With 2026 being the 30th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise, all eyes are on Game Freak and The Pokemon Company to see what’s in store for the series’ future. Rumors and leaks of Pokemon Gen 10 suggest that fans will see this new generation of games in the coming year, but that may only be the tip of the iceberg. As fans start looking toward that future, WWE professional wrestler and online influencer Logan Paul recently shared his idea for a new Pokemon game that bridges the old with the new in a pitch that would actually be a perfect way for the series to evolve while appealing to longtime fans.
Pokemon remakes are nothing new, and the series has been releasing updated and remixed versions of past generations, starting with the Gen 1 remakes Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen in Gen 3. Since then, Gens 2, 3, and 4 have been remade, although the most recent remakes, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, were met with mixed opinions due to a combination of gameplay and visual style changes. If Game Freak were to take a step back and re-evaluate the remake formula going forward, then it might want to consider some of the aspects Logan Paul included in his recent pitch.
One Unexpected Pokemon is Suddenly Setting a New Record in 2026
It’s already a huge year for the Pokemon series with its 30th anniversary on the horizon, but one creature has quietly broken a major record.
Logan Paul’s Idea for a New Pokemon Game is Actually Kind of Genius
In a recent viral X post, Paul described his ideal Pokemon game as a remake of Pokemon Gen 1 and 2 that is updated with more streamlined features while still keeping the originals’ classic feel. Paul notes that he replays these old Game Boy Pokemon games every few years, since he doesn’t have much of a connection with newer critters outside of Annihilape and Baxcalibur. He goes on to say that he believes other older fans feel the same way, and there is an untapped market for a remake of the first few generations rolled into a single game with updated features, a Pokedex filled with the best of the best, and a retro art style.
The HD-2D Art Style is Perfect for a Remake of Pokemon Gen 1
The rise of the HD-2D art style makes it seem like the perfect direction for the older-gen remakes Paul describes. Pioneered by games like Octopath Traveler and Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, this art style has become a popular way to achieve a retro feel while still making the game look impressive by modern standards. These visuals are achieved by using 2D pixel sprites in a 3D environment with dramatic lighting to give the appearance of a higher graphical fidelity.
A Pokemon game that uses the HD-2D art style isn’t a revolutionary concept, and many fans have suggested a similar remake art style in the past. Another X user even commented on Paul’s post with a mock-up image showing what Red and Pallet Town could look like in a Pokemon Red and Blue remake using this style. As more and more games start adopting the retro-modern hybrid art style, it’s becoming more apparent that the Pokemon franchise is missing out by not utilizing it in some capacity.
Two HD-2D games were released very recently, with Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake releasing back in October, and Octopath Traveler 0 releasing just last month, showing there is an ongoing trend for this art style.
Immersive NPCs Would Help Modernize the Classic Pokemon Formula
Another feature Paul says he’d like to see in a Pokemon remake is adaptive NPCs that grow alongside the player. While he doesn’t elaborate on what this type of feature would look like, there are some ways a Pokemon game could make NPCs more immersive. For example, if the player constantly defeats their rival, perhaps that rival’s story arc could change, and they could end up joining Team Rocket. They could also change their team depending on which Pokemon the player is using in order to have a type advantage and ramp up the difficulty if the player keeps beating them easily.
Alternatively, if the player frequently loses to the rival, they could follow the standard Pokemon Red and Blue route of becoming the Elite Four Champion. Games with deep story choices and player agency have become all the rage thanks to modern affordances, so seeing the Pokemon franchise put a twist on its classic formula with these types of story variants would be a logical next step.
Modern Hardware Could Handle Multiple Pokemon Regions in One Game
Paul’s desire to see the best generations of Pokemon combined would naturally lend itself to a multi-region game with an expanded Pokedex. Ever since the release of Pokemon Gold and Silver in Generation 2, fans have been wanting another entry that takes them to multiple regions. Getting both the Johto and Kanto regions to fit onto a Game Boy Color cartridge was a challenge in 1999, but modern video game compression techniques could easily fit multiple regions into a single game, especially with a less demanding graphical style like the HD-2D format.
As such, it would be great to see Kanto, Johto, and even Hoenn all become accessible in a single game that honors the original three generations of Pokemon. With many of the fans who grew up with these games reaching the same age as Paul, he’s likely correct that there is a great deal of nostalgia for the early Pokemon generations that isn’t being properly utilized.
The most recent Gen 1 remakes came in the form of Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, but these games were geared toward Pokemon GO players rather than older fans of the original games.
Other Features Paul Suggests Would Make Gen 1 More User-Friendly
- Online Battles
- Online Trading
- DLC
Internet features would be the final necessity for a game like this, and the Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee games don’t do enough to make the Gen 1 experience as streamlined in this regard. In those games, players can only battle against players registered as friends on their Nintendo Switch, and online trading is only player-to-player, with no GTS-like database for trades. Adding these features to a retro-styled remake would go a long way toward catering to older fans, and could prove to be a welcome alternative for these players if they feel some of the current Pokemon games are too easy.
- Released
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October 16, 2025
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, In-Game Purchases
