'Pokémon Winds and Waves' Leak Reveals New Pokémon After Huge Disappointment

Published Sep 1, 2026, 12:49 PM EDT A leaked UI may have a Moltres-themed tease as well as starter evolutions Image: The Pokemon Company Sign in to your Polygon.com account Leading up to the yearly competitive Pokémon Worlds event, fans were hopeful that they'd finally get some kind of update on Pokémon Winds and Waves. The event included news for every major Pokémon game, but Game Freak's Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive was bizarrely absent from the mix. Fortunately, new Pokémon leaks are giving starving fans something to chew on in the meantime. The latest leak comes by way of 4chan, and is being shared by prominent Pokémon leakers like Centro. It shows a screenshot of what appears to be the new Winds and Waves inventory user interface. It more or less looks like what you'd expect, though between now and release the menu could see a number of refinements. The background shows unfinished texture models, after all. What new Pokémon are in the UI leak? The more interesting aspect of this screenshot is the Pokémon listed throughout. Half of them have generic placeholder art, while two have placeholder art of Pokémon Red and Blue's fiery legendary bird, Moltres. The Moltres choice does not appear to be entirely random. The text in this area reads "Gokurakucho," which roughly translates to bird of paradise. There are entries labeled "Gokurakucho 1" and "Gokurakucho 2," which could mean two things. Either Gokurakucho has an evolution, or Winds and Waves will include multiple birds of paradise. There are an incredible number of birds of paradise that Game Freak could take inspiration from. Arguably, nearly all of them already look like Pokémon. If we whittle it down to Indonesian birds of paradise — the region that Winds and Waves reportedly mimics — one potential candidate is the Red Bird of Paradise, or Paradisaea rubra. The vibrant bird shares a similar color scheme to Moltres, and it's almost as rare as a Legendary in real life. The Red Bird of Paradise can only be found on a few small islands, and though it's not quite in danger of going extinct, its population is declining. The official classification right now is that it is "Near Threatened." What is the new Winds and Waves starter leak? This is merely speculation, of course — the Moltres icons could be placeholder art that has nothing to do with what the monster actually is. The Moltres-related reveal is one of two potential Winds and Waves monster leaks floating about right now. The other is an image that purports to be a "riddle" for the final stage evolutions for starters Browt, Pombon, and Gecqua. The tease originates from the same leaker who posted the UI photo of the game. Image: The Pokemon Company via 4Chan We won't know how accurate these riddles are until Winds and Waves actually releases — Game Freak doesn't share final stage evolutions prior to launch. What you make of this is up to you, though it's a fun way to pass the time amid our current drought of information. My main takeaway is that Gecqua's final form will be some sort of magical creature — maybe psychic — and that Browt will be this generation's fight-type monster. Rest in pieces, cursed fire/fighting starters! Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves are coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027.