Pokemon Sleep? Or Pokemon Hibernation?: Pokemon Presents 2/27/24 Impressions

Happy Pokemon Day!

Today’s Pokemon Presents showcase clocked in at a whopping thirteen minutes. Nothing triggers my happy nostalgia more than Pokemon, but I’m terrible at actually keeping up with the series. The majority of the event was dedicated to updates for their ongoing titles. This is great for the people who, you know, play them–less so for the casuals like me. I have no interest in MOBAs. I briefly played Pokemon Masters EX but the only thing I remember about it was it’s the loudest thing I’ve ever put on my phone. Maybe this is the year I finally get into Pokemon Sleep?

And what the hell, no Pokemon Concierge news?

If anything, it was efficient (maybe too efficient, I struggled to speed read the details in between trailers). But somewhere in that big pile of login bonuses, there were two things that grabbed my attention. 

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket

Introducing a new way to collect cards (not really, it’s on our phones) and we get to open two free packs a day. Nothing causes a dopamine spike quite like unwrapping a booster pack. Two is the perfect amount to break up daily monotony, so I’m set. Having little things to look forward to is important, this could make the world a better (or less painful) place. That probably reads as sarcastic but I’m being mostly sincere. I’m sure it will be rotten with microtransactions, but we can live in blissful ignorance until we get confirmation. 

Regardless of the money making mega evolution that is Pokemon cards, I don’t see this taking over the world the way Pokemon GO did back in 2016. Now if only they could find a way to replicate the smell of fresh paper the experience will be complete (Geoff Keighley found time to advertise a magic box that pumps the smell of golf courses and gunfire into your room in the middle of today’s round of brutal industry layoffs–so we have the technology). 

I also think I recognize the actress on the bus but can’t place where I’ve seen her before. 

Pokemon Legends: Z-A

The “one more thing” of this event was an announcement for Pokemon Legends: Z-A. The teaser offered almost no other clues beyond a 2025 release date. For a half second, with all this talk of urban redevelopment plans and blueprints, I thought it could be a Pokemon city builder (which I would absolutely be down to play). It is set in the same region as X and Y. X, Y, Z-A reads to me like this is the end and we’re moving towards a new beginning. Pokemon Legends: Arceus is one of the most unique titles from Game Freak, so I’m hopeful. 

Nintendo’s 2024 holiday lineup continues to be a mystery (today implies no major Pokemon releases are coming the rest of the year). I guess we’ll just continue to wait for a proper Nintendo Direct. We might already be in the long limbo until E3 (I know “E3” is dead but I’m old and it’s a convenient name for the cluster of showcases in early June). Free of distractions, we can catch up on last year and everything being released in the next couple months (right?..RIGHT???) 

Seriously, we need more than an hour of Pokemon Concierge.