The Damned

Much higher quality images of the overworld, courtesy of DarthMeowMeow on Reddit. http://imgur.com/a/GFf66 I count 14 PokéCenters across the entire map, so that's a good sign there are lots of places to travel to and explore. For reference (going by the in-game maps I'm looking at right now): Gen 1 had about 10 PokéCenters Gen 2 had about 11 Gen 3 had 15 Gen 4 had about 14 Gen 5 had, depending upon if we're talking Black and White or 2, 15 or so Gen 6 had about 16 While there is no real correlation to amount of stuff to do in a game and the number of PokéCenters available, I would like to point out that it's well within the number of Centers in some of the more beefier games. Looks like we'll have a lot to do on allof those islands.

Someone put together all the shorter Japanese clips that were released today into one video. Nothing super impressive or spoiler-y, but there are a few cutscenes and locations that weren't included in the English video. Of note: Professor's house at 0:15 Lillie at a rope-bridge over a canyon/gorge/chasm/river/I don't know where that is a 0:30 1:07, we see a sunet-colored city and beach, where a Slowpoke absentmindedly peering off into the distance as a girl in a swimsuit runs into the water So, some minor new stuff from Japan as well. Also, more detailed footage of the new Rotom PokéDex.

More info on Nintendo Treehouse during E3, June 15th and 16th. I guess we're going to get a reasonable amount of news this year from Nintendo.

If you're referring to the exploit on the 3DS's QR scanner and browser, I don't think it's the same kind of thing. This seems to be a shortcut to completing your PokéDex. Remember the last couple of games where you couldn't search for Pokémon online if you've never seem them? Made it impossible to ask for trades when the system only lets you look up what you have seen before. Now, if you can't find it in-games, you can just scan it, and it will count towards capturing. Much easier. Also, anything outside of the new generation will be available in the form of micro-transaction packs. Starters will be included in region-based packs, at $3.99 US each. You get the three starters from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos, or get all 18 starters in one pack for $19.99 US (BEST PRICE!). Regular pokémon (like Ratatta and Pidgey) will be offered in PokéDex Packs starting at $1.99 US, but come with ten to twenty basic forms of pokémon. No, not realy, I'm just kidding.

Oh, fun little tidbit: you can use the QR scanner on the 3DS to register Pokémon on your game. Official artwork:

OK, new video is out. Solgaleo is Psychic/Steel with the Full Metal Body ability (seems to prevent stats from being lowered as it showed a Salamence's Intimidate ability not working) and knows the move Sunsteel Strike. Takes a Salamence out inone hit, but not super effective. Likely a Fire-type attack, though... it might be a mixed type attack like Flying press? The name has "steel' in it,and Steel type isn't effective against Dragon, so I don't know what to make of it. Lunala (the fancy looking night bat-god legendary) is Psychic/Ghost (fun type combo!) with the Shadow Shield ability. It knows the move Moongeist Beam. Whatever it does, it was super effective against a Gengar, so it's likely Ghost-type. Maybe a Ghost-type version of Hyper Beam? Both moves are listed as hitting the target regardless of the target's ability. Like the Ability Mold Breaker, but in the form of an attack. So feel free to use both moves against just about anything. Customization trainers are back! You get four boy and four girl basic forms to to choose from. New Professor is named Kukui, and lokos to be in his late 20s. They're making those Professors sexier and sexier each gen. Pic: Professor Kukui has a "mysterious" assistant named Lillie and that's all they show. Pic: Your new friend (maybe friendly rival?" is named Hau and he seems a bit too excited about things. Like, positive/happy just to be here excited. I don't like him already. A Rotom has inhabited your Pokédex, so it will not only work with you, but talk with you as well. Seems to act like a in-game guide, as it will direct you to new places as you talk to other characters. Painting-style map of the the new region, courtesy of Bulbapedia's Twitter account: Game is out November 18th, as stated before.

I mentioned this, yes.

Minor update: it seems that if you're in Europe and Australia, you can now get a Mew from a code. It doesn't seem to work in North America or other regions, though, so the rest f us are out of luck. Also, if you received the Mew from a GameStop/EB Games code, it will list it as already having been received. The code is... MEW2016 Well. that's easy to remember. Also related: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4dt0oo_pokemon-rumble-world_fun

The Serebii download event is now live in Europe. North America should be up sometime around midnight EST (ish... possibly. Maybe. I'm guessing here). See page 1 for instructions on how to get Manaphy.

The Japanese news and leaks are always so boring. Like that big announcement that "Meet Up At The Pokémon House?" (the current TV show in Japan) would have a new, exclusive, never-seen before video... which turned out to the the exact same clip from the Nintendo Direct weeks before. Or when CoroCoro says they have a big surprise, and we get slightly different versions of the news we saw the week before from another site or magazine. It's going to be nothing big or spectacular. I'd like to be proven wrong, of course, but the long history of Pokémon announcements and leaks tells me otherwise.

Well, with the exception of the birds I ranted about, I'm actually doing pretty good on getting extra event pokémon. If I have enough left over by the end of the year, if any one is missing any, hit me up for some trades. Until then... I guess we have until the E3 Nintendo Direct video to hear more news. Carry on.

Well, I just got screwed out of the Legendary Bird promotion. I had everything set up on my Pokémon Club account for the codes for Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno the day the announcement was made. I made sure the email address was correct, I clicked on the single, solitary checkbox you needed to receive the code, I saved the changes, verified everything as good to go, and did it all weeks before the cut-off point of April 22nd. Weeks after the event goes live, I haven't gotten a single thing from Nintendo, Pokémon or any site related to the event. I checked my account settings at least six times, and it was still set up correctly. I checked all of my spam filters, junkmail folders, everything. Nothing. And just now, I checked the Pokémon.com support system, and after submitting a query about the codes (with my detailed explanation of how I had verified everything was working fine on my end), the only reply I got was the usual "did you check your junk mail?" bullshit. No help at all. And the last line of the auto-form states "we can't make more codes for anyone that didn't get the newsletter, for whatever reason" so I'm out of luck. Combined with the near useless GameStop/ EB Games card fuckery, this is exactly why Nintendo needs to just make all the events online downloads. No codes, no sign-up cap, no stores that run out of cards/say it's only with a purchase... all that, just gone. Nothing for me, or who knows how many other people. Hundreds? Thousands? I don't know. Yeah, yeah, first-world problems...

And like all of this year's Legendary giveaways, it will have at least three perfect stats. With a little luck, you can get one that has near-perfect stats across the board.

New starters are awesome. Fun fact: Rowlet is the first starter to have two types since Bulbasaur. The overworld map seems much more detailed than Gen 6. Human models are more realistic and look a touch more detailed. New region looks more tropical than Hoenn did, and Hoenn was awesome for that. The theme song they played in the announcement video has some nice new tones to it. More varied than in the past. Finally, that new cover mascot/possible legendary... the god-king of Zubats? So far, this is a good sign of things to come.

So bacon... Nintendo is spoiling us with free Pokémon stuff. 20 years and all.

In Canada,it's EB Games. But regardless, if you can't make it to a store/don't want to go to Gamestop or EB Games, you can still jsut get a code from Nintendo's support line. Call them up, tell them your store is out or wants you to buy something for the cards, whatever. They will generate a code and give it to you over the phone. Now, it will be one per system, that way. So you're still better off trying to get one card for each copy you have.

There's a new, unannounced download! For some reason, Zygarde, the last of the Gen 6 legendary trio, is up for grabs! No news or announcements were released, so this is either a glitch or a special present! I have mine from the internet Mystery Gift, and can confirm it is real.

Planning to submit to the judges panel? I can see this passing.

Aside from the good music, there's also dat art. Mm. Dat art.

I honestly think it's partly due to workers giving handfuls of them away to friends or something. I've seen threads on other sites where someone is giving away fifteen or twenty codes at once. How the hell did they get that many codes all at once? They're either workers, or know a worker, and were given them. That means some stores are simply going to run out real quick. But since each game is only able to use one code, it's not like I'm expecting to horde dozens of them. But still...

I guess you could say his music is now... royalty free. /burns in hell for that

Oh, I'm not calling out bandwagon mourning here. If that's how you read it, don't get me wrong, here. I just said it happens. I never said I was going to, either. I just had a personal anecdote. The vast majority of people on this site have never even met in real life, myself included. Who are any of us to claim "you're not a real fan!"?

Saturday and Sunday are the last days to get free Jirachis from the internet! After Sunday, that's it. No more. Then we get a month of having to go to.. ugh... GameStop, and asking for a card with a number on it. Previous history tells me that that at least one of my local stores will insist that the card, labeled for free, is only available with a purchase. It says it's free on the card, you bastards! Fortunately, you can just call the Nintendo support line and they will give you a code over the phone. So fuck you, GameStop.

Bandwagon mourning. It happens. I recall a time in high school when some kid I kind of knew killed himself. All the popular kids attended his service and some of the girls were crying and lamenting his death, and I was just like, "what? most of you didn't even know he existed, and now you're crying for him? Did any of you even know anything about him?" Turns out, no, they didn't. They didn't know he liked Robotech, they didn't know his middle name, they didn't know if he had any siblings (no, he was an only child), etc... but damn if they didn't get upset at being called out on it. I got a lecture from the principle about the whole thing. The rest of the year was fun; lots of dirty looks from the same mourners and high-fives from the other kids that felt the same way. That's when I learned the power of calling out other people's bullshit. Sorry for going off-topic, but yes, people that were not fans or hadn't listened to his work in years are going to pop up and give their fucking two cents worth of publicity mourning, and there's not much anyone can do about it. Though "Party like it's 1999" is still pretty cool.

That new ending... Nice way to finish the song and set it up a loop at the same time. I'm imaging some hot-shot trainer walking into the Game Center, strutting like a typical whale, passing by the waitresses and making it rain with one dollar bills (or pokébucks, I don't know). The entire time, it's a slow-mo montage of him hitting it big at the slots, and then at the tables, and then at the cards. Drinks, lots of women hitting on him, making it raaaaaaain!!, and lots of cool camera angles and shit! Then the music stops. A pokéball falls out of his jacket sleeve, and inside is a Psychic-type. He's been using it to cheat, and how he's busted! Cut to him getting dragged out by Machamps in tuxes and dark sunglasses (casino security), throwing him out the back door. He lands in a pile of garbage and just sits there, confounded. Then he gets up, wipes himself off, and walks down the alley into the brightly-lit street. I would fund that video.