With all of the hype that came with the last Pokemon game – the excitement of a new type, the amazing new megas, and the beautifully revamped Hoenn region – it’s not surprising when players start speculating about the next generation and, judging by what Nintendo and Game Freak have provided us in terms of a pattern of what will be created (remake or new region) thus far, we can certainly anticipate a new generation with a new region. However, what do fans expect of this new region? What more can really be added to pokemon? This list includes my personal anticipations and speculations about what the new region, pending the Pokemon Company’s being approved for another game, will consist of.

The first expectation is an obvious one – new megas. It’s a deep hope of mine that there won’t be too many megas in the new game because giving every pokemon a mega would just make the megas pointless and would make mega pokemon normal rather than exceptionally powerful. That said, there is no doubt that a few pokemon that are introduced in the new generation will have megas. There isn’t much that can be anticipated in that regard until more information is obtained for the game, however speculation about which previously released pokemon will receive megas can be made. That said, here are a few pokemon that I personally believe should or will receive megas:

• At least one generation’s starter pokemon – We have seen in the last couple of games, the starters have been chosen as some of the pokemon that will most likely all have megas. The megas for these pokemon have been gradually filtering into the gameplay and there is no reason to assume that this trend will stop. I anticipate that either Jhoto or Sinnoh will be next in line to have their starters pumped up with mega evolutions as every generation surrounding Jhoto has already received their starter megas and as Sinnoh is next in line for a remake if Nintendo follows its trend.

• Venomoth – Venomoth is one that I believe deserves a mega as its stats aren’t much when compared to the pokemon who it has to compete with in today’s pokemon games, and, quite frankly, Venomoth is underused. The gimmick of adding megas to other underused pokemon has really boosted the popularity of said pokemon, so using this with Venomoth would be a good idea to make it have a presence in the game again.
• Dragonite – Dragonite is one that I anticipate getting a mega although I am not entirely on board with the idea of it. However, it would be sort of odd to give every other random decent dragon type a mega and not Dragonite. Also, let’s face it, mega Dragonite has the potential to be really cool and really powerful.
• Milotic – Milotic would be a great pokemon for a mega. You have to work hard to get Feebas to evolve and to get Milotic in some versions of the game and it would be a great reward for trainers to have a mega Milotic to fight with after all that work. It would also be interesting to see what the game designers would do with a mega Milotic.
• Leavanny – This one is just out of selfishness. I really want a mega Leavanny because, after using her in a Pixelmon playthrough recently, I have realized I have a love for this pokemon. A mega for Leavanny would make her more popular and would certainly raise the amount of people who use her. It would also be nice to see Leavanny gain some ability to resist fire a little bit in her mega form as she has a 4x weakness to it.
• Gourgeist – Gourgeist, being one of my favorite pokemon types (Ghost), is a pokemon that I use a decent amount of the time. He isn’t too, too powerful so it would be nice to see him with a mega and I would certainly hope it could add a new level of haunted awesomeness to his evolution line (which I am including megas in) through mega evolving.

The next expectation for the new game is this: a gimmick. Every pokemon game for quite some time now has expanded upon the original with a gimmick. Some of them were regionally exclusive and some have become normal parts of the gameplay. In Jhoto we learned how to breed pokemon, in Hoenn we explored the world of pokemon contests, in Sinnoh we received ball capsules and seals to dazzle our opponents in battle, in Unova we drifted off to sleep and captured the pokemon that frolicked in the world of dreams, and, most recently, we played dress-up in Kalos and petted and played with our pokemon using Pokemon Amie.. So what could be left for the Pokemon franchise to use? That is a good question, but there are some things I would like to see. Firstly, I would like to see the Pokemon franchise become more decision based in the storyline. I really don’t care if the story ends in the same place, but I would like to feel like my choices matter when going through the storyline. There was a time, in generation one, when the player was asked if they would like to join team rocket, but the player’s actual answer doesn’t matter as the game always processes the scenario as the player saying no. What I would like to see is an actual choice. I would like to be able to say ‘no’ or ‘yes’ and play through the game based on my having answered this. I would even be okay if it were just minor choices that affected the gameplay. Maybe there could be a stray pokemon somewhere and your choices determine if the stray likes you or not and the level of affection that said pokemon has decides if you get that pokemon. Maybe the stray could even become the pokemon of your rival if you don’t befriend it? The options with this are limitless. Pokemon is trying, struggling, from what I can see to live up to this, but, as of now, it is only a dream of mine. We can only hope about what the gimmick will be, but we can almost be positive that there will be a gimmick.

A couple of speculations that I, personally, also have is that many of the pokemon are going to have adjusted stats, interacting with your pokemon is going to evolve even further, and that the graphics for battles are going to become more inclusive for the trainer. Stats, as of the moment, certainly favor a few types and, in order to make the game open to more customization and playable by a varying crowd, the company is going to have to rework some stats just to make the playing field a bit more even. The stats have been adjusted and shifted about before and there is no reason to assume that the company would find issue with doing it again. Pokemon have always been interesting and many players have wanted a way to interact with their pokemon for quite some time. Pokemon Amie seems to just be the beginning in this aspect. The fun little addition of playing with and petting your pokemon has really changed the aspect of gameplay – I myself have spent hours on end just petting my pokemon, feeding them sweets, and switching pokemon in and out of amie just to see how they would look. That said, refining this aspect of the gameplay would do nothing but help the pokemon franchise. As for our inclusiveness changing due to a change in the battle graphics, we have already seen evidence that the franchise is trying to make the battles seem more inclusive and real to players. The graphics have become significantly more advanced than they were when Red and Blue first came out and the addition of the 3D function has only drawn the gamer in more. Why stop there? Certainly the upcoming Pokemon games will try to make the battles even more riveting and inclusive to trainers.

That said, all of this is my personal speculation. Some is based on strong evidence and some is just wishful thinking. Either way there is no guarantee to any of this and GameFreak and the Pokemon Company can essentially do whatever they want with the franchise. One thing is for sure though – the next Pokemon game is sure to receive the love and excitement of the fans as we all train and love our pokemon, traveling through a magical world with them where anything can happen – a place where we are the main character and where we are all pokemon masters.