A large portion of what’s known about Pokémon Winds and Waves to date has come from leaks, and the latest look at the game is no exception. While Nintendo showed off the new setting in the reveal trailer for the Generation 10 games, it’s been more reticent on displaying actual gameplay mechanics.
One of the biggest questions about Winds and Waves is how much inspiration they’ll take from the Legends games, which introduced plenty of new features unfamiliar to the mainline games in the franchise. Now, it’s apparent that one of the coolest gameplay mechanics in the Legends games will indeed be making its way over to Gen 10.
Reddit user SnooSprouts3744 shared a snippet of Winds and Waves gameplay from “teraleak,” the common name for the major Pokémon leak that first revealed major information about the franchise’s upcoming games. The video shows a player character throwing a Pokéball without being engaged in a battle menu, seemingly confirming that this option from the Legends games will be returning.
There’s ultimately no guarantee that anything from the teraleak will be in the final version of Pokémon Winds and Waves, but it seems unlikely that Nintendo would include a fan-favorite feature like this only to cut it later in development. Assuming the system remains, it’s also unclear whether its full scope and functionality will follow in the vein of Arceus or Z-A, which take different approaches to throwing Pokéballs.
Regardless, being able to catch Pokémon without battling helps to deliver on the inherent promise of the Pokémon concept, fostering a sense of discovery that isn’t as reliant on entering combat at every turn. The lack of an option to do so in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet had some fans questioning if it would ever come to the mainline games, but it may have been excluded simply due to the development timeline, as Legends: Arceus and Scarlet and Violet had overlapping production cycles.
As the first mainline Pokémon game to release on the Nintendo Switch 2, the potential for Pokémon Winds and Waves to rise above the franchise’s recent foibles is hard to ignore. Hopefully, the inclusion of throwing Pokéballs outside of battle will just be the tip of the iceberg for the features and polish that the Gen 10 games ultimately deliver. For now, there’s little fans can do except cross their fingers and hope for the best.
- Released
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2027
- Developer(s)
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Game Freak
- Publisher(s)
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The Pokemon Company, Nintendo
- Multiplayer
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Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
- Number of Players
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Single-player
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
