Pokémon Legends Kanto Leak Could Change the Series' Future

A new report just dropped that genuinely shifts what fans have been expecting from upcoming Pokémon titles. This might be one of the biggest leaks of the year, simply because of how much it changes. It looks like this newly leaked project could actually be the mysterious Project P30, a supposed 30th-anniversary title that Ohmori is said to be overseeing.

That name carries weight, since Ohmori has worked on numerous mainline Pokémon entries before. So this isn't some throwaway side project or mobile spin-off; it sounds like something genuinely major, and the theory going around is that this newly leaked game is that very Project P30.

That ties directly into Project Karasu, the previously leaked Pokémon Legends game rumored to be set in Galar.

This project may or may not still be moving forward. Karasu was reportedly a Legends title based in the Galar region, taking place around a thousand years before the games you already know, essentially an ancient version of Galar. Given how the lore of that region is built, that setting would have fit surprisingly well.

An account on X with a solid history of correct calls, including details about Winds and Waves and Scarlet and Violet, recently claimed that Karasu is currently penciled in for the back half of 2029, described as a Kanto sequel set roughly a decade after present-day events.

This title is said to include both the Johto and Kanto regions, featuring a map large enough to compete with the scale of Winds and Waves, and would mark the first fully open-world take on Kanto. For context, Winds and Waves is already shaping up to be the largest Pokémon game ever made, with a map that's expected to dwarf anything that came before it.

According to this same leak, the new Kanto project would center around Mew, with a side plot involving Ho-Oh and Lugia. The working title being floated is Legends Genesis, which makes sense thematically since "genesis" essentially means the start of something, and Kanto is where the franchise itself began.

It would mirror how Legends Z-A functions as a follow-up to Pokémon X and Y, a Legends entry built as a direct sequel to earlier games.

It's still unclear whether Karasu remains tied to Galar or has shifted entirely toward this Kanto concept, but what does seem fairly certain is that whatever this project turns out to be, it's a Legends-style game. The reasoning behind connecting Project P30 to this Kanto-focused Legends title comes down to the 30th-anniversary angle.

Game Freak and The Pokémon Company have a well-documented soft spot for the original generation, so a callback like this wouldn't be out of character. That said, this game likely wouldn't launch this year, and that lines up with how Nintendo and Pokémon typically operate; anniversaries rarely get their flagship releases dropped exactly on the milestone date.

The "P30" naming could simply reference the fact that development started during the 30th-anniversary window, even if the final product ends up being a full pivot toward a Kanto-based Legends game. That theory gets extra support from the earlier leak suggesting Ohmori is attached to the project. It's entirely possible that what began as a Galar-based Legends game got reworked into a Kanto-focused one instead.

Worth noting: the account behind this claim doesn't post frequently and has been fairly quiet over the past couple of years. They also reshared an earlier post referencing "Ball Guy" content, which suggested one of the companion characters in Winds and Waves actually originates from the Kanto region, another thread tying Winds and Waves, Kanto, Pokétopia, and the anime together.

It looks like Game Freak is intentionally weaving these regions and characters together, even if it's not a literal geographic connection within Winds and Waves itself.

This same source has a track record worth mentioning. Before any official reveal, they correctly pointed out underwater environments in Winds and Waves, described it as a noticeable step up from Scarlet and Violet, and correctly identified the starter lineup as a bird, a dog-type, and a gecko. Given that history, their claims carry some extra credibility.

They've also said Winds and Waves, referred to as Generation 10, will have a longer-than-usual support cycle, with DLC expected either one or two years after launch. Generation 10 is being framed as a major reset for the series, pushing things into a new era.

Kanto has already had plenty of screen time over the years, arguably more than most other regions, but a Legends Kanto game paired with a massive open world still sounds like a genuinely exciting idea. If Johto ends up folded into that same game, that's fine, though a separate, standalone Legends Johto title would still be the preferred outcome for a lot of longtime fans.

From a purely business perspective, this makes sense for Game Freak, The Pokémon Company, and Nintendo. Kanto and Generation 1 are universally recognized, making a Legends Kanto release a low-risk, high-reward move. It would likely introduce even more players to the Legends format, since these spin-off titles perform well but still don't match mainline sales numbers.

It's also not unusual for game studios to pivot direction mid-development.

Thus, scrapping a Galar-based Legends project in favor of a Kanto-focused one, while potentially revisiting Galar later, wouldn't be shocking. It's possible the team decided Galar wasn't strong enough to anchor another Legends entry and opted to go back to the franchise's roots instead with this Kanto approach.

As for naming, the final title might not end up being Legends Genesis at all. It could just as easily become Legends Mew, Legends Kanto, Legends Red, or something else referencing the original generation directly. There's also a tweet from Centro Leaks indicating that Game Freak and The Pokémon Company originally planned a huge slate of announcements for the 30th anniversary.

Most of which ended up getting delayed. Even without a Classic Collection, a dedicated anniversary title, or Generation 3 remakes, a Kanto-based release would still carry serious marketing power and would still function as a celebration of the franchise's milestone.

It is a little odd given that Pokopia was already set in Kanto and that FireRed and LeafGreen already covered that same region as remakes, but reusing familiar territory has never really stopped Game Freak before. To be clear, none of this is confirmed.

It's coming from a single source with a strong history of accurate leaks that recently shared a batch of information all at once.

Realistically, a release for this project probably wouldn't land until somewhere between 2028 and 2030. That 2030 timing actually raises another possibility, that "P30" might be a reference to the year 2030 rather than, or in addition to, the 30th anniversary itself. It could just be a coincidental overlap, but it's an interesting detail regardless.

It's also worth reiterating that the original Legends Galar information wasn't fabricated. Nearly all of it checked out and came directly from the Teraleak files, confirming that a Legends Galar project really was in development at some point. Plans shift constantly in game development, and Game Freak, The Pokémon Company, and Nintendo are fully capable of changing course whenever they choose.

At this point, a third mainline Legends title feels inevitable, and it's expected to arrive after Winds and Waves as the next major release. After that, an MMO-style project is rumored to follow, unless the release order ends up swapped or the two launch closer together than expected. As more leaks or official confirmations surface, this story will likely keep evolving, and it's shaping up to be one of the more unpredictable threads in recent Pokémon leak history.