Pokémon 30th Anniversary Announcement Unites Gamers, Expect Less

The Pokémon Company is gearing up for a big announcement (or, indeed, several big announcements) to help celebrate Pokémon’s upcoming 30th birthday, and fans are already expecting something huge.

Oh, uh, never mind; apparently everyone has immediately gone into full doomer mode, and they’re actually expecting very, very little.

In case you missed it, the official Japanese Pokémon X account teased earlier this week that they'll be commemorating the 30th anniversary of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green's Japanese release. As both games turn 30 years old on 27 February, it’s safe to assume that some kind of livestream or event will be taking place on the same date… but what could they possibly be gearing up to announce?

The most obvious choices would be either the reveal of the 10th Generation of mainline Pokémon games, or the long-awaited announcement that the original Game Boy Pokémon games will be getting ported to both the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.

Official artwork from the 2019 Pokémon TCG featuring Blue, Red and Green, The Pokémon Company

But what is the community expecting from the birthday celebrations? Absolutely nothing.

In a thread over on the r/nintendo subreddit, Pokémon Redditors have been warned to "temper" their expectations for the 30th anniversary, and it seems everyone in the comment section is way ahead of them.

“The start of the presentation will be a five minute video of Japanese kids running through grass as they flash through every main series game… followed by a Pokemon cafe update,” commented user Angel7O2.

“People need to learn anniversaries for series don't bring game releases, they bring Japan only merchandise and unique Cafe menus and that's it lmao,” replied user Goodbye18000.

I kinda get the pessimism. Better to go in with low expectations and be surprised, after all.

That being said, I do think we’ll get something a little bit more exciting than what the fanbase has assumed. But only marginally more exciting.

A Gen 10 announcement definitely seems feasible, but I don’t think we’ll get anything as grand as a gameplay trailer or a release date. At best, we’ll maybe get a little teaser.

Also, I would bet my entire life savings on there being some sort of Pokémon TCG announcement. I know that’s not exactly juicy for a lot of you, but hey, I’m excited.

Will we actually get Nintendo Switch ports of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, though?

Hopefully, but that’s more to do with Nintendo than The Pokémon Company.

At least we only have about six weeks until we know for sure. I'd better start saving up for the Pokémon TCG set while I can.