Games

The Holiday season is finally upon us in Pokémon Masters EX, bringing presents of new content for trainers. A brand new Holiday-themed story event, The Hottest Present, launches today alongside the debut of Arven's fresh seasonal outfit in a set of Seasonal Scouts with his new sync partner Scovillain. A set of special missions are also available for new Holiday-inspired photo frames and backgrounds.

A new trailer and press release have provided players with their first look at Pokémon TCG Pocket's next Themed Booster Pack, Crimson Blaze, which is set to launch worldwide on worldwide next week on Wednesday December 17th at 10:00pm (PST) / Thursday December 18th at 6:00am (UTC), along with revealing a selection of events and new app features coming to the game throughout the Holiday Season and into the New Year.

Play Pokémon Legends: Z-A to receive Mega Chesnaught, Mega Delphox, and Mega Greninja icon parts in Nintendo Switch Online

To mark the festive season, Pokémon Sleep will be running a special Holiday 2025 — Double Candy Research event later this month, starting the Monday before Christmas, December 22nd, at 4:00am local time, and running through to Monday December 29th at 4:00am local time. Spheal wearing a holiday wreath, Togedemaru, Cetoddle, and Cetiitan will all be making their Pokemon Sleep debuts alongside this event, while Santa Hat Pikachu and Eevee also makes their returns.

The 2024 Pokémon Charlotte Regional Championships were won by 2016 World Champion Wolfe Glick. The event ran from 20-21 January 2024, and featured a total of 845 trainers battling for an invite to the 2024 Pokémon World Championships. This tournament used the Regulation Set F format, allowing access to every Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet, excluding Restricted Special Pokémon such as Koraidon or Miraidon.

Claim an Alpha Charizard in Pokémon Legends Z-A to celebrate the upcoming release of the Mega Dimension DLC's additional story content! The distribution runs from 9 December 2025 at 14:00 UTC to 19 January 2026. To claim this Pokémon, press the X Button while in-game, select Link Play, followed by Mystery Gift, and Get with Code/Password. Enter the code B1G0006, and claim your level 36 Alpha Charizard!

Mega Sceptile, Mega Swampert, and Mega Blaziken make their debut in Pokémon Legends Z-A; claim their Mega Stones as rewards for climbing the ranks in the Z-A Battle Club! To join the action, press the X Button while in-game, select Link Play, and then Ranked Battles. Sceptile's, Swampert's, and Blaziken's Mega Stones will be given as rewards throughout Ranked Battles Seasons 5, 6, and 7, respectively.

Players will have opportunities to acquire multiple Sync Pairs featuring Charizard over the coming weeks in Pokémon Masters EX. Lance debuts his new Sync Pair in a set of Variety Scouts and the Lance's New Partner Pokémon Special Co-op Event, Arc Suit Leon & Charizard's Arc Suit Fair Scout makes a return, and everyone logging in before Christmas will receive a Guaranteed Ticket to team up with Sygna Suit Red & Charizard.

"Balan's VGC Wonderworld", an unofficial Video Game Championships (VGC) tournament, was won by 2025 Singapore Premier Ball League Champion Jude Lee, also known as magicaura. The event ran from 6-7 December 2025, and featured a total of 967 trainers battling for a share of the $1,500 USD prize pool. This makes it one of the largest unofficial online events in Pokémon VGC history.

The newest Wonder Pick Event in Pokémon TCG Pocket brings new Drifblim and Eevee promo cards to the game's Wonder Pick feature, along with a selection of limited time event items. This event will run through to December 16th, at 9:59pm (PST).

Gigantamax Snorlax makes its return this month as the featured Pokémon for Pokémon GO's final Max Battle Day for 2025 on Sunday, December 14th, running as usual from 2:00pm to 5:00pm local time. Lucky Trainers may also encounter Gigantamax Snorlax in its Shiny variant during this event.

The 2024 Pokémon Portland Regional Championships were held from 6-7 January 2024, and were won by 3x Regional Champion Alex Underhill. This tournament used the Regulation Set F format, allowing access to every Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet, excluding Restricted Special Pokémon such as Koraidon or Miraidon.

Mega Gyarados is the latest Pokémon to join the fray in Pokémon UNITE. It is a separate Unite License from Gyarados's regular Unite License. It is a Melee All-Rounder with Intermediate difficulty that deals Physical damage. It can Mega Evolve for a short while after using its Unite Move Dragon Current. To celebrate the introduction of Mega Evolution licenses, a special event in-game event will be held till December 19th, where players can complete missions to earn the Unite license for Mega Gyarados.

Speedromizer VIII is set to go live this weekend December 5th-7th, continuing with part 2 the following weekend December 12th-14th. Two Gameboy Color Pokémon games are scheduled for the 13th: Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon Crystal, the latter of which will be a part of a multiworld alongside Tunic and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The event will be raising money for QMUNITY!, a resource center for LGBTQ+ people in British Columbia.

Pokémon Masters EX is throwing down the gauntlet to trainers once more, with the Legendary Gauntlet returning until December 17th at 9:59pm (PST). Players finding themselves without the proper sync pairs to take on the Gauntlet will be able to take advantage of a new Scout launching alongside this event, featuring a variety of Sync Pairs suited to these particular challenges.

Pokémon UNITE updated to Version ver.1.21.1.2 at 4:00am (UTC) on December 4th. This update, dubbed "The Roar of Sea and Sky" (Japanese: 「蒼天海吼」), brings the new "License Journeys" feature, along with Ranked Matches Draft revamp, Main menu UI overhaul, the Theia Sky Ruins (Kyogre) map, the Snowball Battle in Shivre City event, and the usual balance adjustments, bug fixes, and Shop and Event updates. Specifically, this update provides buffs (⇧) for Glaceon, Mewtwo (X), Mewtwo (Y), Ho-Oh, Scizor, Gyarados, and Tyrannitar; both buffs and nerfs (⇅) for Dhelmise and Mamoswine; while bringing nerfs (⇩) for Latios, Darkrai, Clefable, Suicune, and Alolan Raichu.

Ahead of the release of Wave 2 Story Content for Pokémon Legends: Z-A's Mega Dimension DLC next Wednesday December 10th, Mega Lucario Z was officially revealed in a new trailer released on The Official Pokémon YouTube channel. Also announced was the introduction of Mewtwo and its Mega Evolutions to the game in a new Side Mission which players can acquire through Mystery Gift.

Befriend a Shiny Teddiursa in the latest event of Pokémon Café ReMix Teddiursa's Shiny Festival. An adorably-dressed Furret with its new Soft Antique outfit is also now available in Pelipper Delivery, while Marill: Holiday and Spheal: Holiday are returning for a limited time. The featured Pokémon for December 2025's monthly goals is Tyranitar, with Macarons being added to the premium course for the first time.

The first rule of Fighting-type Pokémon events is that you tell everyone about them. Trainers in Pokémon GO mid-this month will be getting their hands on a bunch of Fighting-type Pokémon in the Well Armed event, which will be running from Thursday, December 11th, at 10:00am to Tuesday, December 16th, at 8:00pm local time.

The next set of special Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet will be focusing on the Stealth Pokémon Dragapult, which will be making its first appearance in 7-star Black Crystal Tera Raid Battles between December 5th at midnight (UTC) / 4th at 4:00pm (PST), and December 7th at 11:59pm (UTC) / 3:59pm (PST). This will be followed by a second appearance one week later from December 12th at midnight (UTC) / 11th at 4:00pm (PST), to December 14th at 11:59pm (UTC) / 3:59pm (PST). Blissey will also be appearing more frequently in 5-star Tera Raid Battles during the second weekend of this event.