Generation 10 is official! During the latest Pokémon Presents, Game Freak revealed Pokémon Winds and Waves, the next main entry in the series, launching in 2027.
If you missed it, here is the announcement trailer:
A Tropical New Region
Winds and Waves takes players to a tropical, island-based region inspired by Southeast Asia. The reveal trailer showed multiple islands, a vast open ocean, dense jungle environments, and Pokémon living in distinct ecosystems linked to the region.
Open-world exploration is returning, continuing the design direction introduced in Gen 9. From what we have seen so far, it does not look like a total reinvention, but environments already appear more alive than before. Of course, hard to really give an opinion since the footage is not actual in-game footage for now.
So far, there are no details about the story or the other new Pokémon, but according to the official synopsis, you might even have to fight the “forces of nature,” and that might make things interesting!
Meet the Gen 10 Starters
The three new starters were revealed during the showcase:
- Browt (Grass)
- Pombon (Fire)
- Gecqua (Water)
Early reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, with many players already calling this one of the strongest starter trios in recent generations, at least in terms of first-stage designs. Gecqua is our personal favorite, and as someone who always picked the Water starter since Gen 1, it is definitely the best design we have had in a while!
Now the real question is, will their evolutions follow? For now, there is no info on the second and third evolutions, so we can only guess what they could look like.
Switch 2 Only
The biggest surprise was not the tropical region, and it was not the starters. It was the platform.
Winds and Waves is launching exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2, skipping the original Switch entirely.
And that decision might be the most important thing about Gen 10.
A Clean Break From Gen 9’s Problems
It is impossible to talk about this without mentioning Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Gen 9 pushed the series into fully open-world design, but performance issues, frame drops, overall really bad quality, and general technical instability made players feel like Game Freak was just not caring and not putting any effort into giving us a really nice up-to-date Pokémon game. Even players who loved the direction felt the hardware was holding things back.
Now, for the first time in years, Game Freak is not building around old hardware. This means that they have no excuse. It needs to be good. The Switch 2 performs quite well, so there is no reason we could not get a proper game this time.
If the studio actually takes advantage of that power, Gen 10 could finally deliver the open-world experience that everyone is waiting for.
High Expectations
With a 2027 launch window, Game Freak has more time than usual between generations. Combined with next-gen exclusivity, this is the cleanest development setup Pokémon has had in years.
What matters now is execution. Gen 10 does not just need to introduce new Pokémon. It needs to prove that Game Freak and Nintendo are ready to put in the work to make a really good Pokémon game.
If Switch 2 exclusivity means fewer technical limits and more polish, Winds and Waves could be the generational reset the series needs.
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