater exploration

Game Freak made a point to focus on underwater exploration, which is one of the new ways you’ll be able to move through the environment in Winds and Waves’ open world. It’s unclear how we’ll do that, whether it’s through some kind of vehicle or if Dive is returning from the previous games, but it looks like you’ll be able to encounter wild water Pokémon under the sea, rather than just having to fish for them or see them swimming at the surface.

Ugh, they’re gonna make me wait for it

I guess now that Scarlet and Violet was a huge technical disaster, Game Freak is trying to put more space between each of its games. Winds and Waves are coming to Switch 2 in 2027, which means we’ll probably have about a two-year gap between it and Legends: Z-A, which came out in October of last year. The company didn’t get any more specific than the year, though, so the games could conceivably launch in the first half of 2027. I’ll just have to sustain myself on Pokopia for a while.