February 27th marks Pokemon Day, and The Pokemon Company usually doesn’t sleep on it… except when it comes to a sleep game, we suppose. Pokemon Sleep, an app that tracks your “sleep style” and visually shows you which pokemon your sleep style resembles, is finally being released sometime in summer 2023, though the game itself is less relevant to MOP readers than its connection to Pokemon GO, specifically the Pokemon Go Plus+ coming this July.
Not only will the new device allow players to auto-catch without pressing a button, but it’ll also allow players to use Great and Ultra Balls too, further increasing the likelihood that you actually catch the pokemon rather than see it flee. It also enables a special research for a Snorlax with night cap and “something” more in the future with the sleep data. Oh, there’s a Pikachu “within the device” that becomes friendlier with you, singing you to sleep and making other pika-sounds as it grows more attached.
POGO players can also now send postcards to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet once a day, changing the console game’s in-game Vivillon’s patterns to match those granted by the postcard’s origins. In turn, this allows POGO players to catch Gimmighoul’s Roaming form via a Coin Bag, working similarly to the Mysterious Box for Meltan. And if you don’t have the game yourself, you can pair your POGO account with a friend’s Nintendo Switch and send your friend’s Scarlet/Violet a postcard to get your own bag.
However, Gimmighoul cannot evolve unless you get 999 Gimmighoul coins, which are obtained through catching Gimmighoul, walking it as your buddy, or randomly getting them from Golden Pokestops. This last point is important because for the rest of today, Golden Stop are appearing as part of the promotion. In the future, however, there will be Golden Lure Modules that can be set up to grant the coins while spinning and potentially spawn Gimmighoul. While the blog post notes these lures are from “sending multiple Postcards to Pokémon Scarlet or Pokémon Violet,” Pokeminers had previously noted Daily Streaks associated with the feature. It may be that the lures are granted by repeatedly sending postcards to the console games, but we don’t know this yet.
3/1 Update:Â An eagle-eyed redditor noted Niantic’s help page mentions the Golden Lure is a 5-day-streak reward, confirming our hypothesis.
While you can’t currently move Roaming form Gimmighoul to Scarlet and Violet, the early 2023 Pokemon HOME update to connect POGO to the games will allow for that, so be on the lookout.
Speaking of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, we have new Paradox forms obtainable in Tera Raid battles in-game right now until March 12th. Scarlet’s Walking Wake will have a Water tera-type, while Violet’s Iron Leaves will have a Psychic tera typing. You can only get one per game, and unlike some other one-time only ‘mon, they do not come at max level with perfect stats. That being said, we’re told they’ll come back at a later time, and unlike wild Paradox pokés, you can get both versions’ exclusive by joining a Tera Raid (via local-multiplayer or online battles). The battles aren’t terribly difficult if you’re properly prepared, but finding an available raid outside your own game may be difficult today.
We also have information on the two upcoming paid DLC packs. Part 1: The Teal Mask, arrives in fall 2023, and Part 2: The Indigo Disk lands winter 2023, bringing both new and old pokemon to the games. In The Teal Mask, players will go on a school trip to the Kitakami region, outside of the game’s Paldea region. Part 2’s The Indigo Disk has you working for Blueberry Academy as an exchange student. While that’s not much, apparently both stories will lead to Paldea’s Area Zero for new legendary pokemon.
Preordering gives you some new uniforms now, plus a code that grants Hisuian Zoroark with the special move Happy Hour, granting additional XP and money at the end of battles.
Finally, for Pokemon Unite players, Zacian is now a playable character. You can join in for quests that unlock the legendary pokemon for free until March 26th. Zacian seems to really rely on getting in multiple hits but is also a melee character that will need to close the distance gap. In addition to all that though, entering the code POKEMONDAY grants a Zacian Emblem Boost (think Enchantments or Gems in MMO gear loot terms), though be warned that if you haven’t played in a while, logging in will trigger a Welcome Back event you may not want to trigger if you don’t exactly feel committed to playing for the next two weeks.
