Featured Image Credit: The Pokémon Company
Topics: Pokemon, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch 2, News
Pokémon officially turns 30 years old next month, and The Pokémon Company is teasing something big for its upcoming birthday.
If you can believe it, February 27 this year marks the 30th anniversary of both Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green's Japanese release date.
Wow. Thanks, guys, that’s just what I wanted for the start of 2026: a reminder that I am getting very old and life is fleeting.
The Pokémon Company has revealed that they have exciting plans to commemorate the swiftly approaching milestone, as the official @Pokemon_cojp Twitter account just posted a cute little teaser trailer featuring the OG “fat” Pikachu design.
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“Pokémon 30th Anniversary, Here We Go! 30 years since the release of Pokémon Red and Green,” reads @Pokemon_cojp’s Tweet (machine translated from Japanese).
“On February 27, 2026 (Friday), Pokémon turns 30. I have a feeling this year is going to be the best one yet! Look forward to it!”
Of course, everyone has immediately begun theorising as to what special announcements will spawn out of the 30th anniversary celebrations, and top of most folks' minds is some kind of reveal for the 10th generation of Pokémon games on the Nintendo Switch 2.
However, considering the milestone specifically marks the 30th birthday of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green’s release date, fans over on the r/pokemon subreddit are certain that Nintendo will finally announce ports of the original Game Boy Pokémon games for the Nintendo Switch 2.
“I’m convinced that if for the 30th anniversary, we don’t get old games ported onto the switch, it will never happen,” commented user Dangerous-Picture-73.
“100%. If it doesn’t happen here then it’s time to official stop breathing the copium and give up on it. I just pray if it does happen that it isn’t apart of a membership program. I don’t want to pay monthly to play them. Just let me buy them outright,” replied user MyHeadIsAnAttic.
I think they’re onto something here, because I can’t see a better opportunity or excuse for Nintendo to finally port Pokémon Yellow to current-gen hardware.
Of course, I highly doubt we’ll be subject to simply one announcement, so there’s a solid chance we could get Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green ports alongside a Gen 10 reveal.
One thing I can be certain of is that we’ll definitely get some kind of special commemorative Pokémon TCG cards, which means that I’m going to have to start saving up ASAP.