Tag: Pokémon Sword and Shield

New Gigantamax Pokémon

While we are fighting of a fever, the sniffles, teary eyes and all sorts of other physical discomfort we have decided to update you all still on the newest developments of Pokémon Sword and Shield. Not because we can but because Fat Pikachu is about the only thing keeping us from allowing my flue to become the man-flue thing.  So now we proudly present the slightly delayed version of: Pink-Poké News!

Gigantamax  101

The magazine CoroCoro leaked it already on tuesday. One day later at 3pm Standard Pinkie Time a new Sword and Shield Trailer dropped revealing some new Gigantamax Pokémon. For those who do not have any idea what a Gigantamax Pokémon is first a brief explanationIn Pokémon Sword and Shield, Z-moves and Mega-Evolution have been rooted out for something that is more like an amalgamation of the two, yet still feels new. In these games you can turn your Pokémon from a pocket monster into a full blown Kaiju for a limited number of turns. If you are geeky enough to know what a Kaiju is..it’s a big  monsters, like Godzilla, King Kong (sort of) Mothra, King Ghidorah and basically every monster in Power Rangers after the villians make it big. The process of turning a pokémon into a Kaiju has two methods of which the more common one is called Dynamaxing. It basically resizes the 3d model and adds a magenta aura too it, replacing its moves by MAX moves.. which are super powered moves very close to Z-moves. Dynamax pokemon can’t flinch and all Max moves create a beneficial effect for types of the move it used. When Dynamaxing you can feel like Rita Repulsa , Lord Zedd and all those who came after them because you can literally yell ‘MAKE MY MONSTER GROW’. Gigantamaxing is about the same, only if your pokémon grows too football stadium heights it also changes forms. A little whipped cream girl can turn into a wedding cake and the most edgy bird imaginable ..goes to a bird that is edgy beyond imagination. That kinda thing. The newest trailer revealed five more of these “altered growth” pokémon… and they are all from Kanto.

Kanto Pandering

Gen I is something that gets a lot of love, a lot more affection and attention from the devs then other generations. So a lot of youtubers have been outraged by the so called Kanto Pandering that this new trailer does. We see 5 new pokémon and these are: Eevee, Pikachu, Meowth, Charizard and Butterfree. Now I too would have preferred different choices but these make a lot of sense still and that is because of the method to obtain them as well as some general sensibility. Let’s start with the weakest link first. Butterfree!This one’s here without any special reason. They just wanted a Kaiju Mothra Dynamax and chose Butterfree for it. Mothim, the actual moth Pokémon or Dustox would have been the superior choices to been granted that form maybe even Vivillon. However , who really uses a  Mothim or Vivillon, those aren’t that memorable at least the anime gave Butterfree some staying power… even if that is hugely ironical. Dustox was used in the anime and would have been the superior choice in my book but in fairness this “trailers’ better.

Pikachu and Eevee getting a Dynamax form  just makes sense. Getting Dyna-Pika and Dyna-Vee  is done through promotional methods and is just a neat little reward for loyal pokémon players who played the earlier games. I have no qualms with rewards for loyalism, and since Dynamax forms won’t contribute to the pokédex it is completely optional. If your Nintendo Switch has Save-Date for Let’s Go Eevee, you can obtain a dynamax eevee thing in the wild lands , which you can reach after about two hours of play.  The same thing applies for those who played Let’s go Pikachu, but you get the little yellow electric mouse instead. Charizard gets love again and people hate him for it but the Pokémon Company is still a company.. they do want to make money. Dynamax Charizard will sell A LOT of pokémon trading cards and keep the franchise healthy. Where Pikachu is the mascotte of the video games, Charizard basically has taking that role for the trading card game to satisfy THAT fanbase you simply HAVE to include it. Sure I would love to see gigantamax Hydreigon into a Ghidorah or Torterra into Gamera but hey if a single inclusion can make the trading card game more popular again i’ll happily sacrifice that slot for yet another charizard thing.  Dynamax meowth already leaked in the Ben Affleck leak and functions as the first Mystery gift, for those who order early. It again makes sense that those are there from the beginning get something from pokémon’s beginnings and being a mystery gift Meowth makes sense. It won’t unbalance the competitive scene.. it is just there to be a nice little reward for those willing to pay full price and play from day 1.

Kaiju up Close

So now that we established I near fully support these choices let’s take a look at all of them a bit closer. Judging their design, abilities and lore. Like princess Pinkie Ranking them from 5 to 1

5. Gigantamax Meowth

While I like this one significantly less than the other four , it certainly has its merits. It’s stretched out body kinda looks like a Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tubeman, which in my humble opinion makes it very well fitted for the sports heavily themed Galar region. It also looks like a cat scratching post, I think.. cats do not like me because I am twitchy and use me as a scratching post instead.. and because Meowth is the scratching pokémon I’d deem this design fairly clever. It’s coin takes a bit of an egyptian theming giving it also a bit of a celestial quality which again I think is fairly clever, it really looks like a supered-up Meowth. I still would have preferred this slot to have been used in a cooler way but for what we got I do not think it is bad at all. 

In terms of t’s abilities it will have the technician ability and the move G-Max Gold Rush which significantly increases the amount of money you get from a match. This could be potentially interesting for people doing special challenges like alternate Nuzlockes or Static-Lock or the “can you beat a game with only a Meowth’ kind of challenges.  It will also help you farm out money for new clothes and customisation items. There seems to be a lot of options in that department so I can even see it have some actual use during normal runs as well. Imagine all the bags and shoes I can buy if I run this on my team.

4. Gigantamax Eevee

It is unfortunate that I do not like this one better than I do . While I love it’s lore the design is to easy for me.  It kinda looks like how Eevee would look like if it survived playing in your washer dryer combo for an entire run. It’s just so fluffy! While fluff is a weakness to me, it only manages to edge it out above meowth by a little. It’s lore raises it up a lot, where meowth simply scratches buildings, Eevee’s character is enhanced by being Gigantamaxed. It becomes even more playful, even more cuddly and even more loveable. It’s fur is so soft it soothes the enemy that gets tangled in it to lose their fighting spirit. It likes to play a lot more so sometimes it accidentally crushes its foe because it was feeling so playful and it pounced on it. N’awwwww.

Having the ability adaptability (try saying that 10 times in a row real fast)  it’s normal type moves are super powerful and I can see it crush it’s non dynamaxed friends really easy indeed. It is a great move to have giving it some usability in combat with the issue that it doesnt learn to many good normal moves. This is something you’ll have to teach Return too.  It’s G-Max move is called G-Max Cuddle which sounds super cute .. and it kinda is but it is quite situational as well. G-Max Cuddle lets any foe it hits that is of the other gender fall in love with this pokémon. Now ‘in love’ is one of the most useful status conditions you can hope for but it is useless  slightly more than half of the time. With a higher chance throughout the generations to work if the pokémon using attraction moves is female. (In most games trainers use pokémon of their own gender and there are a lot more male trainers). So even if trainers now use a 50/50 ratio of genders, there are still a lot of genderless pokémon dropping your chance well under 50%. Since it is an event pokémon the chance of getting it in a specific gender is even tinier. Cute that it exists, but I’ll be honest I am probably not gonna be using this one. I might just look at it though.. it’s so cute!

3. Gigantamax Butterfree

This one is basically just Mothra.. while it looks to cute to be Mothra it’s lore is near identical to it. It’s design comes as close to it as a purple butterfly could.  So yeah this one is just the classical movie Kaiju. When it flips its wings it can create gusts of wind powerful enough to know over dump trucks and it releases poisonous scales as it flaps that can be lumiscent as well and look quite beautiful. So yeah.. Mothra.  Dustox would have been such a more obvious choice for this but I guess it just lacked star power.

It’s ability compound eyes improve its accuracy, but there aren’t THAT much moves in it’s moveset that can fully exploit this ability, like it’s normal counterpart. I would in fact assume that Max moves have great accuracy like Z-moves , but I might be wrong, so it feels throwaway. It’s unique G-Max move is called Befuddle. It will replace all of it’s bug moves. After damaging it will inflict a random status, either poison, sleep or paralysis. The 100% stat chance is great but the reasons to paralyse or poison someone are very different so I don’t expect to see it a lot in competitive, unless you can somehow choose your status but this seems extremely unlikely.

2. Gigantamax Charizard

Stunning design, this Pokémon looks amazing, albeit a bit digimon-esque with all the particles that now are visible on his body. Gigantamax Charizard kind of looks like a digivolution of the regular charizard, which kinda fits the Kaiju theme for me as well. Think of the amazing pokémon cards they can make with this design. While I do get that this pokémon gets too much love, what they do is very nice. By far the sleekest looking Gigantamax Pokémon yet. It’s burning wings have given it a truly intimidating and monstrous quality.  These wings now burn with a heat that surpasses magma and Charizard can fire these wings at his opponent and regain them by an eternal fire burning inside.I kinda love it. 

It’s ability is Blaze, the standard fire starter ability that strengthens fire type moves when you are at low health, while normally I do not like this ability that much it just makes so much sense for this pokémon, so  you will not hear me complain about that one. It’s G-Max move is called Wildfire and this I absolutely love! It will not only damage but also apply a 4 turn DOT on all non fire pokémon in the arena. A Gigantamax transformation only lasts 3 turns so a four turn dot is really a nice momentum control. 

The best: Gigantamax Pikachu

In the late nineties and early two thousands we did not care about being politically correct, we did not know there were more than two genders and we did not recognise  people had a choice in what they wanted to be. We were concerned people would copy bad examples on television. So our brave soldiers , the concerned mothers, tried to ban and force changes on our little kids shows so we could grow up into a nice  generic little human. They tried to ban Tinky Winky from the Teletubbies, claiming his holding a purse as his favorite toy was promoting the gay agenda and would tell kids that being gay is okay.. so the purse had to go. Pokémon was about as controversial as South Park back in the day and one of the hot topics.. Pikachu was telling our precious children that it’s okay to be Fat. So of course.. he would have to go.. however they chose to slim him down instead. I missed my sweet little original Pikachub for twenty years…but through the power of Dynamax it is finally back.

This pokémon will not be much for competitive play, because it’s ability static and it’s move G-Max Volt Crash both inflict paralysis , making the ability mostly obsolete, except for maybe in double battles. Yet like I told before, this pokémon is not meant to do that. It’s simply a reward for being loyal, and fat pikachu is an ultimate homage to the series origins.  I loved the original design so much more, it felt so much more cuddly and adorable and aside from this version having a glowing tail, it is back! Thank you Game Freak and Pokémon Company! Thank you for bring back the Pikachu that I actually like!

Question to my Readers:

Which Pokémon would you like to see get a Gigantamax Form?

So with that we discussed the biggest news this week, time for me to make me some chicken soup and go back to bed to recover. I will all see you in my next post!

The Pinkest Poké Blogger is blasting off again
OO (other wise I am infectious)
Pinkie

Pokémon Sword and Shield News: Camping in Style

Five september 2019 will be mostly remembered as the day Sans got into Smash. Although he wasn’t exactly a character he’s still there. Along with Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury it will be fun new faces to welcome to the smash family. Yet of course to this reporter and her other personalities that was not the most interesting announcement of the day. We got mesmerized by the new Pokémon Announcements and here’s what’s new. 

Camping

Pokémon games are often filled with silly features you use once or twice in your playthroughs and on first glance.. camping might be one of them. Yet for those who played Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee  know there might be more to this than meets the eye. In Pokémon Sword and Shield we can put up our little tent in the Wild Area. The Wild Area quickly seems to become the hot spot for all Pokémon Sword and Shield features. Basically everything online that isn’t versus takes place here. Max Raids were already announcement and now there is camps. 

In your camp you can play with your Pokémon and let them bond with your team. While fan reception so far seems a bit lackluster I truly believe that this is our new Pokémon Amie or Pokémon Grooming. Not everyone is a fan ot this, but the bonus experience a max affectionate pokémon provides as well as the ability to break free from status is well worth the effort on story playthrough. The way you can play with your Pokémon so far looks absolutely adorable. You’ll gain access to a few Pokémon toys they can interact with.. like one of those cat rod thinges.. not sure how to name it as cats hate me in real life so I avoid those playthings as in my hand it drives them mad.  There also is a bouncy ball you can toss and your pokémon will go and fetch it.

It’s absolutely and utterly adorable I melted as soon as I saw the trailer of Vileplume bring back the ball. Now I want to run it on my team .. and that’s already so full! I’ll need several teams already! Now I want a vileplume just so I can toss a ball towards it. I am already inspired to catch them all now, because I feel like there is something I can do with my less offensive pokémon.

I can check out their play animations, I can train up some support pokémon for raids and keep it fun to alternate. Now your own camp is not the only camp that is available for you in pokémon sword and shield.  While in the Wild Area you can encounter tents of others players and interact with them to access THEIR camp (as longs as you pay to be able to go online with your Switch) you can take along one pokémon to play with everyone you can find at the camp to all gain some benefits. You can even cook together, which brings us to the second announcement

Cooking

In order to gain more affection from your pokémon and quite possibly gain some stat boosts making food is going to be a requirement. There is only one type of food in the Galar region and thank ARCEUS it’s not malasada! In Galar we make curry, now let’s hope that Hop isn’t as big of a curry fanboy as Hau was of the malasda. Cooking happens in a minigame similar to making poffins like in generation 4. Controlling the fire and stirring the pot. You can do this alone or a bunch of friends, with the latter allowing for better ranked dishes.

However curry-crafting goes a lot further than just that. There are ample curry-dishes to make ..so much so that there even is a curry-dex for you to complete. From Sausage Curry to Fried Food Curry to Tofu Curry and beyond. You can use your berries to add the classic flavors like, dry , sweet , bitter and spicy and depending on what nature your pokémon have .. they will really like one and hate another so much like a long time ago, you’ll have to know your pokémon and its nature a bit if you want to optimise your synergy.

A great choice and alongside camping to me this feels like a much more natural way to farm your pokémon’s affection. It makes you feel much more like a traveller and good food is available to everyone. Magic balls of yarn and magic fruit trees or picture puzzles like in Kalos aren’t available to everyone. While you are deep inside a frosted cavern it feels weird that you could suddenly blowdry your eevee in Pokémon Sun and Moon. This is how it should be done and this is what I will feel happy about.. and I can look pretty darn good doing it.

Trainer Customisation


Yaaay we can go shopping again! When Gen VI revealed shopping for clothes had become a thing I nearly wet myself in excitement, finally I could make the trainer I wanted to make. Even though the options were fairly limited I had great fun into making a character feel like me. Alola and Gen VII improved this a bit for me… because i was a female trainer. As a boy in Alola you did not really have to splurge on vanity items. In this game though. Customisation looks very neat. In the past we could only play wearing a very natural hair colour.. which made NO sense at all given that there were SO many gym leaders with extreme hair colours. Now a lot more will be available to us.

We can finally feel like an anime character having access to shades of green, blue and…. *drumroll* pink! There is plenty of outfits that look cute and unique. In Alola you had three options with other skin variations from.. tank top with short skirt or hot pants to sundress. Here it seems you can dress both formal, casual , though or even hippie like. If there is a pink dress i’ll be one happy camper!

New to features is the ability to have some detailed make-up and you can epilate your eyebrows.  Neat! Your brand new look can feature on your customisable trainer card. This trainer card allows you to pose and add your backgrounds add cute little details etc.
This card will be displayed at your important matches (i’d reckon online as well) . Trainer cards can also be handed out and collected like it’s own little trading card game. If there actually is a trading card game remains to be seen but it’s cute nonetheless and your trainer has never felt more like your own character than is this game. 

Two or maybe three new Pokemon. 

Alright Gamefreak I’ll give you ONE more trailer to reveal my sweet little Impidimp!  Yet again the devilishly pink pokémon was not revealed in the new trailer but we got two pokémon announced by name .. and maybe one other .. but we are quite unsure about it. However let’s not cross that bridge until we get to it shall we?  The first pokémon that was announced was Polteageist, the black tea pokemon.

A cute little teapot embodied by a little ghosty boy. Only 20 centimeters high and weighing 400 grams this pokémon is a perfect ornament in your daily life. You can drink it’s tea, but drinking to much of it will give you a stomachache.They can mostly be found at hotels and castles and the likes where they are oftenly be treated as pests. If a Polteageist sees a teapot with some tea remains in them it can pour some of it’s essence into those remains and another of it’s kind wil be born in the new teapot. This leads to them being somewhat of a plague and pest in hotels and restaurants. It is a pure ghost type.. being only the 10th pokémon ever of that typing.  It’s ability is weak armor, when it is hit with a physical move it’s defence stat is lowered but it’s speed is boosted. A nice way to simulate a cracking teapot but with a lot of priority physical moves out there, the strongest being it’s greatest weakness it remains to be seem if this pokémon can make it in to competitive play. It would need to have some solid speed stat to be begin with and some creative moveset to get around sucker punch.

The second pokémon that has been announcement was Cramorant. This Pokémon was part of the big leak that has nearly predicted everything right so far. I love it!  I am a big fan of ducks and though this isn’t really a duck it sure is part of the duck family. It’s super blue!

Smurfs were less blue than this derpy looking boy. It brings back memories of psyduck for me which is good.. because I also loved that one. It’s a flying water type which isn’t particularly unique but with electric types not being ran THAT much in both the games as well as in versus it’s solid enough of a typing to help you deal with a lot of obstacles on your way. Cramorant is described to a loyal but mostly hungry pokémon.. there seem to be a lot of hungry pokémon in the Glar region.  It will eat just about anything it can fit.. or even cant fit in its beak. While it is a scatterbrain it is said never to forget the bond with it’s trainers but don’t you dare steal it’s food. The waterbird is said to even ferociously attack it’s own trainer if they steal or take away the pokemon’s food. It’s most interesting feature however is it’s special ability. Gulp Missile allows the pokemon to scoop up a fishy after it uses surf or dive.

This little creature remains in it’s mouth after. This is called its Gulping Form, unable to swallow it whole Cramorant tries to eat..until it’s hit in combat after which it spits the sea creature at it’s opponent like a little projectile. This could be really fun.. and given that it works on dive AND surf it seems like Cramorant can work as both a physical or a special attacker. I am a fan of this duck-thing and I will find a shiny one!

Now this was all that was announced in the Nintendo direct. ‘But Pinke you told us there might be a third Pokémon’.  Well yes! Pokémon doesn’t really have much ‘classic’ animals in their ecosystems.. there’s hints some might be left.. but I do belief that little fishy is it’s own Pokémon. We saw pokémon eating other before. The toxapex evolution line preys on corsola so perhaps this little fishy can be the prey of my already beloved ducklike. Is Fishy an entirely new pokémon? Or could it perhaps be a Galarian Wishiwashi ? Due to how small it is I am inclined to say the latter, it would also make sense in a way as it’s a schooling Pokémon. It’s all speculation so it’s to early to tell.. but mark my words we will see more of Fishy in the future… lets just hope Impidimp goes first.

So we conclude the this post of  what is to come. Currently I am having some issues with my muscles which is vastly distracting from writing. This may result in a post or two missing near the weekend but I will try to be here and do my regular thing. Just as a precaution I would like to warn you all. Leave a comment or a like and make my day happier!

Until we read again! Hopefully sooner than later.

XO
Pinkie

Top 5: Games to start your Pokémon adventure with.

Subjects, it has come to my attention  that a great many of you never really played Pokémon! I should have you flogged and put in the dungeons! I’d rather use the dungeons for my afternoon naps though. Quite cool and not a lot of light equals quality napping and this princess needs her beauty sleep! So instead I will spend the time until said nap to inform you how to get into Pokémon, what game can you best start with! So prepare yourselves for a wonderful journey across some amazing games in the radiant presence of yours truly.

Starting Point number 5 : Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee and Pikachu.

The game that was designed to get more people into pokémon is indeed in my top 5 but barely so! Some might find this controversial but I do not care about those feelings! Iamwright, my Aipom agrees with me.  In let’s go you control a trainer of a new generation. Living in Pallet Town in the Kanto region , you’ll soon catch a super special Eevee or Pikachu to travel with on a journey to get 8 gym badges to challenge the championship known as the Pokémon League. Meanwhile you stumble onto the evil Team Rocket who is trying to capture the ultimate Pokémon. Featuring only 153 pokémon to collect this is definitely one of the least daunting games on this list.  However this one is this low on the list because it enforces a lot of the stereotypes about Pokémon, nor does it truly reflect what it’s like to play a main line game.  This game feels very mechanical and somewhat arcade like. Chaining together catch combo’s of 30+ to gain levels and shiny chances reduces the impact of a capture quite a bit.

It is super streamlined and sleek but the capture and improvement system is so slimmed down that it will result in the main games feeling odd. Now don’t get me wrong this is a fair choice to make if you do not want to be overwhelmed..but let’s be honest if you are reading this you have most likely past the age of 10 a decade or so ago at least. So we can handle a bit of depth. Lets go isn’t deep at all, it is a very shallow dive into Pokémon but a very charming one. Seeing your partner Pokémon interact and react to you is nice.

Dressing it up in a matching outfit to you has its charm as well. Eevee and Pikachu really shine as your partners..but they do shine a bit too much.  They are infinitely powerful and get all sorts of moves they normally would not get. Pikachu gets a lot of weakness covering attacks and can breeze by every gym by himself. Eevee gets attacks of each and every one of it’s Eeveelutions ..and those moves are brokenly OP. With Kiddy names like Glitzy Glow and Bouncy Bubble and Zippy Zap it’s not that surprising people stereotype it as a kids only game. In truth it really isn’t. The game is a great trip down memory lane, it’s sweet and charming..but if you really want to know what Pokémon is about .. this is not it. If you are looking for some low brow , quick to finish Pokémon fun where you can catch them all in about a week or so, this IS the game for you.

Starting Point number 4: Pokémon Red and Blue

Available both digitally as well on the original cartridge the first games would be an obvious plays to start. Sharing the exact same story as Let’s Go.. with the twist that you can actually pick three starters it the form of Bulbasaur Charmander and Squirtle. In this game you have to work yo catch them all and you aren’t  hoarding a million and one captures you have to train (or glitch) them all up the hard way, catching them is harder and getting them all is more rewarding on it’s own. However nostalgia tends to blind people and in truth, the originals could be a bit of a broken mess. Special Defence and Offence weren’t split yet, abilities and held items were not a thing and the Ai and a lot of the NPC things were quite busted. It isn’t that hard to break this game and create infinite loops , glitch your game into forcing a hard reset and others things.

Now these can have their charms and contribute to the retro feeling, but this isnt a list about the most fun to play Pokémon games. It’s a list on where best to start. For the dedicated completionist who haven’t tried this yet , but t I doubt there are any of those. here, this would be the place to start. If you want to do anything in chronological order this would be the place to start as well. Gold and Silver would be the best classic game to start , in truth were it not for one thing I had to mark it down for. They break. Gold and Silver cartridges can become unplayable because the internal battery can dry, the game will not start if this is the case.  Pokémon Crystal is on digital marketplaces but do NOT buy Gold or Silver original cartridges it could get you into a lot of trouble.

Red and Blue however are safe to buy regardless of what media you buy it on, going back waaay to the beginning you will miss out on a few new types but you get a mostly enjoyable experience that was improved upon for next generations. I only recommend this one if you really want to start at the beginning! I do however think that starting at the beginning is very natural for a lot of people so that’s why this one takes the number 4 spot. Be warned though, unlike every other game of this  list, this one has 0 post game. Well… there’s one thing.

Starting Point number 3: Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (ORAS)

This one would be my ‘The Empires Strikes Back’ of the Pokémon franchise. The holy grail and shining beacon of the franchise. One of the best Pokémon games ever in quite possibly the best region. To me only trumped by Heart Gold. With the remake taking part in the 6th generation you have every typing available and you even have access to new features like Mega-Evolution which..for now.. is an important element in the games after. The story takes you through the Hoenn region as the child of a gym leader you want to make your father proud. Once you hear the cries of professor Birch and help him out, you get that chance by going on a journey with your newly acquired friend Mudkip, Torchic or Treecko, one of the best starter sets throughout the series.  Hoenn is plagued by two criminal teams. Team Magma and Team Aqua, who want to use ancient creatures to reshape the earth. Team Magma wants more land and Team Aqua wants more water. You quickly find out that both these options will not do the world any favors and have to stop these teams from creating a cataclysmic event.

The game has a great journey from receiving your starter to claiming the title, quite possibly the best elements in every pokémon game are present (though I miss trainer customisation in this one..that’s more because I just love outfit stuff). It has an amazing post game story revolving around a meteor coming to end the earth. We have Wally, who takes  the number 1 spot in my favorite pokémon battles. (ORAS holds the entire top 3) The music is spectacular. As a special character in this remake we have Zinnia. The Dragon Type trainer who named her Whismur after her deceased daughter.

ORAS shows Pokémon can be both cute but also can be a bit more serious and has a great diverse set of Pokémon. This would have taken the number one spot of it didn’t skip over some important game elements. The game little in terms of explaining HM’s , Mega-evolutions and some other elements.  It’s not THAT hard to figure out as you are given some clues but you can tell this was designed as a bit of a follow up game. Definitely the best game in the series so far but less user friendly than number one and two.

Starting Point Number 2:  Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (USUM)

This one might be a bit of an odd pick for a number two spot , because this isnt exactly the most beloved game. However all gripes with the game come on how similar it was to the regular Sun and Moon and if we are talking about a great place to start, you wouldn’t have played those.. so that argument is invalid.  USUM has a much more epic conclusion, better post game content and more pokémon so I do not see a point in recommending the originals over it. In this game you play the nephew or niece of professor Kukui, Pokémon professor of the much more traditional Alola region. As you came from Kanto you inspire KuKui to host the Pokémon League for the first time ever, but trainers would have to prove their worth by taking on the island challenge, which consists of a series of trials followed by battling the four Kahuna’s of the Alolain isles. Meanwhile you stumble upon a mysterious young girl named Lillie who is fleeing from something.  She carries a mysterious smoke cloud pokémon she named Nebby..which doesn’t like to stay in it’s bag around and all you know her pursuers want Nebby for some reason or another. While you travel you discover there are.. for the lack of a better description, eldritch abominations dwelling in a realm named Ultra Space. These so called Ultra Beasts are different from Pokémon and you will have to stop the evil that is trying to bring them into Alola, but that is not all from Ultra Space comes a group of people saying that there is an even bigger threat in this timeline as they warn you for Ultra Necrozma which has the power to devastate the world. 

This game by far is the most cinematic one. Lot’s of dramatic scenes which leads to tons of character development. The journey we see Lillie take as well as the roles we see your rivals named Hau and Gladion fulfill are all top of the bill. Rarely has a Pokémon game felt this alive. The second time you play through you’ll be annoyed as frizzlesticks because of all the cutscenes.. but again.. that doesn’t hurt it’s spot on THIS list

The trials and fights against totem beasts are a bit easier to get into than the classical gym battles and offer some nice variation, the lack of Hidden Machines or HM moves allow to get more creative when teambuilding, trainer customisation is neat.. but a lot better for a female trainer (but Ultra improved options for boys as well compared to regular sun and moon). The setting is very comfy to play around in as well, an adventure on subtropical islands is more compelling than seeing a reimagination of a very specific japanese region.

. This game is this high on the list because it does an excellent job on explaining mechanics. It also hands new players some proper tools to deduce which types are effective against other types. It will display which moves are super effective or are not very effective against a type. Not from the get go however, you have to discover it by trying stuff out against certain types or dual types. Once more featuring great music, fun new mechanics and a lot of support for the player this game will be THE game to pick up if you want to get into Pokémon right now and if you like to follow a narrative.  It also will display symbols on maps where you need to go so unlike the other games you will never really get lost if you miss over some dialogue It also offers you a fair bit of challenge with the Rainbow Rocket challenges or the Ultra Necrozma fight for example. It will show of most villains throughout the show and overall is a very good choice to start with.. 

Starting Point Number 1: Pokémon Sword and Shield

Now my loyal subjects , I know it is weird to recommend a game that hasn’t event come out yet but here me out on this one. Sword and Shield has a lot going for it already to be a great starter game.  First of all is the whole Dexit controversy, the region based on Britain will not have the full Pokédex and people are going mad over it. However it will have a fair chunk. However this is exactly why it will be a great starting point. You can collect around 500 to 600 pokémon rather than a daunting 1000 or so. What’s more , the new game will feature raids meaning you can play alongside friends who can help you get better and get better pokémon.  The Job system will make it easier to EV train, the lack of HM’s will give you the ability to run a team in the way you want too. Battling will be held in tiers meaning you might even be able to enjoy a bit of the competitive side without being forced to spend a million hours on breeding.

Max Raids , which once more you do tackle with friends, offer pokémon with better natures and abilities already so it won’t be too hard to actually learn. The biggest reason I put it on this spot is actually how much of the game will change. Mega Evolution is gone, enter dynamax and gigantamax. Z-moves are no longer a thing but are replaced by Max Moves. We don’t know much about the story yet but it seems to be quite deep, with several rivals and an evil team that doesn’t seem THAT evil implying there surely is more evil lurking somewhere else.  The rules of Pokémon are changing quite a lot as it would seem in this game with new options to play with and against others players it’s the perfect moment to learn alongside the veterans or show your skills against other rookies.

Being released on switch which doubles a home console and handheld only makes this easier. The displayed effectiveness of attacks makes it return as well as well as new cleaner menus being easier to manage. On the 15th of november we are entering a new phase of pokémon and you can be part of those pioneers which discover Galar… this time we can explore together……sortoff!

Of course these are only the main titles, there still is plenty other content to explore, such as the mystery dungeon series, the pokémon ranger games and even the Nobunaga inspired Pokémon Conquest. You can play Pokémon Puzzle League or Brawl it out in Pokken. Just as easy, potentially just as fun. Regardless of your preferred genre there more than likely is a Pokémon game out there for you as well.  Though there isn’t a pokémon financial sim just yet.  Let me know what type of Pokémon game you would like to play..or which game you would recommend to a starting adult or just write something nice in the comments and remember.
I am not weird! Just very pink!
Until we read again.

Time for a dungeon nap!

Pink-Poké-News Week 33: World Championships Edition

Hey little monsters, welcome back again, due to sunday special today we bring you the Pink-Poké-News! Over the course of the past weekend the Nintendo World Championships 2019 took place in Washington DC. People competed to be the very best like no one ever was not one but THREE! separate games.  With up to three divisions for each game. Pokken (the Pokémon fighter game) Pokémon Trading Card game and Pokémon VGC all have new champions. This stage where titans clashed was a great source for news as well. This is Pink-Poké-News!

And the winners are?

First of all we at Pink-Poké-News would like to thank everyone participating and attending these venues. You keep our community strong and and alive. You are our backbone and our trainer. For those who do not know the Pokémon World Championships are an invite only tournament for those who have gathered enough points. These points you can gather by participating at other official tournaments and getting higher rankings in those.  So this tournament really pits the best against each other.
Generally each tournament has three divisions Junior for those of twelve and below, senior trainers are of the ages of 13 to 15 and master trainers at the age of 16 and above. Regardless of their division and age champions of the trading card game will take home a price of $25,000 dollars, winners of the VGC (video game championship.. or main game)  will take a $10,000 dollar and the winners at Pokken take home a $6000 dollar price.
Quite a difference when we compare it to Fortnite paying  3 million for the winners. But for those interested here a brief summary of the winners.

Trading Card Game Winners:
Juniors Division: Haruki Miyamoto from Japan
Seniors Division:  Kaya Lichtleitner from Germany
Masters Division: Henry Brand from Australia

As Pink-Poké-News prides itself in being the least objective news search we would like to say that seeing Kaya win her final match was the best moment of the TCG for us. Kaya placed second last year and it is great to see a strong european and female presence at the top of the crop. Thank you Kaya! And congratulations to all winners of course.

Video Game Championship Winners
Juniors Division:Pi Wu from Taiwan
Seniors Division:  Ko Tsukide from Japan
Masters Division: Naoto Mizobunchi from Japan

VGC is a format that features two on two fights which doesn’t which means it’s quite a different.. and kind of trickier format than your standard one v one battles. So you still have ways to defeat these champions. Naoto was interviewed at the end. Not very high on charisma but he managed to charm this reporter and the public when he was asked. “Who would you like to thank?’ Naoto without a moment of thought looked at the reporter and said (trough translator) ‘Noone it was really just me’

Pokken Tournament DX  Winners:
Seniors Division: Ashgreninja1
Masters Division: Subatan

The news crew over at Pink-Poké-News is less into competitive d fighting games than they are into 2d fighting games. The zoning and trapping just doesnt gel to well. It was nice to see Ash take the stage and thanking the community for making tournaments like these possible though.
As for the game itself, personally I find a bit too much meta to have snuck in so let’s hope that next year we really see someone push the envelope there. Once more congrats to all winners and giving us pokéfans such an amazing weekend!

The Arrival of V

With Sword and Shield coming to your Switch, it will also come to your decks very soon. The Pokémon TCG has announced that their game is eVolving.  After the Team-Up cards we are getting new mysterious V cards. Little is known but they will function like a GX or classic EX card. If your V card is knocked out your opponent gets  two prize cards. In the trailer we see a card shrouded in darkness with 330 hp. The average these days would be around 250, back when the reporter used to play this was about 180, with our deck hero only having 90 hp. We see a Zacian have an attack called brave blade, an attack that deals 230 damage with the downside it can’t attack next turn. Zamazenta has the attack Assault tackle which forces the opponent to discard special energy. Unfortunately energy cost has not been revealed yet so we can not  deduce their typings yet. Based on the spacing between the edge and the name.. of the move and the card edges it would however seem they have a fairly high energy cost. Though not much is revealed it seems that V cards are going to have just a single attack and a “bigger ability” however this has yet to be confirmed. It will be interesting to see what V cards will actually bring to the table.

Competitive Sword and Shield

Pokémon also released  a new trailer for Sword and Shield. No new Pokémon or story elements were described but catering to their demographic Nintendo offered a trailer that wet the appetites of competitive battlers, with some new modes, abilities and items it was a very solid , well thought out trailer that will show us the changes in the competitive metagame. Ladies and gentle people Nintendo is actually listening.   

The unstoppable Dynamax
A few new mechanics about Dynamax were revealed in the new trailer that can leave a definite impact on the battle ground. All max moves have a secondary effect that is the same regardless of what base move it replaces. The Max Grass attack for example will set up Grassy Terrain, while Max Flying will have the same effect as defog and remove hazards. The Max Ice move will set up hail. This in itself will make Dynamax much more fluent  and balanced than Mega-Evolution or Z-moves. The focus is back to controlling the battle momentum by having a team. In most recent games you build your team around a Mega-Evolution and have a strong meta in your way to play. Since every pokémon can Dynamax without an item, you can pick the way your team flows. Will you use Dynamax to set up the Rain for speed and power or will you negate the opponent’s strategy by dynamaxing your flying pokemon. Pokémon is becoming so much more than a single mon’s game again which is super exciting. Dyanmaxxed Pokémon won’t be able to flinch and will (partially)  be able to attack through a protect, making the moment you Dynamax absolutely crucial in battle. It lasting only three turns means being smart about this is an absolute must.

New Items
We have also heard about two new held items which both are something quite amazing.
Room Service will be a super fun item to use for people using a trick room team.  In Pokémon who goes first is determined by who has the highest speed. However the move Trick Room makes it so that the slower Pokémon go first. It’s a tactic that is often used by the more bulky/defensive playstyle pokémon, that can turn the tide of battle.  However it is very hard to build an entire team that functions in Trick Room, however Room Service is an item that will reduce your pokémon speed by one stage (from 0 to -1 means your stat is 0.66 of it’s original) allowing a lot more monsters to be viable in the twisted dimensions. Giving new depth to the game. 
Eject Pack: The Eject Pack will be a consumable item which switches the user out once it’s stats are lowered. Switching out a Pokémon resets their stat changes to 0 (0 means 100% regular stats) In Pokémon there are a lot of moves that deal massage damage with the trade of of lowering your stats, this item will let you switch them out for free (once per battle) This on itself would be great but it basicly alters moves like Draco meteor or Super Power, into extreme switch moves like U-Turn or Volt Switch (Moves used to deal damage while switching Pokémon.. opposed to hard switching which consumes your turn) .  Since the item also pops when your opponent lowers your stats as well it can become a bit of a double edged sword where the item becomes wastable.. just adding more excitement and giving your opponents possible counters.

New Abiltiies
Mirror Armor is one of the two new abilities that has been released.. and like everything that was announced it is awesome. It reflects any stat lowering effect your opponent uses on you.. back to the one triggering it. Corviknight is currently the only pokémon known to receive this ability but as he is going to be a tank pokémon this ability suits him greatly. If your opponent has a  pokémon with the ability intimidate (lowers attack modifier with 1 stage) Corviknight will make sure that ability is reflected back to the user itself. Most intimidate users are physical attackers themselves so this ability could be a game changer.
Neutralising Gas however is the ability that is shown in memes. Galarian Weezings ability negates ALL other pokémon effect that are on the field.  The impact on the game is huge. Not only can you mess up your opponent nicely, you can also use this to remove bad traits on your Pokémon. I could remove defeatist from my beloved Archeops, you can run Slaking without Truant and you can retrigger field effects by swapping Weezing in and out next to a weather pokémon to retrigger the weather. You can trigger intimidate multiple times and so much more. Hats off to you Galarian Weezing you really are amazing.

Ranking system
Competitive battling will finally have a decent matchmaking system by giving you access to tiered ranks. Named Pokéball Great Ball Ultra Ball and Master rank. It will make battling quite a bit more fun for people like me and maybe you who on occasion like a battle but don’t commit to breeding the perfect little monsters. This Battle Stadium mode will also allow you to participate in friendlier battles where everything goes like legendaries and certain move combinations. Ranked mode will of course be a bit more strict and level the playing field with updating rules to keep it balanced.  We know too little to go deeper to go speculating and call it good yet but should they do this properly this reporter and her alternate personalities might dabble with competitive. 

Mobile game news

Pokémon Go and Pokémon Master news will be combined in this one given that they both only had just a titbit of new information. Pokémon Masters has passed a mark of having 5 million pre registered users showing us the game will at least be quite healthy before it even starts. Plenty of countries don’t have the pre-registration as well as a lot of people won’t bother and just will go for it upon release. We think it’s a great sign that so many people are taking interest in this mobile game, the developers seem to have put a lot of love and attention in this game and it’s nice to see people of the Pokémon community are at least able to somewhat drop the stigma surrounding mobile games. Just because it’s a different form of gaming that focus on other forms of payment doesn’t make it bad and soulless.

Pokémon Go had some exciting news. On the 23rd of august there will be a water festival event during which we can catch a lot of aquatic pokémon and are able to hunt for shiny barboach and carvanha. A fun way to fill up some of your box spots. However don’t go to wild because it looks like you are going to need your space soon. The goals of Pokémon Go fest Yokohama have been reached which means all players will get the so called Ultra  Unlock Bonus. Least year it resulted in regionals being in eggs, this year we get something else.
-Unusual Pokémon will be appearing in the wild during this week.
-Noteworthy opponents are coming to raids, too.
-Over the course of the event, you may also be able to add some Pokémon to your Kanto Pokédex that previously eluded you in your part of the world.
-Venture out to take on challenges and make discoveries.
-As always, happy exploring, Trainers!
These five bullet marks read down Unova the fifth Pokémon region that is the next in line to be implemented in Go It looks like soon we can finally expand our collection again! Maybe this reporter can find her spark for the game back that way.

Pinkie’s Pokémon joins OWLS

Those who have visited my website rather than my reader recently may have already noticed. This Blogger has joined OWLS. OWLS is an acronym for Otaku Warriors for Liberty and Self-respect.  A group of bloggers dedicated to promoting individuality without having to conform to stereotypes. To give people who are different a community where they are the same as well. No matter the colour of skin, sexual preference or what way you identify you are an Otaku or part of a fandom, someone that can enjoy the same stuff we all like. To me being a part of OWLS feels quite amazing. I am a part of the LGBT+ society myself and I have seen the embracing power of the geek/otaku community first hand.  Being part of OWLS feels like sharing that warm welcoming blanket I received.
Having joined the group will mean I shall partake in their blog tours from the next month on , meaning you will quite possibly see some non (fully) pokémon content for me. Though I will try to keep a Pokémon theme where possible but you can expect some fresh posts from me in the future. Besides the blog tour I would like to do my own little OWLish thing called OtakUnite.  A post I will make fusing my beloved pokémon fandom with the fandom of one of the people commenting on the post.
What I do with it will remain a surprise until the post launches! All you have to do is make a suggestion! So who wants to do a fusion dance with me?  Who wants their fandom spliced with mine and prove we aren’t that different and all?!

Let’s united my fellow Otaku? Let me know what show you want me to connect with Pokémon for the first OtakUinited post and who knows your suggestion might get picked! United we can create some amazing things.
Remember:
I am not weird! Just very pink!
Until we read again.

Norse Mythology in Pokémon

Jolly good, an avid reader has arrived to assist me in this matter.  Let me first do you the courtesy of a formal introduction, even though the keenest and eager of minds might have already spotted me on the ABOUT page of this blogging endeavour.
My name is detective:  Pinkelett Wellington-Oxley-Birminghamshire-Diggersby-Pinkerton-Cherrlyblossom. Feel free to call me Detective Pinkie though! Together with my trusted Ditto called Evidence we solve mysteries, deduce theories and analyse enigma’s.
Unlike the former crudely called ‘Theory-Thursdays’  I shall not only discuss theories but rumors as well. Today however we for an hypothesis about the identity of the final legendary in Pokémon Sword and Shield and for that we will look at  Norse mythology. Are you ready little Watsons? Let us take a trip across the bifrost.

Kalos and Galar

My utmost apologies, before we can depart I must relay some factoids about Pokémon topography. For the sake of logical deduction one should know that different Pokémon regions are based on different countries. Their geographical location in the Pokémon world oftenly mirrors the once in the real world. Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh (as well as the islands from minor games like pokémon snap)  are all based on Japan and thusly are described as being close to one another. Unova was our first trip to another country! Mimicking the american east coast. New York and New Jersey are referenced in this region and the region is to be described as very far away from the original four. Alola was based on Hawaii and is assumed to be relatively close to Unova though the island theming and vastly different culture makes his hard to deduce. The Alola region in fact was so different and secluded from the rest of the world it felt like it’s very own world.  Kalos was, not so subtle based on france. This games legendaries featured a lot of nordic elements which seem to return in Sword and Shield. Galar which is even more obviously being based on Britain by process of extrapolation of the trend should be very close to Kalos, in fact their maps do seem to be connectable.

Fan theories state we might venture into the 6th generation region, last time two railways connected we could travel across the lands as well after all! Safe to say if the player can cross the border, it would not be that hard for it’s mythos to do the same.
Most legendaries have  an important role in shaping their respective regions as well, so it could be possible that Arceus created these legendaries together, but over time these lands segregated. With that being said let’s take a peek at some mythology. We will start in Kalos first. Where all legendaries seem to be inspired by this picture! But also have a much deeper connection. Keep this pictue in your mind Watsons you will need it.

Yggdrasil and Xerneas

At first glance you would not directly connect this:

and this:

However truth lies a layer deeper within my Watsons! If we look we can certainly see a mimicking in the colour pattern from Yggdrasill towards Xerneas but that is not the only evidence. Yggdrasil is the life tree. Xerneas pokédex entry calls it the Life Pokémon. Which in it’s dormant state in fact is a tree. Although not as massive and world connecting. Xerneas is described as a small blue true connected to the very essence of life. A life tree if you will.

Now before you yell out that this still is poppycock let us move a bit further into the northern mythology itself. Yggdrasil is not just a tree it also has some animal friends living inside and around it. Four of these magnificent creatures are called Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór These creatures are all deer that feed of the branches of Yggdrasil. Much like Xerneas all these deers are stags and they all wear gems in their antlers. Much like Xerneas. These colours are Red, blue, yellow, and purple, all these are represented in Xerneas design. While Xerneas uses his gems he has to power to grant things everlasting life. 

Hræsvelgr and Yveltal

Though it is not too  hard to see, the eagle sitting in the world tree in Yveltal it’s connections go quit a bit deeper then it just being an eagle. 

First of all the eagle in the life tree as depicted in the image shared above is rumored to be blind. It is not hard so see an aspect of blindness in Yveltal. It’s eyes are a completely evil blue, while design trends really focussed at that time of bringing eyes to live a lot more. Pokémon almost always had pupils, with only extreme rare exceptions. and those usually just being hidden.  Yveltal’s empty eyes could easily hint at it being blind. Yet Hræsvelg is not that eagle in the tree so why bring it up? This giant in the form of an Eagle, is known as the corpse eater. Yveltal is the Pokémon of death. Some people even claim that Hræsvelgr actually IS the eagle in the life tree, but this is up for debate.  The Eagle in the life tree has the ability to peer into ones soul and this ability is never found in mentions of Hræsvelgr nor is something like this hinted at in Yveltal’s pokédex lore.
However since there isn’t much officially know about these two it makes sense to combine them. The Corpse Eater is is sit to dwell at the end of the world. The player in Pokémon Y encounters Yveltal when it is about to end the world as they know it, when Lysandre uses it to empower his doomsday weapon to destroy all life. 

Níðhǫggr Jörmungandr and Zygarde

At the bottom of the tree we see a snake in its roots. This snake is Níðhǫggr, who is more accurately described as a dragon who lives under ground in the roots of the life tree. Zygarde’s typing is a ground dragon type, so that makes sense. Yet Zygarde has many forms and these aren’t just tacked on.. these are also very much rooted in Nordic mythology.  Lets begin with the serpentine form. 

This seems to be based on Jörmungandr. This snake was thrown into earth ocean by Odin, and apparently it was very good at playing snake because there it grew tall enough to loop the world and bite its own tail. This apparently brought good tidings to Midgar or in other words earth where staying like that keeps our world safe. Should the snake however ever let o Midgar will fall to disarray and be destroyed Zygarde is the order  Pokémon, it’s tasked is to prevent our ecosystem from collapsing and maintain balance.  Thus the Midgard-snake and the Order Pokémon share a purpose in life.
The fact that Zygarde kan grow is also a reference to this origin. However to his other two forms we need to look at his father first. No it’s not Tom Hiddleston.. it’s the actual Loki… who did some very weird things.

Angrboða and Loki must have been at the daycare together at one point, because it was said that they liked to play together.  Three new lives where bred. Jormungandr, Hel and Fenrir. A snake.. a half undead giant woman.. and a dog/wolf.  10% Zygarde being a doglike creature is fairly obvious and there isn’t much of a deeper connection to the wolf there anyway.
With Hel it gets a bit more interesting in the design department.  Too human pokémon have oftenly be met with dislike or even hate and controversy. I am looking at you Jynx! So they had to be a bit creative. Hel is mostly know for three things. Being the giantess that rules over norse hell is one. Zygarde does not rule over any afterlife ..but it took snakes role anyway.

So let’s see if our target looks like a giant. Check on that. 100% For Zygarde is definitely a giant. The second is her spiky crown. marvel kind of exaggerated it..but we can definitely see a spiky crown on zygarde as well. Finally one half of  Hel is living, the other is dead. Though we don’t see a half rotting earth giant in Zygarde 100% on one half of it’s “cloak” it dons the main colour of Xerneas.. being life.. the other half of features Yveltal’s colour .. being death. I would say these are all strong enough connections to be more than just a coincidence. But how about Galar. We do not know a lot about those yet.. what is your theory? Well it is my believe Zamazenta and Zacian are based on Freki and Geri.

The Wolves and the Raven.

Zamazenta the shield wolf and Zacian the sword wielding lobo were announced to be the legendaries of Pokémon Sword and Shield. With some people immediately comparing them to Skoll and Hati, the wolves who chase the sun and the moon, I feel other then thematically following after Pokémon Sun and Moon there is not a lot to this reference, They might be used to deduced secondary typings, as we have clearly seen Nintendo crossing figures before to deduce typings and lore alike.  Geri and Freki are Odin’s pet wolves.

Where X and Y used the icon of Yggdrasil to base legendaries around, when reusing mythos again you’d need an equally strong icon. One like Odin himself. In the art shared we see the wolves sitting at both sides of his throne. One sits by his sword, the other by his shield Their names roughly translating to something insatiable, always hungry, ever eager to satisfy themselves. With a bit of good will from us,  and some free interpretation of their names we get a unstoppable force and an unmovable object. A perfect theming that seems to work excellent for the route Nintendo and Game Freak chose. Though Hati and Skoll are not out of the running yet, a pretty much confirmed leak has revealed there will be a third, and evil legendary.  Based on this imagine and the accompanying lore we could assume the third legendary, will be a two headed raven, wielding a spear. Huginn and Muninn were Odin’s messengers and scouts relaying him all sorts of information thusly being sometimes being connected to the virtues of knowledge and wisdom, even omniscience.  This could make Huginn and Muninn the inspiration for a pokémon representing the all knowing mind. Giving us a nice trinity: the unstoppable, the unmovable and the all knowing. This may just be speculation, but if we remember Sword and Shields first trailer  when Zacian and Zamazenta where facing off suddenly something else approached…from the sky!

We may have not gathered enough evidence yet for a conviction..but at least we have a suspect.  A good detective always has a theory. Haven examined the evidence yourself my dear Watsons, what do you think will be the third legendary? What are you hoping for?
Maybe you even have some more evidence! Be sure to let me know and like always remember!
I am not weird, I am just very pink!
Until we read again.

Breaking News: Sword and Shield Update! 7th August

This is a special broadcast of the Pink-Poké-News, we advise you all to stay calm!Do not fan-girl.. or boy..until this post is over. These revelations may blow your mind! Do not read this post unsupervised if you are prone to over excitement! At the 7th of August Nintendo revealed a new trailer for Pokémon Sword and Shield.
This is that trailer!

Galarian Forms: Weezing and the Zigzagoon line


This reporter is excited to report that regional forms are back! Galarian forms are a thing, with only two revealed so far there is no doubt there is more. Galarian Weezing will be a Poison Fairy type and will get the levitate ability as well as a ability that has yet to be revealed. It’s design features a large chimney as well as a smog beard or moustache. The chimney is shaped out like a top hat giving it the look of a british , industrial capitalist. Given the galar region is based classic england this design is extremely pleasing and humorous! The chimney itself can grow up to 3 meters or 9 foot .

Even more pleasing is the announcement of a new zigzagoon! Being a very cherished pokémon by this reporter not only did we find out that Zigzagoon and Linoone are getting an galarian form. .. Galarian Linoone can evolve! As one of my favorite normal types it is extremely exciting to see it does indeed keep it’s normal typing but takes on a dark typing as well. The old stages both get access to the abilities Gluttony and Pickup, the new stage, Obstagoon will have Reckless or Guts available to it. Guts allows moves to grow stronger when statussed, while Reckless allows for more damage from recoiling moves.  Should Galarian Linoone have Belly Drum in it’s moveset like it’s regular cousin, this pokémon is a potential beast in the competitive metagame. Their design features a black and white like motive to mimic that of a badger.

The Transforming Pikaclone


Each generation we get a so called Pikaclone, a pokémon closely resembling pikachu and more often than not being the electric type unless we count Pikablu. The new pokémon to follow this trend is called Morpeko, the always hungry hamster. Who carries Berry-seeds as its prized possession they count as it snacks!

Having a cute very pika-like appearance that can change when it moves its use Aura Wheel The move allows it to switch type from electric to dark mode by triggering his ability hunger switch.  In Full Belly mode Aura Wheel will look like an electric hamster wheel that is launched at it’s opponent. After that workout the creature will get a bad case of the munchies though and will switch into hangry move. The energy in its cheek changes to dark type.Not only does this Pokémon look adorable, it feels like a very unique pikaclone too. With only castform having somewhat similar ability this reporter is curious to see how usable this pokémon will be.

Two more rivals


We already knew we were gonna see multiple rivals in the Galar region. The first rival was to sweet according to some, they wanted to have a mean rival. Though we haven’t seen much of their persona yet, there are two candidates for the  mean rival. Bede seems the most likely candidate. Having received his nomination from chairman Rose, the head honcho of the galar region he seems to have that arrogant posture, and elitist background hop so sorely needed. Hop is the brother of the champion Leon and thus will most likely follow a “out of his brothers shadow ‘ arc and seems closer akin to trainers like Hau and Trace where many fans want a new Gary or Silver.  Bede’s poses and looks do fit the brief so hopefully we will have our Gary here.

The second rival we see is Marnie. I absolutely love her, adore her, this design makes me a huge fan! Turns out I am not the only one! Marnie is quite the popular girl having her own fanbase. She is revealed to have a Morpeko and plans to win the Galar Championship for her own goals. What those are remains to be seen. She is described as calm and calculating who is very dedicated to achieving results! Her leather jacket with pink dress make her the perfect mix of cute and though and she is already the rival i respect most, no matter how she may turn out! Also her shoes are absolutely adorable! This character I wanna cosplay real bad.

Hooligans

The “evil” team was also revealed and since we are in Galar and thus england what better way to express evil brits as trough hooligans. It remains to be scene if these are actually evil , this reporter suspects not, but they do support Marnie and want her to win, even if they have to play unfair tactics to prevent other trainers from progressing.  All in all, this makes me lead to believe that we might not see a traditional elite four but a tournament much closer to the ones depicted in the anime. Of course this might change over time. Back to team yell as they are called. Donned in Marnie’s colours their goal is just to make Marnie champion. They will occupy a hotel lobby, be loud and obnoxious and hinder her opponents. Just like real hooligans. Whenever Marnie battles these crazy guys show up in the background to support her. If  Marnie actual cares for her supporters or even leads them as a team remains to be seen. This reporter predicts she simply does not care, she wants to win and if someone is weak enough to be stopped by her fans they aren’t worth facing anway. That or a sort like mentality. She also predicts that the true evil will come in the form of Chairman Rose or Oleana where they wish to abuse the power of Dynamaxing for evil things ,collecting it from the stadiums and such. Anyway the hooligans will make a welcome addition to the game as the concept is quite unique rather than yet another megalomaniac we have seen so many times before.

Poké jobs

Lacking from the international trailer, but featuring in the japanese trailer, are Pokémon Jobs. This new feature is most likely go replace the leveling feature of a daycare center, allowing that to become more of a breeding center (hopefully) Poké Jobs  based on their core description are also gonna help with EV training. Pokémon in the Galar region are described to oftenly work, as in labour, with their partners. This means you can basically send your Skitty to work in a factory or let Machoke help out at the docs.  These jobs will feature a mobile-game like deployment system. You can send any pokémon from your box to work and when they come back you can gain items but more importantly experience to your pokémon! Depending on your Pokémon’s typing it will qualify for certain jobs, that can make both you and your pokémon better!. Best thing is that the website also briefly mentions that it helps increase your pokémon’s base stats. So this might be the easiest EV training we have ever gotten. However.. this reporter does have some moral issues to send her freshly hatched pokémon straight into a factory.

This special news report was made possible by Nintendo, Game Freak and the offcial Pokémon Company.
This is reporter Pinkie Cherryblossom, signing out for Pink-Poké-News
We hope you have a beautiful day and do not forget to check out today’s regular post!
What if Jessie and James turned good!
How do you feel about these new updates? Let us know in the comments!
Remember I am not weird, I am just very pink!
Until we read again!

Pink-Poke-News Week 31

While this post is going online, I am getting ready to let my Pokémon pen and paper roleplaying group hunt for some shinies in Kalos. So should there be any breaking news. It will be in the next one. That being said. This week was a sloooooow news week for Pokémon. Slower than a Shuckle. These news flashes are all somewhat lackluster and very region specific. Given my followers are literally spread all across the world it means we are going to have a bit creative. Luckily at Pink-Poké-News our catchphrase is ‘the news….but way less objective’ So that being said…. *imagine a nice news theme again please*

Top Story: Pinkie breaks 25 followers
Good day little monsters, reporter Pinkie Cherryblossom here with today’s top story.
With a grant twelve days to spare Pinkie’s Pokemon has now grown with over 25 followers. With about 40 to 60 views per day, this means the site has now become stable enough to move forward to a paid plan. This will lead to some amazing new features in the new future. What can the followers expect? Pinkie, unable to speak directly to me, mostly because I am her and not psychotic enough today to interview myself, has issued a statement on the matter. ‘First of all we will get some minor designs. Of course the Pokéball  theme and general layout will remain the same. However the banner as well as the background when viewed at pc will get a small overhaul. Some minor elements in posts might be changed as well, if we can figure out the tools. Expect some changes to be held in some categories. Mon-days for example will most likely change to Professor Pinkie’s Pokédex. While Theory Thursday will be replaced by Detective Pinkie’s Casefiles. In the latter will we not only be able to discuss pokémon theories but also rumors and analytic pieces. Categories will no longer strictly be bound to a day. While my aim is to still follow the old schedule, this allows more liberties to create content. Categories will be based on several Pinkie Persona’s. Going into content a bit more specific , you can expect more of the same with just a dash of added flavour by the several personas. I also hope to add some interaction with followers, how I will do it will remain a surprise for now. Expect a lot of updates , alongside your expected content in the very near future. With that said it’s time to set a new goal of 50 followers. Having no insight in how long it would take to grow from here we will just say, we hope to see some progress towards this goal by Pinkie’s birthday , being November 17th. It’s time for Pinkie’s Pokémon to evolve!
Once more we like to thank everyone making the dream of a Pokéblog a reality!

Plushies on the news!
The fact that these even make the news show how little news there has been in the Pokéfront.  Sure I could tell you how the United States lowered the minimum points to participate in the world championship,  I could tell Canada and Taiwan can play Pokemon Masters and that five star trainer good trainer drop-rates seem low and crystal are expensive as ‘playing together’ bell. (I wonder why i censor myself this much) but eh! I said all I could say about it in a single line of text. Now Plushies I can talk about! Pokémon Center USA, here we go again with the blipping regional POOchyena, has announced a few new plushies coming in their lineup. I will consider this news because usually when the usa center gets it, it isn’t as impossible obtain for others either, at least after a while. Why am I highlighting these? Well I find the quality of Meltan and Melmetal a bit off. The nut they have for their head doesn’t look defined enough for me and Melmetal looks a bit off.

That doesn’t mean they can’t or should be loved, I don’t want to hurt their feelings or make them sad (this genuinely is a concern for me .. I legitimately imagine them being saddened by my words, and feel guilty  because of it.) but I feel it would have been better if these were more like the Steelix plush. Steel types plushies is a bit weird anyhow.. even though they of course deserve hugs as well. The second one I want to highlight is this Mareep

It’s a cute Mareep..but what makes it newsworthy? The fact that it’s a $500 dollar plushie!! That’s right, this Mareep can give you a lot of love but it will also cost you a lot of money! Why so much cash is needed for little thing? Well thats because it’s huuuuge! Sixty centimeters high (24 inches) and about over a meter long (44 inches) Mareep is basically a 1:1 scale model of the monster, without the risk of electrocution when you hug it. This one makes me double sad though! Not only am I about $700 dollars short of obtaining it my apartment is way too small to display a full sized sheep as well.

Unified Minds launched

Believe it or not, there was some actual news! Pokémon Go released some new shadow Pokémon, but in the eyes of this reporter that is not news because those are the laziest of lazy design. Just red eyes and black and purple flames. They suck! The Team Rocket Battles are extremely cruel! Today I had to take down 3 8200CP Shadow Snorlax using a team of 3 mons in the low 3000’s. Having failed, this news reporter had to conclude that this update truly sucks. It  marginalises it’s news value, as this is only for the elite. I still managed to inform you all though! Speaking of updates, there has been one this week i really like. Namely for the TCG, that is short for trading card game for those who might wonder. This new cardset is amazing though. Like the last two sets Tean Up and Unbroken Bonds this set is all about the so called Team Up cards. Pokémon Cards that feature two pokémon.  Their mechanics usually involve having a surplus of energy for improved effects. Unlike the last set however, being Unbroken Bonds, pull-rates seem to be favorable. The set features plenty of new cards of most types. Fairy-types and fighting types however have a weak presence in this set, so if you run a brown or pink deck this might not be the set for you.
Card Hunters should be on the lookout for the secret rare Cherish Ball, Full Art Misty’s and of course all the team-up ultra rare cards. Unified Minds is named thusly because of the presence of Mew and Mewtwo Team-Up.  Their ability allows them to use the attacks of any EX or GX card on your bench or graveyard, making the unified minds name most fitting. The reporter , running an X&Y series brown deck as well as a desire to build a pink deck has little use for this set, yet can not help but be fascinated with some amazing card art in the set. She will probably end up buying at least a few packs to hunt for the Alternative (not Full)  Art Raichu and Alolan Raichu card, because that is just so insanely adorably cute!

Let’s Go Sword and Shield Goodness
Though these are currently just circulating around in the United States or other countries available for the reporter, the Switch is finally getting some love as well. 
First of all throughout several countries in Europe, including Germany and France,  have begun distributing Giovanni’s Mewtwo as a special event Pokémon. It has all it’s stats maxed out knowing the moves Amnesia, Teleport, Recover and Psychic. Neat to have but I would have preferred a certain pink Pokémon that now costs about 40 bucks to  add to the game. My Mewtwo is all candied up already because I really wanted to defeat that darn master trainer after all. We also finally got some insight in the benefits of buying a Pokémon Sword and Shield dual set, you know the bundle that cost exactly how much the two games cost separately! If you get it at a Pokémon center you get a keychain of each of the three starters.  A nice way to sweeten the pot a little but now the reporter has a much worse pick to make. Sobble is already the starter I selected..but know I have to pick which of the other ones will be my first keychain…in order words which one do I have to leave behind? Perhaps we can get the third one as a plush!  Zacian and Zamazenta will also get a little love in the form of their design decorating a new Switch Lite. You know that Switch that you can’t actually switch and is just a handheld. Though the design is beautiful , the reporter still questions the design choices about this device. I get just playing it handheld, but without the removable controllers, you can’t multiplayer, you can’t ever hook it up to your tv and you can’t mario party! That seems a steep price considering how much money you actually save. Maybe they are nice for a collector though! Still a neat goodie!

This concludes this week’s news!Tune in next week for more extremely biased reports and more PINK-POKÉ-NEWS. Likes and comments are always appreciated…except from you Nestle! I know you think my content is amazing, but you are being very non descriptive about it! As you could read, I am already planning for the future..not sure how you can help with that! See you in the spam folder? Same time? The rest of my dear little monsters Thanks for the support and I hope to see YOU in the comment section and in my follower list!
Stay Pink!

X

Pink-Poké-News Week 29

Welcome back my little monsters, on my Weekend Weeklies mostly on PPN (Pink-Poke-News)  we will discuss what happened that week in the wonderful world of Pokémon , as well as well as me sharing some thought on matters of that week.

Pokémon Community Day of July Mudkip
Pokémon Go, becoming increasingly stale to myself, is holding their community day this week. In just a few hours we will be able to hunt shiny mudkip, trivialising the once rare species once more, Niantic continues it’s trend of force feeding shinies and devaluing them further for trade. That said Mudkip is a nice shiny it’s purple colour really works well with the muddy being..whatever it may be as some weird tadpole , frog thing hybrid.
The Rocket expansion dropped this week as well, alongside concepts like shadow Pokémon.. this reporter really wished they would just add in more Pokémon and cycle them out just a bit more. We are here to catch pocket monsters after all. I like walking and hunting for Pokémon a lot, I do not even mind raids and gym battles that much but as we draw closer to completing our Pokédexes, Niantic would rather bring us new features to capture old Pokémon yet again. If I wanted to battle Team Rocket I would play a full on title, and for shadow Pokémon , the gamecube…or emulators offer much better alternatives. Maybe it is time for this reporter to bow out of Team Mystic, and try to become a master.

Pokémon Master News: The Poryphone, Co-op and Sygna Suits.
A new trailer and info dropped on Pokémon Masters, and I must say, it looks absolutely stunning. Although a lot of people have been giving Nintendo flack for focussing on phones rather then their mainline games I really like the concept of Pokémon Masters, and for fans it’s just an opportunity to play more Pokémon, I know I have been negative on P-Go just now.. but that is not because it’s a bad game, I like it’s core concept , this reporter dislikes it currently because it’s becoming lackluster in it’s core in favor of added features. Think of it like Pokémon Snap getting updates, but instead of new Pokémon to photograph or new stages to travel on, we get snapchat filters or mini games added to it. However Pokémon Masters is looking pretty darn good, offering a new battle format and bringing Pokémon the legacy game it very much deserved. It’s a 3 vs 3 legacy battling game where you collect legendary trainers and their signature Pokémon from throughout all generations, to win Gym Badges to compete in the Pokémon Masters League. Every trailer so far looks absolutely stunning, though in the last one a lot of assets from the old one have been  reused. The latest updates reveals , two maybe three new things.
The most minor one will be the Porygon-phone .. which might double as a Pokédex. A cute device shaped like our virtual pal. Why we did not get Rotom Phone? Unclear maybe this one is not sentient and just a phone case. Reporter Pinkie will find out for you this summer. Next it was announced that the game will feature a Co-Op function where you and two of your friends…maybe me if you’ll let me batte along… can fight NPC”s and challenge the game together. A mode that can be some great fun if you ask me and can bring some extra dynamics to the whole 3 on 3 system. Hopefully not everyone will use a Pikachu though. Yours truly has yet to hear about PvP possibilties but is dying to find out.
The last announcement on the game are so called Sygna Suits, these are alternative skins, with a VERY special effect. It changes  your allies signature Pokémon. For example regular brock uses an Onix, while Sygna Brock uses a Tyranitar. Both still have their eyes closed. How Brock knows he is wearing a different outfit is currently unknown, but hey at least he is finally using a decent Pokémon.
So far Masters looks promising , however the lack of a launch date makes me fear there might be a lot of patchwork left to do, which takes indefinite time, but we will have to see and find out.

Where is Impidimp
Finally a small pondering. During E3 2019 we got to play with two new Pokémon, Yamper, the normal electric good dog, and Impidimp the pink little devil, that is the amazing fairy dark type. Since E3 , Yamper and its ability Ball Fetch, which is sooooo adorable and clever,  has been officially announced and features on the Pokémon website. Yet of Impidimp there isn’t any trace. Alongside Yamper, Rolycoly and Duraludon have been announcement, which raises the question: Where is Impidimp? Have you seen the little devil? If so contact us at 555-(that means a phone number is fake)IMPIDIMP, or leave a like and tips in the comments. 

Good Luck with your Shiny Hunt, let us know how many you caught. Will you play Pokémon Masters? Where do you think Impidimp is? Be sure to tune in next week for some more Pink-Poke-News, but most of all stay pink.
Until we read again.