Pokemon Pokopia, Winds and Waves started a new Pikachu trend and I absolutely hate it

Pokemon Pokopia is already a huge success of the first native Switch 2 Pokemon game in the series, and fans are hoping it's a good sign for what's to come with Gen 10, Pokemon winds and waves. While only time will tell if Pokemon winds and waves will be able to meet the set standard Popopiathere is already a special connection between these games and it has everything to do with Pikachu. Before I get into it, it's important to note a few things. I really like Pikachu. It may not be my favorite Pokemon, or even close, but I've been playing these games since I was a kid, so Pikachu is simply iconic to me.

I'm a grown woman in my thirties, yet I cried when I heard that Ash and (more importantly) Pikachu were leaving the anime after so long. I don't even watch anime regularly. So while Pikachu may not be my absolute favorite, I have a lot of love for the electric creature. Not only that, but I adore it Pokemon Pokopia's Peakychu – it's a clever name, it's an adorable looking version of Pikachu and has an engaging back story. However, this has given way to something like this Pokemon winds and waves it goes to extremes with the new variants and names of Pikachu, and that's something I strongly dislike.

Nintendo Switch Online subscribers are eligible to download Pokémon Pokopia for free until March 18

Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can claim the new Pokemon-inspired Pokopia free download, with more on the way.

Pokemon Winds and Waves has gone too far with Pikachu variants

Pokemon winds and waves the leaks pointed to a strong theme of weather-based moves and legendary mons, to the point where Gen 10 Legendaries came out of the boxes as “windy grandpa and waving grandma”. I have no idea how it will actually play out in the game, but it's probably no coincidence that we have two more variants of Pikachu named Windychu and Wavychu, the former being a male Pikachu and the latter being a female Pikachu as seen by their tails.

Drag your weapons to fill the grid

Easy to medium hard

Aside from their potential connections to Legendary, Mr. Windychu and Ms. Wavychu are actual characters in Gen 10 that players will interact with and that will be part of the overall in-game adventure. Pokemon winds and waves' region. I actually like the idea of Pokemon being part of the story, but these two are just twice as many Peakychus, all in the span of two games. While Peakychu could be written off as a convergent species of Pikachu, since convergent Pokemon retain parts of the original name and have a similar sound, Windychu and Wavychu very much show that this is more of a trend than a one-off gimmick.

Convergent species in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were:

Wiglett: Water version of Diglett
Wugtrio: A water version of Dugtria
Toedscool: Ground/Grass version of Tentacool
Toedscruel: Ground/Grass version of Tentacruel

The concept of convergent Pokémon, originally called “regional fakes” by early Gen 9 leaks, was also interesting due to the contrast of types: Diglett's Ground type becomes Water, Tentacool's Water Ground, and his Poison type becomes Grass. However, Peakychu is still electric type.

Pikachu's new forms repeat the worst sin of Pokémon Sword and Shield

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My problem is that the names might be too ridiculous and on the nose if this trend takes off, and I really hope it doesn't. It diminishes the value of convergent species by using random names for Pikachu, and unless they are proper new forms but just cosmetic variants, I don't see the value in constantly changing the name. Pokemon PokopiaAll the new forms do this, and while I'm all for it in a spin-off game or even occasionally in the main games, I don't think it's a good idea to make the concept all-encompassing.

I mean, come on. I find Mr. Windychu and Mrs. Wavychu comically bad and potentially worse than my least favorite characters in the series, which were Sordward and Shielbert. The names, the stories, the designs, they never appealed to me in any way and I thought they were unnecessary extras – especially considering the not-so-great plot and the reveal of the Gen 8 “villain”. One of the reasons I think Pokemon Scarlet and Violet they are some of the best Pokemon games have always been about trying to have a more meaningful and deeper story at their core, and they've succeeded.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's story already feels like an impossible standard with Windychu and Wavychu

So to go from Arven's tragic story, Team Star's struggles with bullying, Namona's insecurities and loneliness, to Mr. Windychu and Ms. Wavych feels like a slap in the face. I love Peakychu and I think the idea has some merit, but making it a trend for Pikachu and maybe another mons will most likely lead to overuse and saturation of what makes certain Pokemon unique and cool. Imagine another form of Charizard called “Memoirizard” and it's an old Charizard that needs help remembering the events of the story. In theory, something like this could work as well, and it has the potential to be fun; it is world building after all, but also a little forced and unnatural.

IN Pokemon winds and waves Teraleak is a so-called “majin” battle trick that supposedly makes certain Pokemon stronger and warped by the weather. If that's the case, having a Pokemon as a big part of the story with a made-up name given by its trainer is perfectly fine and natural for the series, but adding tanned versions of Pikachu with human clothes and calling them Mr. Windychu and Ms. Wavychu feels very off-putting to me. I guess we'll see, but so far I haven't been impressed, pleased or entertained.