Pokemon
Pokemon
Pokemon Go Safari Zone returns with new location and schedule
Olivia Richman
Pokemon Go Safari Zone is coming back this year. Safari Zones can be found in most Pokemon games. These are locations that have rare Pokemon that can’t be encountered anywhere else in the game. Trainers cannot battle in the Safari Zone since it’s a type of sanctuary for Pokemon. Safari Zones have even been added to Pokemon Go, allowing trainers to take part in Safari Zone events with other players. …
Pokemon
These are the 5 most expensive Pokemon TCG cards of all time
Steven Rondina
Pokemon cards are skyrocketing in price, but which Pokemon card is the most expensive of them all? Select Pokemon TCG cards have been climbing in price for years, but an infamous series of Logan Paul videos kicked that price increase into overdrive. This came along a massive inflation of the price for these cards, with his boisterous overvaluations of his collection driving up prices for everyone. But with the Pokemon …
Pokemon
Here’s how to play the best Pokemon TCG deck in format, Mew VMAX
Olivia Richman
The Pokemon TCG meta changes with each expansion, with each one changing the best deck with the release of new mechanics. In 2022, the best Pokemon TCG deck is set to be the one based around Mew VMAX. Mew VMAX dropped with the Fusion Strike expansion, which is part of the Pokemon Sword & Shield card collection. The Fusion Strike battle style is all about “teamwork and adaptability,” according to …
Pokemon
Shaymin now available in Pokemon BDSP with mystery gift item
Steven Rondina
At long last, the mythical Pokemon Shayman has arrived in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Legally, that is. Shaymin has technically been available from the start for everyone that owns Pokemon BDSP. A variation on the menu glitch that allowed players to freely duplicate Pokemon also allowed players to glitch their way into almost completely unrestricted movement in the game. This allowed players to manipulate their way into catching …
Pokemon
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet starters revealed in official trailer
Steven Rondina
Gen-nine Pokemon is coming later this year, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and their starters being revealed during Pokemon Presents. Pokemon Presents announced a number of small and medium-sized updates including the arrival of Alolan Pokemon in Pokemon GO, Duraludon’s impending release in Pokemon Unite, and the Daybreak update to Pokemon Legends: Arceus. That would’ve been a decent amount on its own, but the traditional “one last announcement” turned out …
Pokemon
Here’s the difference between mythical and legendary Pokemon
Steven Rondina
Fans of Pokemon are obsessed with rarity, and no other categories of Pokemon are rarer than mythicals and legendaries. But what’s the difference between a mythical and a legendary Pokemon, and how many are there? Pokemon are loosely categorized in several ways, with one of the most awkward distinctions being between mythical and legendary Pokemon. Both are strong and both are rare, but for casual players and TCG fans there …
Pokemon
Here’s what you need to know about Tsareena’s Queenly Majesty
Steven Rondina
Queenly Majesty is potentially one of the strongest abilities in Pokemon today, but how can Tsareena get it? At present, Tsareena is the sole Pokemon that has this ability. At face value, it’s one of the most powerful abilities in the game, negating priority moves such as Quick Attack and Protect. Queenly Majesty also protects the user and its allies from attacks given priority from other abilities such as Prankster …
Pokemon
Here’s how to read Pokémon’s Unown alphabet
Steven Rondina
The Unown alphabet returned to Pokémon thanks to Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl (BDSP) and Pokémon Legends: Arceus, in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Since then, though, the alphabetic Pokémon has been largely absent. Unown was one of the many different Pokémon that got put on the shelf in Pokémon Sword and Shield. This made more sense for Unown than for most other shelved Pokémon since Unown’s only move was …
Pokemon BDSP update stops trades of duplication glitch clones
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s duplication and cloning bugs threatened to kill any value for shiny Pokemon, but developers have found a way to protect against it with a new update. In the new update for Pokemon BDSP, the developers began laying the foundation for exporting Pokemon out of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and importing Pokemon into them using Pokemon HOME. Included in that is a coding string …
Here’s how to find and get Darkrai in Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
Players can catch Darkrai in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, but that’s easier said than done. Darkrai has been one of the most sought-after mythical Pokemon of all. Its spooky looks stand apart from prior mythical Pokemon like the cutesy Celebi, Shaymin, and Jirachi. This is reinforced further by its pure dark typing. The cherry on top is its strong base stat distribution, standing as a proper special attack sweeper rather than …
How to check and raise friendship in Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
Ever since Pokemon Gold and Silver, select Pokemon have needed more to evolve than just trading, stones, or leveling up. This is also the case in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, with checking and raising friendship being a requirement to evolve many different Pokemon. The trouble is that friendship has always been a hidden mechanic within the Pokemon franchise of games. Pokemon Legends: Arceus does have the standard ways available to check …
The best move, item builds for Aegislash in Pokemon Unite
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
Aegislash is a unique Pokemon in the franchise that requires a different build than one would expect, and this hasn’t changed in Pokemon Unite. First introduced in Pokemon X and Y and the first in a trio of new releases, Aegislash is built around its Stance Change ability. Stance Change sees Aegislash swap its offensive and defensive stats based on the attacks it uses. King’s Shield switches it to Shield …
AI program allows fans to create fake new Pokemon on demand
Olivia Richman
Pokemon
An AI program is allowing people to create fake new Pokemon almost instantaneously. The Nokemon generator was created back in January and is starting to gain a lot of interest from the Pokemon community. Nokemon was created by Liam Eloie, who was inspired by a Buzzfeed data scientists’ article on “forcing an AI bot to create weird-looking Pokemon.” But Nokemon takes it a step further and allows others to create …
This new official Pokemon Legends: Arceus art has fans excited
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
It took a leak, the game’s release, and then a few extra weeks on top of that, but it’s finally happened. Game Freak and Nintendo have officially revealed the new starter evolutions. This comes in the form of official Pokemon Legends: Arceus art for Hisuian Samurott, Typhlosion, and Decidueye. A significant update has shipped for the official Pokemon Legends: Arceus website. This includes a sizable batch of new official artwork …
Here’s where to find & catch Shaymin in Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
The mythical Shaymin is available for players to catch in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and it’s not particularly hard to do if you know where to look and how to catch it. Shaymin is up for grabs for the first time in years. Players haven’t been able to get the legendary since 2018 when the Pokemon was available in Pokemon Center retail locations in Japan. They haven’t been available to western …
Here’s what we know about Pokemon Legends: Arceus DLC plans
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is almost certainly going to receive DLC, but what exactly does that entail? What are Nintendo’s plans for Pokemon Legends: Arceus DLC. There have been various rumblings about the future of the Pokemon Legends franchise after its debut with Arceus. Nintendo has yet to give official and definitive word about whether the game will be a one-and-done spin-off like Pokemon Conquest or the start of a brand …
Fans are talking about Pokemon Legends: Celebi, but what is it?
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
The concept of Pokemon Legends: Celebi has captured the imagination of Pokemon fans, but is there anything to it? Pokemon Legends: Arceus has entranced Pokemon fans around the globe. Its unique setting in an ancient Sinnoh region and novel gameplay has been well received among fans and critics alike. Pokemon fans are hoping this isn’t a one-off affair in the way some games have been, such as Pokemon Let’s Go …
5 things Pokemon games need to improve after Legends: Arceus
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is here, and it’s been a big success both commercially and critically. But it hasn’t been perfect. The game’s blend of open-world elements, action sequences, and standard Pokemon gameplay has breathed new life into the franchise for the first time in years. While this is a big step forward, there are still some important improvements to be made. Odds are that Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be the …
Here’s how to catch Enamorus in Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
Pokemon Legends: Arceus has a lot of legendaries to catch, including Enamorus. Here’s how to catch this new legendary Pokemon. Enamorus was the lone new legendary added in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. The Pokemon has garnered a decidedly mixed responses since it was first leaked to the public. On the one hand, the new Pokemon’s appearance was widely derided. The newcomer looks more like a common enemy in a typical role-playing …
How to get Landorus, Thundurus, and Tornadus in Legends: Arceus
Steven Rondina
Pokemon
Landorus, Tornadus, and Thundurus are among the many legendaries that can be caught in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. But just how do you get them? The fifth-generation trio made their way across the Pacific Ocean and landed in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. For their efforts, the Forces of Nature trio got rebranded as the “Incarnate Forces of Hisui” and got a new companion in the controversial Pokemon Enamorus. Catching them isn’t necessarily …
Pokemon stands as the largest cross-media IP in the world by a comfortable margin, but how did it make such explosive gains?
For a long while, pivoting a video game franchise into a larger brand seemed impossible. Iconic titles like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Resident Evil received TV and film adaptations, with the most common result being catastrophic failure. That was the norm from the 1990s all the way into the 2020s; and it probably shouldn’t have been.
While Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and Silent Hill: Revelation were irredeemably bad, Pokemon showed that a video game series can be adapted into many different mediums. Here’s a quick history of the franchise and its future outlook.
Pokemon explodes with Game Boy games, quickly expands
Pokemon first arrived in Japan in 1996 with the release of Pokemon Red and Green; a pair of titles for the Nintendo Game Boy. The two games were largely identical, but each one had a handful of Pokemon that were exclusive to those titles. This encouraged players to collect and trade these monsters with others who purchased the games.
Later on in 1996, the game was reimagined as a trading card game. Then in 1997, an anime adaptation launched in Japan.
Both of those rapid-fire expansions earned strong success domestically. More importantly, it primed Pokemon for an overwhelming global push.
In 1998, the franchise officially crossed over into North America, Europe, and Australia. The games were killer apps for the Game Boy but it wasn’t just a video game. An accompanying anime aired new episodes daily, and the trading card game exploded out of the gate. This made it difficult to ignore Pokemon to the point where characters like Ash Ketchum and Pikachu were universally recognizable. Just like that, the franchise was unstoppable.
Pokemon expands beyond Nintendo consoles, grows even further
For decades, Pokemon video games were among the top-selling games each year they came out. The Pokemon TCG was one of the biggest in the industry. The anime was a constant, without even mentioning its many spin-off movies. Licensing characters for toys and apparel was a golden goose for all involved.
But the franchise was still positioned to grow further.
Almost all of the games were exclusive to Nintendo’s gaming hardware, but mobile gaming was on a sharp rise of its own. The franchise also released a long list of spin-offs, successfully turning the series into everything from a pinball game to a beat ‘em up. The Pokemon Company had dabbled with PC and mobile games previously, but started actively partnering with other studios in the 2010s.
The biggest example of this was Pokemon GO. The Pokemon Company partnered with AR game studio Niantic was an instant hit, being downloaded hundreds of millions of times. It was far from alone, however. Battling-focused gacha game Pokemon Masters, MOBA adaptation Pokemon Unite, and puzzle game Pokemon Cafe launched in the following years.
It wasn’t just licensed mobile games, though. Games like Detective Pikachu and New Pokemon Snap gave players fresh and varied ways to enjoy the familiar franchise.
Modern Pokémon games see mixed response, but sales remain strong
Though Pokémon has many lifelong fans, the mainline releases have long attracted controversy within the fandom. Though the first few generations were generally beloved, opinions on new and modern games releases vary wildly. Starting with the Nintendo Switch, critical response to the games wavered.
Reviews for Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee were lower than previous entries in the series. That pattern held with Pokémon Sword and Shield, which were also met with extreme backlash on social media.
Though each mainline game made every monster from previous generations available up until Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, this ended with Sword and Shield. Several fan favorites, including Beedrill and the Unovan starters, were made unobtainable in the game. The mega evolution and Z-move battle mechanics were also removed from the games. It’s unclear why or what methodology was used to determine which of the little monsters were left out.
Reviews sank further from there, with Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, then Pokémon Scarlet and Violet garnering the lowest review averages for mainline games.
Despite this, the games were still an enormous commercial success. Pokémon Sword, Shield, Scarlet, and Violet ranked among the best-selling games in franchise history. Its publisher may have heeded some of the fan criticism however, as the company opted against releasing a new mainline game or expansion in 2024. This was the first year without a major game release since 2015.
