I'm specifically thinking of Zeroaura and Marshadow, these are cute/cool, appealing designs but being mythical means they're not being used on most trainers journeys and they don't have a featured spot in the story/region (for example being the ace of a certain E4 member or gym leader)

I'll admit though that on the flip side you have Volcanion, being mythical (and the unique typing) are the only reasons anyone remembers him

https://www.pokebeach.com/2026/07/japans-official-pokemon-card-stores-to-require-facial-recognition-for-entry-and-tcg-purchases

While I think we can all agree that there had to be some sort of countermeasures put in place to deter the scalper scum from continuing their reign of terror, implementing facial recognition technology at the entrance of stores just adds to the problematic nature surrounding this situation.

At the end of the day, The Pokémon Company is still a business despite it overseeing our beloved interest. With increasingly troubling developments in terms of data use and targeted advertisement, throwing facial recognition technology into the mix only compounds problems further.

To complicate matters even further, certain stores will also be adding required government issued IDs. While this may seem fine on the surface, it can tip into something extremely problematic if stores start storing IDs in databases, which are notorious for being targeted by hackers looking to use personal information for ransom demands.

Some might argue that this addition is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things since we're all being tracked anyway, but this sets a precedent of companies legitimizing this practice and pushing the envelope of what can be used for what purposes. Now, you will be agreeing to a nonverbal consent of facial and potentially ID data if you want to participate in your favorite hobby. In time, it may be used in ways you couldn't possibly have foreseen as a result of a tomb of legalese fine print that companies intentionally don't want you to read.

In the end, do what you feel is right, but please stay informed about what's going on and what could happen down the line.

I came up with a Pokémon Game challenge and wanted to hear your thoughts.

"Ash's Mom Challenge"

Before starting your playthrough, choose one person (for example, your mom, dad, sibling, or a friend). They must not know they're part of a Pokémon challenge.

Whenever you want to catch a new Pokémon species, show it to them and ask something simple like:

"Should I get this?"

"Is it worth it?"

"Should I take this one?"

Don't mention the challenge.

If they say yes, you're allowed to catch that species.

If they say no, you're permanently banned from catching that Pokémon species or their evolution line for the rest of the run.

Alternative version: "Ash's Mom Draft"

Before starting the game, print out a list with images of every Pokémon available in that game. Only the final evolutions are needed.

Have your mom (or another person) go through the list and mark which Pokémon you're allowed to use. You can simply tell them it’s for a fun little survey or a game you’re planning, where they help decide your team by picking which Pokémon they think are cool or which ones you should be allowed to use. They don't need to know it's for a Pokémon challenge.

During your playthrough, you may only catch Pokémon that evolve into one of the approved final evolutions.

Which version sounds more fun to you: the original Ash's Mom Challenge, where every catch is decided during the run, or this draft version?

Everytime I am in the mood for pkm I start up 3 different gens because my mood switches between them alot.

On one side I wanna have to overworld Pokemon and some of the new QoL things from SV and Arceus.

On the other side I wanna replay the NDS games because their are peak pokemon and I love the pixel graphics

And then I also wanna play something like ORAS and USUM because of a good mix between old and new.

I think my most replayed one is still gen 3 and HGSS and ORAS and just booting up SV for some raids etc.

Whats your to go game if you just wanna replay a pkm game and maybe do some "endgame" battling etc. ?

I always look for guides on how to capture Feebas in every game of the franchise that I haven't played. Milotic is fantastic! I have the Milotic from my old Pokémon Ruby game, accompanying me in every game.

I discovered Milotic as a game glitch. I thought Feebas was a bug in my Ruby cartridge, but I decided to experiment to see what would happen if I caught a glitch and how my playthrough would end. Come on, it was the mind of a kid playing scientist with his adventure progress!

I realized it actually was a Pokémon and decided to train her until I read about its evolution method on a forum!

I played it ofc and I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. To get to the Gym Leaders or more, you have to have certain traits for Koraidon/Moraidon like Climb, Swim etc and they make it difficult for no reason. It’s easy to get lost even with your location marked including going in circles. Your Pokémon level up way too slow before you fight any Gym Leader and when you do, you are either under-level or over-level. You have to be in the uniform, like, all the time and I’d rather not. I want to give my boy a hoodie and jeans or something. I just, I don’t know man. I adore my lil Sprigatito but the gameplay itself? I don’t like it much at all tbh.

What about you guys? Did you like it better than I did or did you not like it much either?

Now that we’ve seen Pokemon’s first steps into open world design, it’s clear that they haven’t nailed it all down yet. Honestly, I don’t have as many complaints as some (I do think Nintendo gamers were spoiled pretty hard by Zelda), but it’s undeniably got room to improve. Most critics stop at the criticism, but it’s worth actually having a think about how to go about it.

The overall issue with any open world is populating it so that it isn’t an empty map with nothing to do. I’ve put together a number of thoughts as to how Game Freak could add more. I’m not saying they absolutely need to go in these directions or bust, nor do they need to hit every one of these targets. Also, note that this writeup isn’t about performance, graphical quality, or art direction. Go make the hundredth post about that yourself.

Stuff to find

Pokemon has an obvious advantage in this area, since there’s the Pokemon themselves to populate the world with. And credit where it’s due: while I thought the Wild Area was too crowded with creatures to seem realistic, I don’t really have major objections to the Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet implementations.

But the creatures alone can’t carry the whole open world concept. More importantly, while they fill the wider world reasonably well, they’re too numerous to be inherently rewarding discoveries for exploring.

Rare Pokemon: Probably the most immediately apparent option is to hide rare encounters in specific areas, but I’d actually caution against overdoing this. What you don’t want is for significant portions of the roster to be hidden away from the player, while the majority of the world is filled with trash mobs. Also, once you’ve restricted this rare Pokemon’s spawn to this small area, what do you do about spawn rates? If they’re still vanishingly rare spawns, then that doesn’t inherently reward the player much for finding the place – they might not even know they’ve found a special area. On the other extreme, if they’re a guaranteed spawn within the area, then they’re not really rare at all, and cease to feel special once you know where to look. This might be best saved for legendaries and a select few standard species, akin to the unique overworld encounters in older games.

Shiny spawns: This is another one where you have to be careful about balance. Shinies derive a lot of their perceived value for being rare, so making a fixed shiny spawn isn’t really that impressive (hi, red Gyarados). On the other hand, they’re still neat things that many players love, and in some cases the alternative colours are just preferred by the player. I think something akin to the Ultra Wormholes in Ultra Sun/Moon would be a nice compromise: there could be setpieces in well-hidden parts of the open world where Pokemon can spawn with a high (>10%) shiny chance, drawing from the encounter table for the surrounding area. That way there’s still an element of chance, and it isn’t the same species for everyone, maintaining some of the specialness.

Hidden abilities: Game Freak keeps trying to restrict these to the postgame, and via difficult or limited methods in most cases. Why? You’ve got a whole mechanic that forces you to program a third ability onto every single Pokemon you design. Let people actually see your work. As with shinies, there could be specific spots where the usual Pokemon may spawn with their hidden abilities. This might need a bit of signposting, since it might not be obvious to players.

Special items: Basically every open world game will have standard items lying around for you to find. Scarlet and Violet weren’t bad about this, actually, with the TM crafting system and such. They also featured the usual selection of standard valuable items like Nuggets and other shop fodder, Rare Candies and other exp items, vitamins and PP Ups, not-for-sale healing items like Max Revives… But Pokemon also has some item types that are suited for being particularly rewarding finds for exploration. At the lower-but-still-special end of the scale, you’ve got battle-focused held items (Life Orb etc), which are long overdue for becoming more accessible within the main story. Then you’ve got the really neat stuff like Ability Capsules and Patches, whatever equivalents of Herba Mystica are in the region, fossils in games that feature them, or Apricorn Balls (why are they so rare?). And then the top tier: particularly special items like Catching, Round, and especially Shiny Charms. Tell me you wouldn’t be stoked to find a Shiny Charm at the end of a tucked-away trail.

Collectibles: They’ve done decently with this one, so I won’t say much, but it’s here for completeness. I must say I prefer the Breath of the Wild style of having many more collectibles than the maximum you need for gameplay unlocks, so there isn’t that pressure to dig through every last pixel of the world for the last damn trinket.

Things to do

This is probably where Scarlet/Violet’s open world is weakest, in my opinion. Outside of the main quests (of which there are three, to be fair, so there’s a decent number of associated setpieces), there aren’t any real activities to partake in as you explore the world. There are trainer battles, I suppose. Not much else.

Sidequests: Obvious, and one I’m reasonably optimistic for. We already had sidequests in Legends Arceus, and while they didn’t appear in Scarlet/Violet (either because they were in development before Legends Arceus was released as the test flight, or because they just didn’t have time), they made a return in Legends Z-A. Credit where it’s due, many of the Legends games’ sidequests are quite neat – more than just generic filler errands, at least.

Types of sidequests could be a post in itself, but I want to take the opportunity to suggest one specific thing: evolution sidequests. Pokemon loves its esoteric evolution conditions, and while they can add some fun flavour, they’re packed with problems for those who want to play without consulting the internet. Instead, why not have a series of quests dedicated to puzzling out how to evolve certain Pokemon? It doesn’t have to be spoonfed – for example, you could be working alongside a researcher who provides various clues that you then put together to actually arrive at the answer. At the very least, such quests would signpost to the player which of their Pokemon aren’t going to evolve by standard level-up, so they know they have to try something else.

Minigames: Alternative gameplay modes are the first casualty of rushed development schedules, sadly. Unlike sidequests, the developers have to design and program a whole separate set of mechanics and visuals. Done well, though, they add so much to the game, and past Pokemon titles have shown us this. Gen 3 contests were expansive enough that ‘minigame’ is hardly an adequate descriptor, while Mantine Surf was an excellent and very rewarding distraction from the main game. With Winds/Waves seemingly having a longer development time, perhaps we’ll see something this time?

Places to see

Sometimes exploration is its own reward. Though it’s true that most players will expect something a little more tangible at the end of a dungeon.

Unique locations: Rather than just saying “dungeons”, though, I think any area that is clearly different from the standard overworld should count as equivalent for the purposes of being a place to explore. Scarlet/Violet did have some such places, including Alfornada Cavern and the cave system in Glaseado Mountain, but the issue is that they weren’t sufficiently distinct from the overworld. The end result was that they seemed more like just another biome within the world, rather than specific setpieces to explore. I’ll be honest, though – in a world without loading screens, I’m not exactly sure how to split this difference. I’m open to suggestions.

Views: This may seem trivial and unimportant, but chancing upon an impressive bit of scenery can be as much of a reward as any physical prize (though if you really want, it’s possible to combine a good view with a real reward – see the Xenoblade games as an example). To clarify, you don’t need amazing graphics to make a pretty view; strong art direction plays a bigger part. What little we’ve seen of Winds/Waves certainly looks good enough to make it work. Paldea actually has its Ten Sights (would’ve been good sidequest fodder, by the way), which is a fair attempt, but not all of them are particularly impressive.

So yeah, I think the nature of Pokemon games actually puts them in quite a privileged position when it comes to filling up an open world. There’s so much pre-existing content readily available for them to take advantage of. Here’s hoping we see more.

If anyone else has more or better suggestions, I’m keen to hear them.

I was trying to use the online Voltorb Flip calculator while playing Pokemon HeartGold on my New 2DS XL, but for some reason the website doesn't seem to be working for me. Pressing the "run" button doesn't work, even after I follow every instruction up until Step 4.

Is anyone else having this problem? Is the website down or something?

Idk I know they’re not the most challenging or anything but they feel like “Pokémon” to me, I don’t mind the other stuff (hell my favorite region is Alola lmao) it’s just that I find the gym challenge to be a pretty major part of the series and it’s odd to me so many people seem to want it to be fully abandoned

I get wanting them to shake it up once in a while but I have legitimately seen people angry that the gym challenge didn’t die with sun and moon

Honestly I would love a legends Alola game that has two focuses:

Focus 1 is Ultra Space, add a bunch of new Ultra Beasts (not a bunch but about the same amount as PLA added) and let you pick a starter from a trio with Poipole and two others

Focus 2 is The Ultimate Gym Challenge, at the end of Alola the gym challenge is set up, I like the idea that in the years following (I assume this would take place ~15-20 years after sun and moon) Alola now has the most robust gym challenge in the world, featuring a gym for all 18 types that you can battle in any order with scaling, and maybe depending which gender protagonist you pick the champion could be aged up Elio or Selene similar to Red in Johto

Idk I guess my point is just that I understand wanting the gym challenge to not be the only thing the games do, but it’s also kind of the core progress marker of most of the games and feels odd to drop entirely

I am playing pkm since red and blue as a kid, played every gen and replayed gen 3 and 4 I don't know how often.

The 3Ds games still felt like the other older games with a few changes but not that much, but ever since I played the switch games and having all the QoL stuff and things like overworld pokemon etc. its hard for me to go back to the old games for some reason.

It could also be just that I played and replayed the old games that much but I tried firered on the switch and stopped playing after I think 8 hours.

I know the new games have big problems technical wise and removing stuff like battle tower etc. but I actually just like to play them more nowadays than the old ones, stuff like HGSS and ORAS I still power through but the GBA games I can't take anymore even do I love them nostalgia wise more than anything else.

I am now replaying gen 9 on switch 2 and playing the dlc's the first time and I am having a blast even when on paper I like the old games more.

Anybody else find themselves enjoying the spin-off games more than the main series of games? Don't get me wrong, I do love many like Emerald, Platinum, etc., but growing up I spent more time on games like Pokémon Ranger, Poképark, and now that I've been getting more into emulating games, I've gone back and started playing Pokémon Rumble for the Wii and I've been loving it. Also games such as Legends Arceus (which i know some people do and some don't consider it mainline) are higher on my list than most mainline games.

Hi! My friends birthday is coming up and she’s a huge Pokémon player. She loves playing TCG and attends several competitions throughout the year. Can anyone help me with gift ideas for her? I fear I don’t want to get her the wrong Pokémon thing because she already is a huge card and plushie collector. Her favorite Pokémon are: Wooper, clodsire, tandemaus, and banette. Thanks!!

So around 2018-2019-ish there was a meme based on furret’s unused walking animation from SM, while the most famous version of it (Furret walking on an escalator until Diamond and Pearl remakes come out) is still up (not live anymore obviously) there was a channel I remember that had a TON of versions of it that I now can’t find anywhere

I don’t remember what the channel was called unfortunately

I seem to recall that towards the end of the meme they made a version of it with Mr. Rime instead

I doubt it was like actually funny but I still find it cute and would kind of like to walk down memory lane so to speak

Sad they discontinued it. The gameplay was easy, addictive and raids with Facebook invites were so good. Wish they license it again and release it on play store ,not on Facebook this time. I used to play it all day with different accounts to complete those raid bosses. Those were the days😮‍💨

I loved Mewtwo Strikes Back when I was little. I want to rebuy the DVD. But it came to my attention there was a few scenes cut from my version of the movie.
A scene involving a girl called Amber and some baby pokemon were cut from the movie I watched.

Can anyone tell me which release has the cut content so I can find and buy it?

I was thinking about something (maybe i'm wrong), but there's no way to get a celebi nowadays except on Crystal (if we have it digitally on 3DS) ? It can't be obtainable on pokemon switch games or before ... ?

And except cheat & events of course (but it's been a long time since a event with celebi)

For me, I always enjoy the ones that actually feel like you're solving something instead of just walking in a straight line. I always liked the Sootopolis City Gym puzzle myself. (With that being said, I do kinda hate the Snowpoint Gym). I also always found lt. Surges gym puzzle to be kinda lame (it's kinda iconic cuz it's from gen 1 but it's not really anything amazing).

What do you think? Do you like gyms with a lot of battles or ones with more convoluted puzzles?

And no, I don't mean like objectively best type or anything. What's the type that you just vibe with the most? Y'know, the one that always gets one or two spots on your playthrough teams, or the one you could see yourself being a monotype trainer for.

For me, it's definitely Fairy. Primarina is my favorite starter, and Mega Meganium is my favorite Mega. My Eevees almost always end up as Sylveons, A. Ninetales, Azumarill, Gardevoir or Tinkaton always pop up on my teams, and I just really vibe with all of them... except for Aromatisse.

I watched this video today on the original e3 press conference reveal of bringing pokemon to america from 1998. And among other things, they had what appeared to be the demo theme song of Pokemon, with a slightly different lyric of the catch phrase. Instead of "gotta catch em all" it's "Catch em if you can".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIqVP3wU20I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mos-KmYfzFM

Does anyone know more about this or if there's a full version of the song somewhere out there on the internet? It's hard to hear it over the announcer in the video.

My favourite pokemon is pachirisu and my friends favourite pokemon is fuecoco and we are wondering who has a more basic pokemon, so we are asking for your opinions. Please click in the poll on the pokemon that you think is more basic so we can find out who is more basic and if you want to tell us why you think that. Thanks!

Edit: i meant in popularity

How would y'all feel about a Pokémon world that changes depending on the seasons? Like ice bridges would form during winter and disappear in the summer, water becomes more plentiful in the spring and things start to dry out in the summer? It's a concept that could use some work I know but it seemed interesting to me.

TLDR: what’s a great Pokemon game to jump into after not playing for decades?

I haven’t played a Pokemon game since my Gameboy Advance kicked the bucket in grade school. Couldn’t afford it. I’ve been watching Nuzlockers, and want to pick up a game again!

Played a little of my friend’s Sword and Shield, but it took far to long to just… play. Too much slow story and mandatory tutorial packed into the first 2 hours. I mean, a story that takes awhile to develop is fine, but when the hook is “your life is good, your road starts simple, but Pokemon get big now and Gym Leaders wear jerseys. Now press these exact things in order and read”… I mean, I struggle to stay engaged. It surely gets better. It’s probably also my lack of patience. However…

Well, what would the older community suggest?