Pokemon Winds and Waves confirmed to be open world, with Game Freak unphased by Scarlet and Violet's woes

Nintendo has confirmed that Pokemon Winds and Waves will be open world, following on from Game Freak's rough first attempt in Scarlet and Violet.

Pokemon hasn't gone through rough times quite like it did with Scarlet and Violet. Sure, the games sold well – it's Pokemon, after all – but the fan reaction to its performance and open world woes was the most negative the fanbase has ever been, which wasn't a great follow-up from the big Dexit controversy that took place with the previous entries, Sword and Shield. So all eyes are on Gen 10 to see what The Pokemon Company will do with the series.

And now Pokemon Winds and Waves is the official name of Gen 10, somewhat matching what was leaked during the massive "Freakleak." We've also had our first look at the yet-unnamed region, which seems inspired by South East Asia, which was also part of the major leaks. And if the trailer didn't give it away with its massive open seas and swamps, Pokemon will once again be going open world with the new Nintendo Switch 2-exclusive entries as confirmed by the Winds and Waves website.

And while you won't have Miraidon and Koraidon to travel around on this time around, many have noticed that the new trainers have an interesting item strapped to their backs. Both the Winds and Waves trainer outfits come equipped with what seem to be hoverboards, that being the classic Back to the Future-like versions, not the two-wheelers that have caused countless videos of people's grandparents falling into furniture.

Given how much water is in the trailer (or to evoke the forbidden texts, too much water), I'd imagine you'll be able to use these boards to traverse the high seas, putting poor old Lapras out of a job after years of service. Let's just hope the performance is a lot better this time around, finally giving an open-world Pokemon the care it deserves.

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