Sunday’s Pokémon Presents live presentation didn’t promise much in the way of major news. It was only 14 minutes long and the hype was smaller than previous Pokémon Day presentations in which we knew we were overdue for a major video game release. There was no indication that Game Freak was set to blow the lid off a new giant mainline Pokémon adventure. However, after a slew of update announcements for other Pokémon games, the screen faded to black and we got our first look at Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.

Unbelievable. The trailer is two minutes long once you get past the long build-up with the security guard exploring the office building. Once the game footage starts, we see what Game Freak has been building towards with the Wild Area in Sword and Shield as well as the giant open landscapes in Legends: Arceus.

According to the official Pokémon website, Scarlet and Violet represent the next evolution of the series with a giant open world that is filled with Pokémon.

Various towns blend seamlessly into the wilderness with no borders. You’ll be able to see the Pokémon of this region in the skies, in the seas, in the forests, on the streets—all over! You’ll be able to experience the true joy of the Pokémon series—battling against wild Pokémon in order to catch them—now in an open-world game that players of any age can enjoy.​

From a first glance, the game looks incredible, with various landscapes and a variety of different Pokémon to catch. I love how there are even monsters like Pikachu, Swablu, and Blissey hanging out in the city. I’m guessing that in these games we can catch Pokémon anywhere, even if they show up in the middle of the town square. The main characters look like they are wearing school uniforms and there is speculation that the new region is based on Spain.

I don’t know enough about the country to know what that speculation is based on, but Spain seems like a good bet when you look at the names of the starter Pokémon. On the left is Sprigatito, whose name seems to come from “Spring” and “Gatito,” which means “little cat” in Spanish. The middle guy who I just want to cuddle to death is Fuecoco, The Fire Croc Pokémon. The first three letters of that name are the same as “fuego,” which is “fire” in Spanish. On the right is Quaxly, whose name doesn’t seem to have Spanish roots, but two out of three ain’t bad.

The games are due for a Late 2022 release, which based on Pokémon history I will take to mean sometime in November. I can’t wait to find out more about Scarlet and Violet as the year goes on. The glorious new Generation IX is here and I haven’t even scratched the surface of Legends: Arceus yet. We might be living in the golden age of Pokémon. What a time.