Here's What the Pokemon Direct Could Be....And What It Definitely Isn't

The future of the Pokemon franchise will be revealed tomorrow at 10 AM ET during a special “Pokemon Direct” livestream. We don’t know much about the Pokemon Direct outside of some very basic details. The Direct will be 8 minutes long, which is a bit longer than the reveal for Pokemon Sun and Moon but shorter than the Direct that revealed Pokemon X & Y. And that’s about all the official information we have about the Direct.

Videos by ComicBook.com

However, the fact that we’re getting a Pokemon Direct means that something big is on the way. We’ve only had three Pokemon Directs to date, each of which have announced a “game-changer” for the Pokemon franchise. There’s only a couple of possibilities as to what tomorrow’s announcement will be, so here’s what the announcement could be….and also what it definitiely isn’t.

What It’s Not

We should start by explaining what won’t be announced at tomorrow’s Pokemon Direct. Pokemon Directs have only featured “main series” Pokemon games, not spinoffs or mobile games. So don’t expect tomorrow’s announcement to cover the recently announced Pokeland mobile game, or a new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game, or a Pokken Tournament port for the Nintendo Switch.

The Pokemon Direct also won’t cover any Pokemon Go news. Niantic has handled all the announcements and reveals for Pokemon Go on its own, even when it came to major announcements like the addition of Gen 2 Pokemon. Nintendo’s running point on this announcement, so we’re not expecting anything related to Legendary Pokemon or other additions to Pokemon Go.

That’s not to say that we won’t hear any other Pokemon related announcements soon. Nintendo doesn’t have any problems announcing Pokemon spinoff games during E3 or at other times of the year…they just don’t give them their own Direct.

Pokemon Stars

Our best guess for tomorrow’s announcement is that it’s related to the rumored Pokemon game being released for the Nintendo Switch. Last November, Eurogamer reported that Game Freak was working on “Pokemon Stars,” an alleged sequel to Pokemon Sun and Moon that would appear on the Nintendo Switch. This game would have new features, new Pokemon (or Pokemon formes), and would mark the first time that a main series Pokemon game had ever been released for a Nintendo household console.

Moving the Pokemon franchise to Nintendo’s household console would certainly deserve a Pokemon Direct, and eight minutes would be long enough to explain how a Pokemon game would work with only one screen. And let’s face it, a Pokemon game for the Nintendo Switch could overtake even Zelda: Breath of the Wild as the biggest Switch game of 2017, given how popular Pokemon has become over the last year.

However, we’ve never been entirely sold on the “Pokemon Stars” rumor for a couple of reasons. The Pokemon franchise has never switched consoles in the middle of a “Generation” of games before. Game Freak released Pokemon Crystal after the release of the Game Boy Advance, and released Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 after the release of the Nintendo 3DS. Also – the rumor indicated that new Pokemon would appear in Pokemon Stars…which has also never happened in the middle of a generation.

Gen 4 Remakes

The other major possibility is remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. We’ve mentioned multiple times that Pokemon from those games have become a bit more prominent in recently released merchandise. The upcoming Pokemon movie (which has revealed new Pokemon and hints about upcoming games before) is also full of Gen 4 Pokemon. We even have an (unnamed) source that swears the next Pokemon games will be remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, although we can’t find any verification or proof to back that claim up.

But….a Gen 4 remake isn’t exactly “huge” news for the Pokemon franchise. The last remakes, Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, were the only Pokemon games NOT to get a Pokemon Direct since Nintendo starting doing them in 2013. While Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are beloved games, remaking them wouldn’t exactly be a surprise.

We’re sure that the Gen 4 remakes will happen, but at this point we’re not comfortable pointing to them as the next game. We’ll find out tomorrow, BUT we’re thinking that it will be a new Pokemon game for the Nintendo Switch.