Before Pokemon Winds and Waves, adorable spin-off Pokopia seemingly crushes hopes for a new Type fans have been begging to see for years: "Sound type is DEAD"

New Pokemon Types are always a contentious topic with fans, but Pokemon Pokopia seemingly just confirmed that the much-requested Sound-type isn't in the pipeline anytime soon, crushing one half of the fandom's hopes and making the other half rejoice.

With Pokemon Winds and Waves on the horizon, trainers are once again wondering if Generation 10 will finally add a brand-new Type to the franchise. People often speculate about Light-type, Cosmic-type, and sometimes even Gourmet-type pocket monsters, but one of the longest-running theories is centred around the Sound-type.

Since Generation 3, Sound has been a sub-type of sorts. Several moves in the series are sound-based and have specific properties, from Supersonic to Torch Song, which simply adds fuel to all the speculation. The ability Punk Rock even boosts the power of sound-based moves, for example, though they don't have specific elemental strengths or weaknesses like the other 18 official types do.

And after seeing Stereo Rotom in the promotional material for Pokemon Pokopia, the newly-released cutesy life sim spin-off, droves of fans were once again on the Sound-type hype train. How could a literal speaker-shaped creature, whose entire purpose is to blast sound, not be here to introduce the Sound-type?

However, Pokopia's Pokedex lists Stereo Rotom as an Electric-Normal-type critter, which is making many a trainer second guess themselves. "Why would they do such a thing if not for the future?" Serebii creator Joe Merrick tweets in reference to Stereo Rotom.

"Sound type is DEAD," one fan proclaims. Another speculates that Stereo Rotom's typing is evidence that The Pokemon Company isn't interested in Sound, "considering this was the perfect opportunity and they did not take it."

"Kinda glad this shoots down the 'Sound' Type," a third argues. "Sound is already a subtype of move, and are we really gonna change the typings of moves like Torch Song, Bug Buzz, Grasswhistle, and Sparkling Aria, which are already well fitted into other types?"

To play devil's advocate, DJ Rotom's existence doesn't completely rule out the possibility of Sound-types being added in Pokemon Winds and Waves because, I think, The Pokemon Company would be way more willing to add a new Type in a mainline game than it would in a spin-off that doesn't even feature Pokemon battles. Still, that's not me advocating for Sound, either. Pokemon Types work so well because they immediately make real-world sense - water puts out fire, fire melts ice, ice freezes flyers - and it's kind of impossible to make Sound fit without doing mental gymnastics.

Game Freak can't add hundreds of new Pokemon and more Types every generation or else new games would take too long to make, director says: "If you added like 300 or so new monsters, that'd just be too many."