Pokemon’s Rumored Non-Legends Mainline Game For 2025 Could Be History Repeating Itself

There are various ongoing projects for the Pokemon franchise as a whole, between multiple live-service mobile games, big expansions coming to Pokemon TCG, and more VGC support for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet ahead of the 2025 World Championships. On top of that, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is set to make its debut this year, and a second trailer for the game seems very likely to appear online any time between now and Pokemon Day, which occurs on February 27. This is not all, though, as recent rumors of a new mainline Pokemon game set to be released this year emerged after a social media post by renowned leaker Riddler Khu.

While Riddler Khu has not been as reliable as in the past over 2023 and 2024, they have a proven track record of correctly leaking and predicting Pokemon games or even details within them. Last year saw a hacker attack on Game Freak that resulted in the so-called TeraLeak, which was comprised of around 1TB of documents from across all Pokemon games, encompassing some unreleased files and details about Gen 10. Recently, Khu took to Twitter to state that there is one more mainline project coming in 2025 that wasn’t mentioned in the TeraLeak. There are two more prominent theories about what this could be, and one of them would be history repeating itself with the Nintendo Switch 2 supposedly coming this year.

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For starters, Khu stated that this game is specifically meant for release on Nintendo Switch 2, whereas it has been speculated and seemingly confirmed by leaks that Pokemon Legends: Z-A will be available both on the Switch and Switch 2. The image that Khu shared with the leak is that of a black and white dolphin, which immediately calls to mind Pokemon Black and White remakes, something that has been long speculated to be coming for the series, but never confirmed.

However, there is also a chance that this image is a reference to Pokemon Let’s Go games, which were codenamed Project Beluga, and the beluga whale is within the same cetacean family of dolphins. The reason that Pokemon Let’s Go games would make a lot of sense is that the franchise hasn’t been to the Johto region the longest, and a new set of Pokemon Let’s Go Johto games would perfectly fill that void. Additionally, Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu! and Eevee! were both released as the first new Pokemon games on the Nintendo Switch in 2018.

Why Pokemon Let’s Go Johto Games Could Be Switch 2 Launch Titles

As such, Pokemon Let’s Go Johto games could be the first Pokemon games on Nintendo Switch 2 whenever it launches, doing exactly what their predecessor did all those years ago. This is a big if, but it would make sense especially when considering that Game Freak allegedly delayed Pokemon Legends: Z-A internally after the TeraLeak, making these hypothetical titles the first new Pokemon games of the year and possible launch titles for the Nintendo Switch 2. There is no indication that Pokemon Let’s Go games are coming other than Khu’s leak, but considering the current state of the franchise, it seems plausible that these titles may be released.

Why New Pokemon Let’s Go Games Are Likely To Be Set in Johto

It’s not guaranteed that Pokemon Let’s Go games releasing in 2025 would be tied to Johto, but considering that the first and only set of this series took place in Kanto, and seeing how Johto has been on the backburner the longest out of all the regions, it only makes sense to assume as much. It is also worth noting that Pokemon Black and White remakes or a new set of Pokemon Gen 5 games may be more likely overall since there was no follow-up to this tradition after Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, but it remains to be seen. Pokemon Let’s Go Johto games would make many fans happy given the region’s popularity, and they would kill two birds with one stone by providing the Switch 2 with launch titles and bridging the gap between Gen 9 and Pokemon Legends: Z-A.

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Pokemon Legends: Z-A

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is an ambitious new entry to the Pokémon video game series, releasing simultaneously worldwide in 2025. A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.

Systems

Franchise

Pokemon

Released

2025