Pokémon Winds & Waves??
Mar. 1st, 2026 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkI would call myself a Pokémon fan, though not a diehard fan. I do have three Pokémon plushies, but I haven't played every single Pokémon game. I played gen 1 *three* times, lol (Pokémon Yellow, Pokémon LeafGreen, and Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu), gen 3 (Pokémon Emerald - I always meant to play Pokémon Omega Sapphire but never got around to it), and Pokémon Sword. I think I also played Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon White on an emulator, but I honestly can't remember them. I mostly keep up with Pokémon news out of curiosity rather than expecting to buy the newest game.
But Pokémon Winds and Waves look good, and as soon as I saw that they might bring diving back?? I was SOLD. Gen 3 remains my favorite gen, and I loved the diving mechanic.
Also, the starters??? I haven't felt like all three starter options looked cute since...gen 2. I can't even pick one right now, which is wild because usually I'll look at the starter options for a new gen and think only one looks good/tolerable. I'd have to decide based on their final evolutions. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the final evolutions are cool and not just anthropomorphic monstrosities (I'm sorry, but the Scarlet/Violet starter final evolutions are horrifying. No more of that please!!).
Anyway, I'm feeling optimistic!! (Can't wait to see the new legendaries, too!)
*
I wanted to add some thoughts about gaming right now in general, at least when it comes to the Nintendo Switch 2.
For reference, I have never been an early console adopter; I only buy a new console when it has a game I really want to play. I bought a Wii about a year after release, when Super Mario Galaxy came out. I bought a Switch more than a year after release, when Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu came out (though in retrospect I wish I'd played Breath of the Wild on it instead of my Wii U). The Switch 2 is the first console I've been an early adopter of—the Mario Kart World bundle got me (if Nintendo were trying to use FOMO to get people to buy the bundle ASAP, well, they succeeded).
I know people have complained about not enough games being out for the Switch 2, and while I don't have a historical knowledge of release schedules for previous consoles, based on my own buying habits, I never expected a glut of games to come out upon release. At most, I'm kind of impatiently waiting for more third-party titles to be ported over to the Switch 2 (Metaphor ReFantazio on the Switch 2 when??), but I didn't expect Nintendo to have ten first-party titles on the Switch 2 ready to go. So people complaining that the Switch 2 isn't worth it right now confuse me. If you didn't think the launch window games are enough for the console right now, why did you buy it?
So far, outside of Mario Kart World, I've mostly been catching up on some Switch 1 games on my Switch 2, and I've been pretty satisfied. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma seems to run way better on the Switch 2 even without the Switch 2 update pack, and I'm glad I got to play it with a smooth framerate. Monster Hunter Stories 3 will be my first actual Switch 2 game I play, and I'm super excited. There are some Switch 1 re-releases I want to play: Luigi's Mansion 2, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2. Split Fiction is still on my to-play list. And I'm hoping/looking forward to more third-party ports to the Switch 2: Metaphor ReFantazio, as I mentioned before, and maybe the long-rumored Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake. (Also, Nintendo, PLEASE port Yoshi's Woolly World to the Switch/Switch 2 so I can get rid of my Wii U T_T).
All this is to say that I have plenty of games to play right now and I'm a satisfied Switch 2 owner. Sometimes, I think YouTube gamers forget about casual gamers who don't have every console and don't play every single game at launch. I'm sure there are other people like me, who only own one console and are used to waiting to play third-party games until they're ported to Nintendo systems.
But Pokémon Winds and Waves look good, and as soon as I saw that they might bring diving back?? I was SOLD. Gen 3 remains my favorite gen, and I loved the diving mechanic.
Also, the starters??? I haven't felt like all three starter options looked cute since...gen 2. I can't even pick one right now, which is wild because usually I'll look at the starter options for a new gen and think only one looks good/tolerable. I'd have to decide based on their final evolutions. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the final evolutions are cool and not just anthropomorphic monstrosities (I'm sorry, but the Scarlet/Violet starter final evolutions are horrifying. No more of that please!!).
Anyway, I'm feeling optimistic!! (Can't wait to see the new legendaries, too!)
*
I wanted to add some thoughts about gaming right now in general, at least when it comes to the Nintendo Switch 2.
For reference, I have never been an early console adopter; I only buy a new console when it has a game I really want to play. I bought a Wii about a year after release, when Super Mario Galaxy came out. I bought a Switch more than a year after release, when Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu came out (though in retrospect I wish I'd played Breath of the Wild on it instead of my Wii U). The Switch 2 is the first console I've been an early adopter of—the Mario Kart World bundle got me (if Nintendo were trying to use FOMO to get people to buy the bundle ASAP, well, they succeeded).
I know people have complained about not enough games being out for the Switch 2, and while I don't have a historical knowledge of release schedules for previous consoles, based on my own buying habits, I never expected a glut of games to come out upon release. At most, I'm kind of impatiently waiting for more third-party titles to be ported over to the Switch 2 (Metaphor ReFantazio on the Switch 2 when??), but I didn't expect Nintendo to have ten first-party titles on the Switch 2 ready to go. So people complaining that the Switch 2 isn't worth it right now confuse me. If you didn't think the launch window games are enough for the console right now, why did you buy it?
So far, outside of Mario Kart World, I've mostly been catching up on some Switch 1 games on my Switch 2, and I've been pretty satisfied. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma seems to run way better on the Switch 2 even without the Switch 2 update pack, and I'm glad I got to play it with a smooth framerate. Monster Hunter Stories 3 will be my first actual Switch 2 game I play, and I'm super excited. There are some Switch 1 re-releases I want to play: Luigi's Mansion 2, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2. Split Fiction is still on my to-play list. And I'm hoping/looking forward to more third-party ports to the Switch 2: Metaphor ReFantazio, as I mentioned before, and maybe the long-rumored Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake. (Also, Nintendo, PLEASE port Yoshi's Woolly World to the Switch/Switch 2 so I can get rid of my Wii U T_T).
All this is to say that I have plenty of games to play right now and I'm a satisfied Switch 2 owner. Sometimes, I think YouTube gamers forget about casual gamers who don't have every console and don't play every single game at launch. I'm sure there are other people like me, who only own one console and are used to waiting to play third-party games until they're ported to Nintendo systems.
