Pokemon Excitement
Image: The Pokémon Company

Nintendo's been making some major moves to expand its business beyond gaming and into broader popular culture and entertainment. We have the Mario movie in Holiday 2022, a theme park already open in Japan and another on the way as part of the new Epic Universe theme park currently under construction in Orlando.

The Universal park is starting to take shape, with drone-ready internet sleuths doing admirable work sifting through permits and looking at overhead shots of construction. As a result we have a pretty decent idea of how it's shaping up in the video below, thanks to the Theme Park Shop channel.

Interestingly, at the end it goes into some rumour territory as it looks at an area next to Nintendo's plot. While it could just be a 'staging area' for construction, the video addresses rumours that there may be a Pokémon area of the park in the works - either that or an Illumination section, the company that's making the Mario movie.

It's all very speculative of course, but a Pokémon section would make sense for all involved. It'd draw sizeable crowds while tapping into the community aspects of Pokémon GO and the mainline games; it would be a banker in terms of success.

Of course, it may be nothing, hence the rumour tag. We can dream, though...

[source youtube.com]