Finally visible Pokemon, random encounters are so early 2000s.

Well this confirms it then. All that's left to do now is to hope and pray that the integration of Go's mechanics is minimal at best. Unfortunately, the title doesn't give much hope for that since they're literally making it a point to have the word Go in there. This may truly be the end of one of my all time favorite franchises for me.

On the flipside, I haven't seen anyone consider this possibility which could be the case: what if this is a spin off Pokemon game solely meant to cater to the casual Go audience and not actually a core gen 8 game? Maybe GF is working on both projects right now and the true gen 8 games are still a solid year and a half away or so. I can dream at least.

hype train for meeeee

Are you seriously trying to imply that BotW wasn't nostalgia pandering to Zelda 1?

Because it was.

What the hell? That might be the silliest BOTW related comment I've ever read. The original LoZ is a horribly dated game that doesn't hold up AT ALL, and I say that as a huge Zelda fan. BOTW is a masterpiece that is likely to follow in OoT's footsteps in terms of aging incredibly. Sure BOTW removed the linearity of Zelda games in the biggest way since the original, but that's about where the similarities end. Honestly, I can't even begin to attempt to understand how someone could view BOTW as just nostalgia pandering to the original. The games are as different as any two games could be. 

Now, if you want to talk about genuine nostalgia pandering in the Zelda franchises, you would have an actual case with Twilight Princess to OoT. That's why TP has always been and likely always will be my least favorite 3D Zelda. It's just a remake of OoT and blatant nostalgia pandering. 

All these new Pokemon games need is a Battle Royale mode.

..really?

The most recognizable callback to 1 was the opening shot that most people wouldn't pick up on cause it referrenced a picture in the manual.  The game's only similarity is the openness and even that isn't all that similar since Zelda 1 had a structured and fixed path of progression, it just didn't explain anything and left you to wander aimlessly vs BotW which is truly open ended.  Nearly every aspect is a departure from series norms.  To call it a nostigic pandering to fans of the first game is hyperbolic in the utmost extreme if not an outright falsehood.

Just because there are differences, doesn't mean it wasn't pandering. The entire concept is made to evoke the feelings of Zelda 1. The way it begins - Zelda 1. The old man in the cave - Zelda 1. The game was announced comparing its openness to Zelda 1. Zelda 1 had bottlenecks, but it definitely wasn't a fixed path. That doesn't matter either way, because nostalgia isn't about reality, it's about how something made you feel. BotW is trying to evoke how Zelda 1 felt specifically. The game's mechanics were tested, and more importantly shown publicly, using Zelda 1 sprites. The gimmick of the overworld difficulty is evokes Zelda 1 specifically. The future tech gimmick was a well known scrapped Zelda 1 design. Guardians were inspired by the Octoroks SPECIFICALLY from Zelda 1, because Aonuma wanted to emulate how they felt huge when playing that game. Lynels are in the game for the first time in 3D Zelda because they were the strongest enemies in Zelda 1. I can go on.

I don't know why you both are getting so defensive about it. Zelda 1 is still one of the best Zeldas, and BotW wouldn't have been good without its foundation. I wasn't commenting on BotW's quality - I was commenting on how hypocritical criticizing these Pokemon games for pandering to the first games in its franchise is while mentioning BotW as an example of the opposite. I also never said BotW is "just" pandering, as if there's nothing new, but in that same light neither will these games. Both BotW and these games are pandering a crap ton to their original. Just because BotW is good doesn't mean it's innocent.

And for the record, I'm just as annoyed that Pokemon, and specifically these two, keeps genwunning as anyone else, but that comparison to BotW is a total misfire. Especially when, love it or hate it, the rumors are that these games ARE evolving and changing how Pokemon does things.

On topic, you know what would make this game for me? If they're going to lean on Gen 1 again, lean on something gen 1 pandering hasn't - 90's nostalgia. Give me jagged designs, fat Pikachu, 90's era clothes, corny rock music, clunky old tech, washed out acid colors, etc. That would be dope.

Won't happen though, but would've been dope.