Tsunekazu Ishihara, President & CEO of The Pokémon Company, opened today’s “Pokémon Presents” video by stating that February 27th was the release date for the Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green games in Japan. The Pokémon series has now been around for 26 years! (Well, I feel old now. 😂) In celebration of this milestone, “Pokémon Presents” Presents Us With Presents! 🎁😉 The Pokémon Company has given us the following information:

Shaymin

Starting today, you can get Oak’s Letter, an important item that will allow you to encounter Shaymin in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl. You’ll have to use the Mystery Gift function, and you don’t need the Nintendo Switch Online membership to be able to access this promotion. Once you have beaten the Elite Four and entered the Hall of Fame – and once you have received the National Pokédex from Professor Rowan for completing the Sinnoh Pokédex – you will have your chance to catch this adorable Pokémon! I got distracted by Pokémon Legends: Arceus, so I haven’t finished Pokémon Brilliant Diamond yet. They’re shamin’ me into working to get Shaymin! 😉😂 March 27th will be the last day for us to access this promotion, so get on it!

Pokémon Legends: Arceus – Daybreak Update

I’ve been having a lot of fun with Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I still haven’t finished it because I’ve been exploring and trying to increase my rank. They’re giving us even more content now! First of all, by using the Mystery Gift function and entering the password ARCEUSADVENTURE you will get 30 Ultra Balls, 30 Gigaton Balls, and 30 Jet Balls! (Available until March 31st.)

They have also updated the game with the Daybreak Update. This update adds post-credits content including mysterious mass outbreaks that allow you to catch rare Pokémon, different battle features that are more challenging, as well as additions to the photography studio. For more information, click the bolded link in this paragraph; we don’t want to spoil anything, so if you’d like, you can see the specifics for yourself.

Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet

Finally, what we’ve all been waiting for: Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet have been announced for their worldwide release in late 2022.

I absolutely adore the Grass Cat starter Pokémon, Sprigatito (or ニャオハ – Nyaoha). It will apparently have the Overgrow Ability. I haven’t chosen a grass type starter in years, but I’m excited to choose Sprigatito. I’ll have to think of a cute name, too. What will the shiny look like? 🤔🤩

Next, we have the Fire Croc Pokémon, Fuecoco, or ホゲータ (Hoge-ta). It will have the Blaze Ability. Fuecoco is oddly cute to me, but I’ve still gotta go with my kitty cat!

Finally, we have the poor Water Duckling starter, Quaxly (クワッス – Kuwassu), already mocked as the “Donald Duck” Pokémon on social media. Quaxly will have the Torrent Ability.

An unfortunate thing to note is that once again, the Pokémon Home service will not be available for these games until after their release, as stated on the Japanese site. It’s just a little disappointing for me, because I like having my Pokémon from previous games transferred over for me to use, and I usually end up finishing the new game before Home becomes available. I’m still just as excited as ever for the new games though. And look at this beautiful Dratini statue from footage of the game:

Which version are you planning on getting? I’m planning on getting Violet unless the Scarlet exclusives tempt me, because I like the color Violet better. 😂 And which starter are you considering?