Archaic

It's seemingly taken about four months for anyone outside Japan to really take notice (to be fair, it was 2020), but Ambrella, the Japanese-based developers of a number of Pokémon spin-off titles, was fully merged into Creatures, Inc. on October 16th, 2020.

According to several reports in the Japanese media, Kawamatsu Kazuki, a 23 year-old unemployed Japanese man from the Minami ward of Nagoya, was recently arrested under Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act for alledgedly generating and selling hacked Pokémon in Pokémon Sword and Shield, including both shiny Pokémon and Pokémon intended for competitive play. Under Japanese law, it is an offense to offer services to bypass technical limitation measures in software, including modifying the save data of video games.

Joining in on Pokémon's 25th anniversary celebrations, clothing brand Levi's is releasing a special collection inspired by the classic first season of the Pokémon anime.

The Pokémon Company International today announced the launch of Top Deck Academy, a new weekly video series designed to help players of all ages to improve their skills at the Pokémon Training Card Game.

The Pokémon Company International has announced that New Pokémon Snap will launch worldwide on April 30. Digital pre-orders for the game are now available via Nintendo eShop.

The creators of hacked versions of Pokémon GO and other Niantic mobile titles have agreed to a $USD 5 million settlement.

The Pokémon Company International has today kicked off celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise with a live action retrospective video showcasing each generation of Pokémon to-date.

From Premium Bandai, the makers of the Snorlax plushie that was large enough to sleep on, comes the newest piece of strange Pokémon merchandise from Japan. The Zettai Nameraretai Gengaa ( 絶対に舐められたいゲンガー ) or "Gengar that you absolutely want to be licked by" cushion. This cushion looks more like it'd give you nightmares than give you rest. Measuring 170cm, or roughly 5 feet 5 inches long, Gengar's cushioned pink tongue forms a full length futon for you to sleep on while you rest your head inside of Gengar's plush mouth. The tongue can also be used as a pillow or blanket on its own. When not in use, the tongue rolls back to be stored inside Gengar's mouth. The cushion is retailing on Premium Bandai's website for ¥JP 25,950, or roughly $USD 250, plus shipping. As of writing the first batch (expected to ship in June) has already sold out, however there are hopes Premium Bandai will restock the item in future given the obvious high demand for this unique item.

A Japanese man was arrested near Tokyo on Wednesday on suspicion of fraud, after sending in fake popsicle sticks in November to Akagi Nyugyo Co. in an attempt to redeem them for an Pokémon trading cards that were being distributed as part of a competition the company ran between June and July last year.

Niantic CEO John Hanke and Mayhem CEO Ivan Zhou anounced in separate blog posts today the acquisition of the small San Francisco based social gaming startup by Niantic. The specific terms of the acquisition, including whatever fee may have been paid by Niantic, have not been disclosed by either chief executive. Mayhem is best known for mayhem.gg, a social platform launched in 2019 which provides tools to gaming communities for creating their own organized leagues, ladders, and tournaments.

Singapore police have announced they have arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of having cheated more than 15 victims of more than $176,000 Singaporian Dollars worth of Pokémon cards.

Niantic are giving Pokémon GO players worldwide the opportunity to have their trainer avatars appear as in-game characters for other players as part of Pokémon GO Tour: Kanto

Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) is an annual event run by the Games Done Quick charity fundraising organization, raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. As part of AGDQ 2021, two separate runners will be playing Pokémon games, with Etchy running Pokémon Platinum, and eddaket running Pokémon Blue.

2020 saw a massive rise in the market for Pokémon TCG cards, fueled in part by coronavirus escapism. It's somewhat appropriate then that someone aiming to one day heal illnesses like this should have been able to take advantage of this market spike.

Funko have officially revealed four new Pokémon designs for their Funko Pop line of vinyl figures, three of which are entirely new Pokémon for the ever increasing Funko Pokédex.

As part of our holiday celebrations, our @BulbaTrade team will once more be running a #12DaysofBulba Trade giveaway. The giveaway period this year is running from December 13th to December 24th. To have a chance at getting one of these Pokémon, deposit a Corvisquire named "12DaysBulba" on the GTS to the team can locate you and trade them over.

With the holiday season upon us, it's time once again for our annual contests.

This week, The Pokémon Company announced has announced that they will be broadcasting new content on a regular weekly schedule on the official Pokémon Twitch channel, with content including Pokémon anime episodes and movies, as well as (re)broadcasts of Play! Pokémon tournaments. The schedule for each week will be announced on the official Pokémon Twitter account. In the past, the official Pokémon Twitch channel has been used primarily to broadcast Play! Pokémon organized events, while the anime has appeared as part of a number of Twitch Presents marathons. Moving forward, it's likely we'll see a broad range of content from TPC's back catalog being broadcast.

While Pokémon food products are pretty common in Japan, they've been much less common in the west over the past two decades. With the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise looming in 2021 however, it appears this is about to change. In an announcement of new cereals and line extensions this week, General Mills revealed that they would be releasing a new "Berry Bolt" cereal themed around the ever popular franchise mascot Pikachu, who prominently appears front and center on the cereal's bright red box. This cereal features red and blue berry-flavored corn puffs, together with yellow marshmallows in the shape of Pikachu’s head and tail. Continuing the focus on Pikachu, the titular Pokémon makes a grand appearance on the front of the bright red box.

The Legend of Twitch Plays Pokémon is a documentary created by Youtuber TheGamerFromMars about the untold story of the legendary Twitch series. The documentary includes actual interviews with the creator of Twitch Plays Pokémon, shining new light on the history of the streams, and what their creator had to contend with as a result of the streams taking off as they did. The full documentary can be viewed via the video embedded below.