It’s Pokemon Day, and The Pokemon Company has a slew of events and updates for us as teased in today’s Pokemon Day update video. While not everything mentioned may be of particular relevance to our readers, there are a few new events up in various online Pokemon games and a future game that – even if single-player – will certainly have widespread effects on other Pokemon games we’re playing.
We’re going to start with the biggest and most distant news: Pokemon Legends: Z-A. This will be a new 2025 entry in the new Pokemon Legends series. While the last game, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, was mostly single-player outside of (oddly) asynchronous online-play only body/item recovery, it introduced a slew of new pokemon that have appeared in both main series games and spin-offs, most recently seen as the backbone of the recent Pokemon GO Sinnoh Tours. Few details were revealed, though: The game is taking place in Gen 6’s Lumiose City, which is undergoing some renewal, the logo and name clearly reference legendary pokemon Zygarde, and most importantly, the Mega symbol at the end of the video most likely means that at the absolute very least, we’ll be getting new Mega pokemon. I’d personally wager that Dragonite, an original 151 ‘mon that hasn’t gotten any variants across several games now despite being the OG Dragon of the series, will be among them, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Next we have Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tera raids, specifically of the original three Kanto starters, and the events are starting very soon. Venusaur (Ground Tera, February 27th, 7 p.m. EST to March 5th, 7 p.m. EST) and Blastoise (March 6th-12th, Steel Tera) will be newcomers, and both are predicted to make use of weather effects. Venusaur will most likely be vulnerable to Ice, because Ground is weak to it and Venusaur also learns no offensive Fire attacks, while Blastoise is predicted as being a punching bag for Annihilape, as the mad monkey will do super effective damage to the tortoise plus has access to Sunny Day to potentially cancel out an almost-too-obvious Rain Dance themed ‘toise. On the other hand, Charizard (March 13th-17th, Dragon Tera) is a repeat encounter we’ve already covered in a guide on Tera raids, so hopefully y’all still have your Azumarills and/or Sylveons.
2/27 Update: It seems Venusaur’s stronger than originally thought. While there’s a blurry image describing a rather useful technique in taking down the flower lizard, what it basically comes down to in a more simplified way is the following: Chestnaught hold Life Orb, Adamant Natured, with the Bullet Proof ability, using Sword Dance on Turn 1 and Wood Hammer on Turn 2. Naturally, wait for your allies to use their abilities before using that Wood Hammer. For support, there should be two Corviknights and an Umbreon, all holding a Zoom Lens, Sassy Natured, with Umbreon having the Inner Focus ability. One Corviknight should use Screech both turns. The other should use Defense Cheer on Turn 1 and Attack Cheer on Turn 2. The Umbreon should Screech on Turn 1 and then use Helping Hand on Chestnaught for a one-hit-KO (hence Chesty’s need to wait for everything else to go down).
Next, we’ve got Pokemon Unite celebrations. Miraidon, Falinks, and Ceruledge are all coming to the game, with Miraidon out now, Falinks in April, and Ceruledge soon™. You have from now to March 23rd to earn Miraidon’s license unlock via quests; use code POKEDAY24 to unlock it for three days, plus a Miraidon boost emblem. You can also use the prize machine now for 100 no cost pulls.
Ahoy, Trainers! ⛵🌊
Get ready to celebrate “Pokémon Horizons: The Series” with Pikachu wearing Cap’s hat and Charcadet’s #PokemonGO debut from Tuesday, March 5 at 10:00 a.m. to Monday, March 11, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. local time.https://t.co/YzBpXqKuVp pic.twitter.com/HtC9qEb5IX
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) February 27, 2024
Then there’s Pokemon Go. Obviously our own Massivey on the Go will cover some of this stuff in more depth, but right now, there are Party Hat Pikachu, Eevee, Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur spawning in the wild. Of them, only Squirtle and Charmander can evolve, though Bulbasaur’s day will surely come soon. On the horizon, to celebrate the new Netflix Pokemon anime series, Niantic will run a March 5th-11th celebration event. Expect Captain Hat Pikachu with a new move, and Volt Tackle will be available (though most likely won’t be able to evolve). Eggs will also be the sole source of Charcadet, and yes, it’ll be able to evolve into either of its forms depending on which kinds of pokemon you defeat with it as your buddy. Both look quite fun at least in PvP, as Ceruledge and Armarouge both get access to Flame Charge to boost their attack, though Ceru is only a little bulkier than Chandelure and Arma is a higher-attack Delphox without a great closer. We’ll see how meta-relevant they turn out to be. There’ll also be more Rockets and photobombing of the new anime characters.
Finally, there’s the 2024 mobile game Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket. This isn’t just lanother online version of the popular TCG, though, as the combined might of The Pokemon Company, Creatures Inc, and DeNA will foster a “quick play” ruleset that apparently will modify the traditional rules in a way to make faster games. PTCGP will also have new cards exclusive in both form and function to the digital game, and you’ll be able to not only open two card packs a day for free but trade them or battle online with friends.
It’s nice that we already have some celebratory events going on, but I must admit that Legends: Z-A is going to be driving hype across Pokemon games (and let’s admit it, fake pokemon art-circles) at least for the rest of the year, both for current games and for the new digital TCG as well. With any luck, the high-praise Legends: Arceus received has shown The Pokemon Company that the mechanics of the game- focused more on stealth play and even data gathering— are a breath of fresh air that can work well with the online-multiplayer adventuring we dabbled in recently for Scarlet and Violet. I know I’d certainly prefer to help with my own Poké-corpse runs if they come back!
