Today, Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves were announced during a Pokémon Presents, showing off a new region, three new starter Pokémon, new player characters, a lot of returning Pokémon, and two overdressed Pikachus with the most ridiculous names I've ever heard.
The trailer that aired today began with a cinematic showing a regular Pikachu flipping through a scrapbook of its adventures in different regions throughout the different Pokemon games, before stepping away from the book to answer a knock at the door. When the door opens, two other Pikachu are waiting outside dressed and ready for vacation. One, a male Pikachu (based on the tail shape) is wearing a floral polo shirt, sunglasses, and a big white sunhat with a flower. The other, a female Pika, has on a blue and pink floral sundress and a blue baseball cap also with a flower. Her cheeks are pink instead of red.
These are, apparently, Mr. Windychu and Ms. Wavychu, and no, I'm not making those names up. These names are from the official Pokémon website.
Apart from their names and their official artwork, there isn't much info about who these guys are. They're clearly each coded to one of the two versions of the game, and notably, their hats correspond with the hats the protagonist trainers wear in their respective versions.
Fans already have thoughts about the Chus. Some people love them:
Others are... amused by them, to say the least. There are a lot of memes about them being a couple with relationship problems, or just mocking their (admittedly silly) designs:
There's also a lot of generative AI art of both of them already out there, especially Windychu. Much of it is not fit to reprint here, but you can use your imagination.
Windychu and Wavychu are a bit of a surprising announcement. Pikachu is no stranger to being dressed up – heck, there was even an obtainable Cosplay Pikachu in Pokémon OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire, and Pikachu has been dressed up in all sorts of outfits for merchandise and in spinoffs like Pokémon GO. But these two seem to be important NPCs who will be involved in the story somehow. Perhaps each one is version exclusive? Maybe we'll be able to obtain them as a trainer? Maybe they belong to the game's professor? Who knows? We'll have to wait until 2027 to find out.
We've been rounding up every bit of information we can about Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves in light of their announcement today. We've got a list of every confirmed Pokémon, as well as multiple articles about the best boy, Pombon. You can catch up on everything announced at today's Pokémon Presents right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
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