Pokemon Direct and Pokemon Go festivities: here's what you can't miss on Pokemon Day

Pokemon Day is coming on Wednesday and Nintendo will kick it off with a new Pokemon Direct presentation, while Pokemon Go players can start celebrating early with a special event. The Pokemon Direct will begin at 6 am PST / 9 am EST / 2 pm GMT and include "roughly seven minutes of new information" about, well, something. Hopefully Pokemon Switch. Whatever it is, you can catch a livestream of the Direct right here as soon as it begins.

Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are playing their collectible foil cards quite close to their chests about this brief presentation so far. All the official Pokemon Twitter account had to add is that "you don't want to miss this Pokemon day."

The eighth generation of Pokemon is officially due to hit Nintendo Switch sometime this year, so this would be a great time for Nintendo and developer Game Freak to tease out some details (Pokemon Sun and Moon were first officially announced on Pokemon Day three years ago). After the tasty appetizer that was Pokemon Let's Go, fans are eager to see what the full-fat future of Pokemon looks like on Nintendo Switch.

If you're a Pokemon Go player, you can start your celebrations today (Tuesday, Feb. 26) at 1 pm PST / 4 pm EST / 9 pm GMT with an in-game event that will conclude on Thursday, Feb. 28 at the same time. Here are the festivities you can look forward to:

• Low-level Kanto region (Gen 1) Pokemon will appear more frequently, including shiny Pidgeys and Rattatas.

• Pokemon from the Kanto region will appear as challengers in raids.

• Flower-crown wearing variants of Pikachu and Eevee can be encountered in the wild or through Field Research.

Get a sneak peek at the first official Gen 8 Pokemon with our guide on how to get Meltan in Pokemon Go and Pokemon Let's Go.