What do you want to see from Gen 10? I asked the biggest Pokémon fans I know

All signs suggest the next mainline Pokémon games - also known as Gen 10 - will be revealed on 27th February's Pokémon Day, which happens to be the franchise's 30th anniversary.

There's no better time to reveal a whole new generation of Pokémon, basically, and as it's been four years since Scarlet and Violet (assuming we're looking at a late 2026 release), the wait has given everyone time to mull over what they want to see next.

To celebrate the likely arrival of a new generation this week - and One More Catch's launch - I approached the biggest Pokémon fans I know from across games media, and asked what they want to see from the next generation of Pokémon - whether it's from the games themselves, the Pokémon they'll usher in, or how battles and the meta might be shaped by their arrival.

I want to say thank you to everyone below for their contributions, and I’m sure you’ll agree there’s plenty here I'd love to see in the 10th generation of games.

Four legs good! Two legs bad!

There is little more devastating than seeing the adorable starter Pokémon then realizing that their evolutions turn them into humans. I was so endeared to Sprigatito, the little grass cat, and was progressively more distressed to see Floragato and Meowscarada. My Pokémon should not start on four legs and end on two legs. There's no going back and reimaging the Pokémon from previous games, but I'd like to see Game Freak and The Pokémon Company stop this practice for the next generation of games. Some humanoid Pokémon are fine — Machoke is perfect! — but my four-legged cuties should not turn into human men.

Battles that more resemble the anime

What I want overall is a bit more dynamism. There’s a dark truth about Pokemon, and that’s this: As much as the games have improved in presentation, combat still broadly plays out in a manner less dynamic than a PlayStation 1 turn-based RPG. Certainly there’s nothing in Pokemon so expressive as Cloud’s Ominslash or Sephiroth’s Supernova, is there?

To be fair to Pokemon’s developers, their task is more gargantuan: thousands of attacks to manage, and hundreds of critters per game. In this sense it is a battle system beyond any other, but I have always hungered intensely for these encounters to look and feel a little more like the battles we see in the anime.

I’d like that dynamism to stretch beyond battles, but to the world itself. I don’t think Pokemon needs the tumbling and unleashing of systems you might see in other simulation-led games, but a touch more of this sort of detail could really help these worlds, which are so about life and the natural world, feel more alive.

Oh, and voice acting.

Give us better sidequests - and a world that feels more alive

Gen 10 will inevitably retain the open-world model, so what I most want to see is Game Freak populating the new Pokémon region with more to do. 

Add in the side quests from the Legends series, the species-specific Pokédex research tasks from Legends: Arceus, and put things in the world for us to discover. Get us involved in the stories of the people who live there. Make towns more than cardboard movie sets you pass through. 

It doesn't need to be a full Skyrim-style affair with multiple questlines, countless dungeons, NPC relationships, and so on. Just encourage and reward exploration. (Paldea was filled with ruins and watchtowers, but there was little to find beyond Gimmighoul coins.) 

Game Freak is doing a great job at making the Pokémon world bigger – now I'd love to see them make it deeper.

Don't be afraid to revisit old battle mechanics 

If there's one thing I really want from Gen 10, it's for games to expand on previous battle gimmicks instead of giving us a new one. I want Mega Evolution again. I want to revisit Z-Moves. Yes, bring back Dynamax and Gigantamax. Terastilazation… can stay, I guess.

I know Pokémon Champions will be folding these mechanics in somehow, but I'd love to see them revisited again in a mainline game. Legends: Z-A was a good reminder on how fun these gimmicks can be, and I'd love to play around with them again in a modern game. Also, no more huge, open, empty world nonsense. Just give us back normal routes already.

Meet the bar set by Legends: Z-A

With Gen 10 likely coming next week, it feels like the perfect time to start getting unreasonably excited. Yet if being a lifelong Pokémon fan has taught me anything, it’s to set your expectations lower than a soil-coated Diglett.

While Scarlet and Violet was undeniably a let-down, Legends: Z-A has proved that Game Freak are at least learning from their mistakes, with last year's spin-off advancing the Pokémon formula in small but clever ways. This time around, I’d really love to see those lovable ‘mon roaming detailed and eye-catching environments that truly match the visual splendour that players expect in 2026.

Full voice acting would also be music to my ears, and if I’m really pushing it – I’d love for Gen 10's Pokémon journey to unfold across a fully fleshed out open world, too.

Give us a ruin. A proper one

You know what recent Pokémon games have been missing? A proper ruin. I'm not talking about a hilltop where Geodudes wander between crumbling pillars and decaying statues of legendary Pokémon. That's a landmark at best. What I long for are puzzles, cavernous halls decorated with murals, a secret tied to ancient Pokémon history and, most of all, the sense that someone is watching you. Just leaning over your shoulder, never touching but always there until you turn around.

I'll admit it: I'm describing the Ruins of Alph. I want a Gen 10 version of my favourite Pokémon locations ever, please and thank you. Not exactly the same (there will be another Gen 2 remake eventually). It doesn't even need to have Unown! Yet, somewhere which captures the same atmosphere of unease and mystery would be perfect. (And offers some new Pokémon lore for me to obsess over.)

Make the tenth iteration feel like something new

I think it’s a fool’s errand, but my hope for Pokemon Gen 10 is that it competes with modern turn-based RPGs. I want voice acting, I want impactful move animations, and I want to feel like this is an important entry in the series – something fans deserve on the TENTH go around – and not just another Pokemon game in the Pokemon cycle. I want this one to mean something to fans, Game Freak, the Pokemon Company, and Nintendo.

If this one doesn’t matter, I doubt we’ll ever see a major move in the mainline series.

I want to see Game Freak's work shine

I really liked Scarlet and Violet, but it's well established that they did not run particularly well on the original Switch. Pokémon is a juggernaut of a brand, and between collaborations with famous musicians and a splashy Super Bowl ad, it's clear The Pokémon Company is willing to spend a lot of money on marketing.

My hope is that the company has also invested in the refinement of the next mainline game — things like online connectivity and stability, frame rate and draw distances, general optimization on the available hardware — so Game Freak's work can really shine. Mechanically, these games are in a great place; they deserve more of the star treatment.

Double down on quality time

In Gen 10, I’d like to see even more gameplay inspired by pet sim games. In previous entries, I loved hanging out with my Pokémon and having picnics. We’ve been able to clean our Pokémon, eat with them, and even have them travel alongside trainers outside their Poké Balls. To me, this makes the world — and its adorable creatures — feel more alive. As I look forward to future mainline games, I’d like the ability to bond with and appreciate our Pokémon in new ways.

I could imagine this playing out in a bunch of different ways. It would be cool if the developers expand on the picnic idea of previous games and add little mini games to play with our Pokémon. I think it’d also be cute if we could play dress-up. It would be downright adorable if we could doll up our Pokémon with little accessories and take photos of them. Whatever shape it could take, I just want new ways to spend quality time with our Pokémon, and see them happy.

Put the new generation of Pokémon first

I want Gen 10 to be as forward-looking as it is reverential. Pokemon is a franchise that has to please older fans as well as establish itself in the minds of younger players so that the franchise can carry on. To that end, I’d love to see this year’s mainline game take a page out of Pokemon Black and White’s book, and put a huge focus on newer monsters, especially before the post-game.

Elsewhere, I’d like more titles that surprise players in the same way that Pokemon Legends: Arceus did when it was first announced. There’s so much scope, even just in the action RPG space, for Pokemon to explore.

And finally, put the Pokemon Pinball games on Nintendo Switch Online. Please.

Thank you to everyone who contributed, and to Chelsea Stark for her edits on this and other features for One More Catch's launch.

If you enjoyed reading these insights as much as I did when they landed in my inbox, please consider sharing with friends who are also looking forward to Gen 10.

Also, consider supporting this publication with a paid subscription. If you become a paid member of One More Catch - subscriptions start as little as £1 a week, with an extra 10% off until 9th March - you unlock bonus features and ability to comment on articles like this one, so can also tell us what you want to see from the next set of Pokémon games. I'd love to know what you also want to see this Friday! (Gen 10 will be announced on Friday, right?)