“I Wonder What The Future Will Be Like” released today as part of Project Voltage, and it’s another love letter to Pokémon’s musical history, packing some incredibly obscure references within it.
As pointed out by X user Kalle, Japanese commenters have keenly spotted some extremely niche references within the song.
Commenter User-Tokimiya made a comprehensive list of all the songs and sounds they were able to recognize, as seen here.
Listening repeatedly myself and cross-referencing the comment, I’ve figured out this list of song and sound effect references:
0:00 – Main theme.
0:06 – Pokémon Center. (the end of this segment also features the sound effect of Poké Balls touching the Pokémon Center’s healing machine).
0:22 – Wild Pokémon (Kanto).
0:33 – Pokémon Sleep sound effect.
0:34 – Evolution music.
0:37 – Battle Gym Leader. (BW)
0:41 – Super Training. (XY)
0:49 – Granbull – While not a song reference, the pun on Granbull’s name may be a reference to the popular Japanese game series Granblue Fantasy.
0:56 – Level up sound effect.
1:06 – Battle victory jingle.
1:08 – Caught Pokémon DPPT.
1:17 – Battle Groudon / Kyogre / Rayquaza.
1:25 – Lavender Town music.
1:28 – Evolution song.
1:31 – Level up sound effect.
1:36 – Battle BW Gym Leader theme.
1:38 – Battle Dialga / Palkia Song Intro.
1:40 – Sword and Shield startup sound.
1:48 – Eternatus Battle theme.
1:53 – Lapras & Road 206 music.
2:03 – BW2 Roxie Gym Vocal.
2:05 – Battle Wild Pokémon RBG theme.
2:08 – Champion Iris Battle theme.
2:28 – Various sound effects. Throwing Poké Ball, ball hitting the ground, ball shaking and capture jingle.
2:30 – Lake Guardian encounter theme.
2:37 – Battle Uxie Azelf Mesprit.
2:41 – Poké Flute song.
2:50 – Battle Ho-oh music. (HG)
3:01 – Pokémon Center Healing sound effect.
3:03 – Pokédex report jingle.
3:07 – Get badge jingle.
I was stoked to hear some of these songs and sounds sampled in this song. Particularly the Champion Iris battle theme, it’s one of my favorites.
