My Predictions for the Oct 4th Pokemon Update

Tomorrow we’re supposed to get some news on the upcoming entries to the Pokemon series. We already know quite a few things: we know about Z-Moves, trial captains, Alola Forms, version differences, kahunas, legendaries, villains, and the mysterious phenomenon known as Ultra Beasts. In a way, it feels like we know everything – and yet it is easy to see that there are quite a few points where we are still left in the dark.

What ARE Ultra Beasts, really? What is the history between the leader of Team Skull and Professor Kukui? Will we see the return of Mega Pokemon? There are quite a few questions left to ask, and today I am going to make some predictions about what we might hear this Tuesday.

Prediction #1: We’ll meet a new Ultra Beast but learn nothing new about what they are

I’m pretty confident that the phenomena of Ultra Beasts is something that the Pokemon Company intends to keep pretty well hidden before the game’s release. It seems like a pretty big plot point, so while I think they’ll continue to bring it up and tease us to keep us engaged with the idea, we aren’t going to learn any real details.

Prediction #2: We’ll actually learn more details about a new island

So far we know almost nothing about the islands outside of Melemele (other than the Aether Foundation, anwyway). I think there’s a good chance that this trailer will actually show off another island in a bit more detail, perhaps revealing a new trial captain or a kahuna.

Prediction #3: We’ll see new Pokemon, but only a couple

I think the days of getting seven or eight Pokemon dumped on us all at once are over. This trailer will likely have some new Pokemon, but only a few. My guess is that at least one of these will be a new Alolan form we haven’t seen.

Prediction #4: We’ll learn for sure whether or not Mega Evolution is back

Of all my predictions, this one may be the biggest stretch. But I do think that at some point before the game’s release the Pokemon Company will let us know whether or not to expect Mega Evolution, and this may be that time. Particularly if it IS coming back.

Prediction #5: We’ll get confirmation that the starter evolutions differ by version

In my opinion, there’s no way this fifth and final prediction is not happening. Not too long ago we learned that Rockruff has two different forms: a Midday form and a Midnight form. Which form of Rockruff you get when it evolves is based on which version of the game you’re playing. By playing Sun, you get the Midday form of Lycanroc, whereas you get the Midnight form in Moon. Now the reason I bring that up is because way, WAY back, there was a hint dropped that the starters had something special in common with Rockruff. At first I suspected that the “something” would be Z-Moves, but we quickly discovered that any Pokemon can use those. So now, it seems very likely that the common secret shared between Rockruff and the Alolan starters is that they evolve differently depending on which version of the game you have.
Now do I think that they’ll show us the different forms? Not necessarily. I think it depends a lot on how long it takes for the version differences to show. I don’t expect to see the final form of the starters, but rather Stage One – the middle form. If both versions have the same Stage One evolution and Stage Two is when things get different, then I don’t think we’ll get to see any version differences when it comes to the starters. However, if Stage One is different depending on the version as well as Stage Two, we might get a glimpse of what that would look like.
No matter what, I fully expect something about the starter evolutions to be revealed. There’s barely more than a month left before these games come out, and this news release may very well be the last BIG one before then. So I expect some pretty big reveals this time around, and then smaller stuff after that until the games come out in November.

What are your predictions about tomorrow’s release? Be sure to let me know in the comments, and tomorrow we’ll find out which predictions are true and which ones are off.