Pokemon Day 2026 Live Coverage - All the news from Pokemon Presents as it happens

On a slightly different note, if you're feeling nostalgic rather than looking forward (or looking for something to fill the time with over the next couple of hours), we've got something that should help out. Our Pokemon experts have been hard at work spinning up a list of the best Pokemon movies, and with just over two hours to go before Pokemon Presents kicks off, the timing could hardly be better - just enough time to pick a movie, grab some snacks, and settle down.

And while it's probably not one for today, if you're looking at getting back in touch with the rest of the Pokemon anime, we've got you covered on that front as well, with an article explaining how to watch Pokemon in order. Admittedly, with 1000+ episodes and dozens of movies to catch, you probabyl won't be able to make much of a dent in that before the show today, but maybe this is the next day of the rest of your life.

Pokemon Pokopia and Pokemon Champions

Two games almost certain to make an appearance in addition to my Gen 10 expectations are Pokemon Champions and Pokemon Pokopia. Rather than some strange twist on the series' two-game naming convention, these are two separate games, covering two extremely different gameplay experiences.

Pokemon Champions is a wholly competitive experience, intended to be the vessel for the next generation of Pokemon esports. A dedicated competition portal, it's a little bit Pokemon Stadium, a little bit The Pokemon Company's desire to bring all official tournaments into one place regardless of generational gimmicks like Mega Evolution, Dynamaxing, or Terastalization. Champions doesn't have a firm release date yet, but with Gen 10 likely on the horizon and the game intended to be used for the world championships in August, I'd expect we'll be getting that launch date today.

For a whole different Pokemon vibe, Pokopia gets rid of pretty much all the competitive edge that Champions offers. Instead, it's the series' answer to the likes of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, putting you into the stretchy shoes of a ditto tasked with making an island home for a variety of different Pokemon pals, each with very different requirements from their homestead of choice.

Wind and Waves?

The big ticket item for this Pokemon Day is expected to be the unveiling of the next generation of mainline Pokemon games. There are many, many reasons why chances are extremely high that we'll be seeing two new Pokmon games today - let me walk you through them.

First up, it would make for a pleasing double anniversary. Pokemon is celebrating its 30th birthday, and the ability to unveil the tenth set of main series games in a milestone year would pair very nicely with that. In a year where The Pokemon Company is clearly in a celebratory mood, the chance to bookend 2026 with a big announcement at the start of the year and a big release right at the end is one I don't think will be passed up.

Second, it's about the right time. On average, we've had a new set of Pokemon games every three years (punctuated by several spin-offs, of course). Four years out from the launch of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you might argue we're overdue for the next generation. And with the Switch 2 still less than a year old, the timing is pretty solid.

Finally, however, those previous notes pale in comparison to the fact that eagle-eyed fans will have seen plenty of incoming evidence of a new generation. Over recent years, a major Pokemon 'Teraleak' has unveiled a lot of apparent information about a pair of upcoming games. Thought to be called Pokemon Wind & Waves (though don't hold us to that name), development screenshots and various other details have been swirling for a while now. By itself that's no guarantee, but the evidence is certainly there for this to be a major show.

Pokemon Day Predictions

Before we get much closer to the Pokemon Day livestream, it's worth thinking about what we're likely to see when it all kicks off. Thankfully, I've put plenty of mental effort into that already this week, and I've got an entire set of Pokemon Day 2026 predictions to walk you through.

That list runs the gamut of some things that are pretty much a certainty, some things that seems very likely to appear, and a few more wild pipe dreams. There's also a few things we already know for sure, which I'll be covering separately - and are good news for fans of Gen 3 and Kanto.

30 years of catching 'em all

The first thing to note is that this is the big one. the superfans among you will already know that this is Pokemon's 30th anniversary, and the franchise's stewards have already been pulling out all the stops to kick off the celebrations. Among those are 30th anniversary logos dedicated to each of the 1000+ 'mons you can encounter across the franchise.

That's likely to mean that this upcoming Pokemon Presents is a bit of a blowout. Expectations are usually high for this livestream each year, but in this major anniversary year there's already solid evidence to suggest several extra stops are being pulled out. We'll go over those in more detail in the run-up to the stream, but suffice to say it'll probably be worth paying extra close attention this year.