I am excited. With the announcement of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, my favorite generation of Pocket Monsters is finally getting remade. In the months leading to its worldwide release in November (why not just wait until E3 to announce this, Nintendo?), you will see plenty of articles discussing what we want from the games and why I’m wrong for picking Ruby and Sapphire as my favorite Pokémon games, but today’s preview will consist entirely of my realistic predictions and analysis.

Although no screenshots have been released, Nintendo’s surprise announcement today gives us a surprising amount of information to parse through. First off, they released a trailer today:

Outside of 3D Pikachu coming back for another worldwide announcement, the game covers seem to be the only big piece of info released. Of course, as many of you discerning fans may have noticed, there is something fishy about these covers. Actually, four things are fishy:

1) Kyogre and Groudon are (probably) getting Mega Evolutions or new forms

When you look at those markings on Groudon and Kyogre, you might think that it’s simply stylized box art with flashy colors. However, the markings on Kyogre and Groudon are not consistent with the markings of the original monsters. Compare the front of old Kyogre’s skull to the front of new Kyogre’s skull. There are markings on the new one that aren’t even suggested on the original monster. Groudon, meanwhile, has markings that look like they are made of lava, and the markings on the front of his body are completely different from his original gray stomach. These design changes aren’t the only ones, but they are certainly the most obvious.

In other words, the fact that there are markings on these Pokémon that did not exist on the original in any form tell me that we are probably looking at Mega Groudon and Mega Kyogre. Additionally, if these were just box art dressings and nothing more, it would be the first time ever that anything like this has happened.

2) Japan and Europe are getting colored boxes (and North America isn’t)

This one is less fishy and more New Super Mario Bros. 2-esque, but if you look at the trailer for Europe (it's the same in Japan), the cases for Omega and Alpha are red and blue respectively, as opposed to the North American trailer (see above) where we get the boring white boxes.

3) In case you had any doubt, they're (probably) running on the X and Y engine

On the covers of both games, the 3D warning text box says the following:

“Playable in 2D. Some areas also playable in 3D.”

As I just realized, the text box for X and Y says this:

“Playable in 2D and 3D.”

At best, Nintendo simply changed policy and this means it’s going to be a similar “sometimes 3D” affair like Pokémon X and Y. At worst, there might be even less 3D and they just put it all in the battles and skip overworld stuff entirely. It’s probably my least favorite thing about the newest games, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the "feature" is coming back.

4) “Dramatic new world”

In the trailer, the phrase “dramatic new world” is used. In the press release put out this morning, the phrase “dramatic story within a spectacular new world” is used. The games do promise to be “a fresh take on Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire,” so these aren’t strictly entirely new games. On the other hand, “dramatic” is such specific phrasing that I can’t help but feel like these games are going to be something more than remakes. Are they running with a Black and White 2 kind of thing with these acting as sequels? Is Hoenn not as confirmed as we thought it was? Am I reading too much into PR wording? These are the questions going through my head right now.

Actually, I can answer at least one of those questions. According to the latest Nintendo financial briefing, these games are not sequels, but instead "full-on remakes," presumably like FireRed and SoulSilver before it.

That covers just about everything I need to say regarding the new games (for today, at least). I’m very excited and even more curious, so I can promise more Pokémon talk as we lead closer to its November launch. Are you looking forward to the latest annual installment of the Pokémon franchise? Be sure to sound off in the comments.