Pokémon

A Twitch Streamer Unearthed Cards From A Fake ’90s Pokémon Ripoff, And Fans Are Pretending The Series Was Real All Along [UPDATE]

There’s elaborate performance art, and then there’s what renowned Twitch jester Jerma did over the weekend. In a truly inspired stream, he parodied the recent Pokémon booster pack craze by going out into the Nevada desert and pretending to excavate a chest seemingly full of unopened Pokémon cards from 1997. They turned out to be…

Bravely Default II’s Beastmaster Job Is Basically Pokémon

Creating your party in Bravely Default II is less about the characters you use than it is the jobs with which you equip them. It’s a smart strategy to always have basic healers and damage-dealers on hand, sure, but when it comes to my party, I don’t foresee ever not having at least one Beastmaster…

Pokémon Go Holds Make Up Event For Letting In Players Without Tickets, Lets In Players Without Tickets

It’s now officially a trademark move for developer Niantic. Last month Pokémon Go players were accidentally let in for free to the ticketed Kanto Tour event. To make up for it, Niantic announced there would be a special bonus event for those who’d paid. That started today, and guess what: They let people in who…

Pokémon Go‘s Professor Willow Is Coming To The Pokémon Card Game

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. What better way to celebrate that than sticking Professor Willow from Pokémon Go in it? This summer, which will be the fifth anniversary of Pokémon Go, the professor will appear in the card game. According to the official announcement, Professor Willow’s card will…

Official Pokémon-Themed…Fishing Lures

The amount of Pokémon branding in Japan is intense. And with the arrival of these fishing lures, it seems the pocket monsters can be slapped on just about anything. As Go Nintendo points out, Japanese fishing equipment company Duo has teamed up with The Pokémon Company for made-in-Japan Pikachu and Kygore-themed lures. One is a…

An Ode To My Favorite Flavor Texts

More than the set piece battle or the final showdown between hero and villain, it’s the quieter, smaller moments in video games that get me. In some games, those tiny moments can be a sudden expression on a character’s face or a short piece of dialogue from an inconsequential scene. But more often than not,…

Bravely Default 2’s Level Up Screen Is So Satisfying

Sixty hours later I still love watching these numbers go up. Like many other JRPGs, Bravely Default II is extremely long and extremely grindy, but the game is also full of small touches that occasionally punctuate the tedium with joy. One of those is the level up screen. After killing a mob of enemies you…

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl‘s Graphics Compared To The Original Games’

Late last week, Nintendo announced remakes of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. The original games were released in 2007 on the Nintendo DS, while the remakes will be out on the Switch this year. Plus, the new versions will not be developed by Game Freak, but rather, ILCA (the games’ original director, Junichi Masuda, will be…

Pikachu Gets More Powerful The More It Sleeps

Every Pokemon is interesting and worth talking about. I don’t play a ton of Pokemon, but I do enjoy the universe and I love learning more about the creatures in it. So, Here’s Another Pokemon! It’s Pikachu! Pikachu Details Type: Electric Average Height: 1′ 04″ Average Weight: 13.2 lbs First Added In Generation I Happy…

Happy 25th Birthday, Pokémon

Dear Pokémon, Ah, my beloved game series. Happy birthday! Man, 25, huh. That’s a big one. It seems like yesterday you were just a little Red and Green version, entertaining gamers of all ages with your signature mix of 151 adorable monsters and your compelling take on rock-paper-scissors. But look at you now—from 151 to…

New Pokemon Games, New Final Fantasy VII Spin-Offs, Anthem Is Done, Call Of Duty Is Way Too Big, And More

This week on Morning Checkpoint we learn about the next terrible thing involving Cyberpunk 2077, learn the future of Anthem, check out a new trailer for more Hot Wheels in Forza, talk about some good dads and watch Destiny 2 players jump off a cliff over and over. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week…

Now That’s How You Do A Damn Game Reveal

After being utterly underwhelmed by BlizzCon, last week’s Nintendo Direct, and yesterday’s PlayStation State of Play, I wasn’t expecting much out of today’s Pokémon 25th Anniversary presentation. But it feels like The Pokémon Company took a good look at the competition and said, “Alright, now watch a master work.” No shade at all to those…

Hmm, That New Pokémon Game Sure Looks A Lot Like Breath Of The Wild

Today during a Nintendo livestream we got our first look at Pokémon Legends: Arceus, a new open-world Pokémon game. Almost instantly after it was revealed folks on the internet began comparing it to Breath of the Wild. In fact, one particular shot in the new trailer caught the eyes of many fans for how similar…

Here’s How The New Pokémon Snap Works

The original Pokémon Snap, released for the Nintendo 64 in 1999, saw players riding the Zero-One buggy across the generically-named Pokémon Island at the behest of Professor Oak. New Pokémon Snap gives players a whole new region to explore, a new professor to guide them, and new ways to edit and share endless photos of…

Pokémon Legends: Arceus Is A New Open-World Game Coming In 2022

Set in the Sinnoh Region of old, Pokémon Legends Arceus is a new approach to open-world Pokémon games coming to the Nintendo Switch in early 2022. In Pokémon Legends Arceus, players travel to the Sinnoh Region, choose Rowlett, Cyndaquil, or Oshawott as their partner, and set about filling out the region’s very first Pokédex. There’s…

Switch Is Getting Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Remakes In Late 2021

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl for the DS are getting “faithful” remakes in the form of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl on Switch later this year, the Pokémon Company announced in a livestream today. The games take place in the Sinnoh region, one of the series’ more naturalistic settings, with players adventuring while accompanied one…

The Pokémon Company announced a video livestream over on its YouTube channel on February 26 starting at 10:00 a.m. ET. Who knows what will be shown in it, but this week marks the series’ 25th anniversary, and the company is putting on a concert with Post Malone on Saturday to celebrate

Pokémon Go Devs Have Punished Over 5 Million Cheaters Since 2020

Niantic, the studio behind augmented reality mobile games like Pokémon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and Ingress, has reportedly punished over 5 million cheaters since the beginning of 2020, with over 1 million players receiving permanent bans across the three games. “We are committed to ensuring fair gameplay across our game portfolio,” Niantic’s blog post…

Niantic Announces Bonus Pokémon Go Event After Players Let In Free To The Kanto Tour

Saturday saw one of the biggest paid international events Pokémon Go has hosted, the Kanto Tour. Costing a not-cheap $11.99, it was a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Pocket Monsters, with the hit mobile game going back to the series’ origins for a 12-hour celebration of the OG 151 Pokémon. Except, they accidentally let…

Cosmog Is An Idiotic, Naive Ball Of Gas

Every Pokemon is interesting and worth talking about. I don’t play a ton of Pokemon, but I do enjoy the universe and I love learning more about the creatures in it. So, Here’s Another Pokemon! It’s Cosmog! Cosmog Details Type: Psychic Average Height: 0’08” Average Weight: 0.2 lbs First Added In Generation VII One of…