It’s anyone’s guess what the next Pokémon games will be, whether something new or a sequel to an existing game such as Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet were released on Nov. 18, 2022, and despite mixed reviews, the games sold well, seeing one of the most successful launches for Nintendo Switch titles and selling more copies than any other game in 2022 in Japan.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the latest Pokémongames were two of five major titles in the franchise released in 2022. The others were the remakes of Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl, as well as Pokémon Legends: Arceus. With so much recent activity for the franchise, there's no reason players shouldn't expect more title. Fans on Reddit have posted about the types of Pokémon games they hope to see.
Pokémon games have varied in genre and style, but one thing is the player takes on the role of a young Pokémon trainer aiming either to catch all the Pokémon in their region or to be the best at battles.
Redditor FrozenLem0n said a feature they'd like to see "would be to have a free choice of profession. You arrive at in the new region to become an apprentice for a professor there." This would be a whole new concept that would add more variety to the Pokémon games and change up the types of stories they can tell.
Not every Pokémon devotee is a fan of the varioues remakes, but they will probably continue, leading eventually to remakes of Pokémon Black and Pokémon White. However, given the harsh criticisms of the Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl remakes many fans would prefer something else.
Redditor vizguass said they would prefer a sequel like "Black 3/White 3 or Pokemon Legends: Kyurem." Other commenters suggest simply adding the original games to the eShop rather than just remaking them for the many fans who don't feel as if there are any "improvements" worth making to the original games.
The Pokémon War had long been a theory before it was ever confirmed to be true throughout the games. Darko1994 on Reddit asked, "Do you guys think we’ll ever get a game about that famous war that happened in the Pokémon universe? I really wish we knew something more about it. Why did it happen? Who won? So many questions."
They also talk about how they'd like to see features where players could actually pick whose side they fight on and see Pokémon wearing armor. With the PokémonLegends: Arceus and even Pokémon Scarlet poking at the past, it isn't too far-fetched to think a future game will focus on the war.
It's been a few years since Nintendo remade the original Pokémon titles for the Switch with Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon Let's Go, Evee! Both are great Pokémon games for newbies, and players would like to see a follow-up remake of Pokémon Crystal.
Future Let's Go! games seem likely, but the problem lies in choosing which Pokémon would headline the sequels. Redditor MCP0-117 wants Pokémon Let's Go, Lugia! and Pokémon Let's Go, Ho-Oh! Meanwhile, Biscuitmango nominated Pichu and Togepi. With thousands of Pokémon in the franchise, there's no telling which ones will get the job.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus has already become one of the most beloved sequels and fans haven't stopped discussing what kind of sequels they'd like to see. Generally, they focus on mythical Pokémon and the past of a specific region. Most fans seem to agree that the next best pick should be the Johto region focusing on Celebi.
Redditor Karu-Selli says "Johto is my main want. I wanna see the towers in their full glory, what the legendary beasts were in the past, whatever happened in the past between Kanto & Johto." It has been a while since fans have gone to Johto and it with Celebi's ability to travel through time, it works as the perfect sequel to Arceus.
While the actual name of the game would have to be different since there has already been a Pokémon Blue game, one of the best-selling Pokémon games, but Redditor tburm888 had a unique idea for a new entry in the series. They said, "You get to play as either a nurse joy or officer Jenny in training. In pink you get to build your own Pokémon center, get a chansey, concoct medicine (alchemy style) and maybe even become a traveling nurse or something. I’m Pokémon blue you go through training and receive a growlithe and ride around on a motorcycle battling team rocket or other thugs and baddies."
The game does sound quite a bit different from most Pokémon games, but that's a good thing and would help add more uniqueness and fresh variety to the franchise.
Pokémon Gold, Pokémon Silver and Pokémon Crystal, as well as their respective remakes, all provided players with traveling to two regions: Johto and Kanto. Surprisingly, that has yet to have been replicated and a deleted user from Reddit has a fresh idea regarding this. They said, "Each version of the game should start in a different region. Version A starts in region 1 and Version B starts in region 2." They added, "The starters would be the same for each region OR have two sets of starters."
This would give far more incentive for players to actually purchase both versions of the Pokémon game by varying it up a little and keeping it similar. The player also mentions how the Elite Four is fought at the end of the region, but that the Champion won't be faced until much later in the game.
Looker is a police investigator recurring through the Pokémon games who often focuses on investigating the evil group in the specific Pokémon game. BabyYodaIsGod42069 from Reddit came up with a great idea where the player could play as Looker and aid each hero from every region against the main villains of the Pokémon games.
"You can build your team however you like, as always, and battle mechanics will stay largely the same, but the overall plot formula will be completely different. You work with the player character from every region in 9 chapters, one for each region." This would add a much different type of game to Pokémon but would retain many qualities like the combat and allow the player to actually go to multiple regions rather than being stuck in one like most games.
Gale of Darkness is a beloved title but is a difficult game to get ahold of due to the limited copies available. However, fans have been begging for a remake, remaster, or even just a Switch port of the game for years.
Redrumtac1 from Reddit says "I really wish they would make a Switch version" and "Being able to "purify" the corrupted/dark pokemon made you really feel like you wanted to help pokemon (in addition to the classic Catch them all + battle trainers) and it was such a heart-warming feeling."
The experience of the game is truly unique, and it gave one of the coolest designs to Lugia, one of the best legendary Pokémon. This would also be a great concept to bring into the Pokémon TCG.
Most Pokémon games tend to take inspiration from different countries. For example, Scarlet and Violet most recently was influenced by Spain. Because of this, many Redditors have discussed what they'd like to see for the next mainline game.
One Redditor, HRJafael says "Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a game officially inspired by China. There is a lot of culture and mythology that they could mine as inspiration for their own region." This could spawn all sorts of interesting Pokémon designs from various myths and folklore. The Redditor also posed "Jade" as a possible title for the games.
List Writer for ScreenRant since 2022. Caleb Greenough is a writer from Nebraska who spends much of his free time writing Fantasy and Horror stories. He has a B.A. from Wayne State College that he received in 2020 and an M.A. from Southern New Hampshire University he obtained in 2022. In addition to writing Fantasy, he is also a big fan of reading books like the Wheel of Time or playing games such as Dark Souls or the Legend of Zelda. He is also a big fan of anime and manga with his favorites being Code Geass and Dragon Ball Z. He spends a great deal of time writing and is published in the Horror genre. His published works and some of his other writings can be found on his blog. His biggest dream in life is to be an author with multiple Fantasy novels and novel series under his name.