By Kotaku | Created at 2025-02-27 15:32:29 | Updated at 2025-03-10 04:06:30
1 week ago
Screenshot: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku
It’s that time of year when Pokémon fans get to have an early Christmas. It’s Pokémon Day, which commemorates the anniversary of the launch of the original Pokemon Red and Green in Japan in 1996. Each year, The Pokémon Company puts on a livestream to talk about upcoming games, updates on current ones, and other projects within the franchise. Last year’s was a little lowkey because it was the first year in a while that Game Freak didn’t release a new RPG or DLC, but this year, the studio is releasing Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the second installment in the Legends subseries set in Kalos. That wasn’t the only announcement, although things were still pretty quiet. If you want to watch the full livestream, you can check that out below. If you just want the highlights, read on:
Image: The Pokémon Company
First up was the announcmenet that the second season of Pokemon Concierge, the excellent stop-motion Netflix series, will premiere in September. A few new ‘mons that will debut in the season include Shinx, Arcanine, and Corphish.
Also, the first series is free to watch on YouTube for a few days.
Image: The Pokémon Company
Pokemon Go, the mobile capturing app, is hosting a series of new events over the coming weeks. A Unova Go Tour is taking place on March 1 and 2, and will include Black Kyurem and White Kyurem in raid battles. Shiny Meloetta and Victini will also be available during this time.
Two new sync pairs are coming to the gacha game Pokemon Masters EX: May and Shiny Primal Kyogre and Brendan and Shiny Primal Groudon. May will join tomorrow, February 28, with Brendan following on March 2.
Puzzle game Pokémon Cafe Remix is getting an apple-based event on Friday, February 28, which will allow you to add either Appletun or Flapple join your staff. The event also includes outfit packs for Sprigatitto, Fuecoco, and Quaxly.
Darkrai and Cresselia are coming to Pokemon Sleep. Not much is known about their appearance, but they’re both known for being able to affect dreams and nightmares, so they’re appropriate for a sleep app.
Three new Pokemon are coming to the MOBA Pokemon Unite. Suicune, Alolan Raichu, and Alcremie are all joining the roster in March, April, and “soon,” respectively. Also, a new mode called First to 500 is coming, which requires either team to reach 500 points through scoring goals.
As previously leaked, Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is getting a new booster set called Triumphant Light. The Arceus-centric set will be added to the app tomorrow, February 28.
Outside of the app, we also saw some new Mega Evolution ex cards coming to the standard Trading Card Game. The only two we saw were Mega Lucario and Mega Gardevoir, but more will be added, as well.
After some updates on some small events in Scarlet and Violet, we got into a brand new game called Pokémon Champions. The Switch and mobile game was only shown through a cinematic teaser, but it was described as a core-style battle simulator outside of the typical RPG structure. It’s being developed by Pokémon Works, and will let you connect to Pokémon Home to import your parties from mainline games.
Closing out the show was Pokémon Legends: Z-A. The Switch RPG deviates from Legends: Arceus, in that it takes place in modern day Kalos, rather than a historical setting. Your character will start their journey with either Chikorita, Totodile, or Tepig, while Lumiose City is undergoing an urban redevelopment plan. There will be discreet wild areas where you can capture more Pokémon, but it doesn’t seem like Z-A will include the open zones of Arceus. The game will launch on Switch in late 2025.
.
