Pokémon Wind and Waves come to Switch 2 in 2027

Pokémon's 10th generation is a Switch 2 exclusive that will bring the series into the sky and sea

What better way to celebrate Pokémon's 30th anniversary than by ushering in the next generation of mainline games? On Friday, during a Pokémon Presents showcase, The Pokémon Company and developer Game Freak revealed Pokémon Wind and Waves, the next evolution of Pokémon games. The dual games feature brand-new starters, fresh monsters, and a new world to explore. As the names suggest, there's a heavy emphasis on the ocean as well as creatures you can find in the sky.

Better yet, these will be the first major Pokémon games on a Nintendo platform that won't be hindered by the decade-only tech inside the original Switch. Pokémon Winds and Waves will be exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 when they launch in 2027.

Early gameplay footage of Winds and Waves focused on the biomes players would explore, almost giving the sense that fans might be able to dive into the sea to find creatures. Though aspects like surfing have been in games before, this would be the first time the ocean is a properly explorable terrain. The games appear to be full of tropical islands with things like resorts and beaches, but also harsher areas like lava-filled caves. And of course, the trailer revealed the new starters: Pombon, the fire lion, Gecqua, the water lizard, and Browt, the grass-type bird.

"Trainers will play as the main character of this adventure, where they will have a different outfit depending on the version they are playing," the official Pokémon website states. And if you're curious, the Pikachu near the start of the new trailer aren't just for show. They're called Mr. Windychu and Ms. Wavychu, and they'll play some type of role in the larger adventure. Based on the names, they may even be version exclusives.

Early adopters of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet might recall that the ninth generation of games were marred by technical issues that Game Freak did not wholly tame until re-releasing the experiences on Switch 2. Prior to that, Scarlet and Violet struggled to maintain a stable frame rate and were plagued with visual issues, like aggressive texture pop-in and frequent game crashes.

All of these hiccups made it difficult for some fans to appreciate Scarlet and Violet's attempts to bring the franchise into an open-world arena. Despite the ubiquity of Scarlet and Violet's problems, the hiccups did not seem to impact their success. The dual game releases are now one of the best-selling entries in the entire series, second only to the original Pokémon Red and Blue.

Though the cartoon-like Pokémon games have never been showcases of power, criticisms about how Game Freak depicts pocket monsters have been pervasive since the mainline games left portables behind. Between these wonky releases and an apparent reluctance to include the entire massive compendium in every game, some fans worry that Game Freak is not equipped to handle a series as big as Pokémon. Leaders at the unusually small Game Freak, on the other hand, maintain that they'd make Pokémon teams even smaller if they could. Apparent leaked Pokémon budgets reinforce Game Freak's humble and conservative approach to the series, which has eschewed the type of AAA polish fans expect from major game releases.

Those same leaks, which were a part of a major data breach, predicted the 10th generation of Pokémon games well before Game Freak officially revealed the games, down to the names and apparent concept art. The leaks suggested the next mainline Pokémon games would be procedurally generated adventures with a survival bent. Game Freak tends to work on multiple games at a time, however — and game development plans scarcely work out the way studios hope.