Pokémon Pokes Fun at IGN's Notorious 'Too Much Water' Review
The 10th generation of Pokémon has finally been officially revealed, after months of rumors. The games will be called Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves, and the teaser trailer debuted during the Pokémon 30th anniversary stream. There is a lot of water in the game, and a post from IGN has the official Pokémon social account bringing up one of the most notorious video game reviews of all time.
After the announcement trailer, IGN posted to X a series of screenshots from the trailer--all of which feature a lot of water. IGN captured the post with, "That is... a lot of water," in a lighthearted reference to their own review of Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby, in which the writer used the phrase "too much water" as a con for the game, when describing critiques in the game's world design.
That review would go on to be mocked consistently ever since by Pokémon fans and by gamers in general for the past 11 years.
In response to IGN's own joke, the official Pokémon account replied, "7.8/10" and an ocean wave emoji. 7.8/10 is the score that IGN gave to Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby back in 2014.
Fans immediately took notice of the response. "Man, never thought the Pokémon Account cooked IGN like that, wow," said X user denys vision the second.
Over on Reddit, it didn't take long for posts to go up about the comment. In a thread by Satoshi_Yui, comments are divided between nostalgia, amusement, and appreciation that IGN can poke fun at itself. Golden-Owl wrote, "IGN has the chance to give the funniest review score next year."
Others clarified that it seems The Pokémon Company, developer Game Freak, and IGN all have a good relationship and can have fun with a decade-plus-long piece of video game review history.
Pokémon Winds and Waves will release sometime in 2027 for Nintendo Switch 2.