Pokémon Presents Predictions (2/27/2026)

Gen 10 Predictions

Union Circle

So we’re all pretty sure this has to be the year we see what Gen 10 looks like, but (even though I’m probably playing it no matter what) the Union Circle is going to make or break things for me big time.

I loved the Union Circle in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The experience I had playing through the entire game alongside my partner Cluster was downright MAGICAL, and the subsequent DLC (and the time we spent playing THAT together!) made it easily my favorite Pokémon game yet - and why I consider myself to have played Scarlet and Violet even though I technically only own Scarlet! Getting to catch Cluster’s version-exclusives from my Scarlet copy was mind-blowing.

So if the Gen 10 games want any hope of taking Scarlet and Violet’s place in my heart, if that’s even possible, I need to go on this next journey with Cluster by my side - like it’s our own anime adventure, that we get to play with each other in real-time. Holy FUCK I loved Scarlet and Violet! I’m getting side-tracked.

Synchro Machine

I don’t know how anyone else reacted to it, but when Cluster and I got to the Synchro Machine in the Terarium Dome of Blueberry Academy our immediate thoughts were 1.) holy shit this is the best thing ever WE’RE PLAYING AS OUR POKÉMON, and 2.) they are 100% test-piloting this for Gen 10.

Honestly, like with Union Circles, if we just got the functionality of the Terarium version 1:1 in the new game but got to do it for the whole region? That’d be enough. But I’ll take an expansion, eagerly! Getting to run around, hop around, fly around, swim around (underwater, even???) even more dynamically as the Pokémon I caught (and indeed any that I catch during my adventure!) would immediately make this a contender for best Pokémon game yet.

But there is one other element that I think, if combined with this, would take the game to the next level.

Real-Time Battles (with and without Synchro Machine)

I’m not asking for the Synchro Machine to replace everything but, if I’m completely not giving a fuck about the fact I called this “Predictions” and just writing out whatever I want to have happen in the next games, I want it to be an option almost anywhere in the game if not everywhere.

One way I could see it working is the way it works in Smash with the Pokémon Trainer. When you (the player) select a move, your trainer calls out the move - prompting the Pokémon you’re presently controlling to start executing it! I think this, along with introducing some sort of evasive maneuvers your Pokémon can do in real-time Synchro battles, would really bring Pokémon battling closer to the best moments from the anime - which, yes, I use as the platonic ideal that all Pokémon games should strive to reach.

I think that’s everything I’m hoping for, for Gen 10? They’re ranked in order of priority, so if we just get Union Circles I’ll be happy even without the latter two. If we get either one or both of the latter two without Union Circles, I’ll…! P-play it, and it’ll be f-fine. 🥲

Other Predictions

Anime Movie???

It’s been a while since there’s been a Pokémon anime movie! They made one more after Detective Pikachu came out, easily the best of the last three they released (don’t ask me if that counts the 3D Mewtwo movie, I don’t remember if I Choose You came out before or after it), but they haven’t released any more since!

Now, would a new movie feature the current anime protagonists?… Er, Lily? Ron? Dory? Whatever their names are, I’m sure at least someone’s out there who wants to see them in a movie.

If a new anime movie comes out that features Ash, I’m definitely checking it out. Even if it’s Ash meeting Lizzy, or whatever her name was! She’s not Ash’s daughter, it’s weird that people were apparently saying that!

Another Movie

That’s right, it’s Detective Pikachu 2: Even Realer, Even Grosser. We went back to the drawing board and came up with even more ways to take the Pokémon you love and make them look absolutely fucking nasty!

Jokes aside, I think the Pokémon movie people really wanna see is a faithful (not I Choose You) adaptation of the beginning of the Pokémon anime - featuring Ash, Misty, Brock, and good ol’ Team Rocket. In live-action.

This feels like it has way more ‘film franchise’ potential than “how many times can we get Ryan Reynolds to be a filthy-looking Pikachu?” Who knows if we’ll ever see it happen, but I see so many people whose frame of reference for Pokémon is specifically the beginning of the anime dub and I think tapping into that market would be huge!

Mobile Games That Will Make My Eyes Glaze Over

I don’t play any of the Pokémon mobile games! Not even the one you like (if you have one)! Sorry! Serebii webmaster Joe Merrick has said over and over that the mobile games don’t actually take that much space in the presentation and that having less of them won’t magically make there be more of what you do want to be shown, and I’m… taking his word for it! Probably just feels longer than it is since I’m not having fun.

Something Unexpected That I Won’t Care About

Wow! Huh. Okay.

Something Unexpected That I WILL Care About

WHOA!!! I never even thought of this, but this looks great! Holy fucking shit!

So, those’re my very serious and intellectual predictions. As far as how they’re gonna pan out? I think we’ll be looking back at this post as that time I totally predicted the entire Pokémon Presents, and thus spent the whole time a little bored and unsurprised!

Looking forward to it! :D