Pokémon fans have just finished watching the 30th anniversary presentation, and the debut trailer for the 10th generation games: Pokémon Winds and Waves. While thoughts and feelings are still gestating, the internet has, as ever, already begun to have its fun in reacting to the latest set of neat little guys.

“Yo! it’s red from Angry Birds!” wrote user Sceptic_Stream on the Pokémon Reddit, who slotted in the titular moody bird from the popular phone game in the place of Browt – one of the new starter Pokémon. They were not alone in connecting these dots, but despite his moody mannerisms Browt seems to have gone down a treat.

“I have never not picked a grass starter in a Pokémon game, and I’m not about to start now,” wrote Respawn Entertainment’s Pete Stewart. “but I’ll damned if Pombon isn’t everything to me (but also I love you very much, angry little Browt).”

The similarity is uncanny…

But how can you hate this moody boy!

Bombon, a cheery pomeranian, has gone a long way in winning the hearts of thousands. “You have no idea how excited I am to have my pup be with me in Waves” wrote Impressive-Eggplant6, seeing a lot of Bombon in their own, real life adorable dog.

Others, still throwing adoration to the Fire-type starter, did so with a disclaimer: “Please don’t turn into a Man please don’t turn into a Man PLEASE don’t turn into a Man” begged Petrana Radulovic, a desire born of the series’ tendencies to take four-legged Pokémon and pull them up on their hind legs.

The final starter, Gecqua, is also getting their flowers. One Key_Amazed proclaimed: “I’m in love with Gecqua’s design. I really love elegant water type Pokemon like Milotic. Hopefully the final evolutions aren’t bipeds.”

Artists spared no time paying homage to the new starters!

But putting aside the starters, what else did fans like the look of? Well, for the first time in a while, a Pokémon game looks visually impressive! In a post titled ‘If this is representative of the game’s visuals I am cautiously optimistic’, user _AntiSocialMedia shared their thoughts on the early gameplay footage shown off today.

“Low image quality aside, the last few games have looked pretty rough so I am cautiously optimistic about this game looking good,” they wrote. “What really got my attention was the lighting on the Slugmas in the caves.”

SpaceShipRat shared the sentiment: “They’ve done it. After 10 years, they’ve managed to make a full 3D game that’s not painful to look at.”

So as far as first impressions go, it looks like Pokémon Winds and Waves are off to a grand start. Whether this momentum continues throughout the year as we near the 2026 release date for both titles, is the big question. Especially since, in a bold move, this new Pokémon generation will be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2. If do fancy learning more about the games, check out our everthing we know so far page for Winds and Waves. We’ve also taken a closer look at the Gen 10 starter Pokémon.