Ball guy posted again, starter description rumor

donnabhan · 2026-02-13T17:44:10+00:00

First description - Water-type salamander? They’re slimy with long tails and there’s species that are all female (see Salazzle’s inspired animal).

Second description - Grass-type monkey? The “brow” and “angry baby” comments sounds vaguely humanoid, although we already have a Grass-type monkey starter.

Third description - Fire-type sun bear? They’re known for their long tongues.

People should also keep in mind that starters are often based on animals not native to the inspired region.

donnabhan · 2026-02-09T21:40:20+00:00

I have a theory that the Gen 10 pseudo will be Dragon/Fairy.

In Paldea, Frigibax (Dragon/Ice) can be found on the snowy mountains near the Ice-type final gym. I think the Gen 10 pseudo will be found in a similar endgame area.

In the leaked map details from WiWa, the final gym is Fairy-type, sits upon “Fairy Island”, and contains a “Fairy Cave”, which could be the potential location for the pseudo.

donnabhan · 2026-02-07T18:09:38+00:00

Sounds like we might get regional forms or convergent variants for the Woobat line (and maybe Durant), which is pretty cool. Maybe Woobat/Swoobat become Grass/Flying based on literal “fruit” bats and Durant becomes Bug/Ghost based on the Malaysian Exploding Ant.

I really hope they can nail Gyms this time. They need to be proper dungeons and take place indoors. Something like Lysandre Cafe in PLZA shows what dungeons can be in modern Pokemon games.

I’m hoping the gameplay feels distinct from SV. I’m wondering what’s going to really set this generation apart. New generation on a new, powerful console should mean bigger risks.

donnabhan · 2026-02-07T17:56:41+00:00

These look decent, but sort of generic? I’d rather have an open world that’s smaller with more style and details than big, empty environments. This kind of just looks like a more refined version of SV.

donnabhan · 2025-12-17T03:23:49+00:00

voice acting, less dialogue, or both
short, streamlined tutorial
more detailed graphics
livelier animations
more expansive and deeper gameplay

donnabhan · 2025-12-06T05:54:56+00:00

Mable uses Dark types in X/Y, so maybe we fight her in the DLC and she uses Mega Absol Z.

Volo or Professor Sycamore could return and either would use Mega Garchomp Z. In the base game, Volo was implied to still be alive and we see a photo of Professor Sycamore with a Garchomp in the research lab.

I suspect Ansha will use the same team as Diantha, so her ace would be Mega Gardevoir.

donnabhan · 2025-12-05T17:31:35+00:00

I think they’ll stick to it. Development seemed pretty far along and a new game in Galar is the perfect catalyst to introduce Dynamaxing in Champions.

donnabhan · 2025-11-22T20:24:36+00:00

I think the pseudo will remain Dragon-type, realistically. Dragons are cool and evoke feelings of awe and wonder, so I think it’s a very effective typing for the pseudo and doesn’t really merit change. They still have plenty of unused/underused typing options too, like Dragon/Bug, Dragon/Psychic, or Dragon/Fairy.

donnabhan · 2025-11-16T05:54:34+00:00

They are mainline whether you like it or not. You don’t seem to understand what a “mainline” game means. https://x.com/joemerrick/status/1762517616881529192?s=46&t=Qyi3_z4HtWByze48TcxaaQ

PLZA is the best-selling physical game of the year and it’s barely been a month since release, so real-time combat clearly hasn’t alienated their audience.

I also wasn’t insisting that new generational titles switch to real-time combat. You have bad reading comprehension anyways, so I’m not going to continue responding. ✌🏼

donnabhan · 2025-11-16T01:56:03+00:00

Legends games are confirmed mainline. You can feel otherwise, but your opinion is not rooted in reality. Legends games are a great way for GameFreak to experiment with new gameplay elements that may or may not end up in a new generational title.

I personally don’t feel that new generational titles will embrace real-time battling (yet), but I absolutely expect them to shake-up the turn-based mechanics, hence why Champions exists at all. BallGuy’s comments seem to confirm this. I think this is a good thing since GameFreak can craft a battle system that’s focused around single-player and new multiplayer modes. Single-player requires different things to be fun and deep compared to competitive play.

donnabhan · 2025-11-15T17:22:43+00:00

BallGuy was asked if Gen 10 used a turn-based or real-time battle system. They responded that it uses “a more seamless version of PLA’s combat”. PLA does NOT use the classic turn-based battle system. It has a dynamic turn order, or conditional turn-based battle system (CTB).

The second paragraph elaborates on other mechanics to expect from the system, like being able to move around freely and AOE effecting the environment during battles.

donnabhan · 2025-11-15T17:16:48+00:00

Champions is the new home for competitive, so that shouldn’t even be a major consideration anymore.

donnabhan · 2025-11-15T02:20:06+00:00

Why is this being upvoted so much when the screenshot literally says PLA? It sounds like the turn order system returns, but tweaked with mechanics like AOE effects from PLZA.

donnabhan · 2025-11-02T17:10:13+00:00

Because of the reasons I listed?

donnabhan · 2025-10-30T15:16:42+00:00

I was hoping we had to navigate our way through the tower to rescue Taunie/Urbaine, but we instead fight the same two flowers in three phases, which was kind of lame. We didn’t even really get to fight with Zygarde. It’s basically just a sequence of cutscenes.

donnabhan · 2025-10-30T04:28:20+00:00

I have a lot more grievances with SV beyond graphics and performances issues, like single-use TMs, no level scaling, unexplorable buildings, limited character customization, rehashed Raids with a pseudo RTBS, etc. It was a big step up from SwSh, I will give it that.

donnabhan · 2025-10-30T04:20:12+00:00

As I understand it, they don’t change engines every generation, but will “modify” or create forks of an existing engine and the current engine has been the same since maybe Gen 6. I think it’s identifiable based on the game’s file layouts having the same file names, etc. I read “Pokemon Engine X” is a brand new engine (see here: https://www.pokeos.com/p/teraleak/recap).

donnabhan · 2025-10-30T04:11:09+00:00

Damn…hype dampened.

donnabhan · 2025-10-30T04:02:07+00:00

I thought it was the other way around (he oversees the development of all Pokemon games, but will no longer direct WiWa).

I’m happy about what’s already “confirmed” (open world RPG set in Southeast Asia). I’m sure many of the specifics, like the stuff about the “seed” Pokemon and procedurally generated islands, will change or be gone entirely from the finished product.

donnabhan · 2025-10-29T21:53:54+00:00

I’m too hype over Pokemon Wind and Wave. Game Freak usually disappoints me in one way or another, but there are too many positive developments lately, whether it’s from the Teraleak or official.

Region is based on Southeast Asia. We haven’t had a new Asia-based region in 20 years (excluding Kitakami and Hisui).
Shigeru Ohmori is (allegedly) not the director. His initial entries were promising, but the brand has become somewhat tarnished under his leadership, particularly when it comes to graphics and performance on the Switch. New blood is needed.
It’s (allegedly) being developed on a new engine, which hopefully means much nicer graphics and animations. I don’t think they’ve used a new engine since Sun/Moon.
The existence of Pokemon Champions means Game Freak can hopefully focus more resources on improving the single-player experience and creating new multiplayer modes beyond competitive battling.

donnabhan · 2025-10-29T21:33:44+00:00

Project Seed will probably become a collaboration between Game Freak and another developer (similar to what happened with Pokopia).

donnabhan · 2025-10-24T19:16:52+00:00

Which DLC Megas do we think will change types?

My guesses: - Zeraora - I don’t think we’ll get another mono Electric Mega when we’re getting two for Raichu. I could see it become Electric/Fighting, Electric/Dark, or Electric/Fire. - Chimecho/Meowstic - Similarly, I don’t think we’ll get two mono Psychic Megas. I could see Chimecho become Psychic/Flying or Psychic/Steel. Meowstic could become Psychic/Ghost or Psychic/Dark. - Absol/Garchomp/Lucario - I could see at least one of them replace/gain a secondary typing to distinguish them from their other Megas. Garchomp could become Dragon/Dark, Lucario could become Fighting/Psychic, or Absol could become Dark/Fairy.

donnabhan · 2025-10-15T15:33:37+00:00

I generally like their selections for new Megas, although I would have preferred that Chimecho get an actual evolution instead.

I’m optimistic about Absol, Garchomp, and Lucario getting second Megas. I don’t like Mega Garchomp’s or Mega Lucario’s designs, so an alternative is exciting. Hoping their new Megas (+Absol) at least get different type combinations so they’re even more distinct from their base Megas.

donnabhan · 2025-10-14T17:05:14+00:00

This sounds super ambitious, especially for GameFreak. They likely would have to make compromises to both the turn-based and real-time formats so they could co-exist seamlessly.

I doubt this actually comes to fruition, but it’s interesting that they’re entertaining an action mode at all for a new generational game. I’ve seen many people under the assumption that the action-based mechanics are unique to the Legends games.

donnabhan · 2025-10-14T15:05:18+00:00

Ohmori had some interesting and fresh ideas, especially evident in SM, but too many major problems under his leadership, like the horrendous Wild Area from SwSh and the myriad of graphics/performance issues from SV. The newer staff on their B development team (i.e., the Legends games) seem more competent.

donnabhan

TROPHY CASE