Every year on February 27th (also known as Pokémon Day), we get a special presentation from The Pokémon Company International (known also as TPCi), celebrating the anniversary of the 28-going-on-29-year-old fandom. The presentation, aptly known as Pokémon Presents, generally lays out expectations for all of the various types of Pokémon media and merchandise we can expect for the rest of the year.
Last year, 2024, we got only a couple of tidbits to hold us over for the 28th anniversary of the franchise, offering the first glimpse of Pokémon Legends: Z-A and announcing the now-highly-celebrated and incredibly fantastic cozy game, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket. Aside from that, the majority of announcements focused on already-available games and media, such as the recent Pokémon Horizons: the Series anime.
This year, I expect things to be a little different. You see, Pokémon loves anniversaries that are in multiples of fives and Pokémon Day 2025 will be their 29th anniversary. It’s possible we may see some gearing up and preparations for next year’s 30th anniversary.
So, let’s take a look at some realistic predictions we may have for Pokémon Day 2025, as well as some that are maybe a little more outlandish (or Farfech’d if you prefer).
Pokémon Day 2025 Video Game Predictions
Throughout any Pokémon Presents, you’re going to find a plethora of events announced for already available games. So, getting it out of the way, you’re likely to see Pokémon Day events or crossovers involving:
- Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet
- Pokémon Masters EX
- Pokémon GO
- Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket
- Pokémon Trading Card Game Live
- Pokémon Sleep
- Pokémon Cafe Remix
- Pokémon UNITE
From those, you can easily expect Tera Raid Battles to be announced for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, more sync pairs from the gacha game Pokémon Masters EX, and various special Pokémon in a bunch of the others like Pokémon Unite, Pokémon Sleep, and Pokémon Cafe Remix.
Seeing the decline in Pokémon GO players across the past 9 years (yes, it’s a 9-year-old game now), it’s possible we may see Terastallized Pokémon come to the geriatric mobile game. But, with Pokémon Legends Z-A on the horizon, it’s possible we’ll see a revitalization of the Mega Pokémon that already exists within GO on Pokémon Day.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is likely going to get some new announcements about the next set A2A, which was leaked weeks back as potentially being themed around Pokémon Day 2025 and coming the day after on February 28th. We’ll also probably see some sneaky hints at what’s to come later this year. I also hope to see expanded social capabilities such as easier trading and maybe a better avatar system.
Pokémon Legends Z-A was announced last year, during the Pokémon Presents on Pokémon Day 2024. It was revealed at the time that it would launch this year, so there is likely going to be a tsunami of information about it from this particular Pokémon Presents.
It’s easy to forget that Pokémon Detective Pikachu Returns, the sequel to the 2016 Detective Pikachu game that was announced in June 2023, is still in the works. Seeing as the game is a very different take than the 2019 feature film, Detective Pikachu Returns may make an appearance and have some surprises for fans during this Pokémon Presents.
Based on some leaked TCG sets down the road (which I’ll talk about more later), it’s possible we may also see a resurgence of Gen 5 in some way from Pokémon Day, such as Pokémon Black and Pokémon White. It’d be easy to see ILCA, who handled the Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl games back in 2021, handle this remake. If we do get Gen 5 remakes, it may not be for Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, though, as TPCi would likely want to have Generation 10 on the nicely rounded birthday, similar to how they handled Generation 7’s Sun and Moon for the 20th anniversary and Gen 4 coming out during their 10th anniversary.
Trading Card Game (TCG) Predictions
As mentioned earlier, we’re going to see a special Pokémon Black and Pokémon White set this July, based on Japan’s Black Bolt and White Flare sets in June. While we may potentially not get a Gen 5 remake this year, Gen 5 is still on the minds of TPCi.
Thanks to plenty of leaks and reports from websites like PokeBeach, we already know a lot about our English set for March 2025, Journey Together, which brings back partner Pokémon from yesteryear, like “Lillie’s Clefairy” and “N’s Zoroark”. This is a classic TCG trope that started back in the Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge sets from 2000.
Later this year, it’s been reported that we’ll get a set leaning back into good old-fashioned Team Rocket (with the Japanese name The Glory of Team Rocket), known currently as Destined Rivals in English. The art uses what appears to be art based on Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, HeartGold, and SoulSilver. It also potentially may bring more named partner Pokémon, similar to the classic 90s Team Rocket Returns set. I’m really excited about this set as a Team Rocket fan.
In addition, TPCi has been putting out more promo cards surrounding Pokémon Day 2025, between the official Pokémon Center website, in big box stores, and for the official Pokémon League in your local gaming shops. They’re really giving the TCG some new life this year, between a ton of generational focus and Pokémon TCG Pocket, by peacocking more and I wonder if there’s a reason for it.
Television and Movie Predictions
Pokémon Horizons: The Series is the new ongoing show that replaced the long-running Pokémon anime that featured Ash Ketchum and his partner, Pikachu. Seeing as the new anime hasn’t made too many waves since premiering in Japan in 2023 (and in the US in 2024), they may have bigger plans in store heading toward the 30th anniversary. But, we could see the start of that for Pokémon Day 2025.
Of note, Pokémon Concierge was an adorable stop-motion cartoon that was exclusive to Netflix. Starting a couple of days ago on February 21, the entirety of Pokémon Concierge is being put on YouTube for free. However, it’s interesting that it will be removed after March 9th. It’s probable that we may be seeing a second season of the cute little cartoon about a Pokémon resort very soon and this is their way of preparing people to subscribe to Netflix. As of writing, 3 of the 4 episodes are available right now.
It’s been a long time since we heard anything about Pokémon being in a movie. While it’s unlikely that they’ll announce another feature-length film this year like the Ryan Reynolds flick, it’s been far too long since we got a possibly-canon-possibly-not anime adventure featuring characters from the anime series. Pokémon Horizons: The Series deserves to finally get one.
Merchandise Predictions
Honestly, I don’t expect too many surprises for merchandise this year, even for Pokémon Day. That is to say that this is only their 29th anniversary. Next year is going to be a madhouse by comparison.
You can definitely expect some merch focused on partner Pokemon to tie into the Journey Together TCG set, as well as the various TCG sets thereafter.
I expect them to finally ramp up merch surrounding Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, as TPCi is notorious for not leaning all in on a new generation’s Pokémon until everyone’s had a fighting chance to play it. Expect a deluge of toys and plushies based on characters and Pokémon that you may not have heard of if you skipped Gen 9.
My Outlandish Predictions for Pokémon Day 2025
Alright, I know I’m going to be coming out of left field for a lot of this, but here we go. I want to talk about things that I want to happen either this year during Pokémon Day 2025 or for next year’s 30th anniversary. I’m not basing my hopes on anything concrete, but a lot of them would make sense in context.
Let’s get this out of the way and say that I hope we get a new Eeveelution (or Eevee evolution, for those who don’t know the lingo). It’s been on everyone’s bingo card since Sylveon was revealed for 2013 and it’s high time that we get a counterpart for the Fairy type. As Sylveon premiered in Pokémon X and Y, it’d only be right to announce a counterpart in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, also set in the Kalos Region. It’d make sense to make it a Dragon type, as that’d be weak to Fairy, and could tie into the lore better. Additionally, Pokémon Sword and Shield seemingly had hints of a dragon in Hammerlocke that never got revealed, which is possibly related. Plus, it’s the Year of Eevee according to the Pokémon Center.
I’d also like to see TPCi announce ports for the classic games onto the Nintendo Switch or the Switch 2, which is getting a full announcement only a short time from now this April. It’s about time that we finally get a proper way to get Pokemon from Gen 1 and Gen 2 onto Gen 3, as there is still currently no way to do that. Either putting them out as stand-alone games like what they did on the Nintendo 3DS or adding them to Nintendo Switch Online’s playable games could work in either case. It’d line up very well with the 30th anniversary and it’d bring the first 3 generations to modern consoles, as the last time they did this was for the 20th anniversary and only included the first 2 generations.
Pokémon Day 2025 would be a great time to hint at another full-length feature film or a live-action show. I’m unsure which I’d prefer, but if it’s a show, it’d likely be done by Netflix. If they want to hint at it this year, and then hit us with a full trailer for Pokémon Day 2026, I can see that happening as well.
While less outlandish, we may also see our first hints of Generation 10 during Pokémon Day 2025. I can’t even pretend to know what to expect there. But, I’d love to see regions based on the American South (or southwest), India, Italy, or Oceania.
Oh, and, while I’m at it, can someone at TPCi get me a port of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver in the next year? I’d really like that.
If you’re looking to check out the Pokémon Presents for Pokémon Day 2025, you can read all about how to watch it on their YouTube channel here. If you’re still trying to figure out the difference between Pokémon TCG Live and Pokémon TCG Pocket, we have you covered here.
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