Happy (belated) Pokémon Day everybody! It’s been another year of Pokémon goodness, and what better way to start another 365 days of magical monster fighting than with a bunch of news! The Pokémon Company held the most recent Pokémon Presents on Pokémon Day in Japan (or at 1 in the morning if you’re in Australia), and they had some exciting announcements, featuring a little something for every type of Pokémon fan!
The presentation started with a few announcements that weren’t game updates.
The first was the location for this year’s Pokémon World Championships. The event will be held in Yokohama, Japan, and it’ll be the first time the event has been held in the country. Next, a new TCG product was announced, called TCG Classic. This is a throwback to the original format for the TCG, and even includes holo versions of the original starters, which is always nice to have, even if you can’t use them in tournaments. It also comes in a super fancy black case which just oozes style.
Capping off these announcements is a new series partnership with Netflix. The series Pokémon Concierge is a stop-motion animation about a Pokémon hotel that’ll be heading to Netflix sometime soon. The preview they showed already has me hooked on its adorable art style.
We’re finally getting into the game announcements now, starting with some Pokémon Unite updates. Alongside their second anniversary celebration, Zacian is being added to the game. Events and rewards were announced for the occasion, including releasing the new legendary to players for free.
Continuing with the mobile games, Paldean Pokémon are heading to Pokémon Café Remix. You’ll have the opportunity to recruit one of the Paldea starters, alongside other events. Next, they revealed some new events and anniversary rewards for Pokémon Masters EX (which I’m totally not addicted to).
This section was capped off by the long-awaited news dump for Pokémon Sleep. A project once thought long dead has resurfaced, and I’m already sold. While it might just be a sleep tracker with Pokémon slapped on it, who doesn’t want to fall asleep with a Pikachu singing you a lullaby? I have a feeling my sleep schedule will improve come July.
The final section of the presentation was all about Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The first update was the announcement of two new legendary Pokémon, Walking Wake and Iron Leaves. These are available right now in 5-star raids, with Walking Wake exclusive to Scarlet and Iron Leaves exclusive to Violet.
The final announcement of the presentation was next, and it was the largest of the entire show: brand new DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Titled The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, this DLC bundle will expand the already massive world of Pokémon.
The first part is called The Teal Mask, and it’ll be about a field trip to a new area called Kitakami, where new Pokémon await. Part two is titled The Indigo Disk, and involves becoming an exchange student at Blueberry Academy and possibly discovering new secrets about terastalization (that’s my theory at least).
There are some early purchase bonuses as well, and both parts will be released later this year.
This special Pokémon Day Pokémon Presents had a little something for everyone. No matter what aspect of Pokémon you’re interested in, something is coming down the pipeline that’s sure to get you excited. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to buy/pre-order all the new Pokémon goodness.
Did you watch the Pokémon Presents? What did you think? What was your favorite announcement? Let us know in the comments below, where we all agree that everyone will be getting way better sleep when Pokémon Sleep drops!
