UPDATE: According to Joe Merrick of Serebii, the artist of the supposed "leaks" came out to confirm they are fake.
The original story follows.
We’re a long way from getting any official information on the upcoming Pokémon Nintendo Switch title, but some peculiar images have popped up online that seem to reveal possible Gen 8 Starters. Of course, this is simply a rumor but there are some interesting tidbits about the image. At the very least, they have the Pokémon community talking.
The supposed concept art leaked for Pokémon Gen 8 was deleted from its original source but Twitter user SkinnySnubbull captured the images and asked the community to decide whether it’s fake or real.
RUMOR ALERT: Gen 8 starters for Pokémon. The cave bear is rumored to evolve into Grass/Electric typing, Pony into Fire/Steel, and Coral Pure Water. Thread mysteriously got deleted and images weren’t linked anywhere after reversing which is hype. Could this be Gen 7 leaks all over pic.twitter.com/dRDzEa3rIG
— ????? (@XaniaTheWitch) January 31, 2018
According to SkinnySnubbull, the fire horse starter will be (or eventually evolve into) a Fire and Steel-type Pokémon while the grass bear starter will be a dual Grass and Electric-type, the first of its kind. The Water starter will retain its pure Water typing and is based on coral.
Joe Merrick of Serebii has come out on Twitter to offer his thoughts on this rumor saying that the Japanese in the art is “dodgy” and the grammar is off. He also feels that the Water starter isn’t “marketable” enough, which is important to The Pokémon Company.
Despite that, the Pokémon community is hesitant to call these concept arts fake because of leaks from before Sun and Moon released in 2016. Similar art posted online at the time revealed the final evolutions of Litten, Popplio and Rowlet. That concept art was dismissed as fake but eventually proven to be true, and many in the community are taking a “wait and see” attitude towards this supposed rumor.
Ever since the announcement the next main Pokémon game was coming to the Nintendo Switch, rumors have been constant, but not always true. This includes a Japanese trademark that pointed to the games being named Pokémon 1 and Pokémon 0 that was proven to be false.
Another rumor states that the Pokémon Nintendo Switch title will have a revamped battle system and a release date of late 2018. This has yet to be debunked but with the rumored release date being this year, information should be coming soon.
What’s your take on these new Pokémon images? Which of these starters is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.
