Pokémon Winds & Waves Map Leak Confirms Our Biggest Pokémon Adventure Yet

Last week saw the official announcement of Pokémon Winds and Waves, and with the start of Pokémon’s Gen 10 expected to launch some time in 2027, fans are gearing up for the best saga yet. Set in a tropical region featuring multiple islands and even accessible underwater areas, this installment is set to be the most ambitious yet, and now, a recent leak has hinted at just how large Pokémon Winds and Waves’ map will really be.

The Pokémon Gen 10 Leaks Were True

Over the past few years, fans have all but guessed that Pokémon Winds and Waves would be the first game to kick off Gen 10. Thanks to multiple leaks and rumors, it was all but confirmed, and that includes its potential map size, stater ‘mons, and more. Now that the official announcement has been unveiled, we know a lot more information about the upcoming release, and although some players are feeling divided over those aforementioned Starters, others are just excited about another saga in the long-running Nintendo franchise.

However, whilst we wait for the launch of Pokémon Winds and Waves in 2027, fans have got something else to be excited about, at least according to a recent leak. Courtesy of renowned insider Centro, it is believed that the tropical Pokémon entry will feature around 30+ islands, and they were good enough to provide us with a (very rough) sketch. Revealing that they “counted around 30 islands on the (beta) map, it is worth taking this news with a pinch of salt. However, if true, we are in for one long adventure.

Pokémon Winds & Waves Map Is On Another Level

As with any open-world map in any game, size is not everything. With titles such as Starfield offering a large-scale map, but with most of it remaining empty, this is always the issue, and we hope that Pokémon Winds and Waves will not fall prey to this. Yes, having 30+ islands to explore sounds appealing, but if the islands are not diverse or populated enough, it will be a waste of time. Not only that, but with more recent Pokémon entries such as Pokémon Legends: Z-A not receiving the most positive reviews, Game Freak and Nintendo have some redeeming to do.

However, with Pokémon Winds and Waves already looking like a fun-filled adventure, it is hard not to feel excited and, so hopefully, its creators have learned from their mistakes, and the start of Gen 10 will go off with a bang. In the meantime, fans took to r/PokeLeaks to share their thoughts on the potential map size.

“With all these unique islands, I really hope they go all out with regional forms and convergent species,” one user shared. “Like specific islands (not all) have unique regional forms and convergent forms. This game comes out during Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, so I hope they go all out with unique forms too.” Another fan summed up my thoughts perfectly, saying, “I sincerely hope these 30 islands (if they make it to the live game) have something interesting at least and won’t feel like Starfield planets where there’s absolutely nothing worth bothering doing.” For now, all we can do is wait to see if Pokémon Winds and Waves will live up to the hype when it launches next year.