Hello everyone! Did ya happen to catch that Nintendo Direct really really this morning? Well I decided to get up and watch it, and boy was I blown away! After watching the Direct I had a ton of thoughts going through my head, some of them pretty crazy. So I decided to share six of them with you today. Some are obvious and others are just… yeah.

Please enjoy my nonsense ideas!

1. These Will Be The Longest Games In The Franchise

One of the things they promptly showed us was how large and hefty this new region, known now as the Galar region, will be. And considering how this game seems to have a more open-world feel to it than the other ones from what has been shown, it’s safe to say that this new region will have more than plenty to explore!

With the previous games Sun and Moon, as well as there respected sequels, giving us multiple islands to explore with each one feeling different from the other, it’s only logical that they do the same here in the form of a vast and large area.

This region also seems to be based on the United Kingdom (England for those misguided) which is a perfect fit for a region. This leads nicely into my next outlandish idea:

2. This Region Will Be Heavily Steampunk/Fantasy Themed

Considering the region it’s based on, the real life location has been the center point for countless tales of medieval adventures and folklore superstition. We can already tell by what the trailer has shown us, as well as the already shown mythical Pokemon Meltan and Melmetal, that this game will also feature some form of steampunk-ish aesthetic, whether it’s a lot or a bit minor.

This seems right to me, Pokemon has always had a mystical side to it that is only amplified by it’s associated regions of choice. They won’t even have to cherry-pick ideas for anything because the UK in particular will have many places to choose ideas from for “magical” backgrounds for legendaries, pseudo-legends, etc.

3. There Will Be More Than Eight Gyms

Yes, this is ridiculous but again I did say some of these ideas are certainly out there. Think about how big this region is, and think about how it’ll certainly have this open-world thing going on with it. It is big, like really big. The fact that the region is also structured into parts and areas that are different from one another (like the forest area, snow area to name a few) makes me think that there will be very important stuff to do in each part of this region, and perhaps each one has a gym to boot.

Consider this: your character of choice will more than likely start from the very bottom of the region’s map, meaning that the whole point of the adventure is working your way to the top both literally and figuratively. And while it’s one-hundred percent likely that you’ll have to encounter the usual eight gyms to make it to championship, what if it was revealed to actually be ten gyms? Not only would that blow the minds of the fans, but it would also gives us more of an insight of just how big these games will actually be. And while Gamefreak certainly doesn’t have to feel intimidated from what other Nintendo games have done, perhaps games like Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Super Mario Odyssey have given them some sort of push to do something vaguely similar in the land of pocket monsters.

Again, super outlandish and unlikely but I still like the idea…

4. The Starter’s Final Typings

I believe I already know what the final type combos will be for the new starter Pokemon, in fact I have two theories on this matter.

So the Pokemon Grookey is a chimp Pokemon and the grass starter for generation eight, the last monkey themed starter was Chimchar which became the fire/fighting Pokemon Infernape. It would seem too obvious to make this chimp Pokemon also become a part fighting type. So why not go crazy and make its final evolution a grass and psychic type? Psychic is still a hugely popular typing and having another starter have such a combo would be exciting! It was certainly exciting when Delphox was revealed to be a fire/psychic type way back in Pokemon X and Y.

The Pokemon Scorbunny was perhaps the most surprising to me. I never thought of a bunny as a starter Pokemon and honestly it’s a great idea for sure. I’m certain a lot of people are somewhat certain, perhaps even worried, that this Pokemon will inevitably become another fire/fighting type. While this seems both obvious and fitting for a creature such as a bunny, I believe Gamefreak will pull on our heartstrings and really give us something truly unexpected. Something more unexpected than the surprising fire/dark typing of Incineroar (if that was even surprising to anyone else but me). I dare say that it will be either of two scenarios: This bunny will either become a fire/ground type or a fire/ghost type. The ground combo merely because of how well it fits and how ground is arguably among the strongest typings, and ghost because that would be highly unexpected and very left field of them to do. In all honesty, the fire/fighting combo could very much return here though. I say this because the combination, while used to death not so long ago, is still a strong type combo to this day. And the other reason is due to what I believe, in my crazy mind, they might do with these starters…

The water starter Sobble is probably my pick for this generation, and I’m hoping that his or her final type combo is a good one. In fact, I hope it’ll be water/dark for a few reasons. While we’ve already gotten this combo in the glorious form of Greninja, it would be great to see it again here since it’s not that overused compared to the fire/fighting combination. The other reason is for how it fits the Pokemon itself. Sobble is introduced to us as a shy and easily frightened creature, which is adorable in its own right, but what if it evolved into something that pretty much had enough of this nonsense? Sobble will go from being afraid to being not just brave but also insane from its youthful years of torment!

The reason why I hope for the combination of grass/psychic, fire/fighting (or ghost), and water/dark overall is because of how truly clever in core game mechanics it would be. Think about it: fire beats grass, grass beats water and water beats fire. This has always been the basic premise and starting point for new players to comprehend for how type advantage works. But what if their second typings helped to counteract their weakness in some way? Nintendo and Gamefreak did say that this was meant to bring back veteran gamers as well as new ones, so why not add a clever twist to it?

Please, PLEASE let me know if this somehow doesn’t work. I know that some type combos can cancel out some offensive and defensive capabilities and i’m either too stupid or too lazy to figure it out on my own.

5. New Evolutions For Prior Pokemon

I doubt I’m alone when I say that people love seeing new integrated evolutions, or pre-evolutions, for our previous Pokemon we all love. There are many due for another “member of their family”, where is that baby Scyther? Where is that male evolution Salandit?

Perhaps the most sought after evolutions are any new ones for Eevee, and can you blame anyone for wanting more? Eevee is hugely popular and offers an already large roster of evolutions to choose from. It’s actually quite shocking that when Sylveon was shown off for Pokemon X and Y, we never got a dragon type counterpart! Perhaps we will see the infamous dragon Eevee in this generation, fingers crossed!

6. A New Gimmick That’s Great And Viable

In X and Y we got Mega evolutions, which were and still are a lot of fun. Then in Sun and Moon we got Z-moves which were, in my opinion, fun but not great. So it seems logical to expect another type of gimmick here for Sword and Shield. Here’s to hoping that this new gimmick will not only be fun, but will also provide useful benefit in battle or otherwise.

Mega evolutions I thought were fun and interesting to add in combat, they were powerful but not too powerful. Z-moves are fun too but I felt that there was too much flashy buildup which didn’t always end with a good payoff. So i’m hoping for another Mega evolution deal here, at the very least bring Mega evolutions back!

Thanks For Reading!

I know that things have been slow on here but I can assure you all that we will eventually get right on track again with new posts, videos and other great things! I’m currently working on both the revision and return of top 6’s again while also working on a side project with Geoff. Be sure to check back soon! (p.s. sorry if this post has problems such as typos and rambling sentences, I wanted to make it as fast as possible so I can get it out there ya know…)

-TOM