Published Jun 17, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT
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The Pokémon series is wide open for redesigns, revamps, and extended evolutionary lines. In addition to Mega glow-ups and adding to lines with babies, you never know when you're going to get a new Pichu or Happiny popping up in any given game. Now that list also includes regional variants, amid other forms generally tied to the current generation's gimmick.
There are a few characters who see more play than others, though, which can lead to a lot of complaints throughout the 10 lengthy Generations of the series. It's hard to please everyone, but with 1025 designs and counting, there's a lot to account for.
Over on X, fans are discussing the latest creature design for Pokémon Winds & Waves, and it's turned into quite a complicated discussion, even bringing recent entries into the conversation.
As Centro Leaks points out, it's been leaked that the Rotom Scooter is allegedly the main mode of transportation in Winds and Waves, and not everyone is happy about that. The leak notes that "the player never rides a Pokémon directly," and although you can "tether" a character to the scooter, it's the core transportation for Generation 10.
Riding on Pokémon started a while back. Pokémon X & Y founded the mechanic in earnest, and Sun and Moon expanded on it. However, in select games, Game Freak requires players to use specific means of travel. This has always been a point of contention among fans, especially given that they want to see their characters represented on-screen.
Some players feel that using Rotom has become too commonplace, especially given the phone/Pokédex usage element, and the fact that it's heavily featured in traversal in Pokémon Z-A.
As one fan puts it: "I hate Rotom so much omg can they just let us ride our Pokémon in peace like in Legends Arceus?" Another explains: "From riding any Pokemon to riding scooter, biggest downgrade of all time."
"Oh, so they brought back roller skates from Gen 6, but now it's a scooter," another retorts. However, some folks are enjoying the Rotom renaissance: "This sounds like a solid workaround to make all Pokémon rideable."
How the Rotom Scooter mechanic plays out remains to be seen. It hasn't been widely shown off in official trailers so far, but the team will likely trickle that information out over the next year. The Pokémon Company has its marketing campaigns down pat, as it slowly provides you with info for the first 10-ish hours of any given game over the course of months.
We're looking to 2027, at the earliest, to learn a significant amount of information about Pokémon Winds and Waves. Right now, it looks like it could come out in mid- to late 2027, which leaves plenty of time for speculation. At this point, we don't even have confirmation of the box legendaries.
Released 2027
Developer(s) Game Freak
Publisher(s) The Pokemon Company, Nintendo
Multiplayer Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
Number of Players Single-player
English (US) ·