Pokémon

Everything Ridiculous About Pokémon, In Four Minutes

Despite Pokémon’s immense popularity, plenty about the series is absolutely silly, or doesn’t make much sense. If you’re a veteran player, you’re already familiar with some of the qualms that TheBlueOwlPlays brings up in this video. They include: How the only industry you can work in is Pokémon related, because EVERYthing in the Pokémon universe…

The Surprising Results of Selective Pokémon Breeding

Is that… a “Chargizard”? Concentrating on recessive genes and breeding Pokémon the Dorkly way might not get you to the end of the game, but it definitely has other advantages. This special method, you can see it below, works well with starter Pokémon, but what about the ones that are a bit weirder. Koffing? Diglett?…

Predicting Anime Characters’ Future Appearance Is Easy

Jibanyan is the most popular character in Yokai Watch, Japan’s new favorite anime and video game. The character is new, but what will it look like in ten years? As Kotaku has previously mentioned, characters change. Heck, look at how Pikachu has developed over the years. Via Japanese web forum 2ch, here’s a guess at…

The Hackers and Cheaters Who Break Pokémon 

Nearly every Pokémon player I know has, at one point during their career as a trainer, handled a hacked Pokémon. Even prominent Pokemon players have been suspected of cheating, and in a single competition, The Pokémon Company has caught thousands of cheaters at once. Pokemon’s online bank system, which stores monsters for players, has also…

Nintendo’s got a new free-to-play downloadable 3DS Pokémon puzzle game (with microtransaction support, it sounds like) coming this February. It’s called Pokémon Shuffle and might remind you of Pokémon Trozei. It was announced in this morning’s Nintendo Direct by Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata. Here’s some footage from the Direct, capped by Gamexplain….

What Pokémon Players Are Actually Trading, By The Numbers

Thanks to something called “Wonder Trade,” Pokémon players regularly put monsters up for trade blindly, without knowing what they’ll get in return. Maybe it’ll be a garbage Pokémon, or maybe it’ll be a legendary. Not knowing what you’ll get in exchange for your Pokémon is part of the fun—but even so, hardcore players are compiling…

Pokémon Wasn’t The Biggest Seller in Japan Last Year

In 2014, Japan saw the release of big Pocket Monster games Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The games sold a ton in Japan, but not enough to reign supreme. A new challenger has taken the crown: Yokai Watch That’s right, Famitsu is reporting Yokai Watch 2 outsold Pokémon ORAS in 2014. What’s interesting about…

Watch Pokémon Red/Blue Get Destroyed In Just 21 Minutes

When I first saw that the schedule for Awesome Games Done Quick listed the original Pokémon games with an estimated completion time of “30:00,” I had a feeling we were going to see something ridiculous today. And we sure did. It took just 21 minutes for speedrunner Werster to rip through Pokémon Red/Blue this afternoon,…

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Get Official Cafe

Tokyo is home to a new Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire cafe. It serves up an array of Pikachu-themed treats. Gotta eat ’em all! The cafe, dubbed Pokémon Cafe Ω Ruby & α Sapphire, opens this Friday in Tokyo’s Shibuya. As website Sibch.tv points out, the cafe is opened only for a limited time,…

People are coming up with some, uh, creative uses for Amiibos. Andrew K managed to stuff the technology powering his Pikachu Amiibo into a Pokémon Yellow cartridge. Not only does the Pokémon Yellow cartridge act as a novel Amiibo, the cartridge still works in a Game Boy Color! You can reach the author of this…

Now Pokémon Can ‘Play’ Twitch

We’ve seen people over Twitch play Pokémon. Now see a game of Pokémon “play” Twitch. Earlier today, the TASbot team at Awesome Games Done Quick’s marathon was able to hack a copy of Pokemon Red, get access to the Super Game Boy that was playing it, then get into the Super Nintendo that Super Game…

Not All Pokemon Are Happy About Evolving

You’d think a species of creatures whose primary focus is gladiatorial combat would be uniformly pleased about assuming a new, more capable form — even if that form involves an additional head or a piece of silverware. The fine folks at Dorklytake a look at some of Pokemon‘s more unfortunate transformations. Some transform pleasant creatures…

Awesome Smash Bros. Mod Turns Brawl Into a Pokémon Fighting Game

Smash Bros. does have some Pokémon characters that you can use, like Charizard and Greninja. But, there aren’t enough playable characters for a Pokémon-centric fighting game. Enter mods. Thing is, Smash Bros. games do include the character models for plenty of Pokémon, for use whenever you throw Pokeballs in matches. Sleepy Jirachi seems to have…

Seven of the Most Useful Pokémon In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Powerful Pokémon and cool Pokémon are important to have in any arsenal—but they’re not the only kinds of Pokémon you’ll use. Everyone needs Pokémon that are useful, to help you capture and train other Pokémon. That’s where Utility Pokémon come in. Redditor Pekolachi remade a version of an infographic created by KaSlaps, and it’s something…

Fans Have Spent Six Years Making A Pokémon Game That Feels Fresh

Pokémon Uranium isn’t your typical Pokémon fan game. The developers seem to be pouring everything into making a game that looks fresh—a quality that is unusual for the franchise. Taking inspiration from real-world places like Rio de Janeiro, the game takes place somewhere very different from any existing Pokémon games. You’ll still be collecting 8…

Pokémon’s Pallet Town Theme Played Perfectly On The Game’s Note Mats

That’s how you do it. A perfect execution of Pallet Town’s theme by Kemos Tay, using the note mats in Pokémon ORAS‘s Secret Base, with the bass line being played on the bottom screen and the main melody on top. You can even hear the furious mashing of the D-Pad. Pokemon OR/AS Secret Base –…

New Pokémon Hacked, So You Can Play As The Bad Guy

Pokémon hackers have been busy lately. Not only have they spilled the beans on unreleased legendaries in the last few months, they’ve also figured out how to tinker with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire—and the results are hilarious. Here’s one hack, uploaded by Huntereb and created by @Reisyukaku, that involves replacing the main character’s model…

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Goes Primal In February

The more I study the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the more I realize I might never catch up. Hot on the heels of the recent Phantom Forces expansion comes Primal Clash, a new set featuring Pokémon that have undergone Primal Reversion, including Primal Kyogre-EX and Primal Groudon-EX. Now that I’ve almost finished building my own…

Nendoroid Pokémon Trainer Red: The Kotaku Review

I’ve somehow managed to avoid purchasing one of Japan’s Good Smile Company’s big-headed Nendoroid figures, despite my penchant for all things ridiculously cute. Then the North American Pokémon Center shop started selling the once Japan exclusive Red figure. Now I am doomed. I’ve long admired the Nendoroid line, but I knew damn well what would…

Pokémon’s Ridiculous Timeline, Explained In A Single Image

Thanks to shenanigans involving alternate dimensions in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Pokémon’s timeline has officially become bonkers. But, there is a way to make sense of it. Basically, there are three different Pokémon dimensions, all of which house their own Pokémon games. In one dimension, you’ve got all the original Game Boy games,…