The July 22nd, 2025 Pokemon Direct felt more like a hostage situation

July 22nd, 2025, me and my kids got around my laptop to watch the new Pokemon Direct for the same reason everyone else was on, we got ready all with the same question..."What will the next update to Pokemon Sleep bring?"

No, I'm playing. No one on Earth asked that. In fact, as someone who regular sees doctors for my sleep issues, I will tell you this flat out, Pokemon Sleep is NOT good for you. It adds unnecessary stressors to something that comes from relaxing your mind. Don't fuck with it.

But anywho, like everyone else, we were here for Pokemon Legends Z-A. Nintendo knows this, which is why they used this as a chance to parade out their MASSIVE line of other products. It was almost 20 minutes of just straight up commercials. For real, check the time stamp.

GOD DAMN

It's not to say the other Pokemon things aren't okay. I loved Pokemon Concierge, it was cute. I think Pokemon Cafe ReMix is alright. Pokemon Unite is actually pretty good, I just don't like MOBAs.

But they know what we're here for and, as much as I loved feeling the communal energy of a million hardcore Pokemon competitors explode into rage when Pokemon Champions announced you can just adjust your Pokemon's stats however you want it, I just wanted Z-A.

And after finally getting to it, me and my kids discovered that there's actually nothing. Nothing new really. There was a little chunk of story which sets up the guy who we're clearly supposed to think is the main villain before whatever twist occurs and we find out it's just fucking Volo again. And we found out that the clothing in the game is actually kinda fire.

A huge step up from Scarlet and Violet where you dressed like that kid you remember from school who was raised by their grandparents.

In all honesty, it felt like Nintendo didn't actually have anything to tell us about Pokemon Legends: Z-A and, instead, used our desperation for information to try to push their other stuff on us. Making me wait for 17 minutes just to find out the Mega Evolution of Dragonite is a Dragonite with Dratini parts glued to it isn't it.

And it's not the market for it either. I don't care how famous Aardman Entertainment is, if I'm here for in depth information on a particular game, telling me Aardman Entertainment is making a cartoon about Pokemon is not going to interest me. It hits about as well as going to a bar and being offered a Bible.

At this point, Nintendo Directs, unless SPECIFICALLY about one particular title, just feels bad. It feels like 17 unskippable ads leading to a commercial and it's a bummer.