Pokemon Winds and Waves Beginner's Guide: Starters, Islands, and What Actually Matters in Your First 3 Hours

I remember watching the Pokemon Day 2026 Presents livestream and genuinely losing it when they showed the Rotom hoverboard. A pokemon-powered scooter that transforms based on your team's abilities. That's the kind of nonsense I'm here for.

Pokemon Winds and Waves is the first mainline generation built specifically for the Nintendo Switch 2. And honestly, it shows. The archipelago map has 17 islands, the ocean between them isn't just a blue loading screen. You actually dive underwater in full 3D. Dive is back. I've been waiting for this since Hoenn.

Before you jump in when the game drops in 2027, there's some stuff worth knowing. Not the obvious "catch pokemon, battle trainers" stuff. The things that'll save you from restarting three hours in because you messed up something dumb.

The Starter Decision That Actually Matters

Every Pokemon player has an opinion about starters. Mine is that Browt looks ridiculous and I love it. It's a little grass-type bean chick. A literal bean with legs. The fire starter Pombon is a puppy, and Gecqua is this sleek water gecko thing.

Here's the thing though. In Winds and Waves, your starter choice affects more than just the first gym. There are no gyms. The Adventures system has 18 different challenge types spread across the archipelago, and some of them are brutal for certain starter types early on.

Browt the Grass-type Bean Chick is the defensive pick. It learns Leech Seed at level 4 and Synthesis at level 9, which is unusually early for a starter. The Resort Island's first few Adventure challenges feature a lot of water and ground types. Browt walks through them. You'll want something else by Island 4 though, when fire types start showing up everywhere.

Pombon the Fire Puppy is the offensive pick. High speed stat, learns Flame Charge at level 8. The early islands have plenty of grass and bug types to farm for XP. But underwater caves, which you hit around hour 4 or 5, are rough. Everything down there is water type, and Pombon's fire moves get a damage penalty in submerged battles. The weather system makes this even trickier. During rain on the open ocean, fire moves lose 30% power. Something to keep in mind.

Gecqua the Water Gecko is what I'd call the safe pick. Balanced stats, learns Water Gun at level 6 and Aqua Jet at level 12 for priority damage. It handles the early islands fine, and once you unlock Dive, Gecqua gets a 20% speed boost underwater. The downside is that a lot of the land-based Adventure challenges on Island 3 and Island 5 throw electric and grass types at you. Gecqua struggles there unless you've built a decent second pokemon by then.

One thing I noticed from the trailer footage. Your starter follows you around outside its ball from the very beginning. No need for a special item or friendship level. It's just there, running behind you on the beach. The animation quality on the Switch 2 is honestly stunning. Pombon's tail leaves little scorch marks in the sand.

The Resort Island Opening

You play as a 13-year-old who arrives at the archipelago with their mom. She's on vacation, you're the kid who immediately runs off to find adventure. The Resort Island is your hub for the first few hours. There's a hotel, a beach, some jungle paths, and a rival who challenges you within the first 15 minutes.

The rival picks the starter that's weak to yours. Classic formula. But what's different is that the rival sticks around. They're not just showing up every three towns to lose a battle and say something cryptic. Based on what Game Freak showed, the rival actually joins you for certain Adventure challenges. Two-player battles where you each control your own team. I'm genuinely curious how that'll work in practice.

Your first real objective is completing three Adventure challenges on the Resort Island. The Adventures system replaces gyms entirely. 18 of them across all 17 islands (one island has two). Each one is different. One might be a traditional battle gauntlet, another might be a rescue mission where you swim through a coral reef dodging Sharpedo, another might ask you to navigate a storm with your Rotom hoverboard.

I like this change. After nine generations of "walk into building, solve ice puzzle, fight leader," something new is refreshing. Whether Game Freak can pull it off across 18 different challenge types is another question.

The Rotom Hoverboard and Getting Around

About two hours in, you get the Rotom hoverboard. This thing is more than a traversal gimmick. It transforms based on which pokemon abilities are linked to it. Link a pokemon with Swift Swim and the hoverboard moves faster over water. Link one with Flame Body and it leaves a fire trail that clears tall grass and scares off low-level wild pokemon.

You can switch the linked pokemon anytime from the menu. It's not like HMs where you're stuck with a moveslot you regret. The hoverboard is its own system. Upgrades come from completing specific Adventure challenges.

The underwater sections deserve their own mention. Dive is a full 3D movement system now. Not the grid-based movement from Ruby and Sapphire. You swim freely in all directions, and different pokemon have different swim speeds and maneuverability. Gecqua and other water starters are obviously fast. But some non-water types, like Dragonite (if it's in the regional dex), have been shown swimming too. The underwater caves connect islands in ways the surface map doesn't show.

A Few Things I Wish I'd Known

Save before picking your starter. The cutscene is skipable if you've seen it once, but the autosave kicks in right after you choose. If you change your mind, you're restarting from the boat arrival.

Talk to everyone on the Resort Island. There's a guy near the beach who gives you a Quick Ball for answering a trivia question about regional variants. And a woman in the hotel lobby trades you a Poke Doll for a Sitrus Berry, which is a terrible trade but unlocks a side quest later involving the Hotel Chairman.

The weather system matters more than I expected. Each island has a weather pattern that cycles every 30 minutes of real time. Rain weakens fire, sun weakens water, wind boosts flying moves. The battle UI shows current weather effects in the top right corner. Pay attention to it. Some Adventure challenges are nearly impossible if you fight them in the wrong weather.

Don't evolve your starter immediately when it hits the right level. Some moves are only learnable in the base form, and the Seed Pokemon mechanic interacts with evolution timing in ways the community is still figuring out. More on that in the builds guide.

That should be enough to get you through the first few hours without any major regrets. The archipelago is huge and there's way more to dig into. But honestly, the best advice is just explore. The game rewards wandering off the obvious path more than any Pokemon game before it.