Pokémon Direct To Air Thursday, 9th January

Meh, couldn't care less

Awesome, I took a break from completing my Dex until Home releases so that I can transfer Pokémon from Sword to Shield.

Okay that was something I wasn’t expecting, most likely to get Pokemon Home news and some other hints!

Should be pretty cool, can't wait to hear new Pokémon info.

MEH..............really MEH

Smart, getting the Pokemon stuff out the way early to leave plenty of space in the real Direct.....Maybe? Please?

Pokémon Home better be worth it.

Fingers crossed for an update that allows the removal of exp.share, a very simple change that would already make Sw/Sh substantially better in my books.

Honestly I dunno what else to really wish for, I know the Pokemon releases have become pretty much annual at this point but I would still be shocked if they were already ready to announce the next mainline game at this point.

@AlexOlney Obviously the 5th fighter is going to be an 8th gen Pokémon.

Good, get the news for Pokemon Home out of the way so the direct of next week can solely focus on all the other news!

ive been saying Rillaboom for fighter 5 it makes since 6th gen water starter, 7th gen fire starter only makes sense for 8th gen to be the grass starter.

DLC incoming.

Lame... Maybe Pokemon DLC.

I'll probably watch it... Maybe. I'm still very much on the fence for Sword/Shield.

Meh, lost all interest in the Pokemon series. Hopefully it’s announcing a Smash fighter as well instead of showcasing the transformation of Pokemon to GaaS.

Well. I'll watch it. My guess maybe a spinoff series (Mystery Dungeon at a guess) might get a mention. MAYBE DLC for sword and shield, but damn, I hope not.

The fifth fighter of smash bros ultimate dlc may still be third party, but an 8th gen Pokemon could be part of the second fighter pass dlc for smash ultimate or even free when you get the second fighter pass

Surprised it's 20 minutes. I'm guessing HOME, Detective Pikachu Switch and Let's Go Johto then.

This came out of nowhere. Was hoping for a regular direct. But give us a S S update with more story content please. Seriously need more of that for the game

...

Cool I guess. Hopefully a full Nintendo Direct will be aired in the near future.

Not what I had in mind, but I’ll take it.

More pokeymanz... Sigh... Not my top choices of direct.

@Grumblevolcano sounds about right to me

@mikegamer why you here then? Wasting your time on something you dont care about. Lol you cant make this stuff up!

Strange behaviour or stranger things?

I think this is kinda unusual they just released Sword and Shield a little while ago. Hopefully the next direct will be better for me.

Finally the Dexit community will get what they want so we can stop using the term Dexit

I liked Pokemon Shield, but I'm not ready for more pokemon yet. Was hoping for a normal direct. Oh well.

So then the regular direct will be feb then. Was not expecting anything pokenon until may/june

The only thing this makes me hopefully for is a new Mystery Dungeon. That would be fantastic. Otherwise haven’t got all that much interest

This is about as disappointing as it can get, we need a regular direct with plans for the year. I've already put down Pokemon Shield at this point (lack of a bigger pokedex available definitely didn't help but shorten the experience).

🤔

Post-game DLC? The Kanto region ported over from Let's Go!? Gen 1 Pokédex update? (The models were in Let's Go! so it would take about a day of work to do)

Pokémon again? What could they really have to announce? Pokémon Sword and Shield 2, Remakes of Diamond and Pearl? Or Pokémon Let's Go Ekans and Koffing Edition?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz i couldnt care less

Very disappointing. Its probably an announcement that they're backtracking and putting the missing pokemon back in the dex. Still, it will take a hell of a lot more than that to make Sword/Shield decent games. I can't get over the disappointment with those two - even after all the negative press I kept my hopes up stupidly. 20 year old game repackaged.

I'm... I'm just so disappointed right now. I didn't want Sword or Shield over dexit so unless they're doing a big U-turn on that issue I shall continue to wait for a proper full fat Direct

Oh..!
Maybe it will be about Pokedex expansion on Galar region by using Pokemon Home.
And maybe the remake of Diamond / Pearl / Platinum trailer at the end of Direct.

Btw, if some peoples keep complaining about same things on Pokemon games, will you get satisfied if suddenly new Pokemon games much like Monster Rancher by TECMO (your monster can die by their lifespan or injury during battle) or much like Monster Hunter Stories or like Yokai Watch ?

No what I wanted but at least it's something. My kids have been having a blast with sword/shield so hopefully there's something for them to get excited about.

Misty/Kris/May/Dawn/Hilda/Serena/Moon/Gloria confirmed for Smash?! Lol

@AlexOlney hey who's to say we won't ALSO get that?

A Sword and Shield pokemon(or even trainer???**) would be a perfect "Pokemon Company" representative for the fighter pass.

** honestly a new trainer character, especially one based after a named trainer of the franchise or latest title would be pretty awesome.

Like just from the last title I would say that Bede/Marnie/Hop could all be strong contenders with unique pokemons to choose from in a Smash match. Leon could even be doable if his Charizard was removed from the pool(to avoid "clone" accusations) and instead held back for a Gigantamax smash attack.

Or if they instead wanted to add a proper "villain" representative to the wider franchise, they could do worst than picking Giovanni whom I could easily picture being an interesting rep with Persian/Nidoqueen/Rhydon or something similar.

Of course I'll heartily admit that a new trainer rep is probably wistful thinking and unlikely to happen as a mere DLC unless they were perhaps worked on since the very release of Smash Ultimate, considering the scope of developing the multiple characters for one.

So if a new pokemon rep happen, it might well melt be just an individual pokemon again, and perhaps not even for fighter 5 which is just again hypothetical from my part. ^^;

"Today we would like to tell you about a new feature that will be made available in the Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield games on the Nintendo Switch. Over the last several months, we have received many compliments about Pokemon that are not currently seen in the Galar region, and are pleased to announce the Galar Gala DLC service for Pokemon Sword, and Pokemon Shield. With Galar Gala, fans will have access to import their favorite Pokemon from other regions such as Hoenn, Unova, and Aloha, for just $4.99 each. Access to the Galar Gala Receiving Docks will require an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription and an active Galar Gala subscription which will be available for only $9.99/yr beginning just after this presentation. Please understand, some Pokemon may not be available immediately. We ask that you please allow us time to complete the new animations for all the Pokemon that will be available over the coming months. More information will be provided on specific Pokemon at a later date.

We're excited to import our favorite Pokemon from the various regions into Galar, and we hope you are looking forward to it as well!

Thank you for watching!"

I won’t be watching it, I don’t care for Pokemon

@KingBowser86 you say that as a joke but a named trainer WOULD be an unique opportunity for a new trainer type NOT using starters as his pokemons.

I'm surprised you didn't suggest Giovanni though considering the possibility of being THE potential villain rep for the franchise

Well at least I was right about the date of the direct... Let's see what's the game for this holiday season (let's gold/silver or remake 4th gen...). Hoping for a proper direct later in the month (max early February)

Unexpected indeed, but certainly won't hurt anyway.

What? Speculation time? Right, can't go without something to be vocally disappointed about the absence of on January 10. Well, you know what, I'll leave a wish for a new Pokemon Pinball. Had a blast with the GBA version a few years ago and I'm quite in the market for a new entry with more mons. Think about it, fandom drama queens, the undemanding nature of pinball games could even bring back ALL the pokemon you've been mourning in Swosh!😜

Might have something about the new Pokemon online storage feature/transfer app.

Hopefully multiplayer is getting an overhaul.

The reaction to this online is hilarious. Complaining about games that have nothing to do with Pokémon. As if Nintendo is solely responsible for Pokémon information and are ignoring everything else

@Jimez if you say so, then that's what will be announced. History shows that Dr. Malcolm is rarely wrong.

Pokémon Snap 2, Diamond and Pearl remake, Ruby and Sapphire VC, and Let’s Go Johto please.

@frabbit probably just a pokemon Home announcement.

However considering that datamining has shown Sword & Shield to already possess all the regular and alolan variants of pokemons in the Galar dex AND 35 additional pokemons(rest of kanto/alolan starters+evolutions, Mewtwo, bunch of gen 5 legendaries and mythicals, some gen 7 mythicals and core legendaries) I would be curious to see how "final" the current "Galardex" truly is considering all of those ALSO have updated pokedex-style entries found in the data(the only thing they currently lack is a pokedex number).

That even includes Mew which can be gotten with Pokeball Plus but for which we cannot access a pokedex entry... though one exists in the game data, again with an updated descriptions(rather than recycling the one of a previous game). I feel that's notable because though we could get Mew in gen7, it didn't even have a pokedex entry description in those games, let alone one that could be datamined.

So whatever gets added later, it may will truly have pokedex entries(or ones in an hypothetical "foreigndex" menu) this time around unlike back in Alola where everything not in the Alolandex never got any entries at all.

Honestly that might be the reason the Pokemon company is so dead set to catch the leakers. Not because they spoiled the galardex, but rather because they potentially spoiled FUTURE content for the game XD

@AlexOlney maybe character 5 is a pokemon...maybe...

I’m getting tired of Pokémon directs

@rhyeee3216 I don't think they're consistent with that. If they were going to be consistent I think they would have added Decidueye in Ultimate since Charizard already covered the fire starter role. Granted Charizard is paired back with Pokemon Trainer, but in SSB4 it was its own character.

Personally, I wish they had done that (I hate Incineroar anyway) and then give us a non-starter Pokemon from Gen 8.

Animal Crossing is close to two months away from release and we don’t know much about it. Why is that not getting a direct?

@Don ruby+saphire VC with Pokemon Home support, be it as an individual purchase or added to the Nintendo Online Service subscription alongside other pokémon games to a NES/SNES-style app for the pokemon franchise or handheld consoles, would indeed feel like a natural evolution of current trends started on 3DS.

Like, the virtual console was originally meant to get ONLY gen1, as a 20th antniversary deal only, but it's got so popular they got the gen2 games on there in 2017 AFTER the Switch was already released.

And despite coming so late, all six gen1-2 titles are now part of the Virtual Consoles top 10 best-sellers of all time.

Which make three gen2 games all making that list at all even more impressive when, again, you think of the fact they were released back when the Switch was out since many months then during the last leg days of the 3DS in 2017.

With Home releasing this year, i'm REALLY eager to see what announcements will follow in the months AFTER it's release. Tying VC-style re-release to it feels like a natural step after these successes.
Could also be quite a power move if they were added to the online service sub alongside Home if TPC and Nintendo decide to go that route on Switch.

Could be hard to argue "can play ton of pokemon classics AND transfer your catches to Pokemon Home" as not being a draw for the subscription. It could well be quite the killer apps if that happen somehow.

Of course they could instead just continue selling them individually.

This said a wild possibility would be if Home itself was used as the app to play these games from, thinking about it(which could be radio if the app is indeed accessible from smartphones as it's also meant to be).

Since I recalled the old Stadium games on N64 came with versions of gen1 & 2(in stadium 2) title respectively that you could play on your TV from within the N64 game.

meh,don't care.I regular direct would have been much better,but I'm a patient guy,I'll be happy to wait

Ugh. That's disappointing. Enough with stupid pokemon already.

Ok I over here in the fighter pass corner oh Pokemon maybe a new game like gen 4 or let go gen 2 or dlc maybe a mythical Pokemon

I said feburary for a normal direct like last year

Not interest zzZZZZ

Good, now we have more room for actually good things in the real direct. Here is what to expect from this one- mobile game, mobile game, mobile game, pokemon sleep, daimond pearl remake with absolute garbage animations

Booooooooooo!

If this was announced in the DS days everyone would be craxy excited! Look how divided and angry swsh left people. Now we only expect garbage! Please go back into the DS days and make actually good games that have more than 5 minutes of effor put into them

Hopefully they’ll announce Home is ready to use right after the Direct. Maybe some new content for the Wild Area or extra post game DLC. Would also LOVE some GB/GBA Pokémon games on Switch. Wether it’s stand alone purchase or added as part of NSO.

I wonder what can it be?
The mobile apps and Pokémon detective Pikachu are probably there, but that’s not 20 minutes

I want a full direct now, not game specific one....

@PBandSmelly - It's the Metroid FedForce thing all over again.

Pokémon is dead, til it isn't.

@Paraka
The difference here is that metroid messed up a few times...pokemon keeps falling down an endless flight of stairs

@PBandSmelly - Depends on who you ask, there is a huge swath of people who see DKCTF as a sign that the series was also dead.

The community can come up with the same justification over and over again with the same defenses. Then when Pokémon Tradition and Trend come out and it's remotely reasonable. Then Sword and Shield problems never mattered.

@NEStalgia Sounds just like TPC alright

Sword & Shield just came out so I'm not in a hurry for a new mainline Pokémon game. That said, I'd certainly like new spin-off games, either sequels to other spin-offs or something completely new. Not interested in events, mobile games or Pokémon Home either. Going in with low expectations. Maybe they'll surprise me.

It's also good to remember that having a Pokémon Direct doesn't have any affect on regular Direct schedule so if you don't like Pokémon or aren't interested in Pokémon news right now, you'll get other news soon enough.

@Darkyoshi98 plus pokemon is such a huge franchise now it's indeed best they keep it on separate direct since that will then leave more time to showcase other titles and franchises.

My guess is Thursday will announce the release date for Pokemon Home alongside more informations on it's features(such as a more in depth description of how in-Home trading will function. We already know Home will allow users to trade with each others but not the details of it such as if it'll be exclusively direct friend-to-friend or if it could support a more indirect GTS-style service and structure too).

Well, i’m guessing they’re gonna talk about Pokémon Home and stuff. And maybe Gen 4 remakes.

Oh, well. DLC, a new Pokémon Let’s go, some silly mobile update, and Smash character. What the heck is Pokémon home?

@nessisonett How can it be GaaS without any microtransactions or DLC?

@Paraka
Lets pray they make a good enough game to make this hate die out then

@Ludovsky Truth! Giovanni and/or Rainbow Rocket would be way more interesting. My mind went there because of Misty consistently having representation since as far back as Melee's trophies.

yawn literally of zero interest to me.....but good for the pokemone fans I guess

@HammerKirby The push towards limited time Gigamax events, basically Destiny raids without the fun and if the rumours are true, there will be DLC for this game.

@Late the fact this is a Nintendo announcement rather than a Pokemon Company one make me suspect this will have more tie to Nintendo-based titles rather than mobile ones. Iirc, mobile pokemon titles are exclusively under the Umbrella of the Pokemon Company rather than Nintendo proper.

You'd be more likely to hear about mobile Nintendo titles like Dragalia Lost during a "proper" Nintendo Direct, rather than a Pokemon Direct that's announced by Nintendo rather than a Pokemon Company account. Since mobile pokemon games aren't Nintendo's technically speaking iirc(they're even published by DeNA themselves rather than nintendo, as is the case with Pokemon Masters), Nintendo would likely spend little time nor resources to promote titles it's barely involved into.

What they ARE involved into however has always been mainline games. So hence it's more likely said Direct will be about Pokemon Home and it's support for Sword and Shield.

Even more: though I could still be wrong, it would also be more likely to see the announcement of a Ruby&Sapphire Virtual Console-like release with Home support than more Pokemon Masters from such a Direct if Nintendo decided to get involved in sharing news of said Direct.

Or the reveal of Smash's 5th DLC fighter being another pokemon or even a (named?)trainer of the franchise with new triple fighters-switch in-battle mechanic like the original trainer(just with a different team than the gen1 starters/evolutions).

Which would be a stretch but it could happen.

Either ways since I am interested in Home myself, i'm a bit annoyed the Direct will be right on the day I go back to my office job ^^;

Detective Pikachu for switch with bonus features based on the movie. Calling it now.

Boring. How about a Metroid Direct, or BOTW2 Direct?

Sooo, Sword and Shield DLC, payed Nationals Dex and POKEMON LET'S GO GOLD AND SILVER (that last one I'm about 90% sure about, the rest is just a guess)

@PBandSmelly - They eventually will. Seen the patterns, noted the reactions, it's easy to predict.

As I said; Pokémon is dead, til it isn't.

Let's Go Togepi and Let's Go Marill.

@BenAV sucker punch? Nah people now what they are buying.

If they like something with added content and they buy it who are you to stop to it?

Seems to work FIFA and Nintendo stock.

Okay, last chance to win the likes of me and @Kalmaro over.
Your move, Pokémon Sword and Shield post-launch DLC.

@Barbara001 I really hope not. No more Lets Go, please. Diamond/Pearl remakes are what I'm hoping for this year. However, I think it's too early to show off what the mainline games later in the year will be. If this were a new generation then this would be fine timing, but there's no way we're getting a new generation already.

Would really like a sequel to Pokemon Conquest.

@NEStalgia that would require them to listen to player feedback so I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.I'm hoping that they'll release a app or game that does allow you to have all your pokemon and battle with other people worldwide.It's all I want but I get that thats' asking too much of Gamefreak a company with less than 200 employees despite making games for the biggest franchise in the world.

Nintendo trolls hard when they want to!

Would love to see a stadium game where you actually control the pokemon. Not like pokken tournament, more like a 3d smash bros. I am against post dlc for pokemon. I see the benefits of it, however this wil mean you are going to spend alot of money for all the pokemon eventually. I hope they are not going that way with future games.

Sigh.

Zzzzzzzzzz

Oh boy! I can't wait for the newest game from Gamefreak that is rushed, unfinished, not creative, and will be a system bestseller. The only thing I'm wishing for is sceptile for smash or Diamond and pearl remakes.

Oh great, DON'T CARE

Hope they announce that they’re gonna fix their previous statements about sword/shield and actually allow more Pokémon into it. Honestly, I can’t believe how dated the franchise feels even on Switch. They make more money than nearly anything else and their budget for the mainline games is abysmal

Damage control Direct on Game Freak's behalf would be my guess, perhaps adding support for the excluded National Pokedex? I can't imagine they'll market Pokemon Home as a service for players to transfer their old Pokemon to the new games when those new games only support 40% of the National Pokedex. I assume they won't be promoting Pokemon Home at 40% of the full price until a new game exists that actually fully supports Home's functionality. TPCI's vision for the series in terms of functional harmony between the new services they're introducing and their game development seems a bit one-hand-not-talking-to-the-other.

Ehh... A wasted Direct.

@NEStalgia I don't think I understood half of that but it still made me chuckle.

This troll is so hard "Never Gonna Give You Up" is going to be the main song for the new "Just Dance: Pokemon" game.

I love all the complaining comments. Good thing Nintendo isn't forcing you to watch it.

@Maelwolf

Gamefreak won't add features unless you pay extra and won't update something unless it is seriously broken.

Honestly, thinking about it now, I don't know why people were NOT expecting this?

Like Sword and Shield released in just November, sold records amounts in some places AND was already known to have updates post-release since it will interact with a new Pokemon Home service we always knew was only coming in 2020.

The surprise would be(and honestly, it COULD happen if it feels unlikely) is if that Direct happened without a single word or hint about Pokemon Home.

@Pouk

I would like Sceptile as fighter 5.

Pokémon Direct is good Maybe a full Direct in February.

I will be very disappointed if there's not a general Nintendo Direct either this month or February. It's been like 4+ months since the last one, and we have no heavy hitters either revealed or with a definitive date outside of Animal Crossing. I mean, they just released Pokemon Sword/Shield. More than likely this Poke direct will be centered around garbage mobile games/apps. If they are announcing cut Pokemon DLC for Sword/Shield, that would be great, but 99% chance it would be paid DLC.

FWIW, last year, a Pokemon Direct aired two weeks after the general February Nintendo Direct. Hoping that is the case this year, that a general direct comes with 1-3 weeks or so.

@AlexSora89 they better impress me.

I am now officially watching this chat.

@Ludovsky Home could've been a spotlight segment for a normal Direct. This move makes me wonder if Animal Crossing will also be separated from the normal Direct (e.g. Animal Crossing Direct in mid/late January followed by normal Direct in mid February).

@HeyItsFlapjack I prefer to keep my Overton Window away from "Big Brother" territory, thanks. People are allowed to genuinely be dissatisfied without making the Status Quo look acceptable by comparing it to '1984,' thanks.

Cool! I expected something this month...glad it is on the way.

They completely killed my hype for anything Pokémon related in recent years, with Sword/Shield having been the final nail in the coffin for me. Maybe, just maybe, they'll actually announce something that makes me excited again for a Pokémon product, but seeing as it's just crappy main entries and microtransaction mobile games right now, I'm not gonna hold out hope.

Please give us a proper Direct soon, Nintendo.

Pretty disappointing in all honesty. Probably Pokemon Home stuff, which means very little to me now.

My Shield has gone on eBay unfinished which shows my level of excitement.

Diamond and Pearl remakes, or a brand new Mystery Dungeon.

Otherwise, I don't care.

@BenAV SO TRUE!

Everyone dislikes Pokemon now, I guess.

Getting disappointed about a Pokemon Direct because you wanted a Nintendo Direct is a bit like being upset the cricket is on when you like football. The existence of one does not impact the existence of another.

Disappointing and a bit concerning based on past history. Back in the Switch's sophomore year Nintendo's E3 Direct was dominated by Smash Bros. Ultimate. Gamers were disappointed by the lack of other major announcements for that Christmas season, but figured Nintendo might pull a surprise or two out of their hats later that year. Such a surprise never materialized. Instead, Nintendo dedicated more entire Directs to Smash, making it clear that it was to be their lone "AAA" offering for the 4th quarter.

It was reasonable, based on the pattern of past years, to expect Nintendo's first Direct of 2020 (or one late in 2019) to reveal a bunch of new in-progress titles for the upcoming year to get fans stoked. Instead we're getting yet another heavy dose of Pokémon via a themed Direct. Now, I know there are lots of fans of both Smash and Pokémon, that both are "AAA" franchises, and that both have sold/will sell millions of copies, but here's the rub: not every gamer is a huge fan (if at all) of either, and most of us wait for these Directs to learn what new games are in the pipeline, not to watch showcases for games that we already know a lot about.

But there's an even bigger reason this is concerning: what if, going by past years (and consoles...looking at the Wii U especially), we're seeing another year of months-long voids between major first-party releases? Obviously we're only just kicking off 2020 and Nintendo could have a ton of new stuff to show in the near future...but fans who remember those periods know there's plenty of precedent for concern. An entire Direct kicking off the New Year that's dedicated to a single, already well-documented game isn't going to do anything to assuage those concerns.

@idrawrobots
It is not that people dislike the brand, just that they are really disappointed with it. Pokémon is kinda now in the same position as Sonic. No matter what Game Freak will do with Pokémon and how the quality will turn out, people buy it anyway. Therefor Game Freak doesn't need to put any effort anymore into the Pokémon brand, which means the consumer will not get any good products anymore.

Or let's say it seems they will go this route if they continue this trend. Everything about Pokémon is kinda meh... now. Main Games? Meh... Spinoffs? Meh... Anime? Meh... Manga? Meh... Movies (with the exception of Detective Pikachu?) Meh...

I really hope a lot of the presentation is about Pokemon Home. Maybe some anime news. I'll have to watch the Direct after the fact as it occurs at the same time as a daily morning meeting I attend.

I may be in the minority with this opinion, but I hope there aren't any major Pokemon releases planned for this year. I feel the Pokemon machine needs a bit of a cool down period. _{Plus I need to still grab one of the Let's Go games and either SW/SH.}

Many times, a more general Direct takes place shortly after Pokémon focused Directs, don't lose heart, people.

I'm excited about this. Wonder if they'll announce a new spinoff. I'd like a Pokémon Musou.

@AtlanteanMan
This isn't the first time that a Pokémon direct was the first direct of the year that was back in 2013.. and there was a Wii u direct two weeks after.

That's really the pattern of Pokémon Directs, they come one or two weeks before or after a direct consistently. This is the case for all six Nintendo Directs. I guess, the Pokémon Company doesn't like having their mainline games being revealed as just another announcement in a direct.

Uh, really? Ultra Sword and Shield? Pokémon Spear?

@Dark-Luigi Mystery dungeon would be wonderful right about now.

Great news, giving the fans more Pokemon Sword and Shield goodness.

Let's Go Gold and Silver? Please?

What I really expect: news on how Sword/Shield online battles will change throughout the year and some minor Pokemon games.

@AtlanteanMan,

Not sure comparing the Wii U droughts with the Switch are a good idea, the consoles could not be more different in terms of release schedules, plus the Switch is still flying off the shelves and there is a major release with Animal crossing coming out soon.

This will be the first direct I will not watch. I could care less about Pokémon. Plus we got so much Pokémon last year. This is frustrating.

Won’t be watching.
Was hoping for an actual Direct. Not this one... Such a drought from Nintendo...

During the WiiU era they claimed they’d be able to make more and better games once there’s only one system to make games for. But now there’s a still a minor and sad release schedule... 😕

duh! fifth smash fighter is gigantimax charizard! because nintendo knows we all love charizard so much /s

I’m going to watch it closely, but I have to admit, a Pokémon Direct totally caught me by surprise. I had definitely forgotten that the Home and Sleep things were a thing so thanks for all the comments in here as a reminder. It makes a bit more sense now after remembering that stuff. Before that, my first thought was, “oh they’re going to start building out the full Pokédex!” Haha

After this, sooooo looking forward to a proper direct prior to Animal Crossing. Hoping for Metroid Prime Trilogy news! And there better be a physical edition!!!

Too bad, this is about the least interesting AAA game on the planet, they could have picked for a Direct. I'd be more exited for a Fifa Direct to be honest, after all that could mean a comeback for Fifa Street or at least finally a decent Indoor soccer mode or Mario Soccer cross-over or .... Gamefreak clearly lacks the ability and willingess to do anything remotely interesting with Pokemon

@Grumblevolcano that's actually possible for re: Animal Crossing. But i'm not sure for Home.

Notably, just the fact that they want Home to support trading between users make me suspect they do want this to be bigger than just Bank 2.0.

Pokemon Bank only ever had to interact with your personal PokeBank accounts and game saves data. But we already know Home wants to support trading between users also likely mean a formal userlist infrastructure allowing users to add other users as friends/etc to enable such trading to take place.

And that's not getting into the possibility o of a GTS-style system if they indeed want this to be both a storage and trading hub(since it'll not only support mainline games but also the games of the Go/Let'sGo line... which also means either a way to convert pokemons from one format to the other or identifying them as separate in the first place so only GoStyle can be traded with GoStyle and only classics can be traded with classics).

Another possibility, though honestly I don't expect this one to be announced until months later, is more "virtual console"-style releases being announced, but with support for pokémon home rather than pokémon bank.

For a case in point: when they first released RBY on the 3ds virtual console it was exclusively for their 20th anniversary... with no plans to release more.
Yet despite that lack of plans, it proved so popular that they released all the gen2 titles there as well in the end... who themselves got stupidly popular.

And, like, how popular? To give you an idea, gold and silver were released on 3ds virtual console in September 2017 back when the Switch had already been released months ago with the massively successful Mario Odyssey only a month away.

Yet despite being released during the last gasps of the 3DS era and in the midst of a wildly successful Switch even, Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Crystal are now ALL part of the virtual console's best sellers of all time.

I could be wrong but I heavily suspect they noticed and were/are just waiting for Pokemon Home to be released before preparing to announce more in that style.

It's basically such that my only remaining question on the subject is if they will be released as individual purchases or if they will be bundled and accessed from the Pokemon Home app itself to increase it's appeal(and double moreso if access to the app is included in the Nintendo Online Service).

If that later possibility ever happen this would turn Home not just into a storage and trading hub, but a classic releases one too(it might even potentially allow to have multiple pokémon games on a single platform even if they came from different consoles originally. That way nintendo could have them on a single platform rather than separate GB/GBC/GBA/etc apps collections).

Anyway some of that is purely speculative from me, but it's too highlight why I suspect there will likely be more Pokemon Directs in the future rather than seeing their announcement bundled with conventional Nintendo Directs.

The franchise had truly grown that big even for the parts within Nintendo's confines and my guess is that Home might even end up being built(or progressively updated during its lifespan) to specifically reflect that.

Smash fighter #5 is a Pokemon

Was hoping for a regular direct but ill prob watch. Im still working thru sword too.

Noooooooooo

It’s obviously about Home, the timing just makes sense. Now, 20 minutes is a bit much to just talk about Pokémon storage, so maybe, maybe there’s something else to talk about, but the star will be Pokémon Home.

For all others “disappointed” by the news, calm down. The real Nintendo Direct will be here soon, I’d guess in 2-4 weeks. Pokémon Co has always done announcements whenever they wanted.

sighs Oh well

Feels ridiculously early to announce another Pokemon RPG, especially since it wont be a brand new game ala Gen 9. Let's Go was unveiled at a May 2018 live press conference, Ultra Sun/Moon was unveiled in a June 2017 Pokemon Direct, and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire was unveiled during a May 2014 trailer.

This could be info for Pokemon Home and Detective Pikachu 2. I doubt this Direct will focus on mobile stuff; the two Pokemon Directs in 2019 were solely dedicated to Sword/Shield, while mobile titles like Masters and Sleep were unveiled during a live press conference in May 2019.

So Direct is next week then? Awesome. Can't wait to see Dante Vs Bayonetta O.<

Can't wait for this... This is exactly the direct I was expecting.

I'll be at work, may as well watch it.

Oh hell NOOOO

Maybe it'll be a Direct about them finally giving us the National Dex soon, if not then it'll be meh.

I swear if there already thinking of gen 9 im rageing

Diamond / pearl remake.
Starmie added to shield dex please.

@ShinyUmbreon
Not sure if serious...

Gen 9 will be a 2022 game.

@Grumblevolcano let's go Johto would be awesome, hopefully they make it a real Pokémon game where you battle wild Pokémon.

Probably just doing it to get any Pokemon related news out of the way first before the main direct

Dang it...I was really hoping for a regular Nintendo Direct. Too bad.

I’m actually pretty pissed that it’s not a real, big direct. I feel like Pokémon could be put into 5 minutes of a big direct. I feel like Pokémon has been getting too much attention compared to other games

@Majora101,

Possible, however very unlikely, this will possibly reveal some new Pokemon and features to the game, and I would not rule out some DLC packs.

Waiting months for info on Switch 2020 & almost certain it would be this Direct. Instead we will get 20 mins of gameplay and chit-chat from some Pokemon Sword & Shield devs. Worlds largest MEH and 1st Direct I'll remember to forget!

Full pokédex update. Nah, just kidding. Honestly, I don't know what to expect.
I just wanted folders for my switch menu ! Where are my folders, Nintendo ? xD

@johnvboy My money is on it just being about Pokémon home and the Pokémon that we know are coming to Sw and Sh as DLC

As mentioned, Pokemon Home is probably going to be part of it (not sure how big, but I'm assuming at minimum it'll just be the Bank for the franchise moving forward) and Pokemon Sleep is possible. A mainline title is unlikely-there's usually a year in between releases at minimum, and announcing one would probably stagnate Sword and Shield's sales. Maybe some DLC, but I doubt it'd anything besides the usual in-store downloads, maybe with a new legendary.

For my hopes, with varying degrees of likelihood, I think Pokemon Masters for Android is reasonable (I at least want to try it out). Pokemon Mystery Dungeon would make a pretty easy transition over to Switch. The Ranger series was hand crafted for the DS line, but I something with the Joy-Cons is... possible, I think. Pokken Tournament has been around for a while, and while I think the time for DLC is long past, perhaps a sequel could come? Otherwise... unless there's something off of the wall, I'm not sure what new games could come out.

Maybe we'll get a teaser at the end of the Direct. For it to be "roughly 20 minutes" what Pokémon news would be squeezed a full 20 minutes. Nintendo usually almost-always ends a Direct with a "...oh, and there's one more thing, please take a look." Smash Ultimate trailer appears, with Sakurai providing more information

This is at least my theory, it might not happen

This means the proper direct will focus solely on the new Waverace 1080 ExciteBike Pilotwings cross over open world game based on Wuhu island!!!

One can dream...

Personally I'm hoping for a new Let's go announcement.

@Harmonie I reeaaaallly hope it's a new let's go, I really liked Let's go Eevee (so much nostalgia, I played the original blue and yellow back in the day) and it was let's go 2018, sword/shield 2019, so now a new let's go in 2020 and the new generation in 2021. But maybe it's let's go diamond and pearl, then we both kinda get what we want 😊

Wow, really? Haven't we had enough Pokémon? I was so happy to see it had been released and we can move on from it now. Apparently not, colour me disappointed.

@AtlanteanMan I think we need to step back from the ledge and wait til we get a general Direct. I mean, we're kind of putting the cart before the horse in worrying about what the entirety of 2020 will look like. We are still only 7 days into the year

@johnvboy Agreed, definitely not expecting them to renege on their past year of marketing and reintroduce the rest of the National Pokedex. Not expecting much in general!

@Old-Red If it's about a spin-off like mystery dungeon the. I'm excited, though there's no way that would take up 20 minutes.

Here comes Pokemon Home with a yearly subscription cost.

Maybe a Pokémon TCG online game? That would make my day! I would love that.

Since that we usually get a Pokemon direct 1 week before or after a general direct, we will probably get a announcement on the 14th this month.

I’ve lost interest in the Pokémon series due to decisions over recent gens, pumping them out too fast which has hurt the games, and refusing to increase their tiny staff.
This announcement is disappointing as I was expecting an actual Nintendo Direct.

Please, please, please, no more evolved starters in Smash. They are typically the most boring and safe options. Can we have Sirfetch'd or an otherwise more inspired choice in Smash? Maybe even Appletun?

@FoxMcCloud : I would prefer an offline game similar to the ones on Game Boy Color back in the day. The online TCG game requires far too much grinding and is crippled with microtransactions to make the experience even remotely fun except for those who have a collection of physical cards (with their pack-in TCG online codes), and even then, it hadn't maintained my interest, while I had probably poured 80 hours into the GBC game on 3DS, which was very generous in handing out packs of cards (and there was a far smaller variety of them back then).

@FoxMcCloud https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/play-online/

@Silly_G I hear you, i didn't mean it like that. I would prefer Pokémon TCG just the way the Yu-Gi-Yo game is with allot of cards already within the game.

I hope it's not another Pokémon for Smash.
You guys got Incineroar new, and even Pichu, Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Mewtwo back, but it will be a 3rd Party character anyway.

@Kalmaro,

They could add some new things, DLC packs possibly.

@johnvboy I'm curious what they could add. It would have to be pretty decent to warrant a direct.

@Barbara001 Sorry, but I would not be at all pleased with a Lets Go Diamond/Pearl. In fact, that would be a worst-case scenario, because it would mean that the Lets Go series cannibalized the traditional remakes.

The mainline Pokemon series has multiple types of entries: The original pair (like Sword/Shield), the third version/sequel format (like Yellow, Black2/White2, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, etc.) and then the remakes (FR/LG, HG/SS, OR/AS). The Lets Go style is hopefully just a one-off, because there are already enough types as it is, and LG is by far the weakest link, IMO.

Making another LG this year and then going to a new generation next year would make a lot of people unhappy. Lol

After the multiple disasters of Sw/Sh updates, I can't really say that I'm excited. Sorry.

@AlexOlney hands out tissues

Pipedream:
Free DLC for New Game + or official Nuzlocke mode.

Reality:
Pay an annual fee to transfer past pokemon to the game.

@Harmonie wow, you are very serious about this. I was just trying to be friendly. First oFf, let's go was, for all intents and purposes, a remake, so a lets go diamond and pearl would be a remake. Second of all, a lot of people hated on sword and shield, think Trump is a great chap and believe climate change is a lie. Also, a lot of people believe the earth is flat. I don't care a lot about the opinion of 'a lot of people'. I was just talking about how it would make ME happy to play a new let's go game. You could have said, well, it's not my cup of tea, but some people like you can enjoy it, so that would be nice for you. But nooo, you just state your own disappointment and dismay and spew your own negativity and back it up with a statement about 'a lot of people agree with me'. I wish the world would be a bit nicer, but people like you keep proving when it comes to childrens games there are a lot of snobbistic, egotistical, dark people who just care about their own wishes and demands and getting their way or else, not being able to be happy for another person. (see, two can play the serious game, I still hope you get to enjoy a nice Diamond and Pearl remake.)

Pokémon sleep for the “wha?”!

Are we finally getting a new Pokémon Pinball?

id love for an announcement for some DLC for Sword & Shield ^^

@FoxMcCloud : Oh, absolutely. I would kill for Pokémon to have a game like the Yu-Gi-Oh one (which included around 9,000 cards in the base game with the number to exceed 10,000 via a future update). By contrast, the Game Boy Color Pokémon TCG only included 228 cards.

I would go absolutely bonkers for a Pokémon TCG with all, if not most of the cards in the series' long history. Hell, they could make it an annual franchise (and/or break up the releases beginning with the older expansions and moving toward the more recent ones), and I would gobble it up every year, no question about it, but I have no interest in accumulating the physical cards (or the expense for that matter ).

@Silly_G Now you get me

@Kalmaro,

Yes a full direct seems a tad excessive for a small amount of DLC, so who knows?, possibly a much bigger update, or news of a new title.

@Harmonie : I think there will be a Gen II Let's Go game this year as it would make sense to reuse the Kanto assets from the previous Let's Go game, and a lot of the work has already been done for them (which would be an efficient use of resources), while Game Freak can allocate more of their resources to the next mainland title, which will probably be a proper non-Let's Go remake of Generation IV (which will mark its 15th anniversary in 2021).

It also wouldn't surprise me to have two remakes in a row (Gen II followed by Gen IV) considering that the current anime series (and by extension, the associated merchandise) intends to revisit past regions.

@Barbara001 You said that you think they should release a LG game and then go straight to the next generation. By saying that, you're saying that you should get what YOU want and then they move onto the next generation shutting out both people who want a traditional remake and people who want an improved edition of Sword/Shield. If this is not what you actually meant, sorry, but you certainly came off as super opinionated over what should and shouldn't happen yourself, which is why I responded the way I did. Again, sorry if that's not what you actually meant.

The reason I said "a lot of people would be unhappy" wasn't necessarily me saying that I agree with them, or even that a lot of people feeling some way makes it correct. I was just thinking of all of the negativity I've seen around at Pokemon having become a yearly series and the drop of quality that people are seeing. If GF rushed out a new generation even quicker than they did Sword/Shield the negativity would increase tenfold. What I'm meaning here is that there's no way GF can release a new generation next year.

In addition, the biggest problem is one that is beyond both your opinion and mine: GameFreak is spread thin. On top of that, they are putting more and more of their crew onto their own projects like Town. GF could just not realistically get out another generation as quick as you were saying. It's not even because "it would make a lot of people unhappy", which was I guess just poor wording on my part. It was just all I could think of without going into depth like this.

Bring pokemon silver, emerald for mobile

@KingBowser I hope you're right about this.

I'm really hoping they announce a new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Outside of that, I'm only really expecting Home news.

To be honest this is a bit too early. I expected a 10-minute Pokémon Home launch trailer to come out of nowhere this month and to wait until May for details on upcoming projects, but 20 minutes for a Pokémon Direct?! The last time that happened was the Pokémon Direct of September 2013, which announced Pokémon Bank/Transporter and also revealed some new info for X/Y before it launched.

Oh, and a Pokémon Direct on January, just like the Direct of January 2013 that nobody expected, which out of nowhere announced the 6th gen games. I guess that means we will get at least some tease for a surprise at the end, probably related to space-time.

@AlexOlney if that Fighter Pass includes Eevee in it tomorrow, I'm down. Imagine all the possibilities!

@Harmonie sorry, in that case I came of wrong, I didn't mean they had to release in that way at all, I just predicted that was what they were going to do (I read that prediction in an article somewhere, I believe on this site), because the let's go franchise is easy to make, it earns them a lot of money, and the rest of the team can work on a new entry in or a new generation (which, according to what I read, releases once every 2 years). So following that logic, I predicted they would indeed follow that model. I never said they should do it in that way, personally, I think they should take longer for a new entry and focus less on remaking games (I mean, I played Blue, Yellow, Silver (which has the original region as extra), FireRed, SoulSilver (same story) and Pokemon Lets Go Eevee, enough is enough). Sorry if it came of as opinionated at all, my opinion does not in any way resemble the way that it could be read. I just thought (because of the article, once again, don't know where I read it) it would make sense from an economic standpoint to give people some let's go while they're waiting for a new full entry (which, perhaps, could be a Shining Pearl/Glimmering Diamond (just made up those titles and I LOVE THEM, instabuy)).
So sorry I came off wrong, seems we actually agree with one another 😊😊😊.

Pokemon Home release date, Pokemon Sleep info, & $60 SwSh DLCs called Eternal SwSh which includes a slightly different story, 50 extra Pokemon that should've been available to begin with, & an hour of extra content.

@SKTTR Eevee tho...potential there. Otherwise gonna be a sad boy if any other Pokemon becomes a 5th Fighter...only one of them even grabbed me.

@NotoriousWhiz I think it's excellent, it got me away from fire emblem three houses and that's saying something!

@westman98 plus for -another- point against mobiles on this Direct: nintendo it's NOT involved in the mobile pokémon games, unlike Dragalia Lost and Nintendo's own mobile effort.

Like , Pokemon Masters is literally developped AND published by DeNA with, afaik, no involvement from Nintendo whatsoever.

It would thus make little sense for Nintendo to promote and announce this as a Pokemon Direct of their own.

Now if The Pokemon Company had made the announcement it would make a lot more sense to expect mobile games announcement.

But since it's Nintendo the only mobile thing I expect is for them to talk about how we will be able to access Pokemon Home on our phone on top of our Switch or even Sword&Shield itself if my hunch about how datamined stuff on removed moves was read is right.

@Dang69 my dream myself would be for a named trainer fighter.

The franchise has enough of them in it's games, each with enough signature pokemon for a dual/triple fighter switch deal, that it feels like it would have a ton of potential?

Like just from this last gen if potential ones:

Leon: Aegislash/Dragapult/Tyranitar(this last one a maybe?)
Final Smash: gigantamax charizard(he does keep it as his very least pokemon in the champion battle)

Hop: Dubwool/[insert starter]+a third one(a common one I saw him use was corviknight but being a bird body feel unlikely).
Alternatively, being a starting rival, Hop is a good candidate to have a named trainer with all the gen8 starters(Grookey/Raboot/Intelleon?).

Marnie: Morpeko/Toxicroak/Grimmsnarl? Or Obstagoon thrown in instead of one of these. Either way she has a good mix of agile pokemons and bruisers ones.

Bede: perhaps a combination of combination of Galarian Rapidash/Mawile/Hattrenne since iirc Gardevoir is already a pokeball in Smash(I don't know if Mawile may already be as well however).

And of course if they don't limit themselves to gen8 there's always of cross-franchis favorite villain Giovanni with a speedy Persian/charger Rhydon/bruiser Nidoqueen.

Mind you, it'll never happen I fear but there's definitely potential there if they ever decided to.

Most Pokémon directs are closely followed by a Nintendo direct (like within 2 weeks), so this is good.

Well that’s Lame!

So, I’m thinking we get the update on Pokémon Home, Pokémon Sleep, and that little Pokémon Go Plus Plus. We might get a look at the next game in the Let’s Go series as well, but I doubt it.

I reckon the full Nintendo Direct is next week. It’s generally mid-January.

Actually I think many of us expected it, Pokemon Home is supposed to be releasing this month and we haven't heard so much as a single detail about it since it was announced.

Random new mobile game(s), dlc for Sword and Shield that includes pokemon found in it's data that weren't obtainable in the game, and then maybe a teaser for a remake on switch or something smash relate (I hope not). Those are my predictions

@Mince Who died and made you mod?

@ChameleonBros

I agree, I want a ND with some genuine surprises. As it stands now, I don’t think 2020 has even one game on Switch that I’m looking forward to.

Finally, Pokemon Snap 2!

Time for Pokémon helmet.

Nintendo doesn't need to always publish all the games they're involved with. They can be licensed out to DeNA, Niantic or The Pokémon Company.

Cruis'n on Wii is a good example. Nintendo has the rights to the Cruis'n name since the originals on arcade and the N64. Back then Nintendo published the series, but nowadays they give the name and publishing rights away to third parties. If you look close you see Nintendo in the copyright of the credits, but they don't want to be associated with the series too much it seems.

Conker's Bad Fur Day is another good example. Developed by a second party financed by Nintendo. The game even states "Nintendo presents" in the beginning, but Nintendo distanced themselves from it (which was dumb) and let THQ publish it.

This is probably the least excited I've ever been for a Pokemon Direct ever. The "big" game has already come and gone and left much to be desired, as well as a lot of questions about just how capable and/or willing TPC is to make a quality Pokemon game, so I can't say I'm terribly excited about the future of this series (in fact I'm basically done with this series after DP remakes come out). Maybe if they announce something bold like meaningful DLC for SwSh that rectifies some of what's gone so horribly wrong with this game, but more likely they spend the Direct droning on about Pokemon Prison (a.k.a Home) and gacha mobile garbage no one asked for. I'm probably not going to watch it, I'll just read the recap and see if there's anything good and just be on my way.

And yeah, I'm disappointed it's not a full Nintendo Direct either, but by its own merits Pokemon is in a very bad place now which is what I'm more concerned about.

what a letdown

Some of the responses here are just ???:
> Mobile games will not be shown off here unless that mobile game is also getting a Switch port. This is a Direct that will air on Nintendo's behalf, not some Pokemon Company press conference.
> Smash Bros will not appear in a Pokemon Direct, much like how Pokemon didnt appear in the Mario Maker 2 Direct.

PLEEEEEASE have a new Mystery Dungeon announcement. It is all that I want out of this.

How can the same company consistently do one thing after another that NOBODY could have possibly seen coming. I mean seriously, part of the fun of Nintendo is that it's literally impossible to predict what they'll do next. (unfortunately I'm not a Pokemon fan, but hats off to them for AGAIN doing something I would have never guessed)

One of the worst parts of being a Nintendo fan is how much to be they dedicate to games I couldn't give a toss about, Pokemon & Smash namely. Ah well the year has only just started, there'll be plenty for me coming up.

@Kalmaro,

My thoughts exactly, could this be a new game reveal?, I would be surprised but you never know.

At the end of the video: "wait a minute we have a new anouncement" then a trailer for Dante arrives and says "Dante Joins the battle" lol 🤪😂

They have been talking about nothing but Pokemon since October. This needed to be a direct about the coming year not more Pokemon. Really disappointing and makes me think there's not much else on the near horizon.

@mikegamer
You cared enough to leave a comment

@RareFan It is my opinion that other than the first season of the anime and the first generation of games Pokemon has been pretty meh, including the Detective Pikachu Movie. I have had moments of hype but nothing drew me in like the beginning did.
Pokemon is different from Sonic in that it is still a very successful brand despite both franchises having annoyingly rabid fan bases.

@Old_Man_Nintendo Pot, meet kettle