Server update and maintenance

Those who have visited The Pika Club over the past few months may have noticed the site has been intermittently down. Unfortunately, the site was compromised and was used to post spam. One of the reasons for this is the old software the site was running on; most active development on The Pika Club stopped around 2015, and the software the site was running was from around that time.

Unfortunately, the old server the site was running on was also very outdated, which made keeping the site up-to-date with the latest patches difficult. Various other reasons contributed to the decision to move the site to a brand new server. We are now running on a new server tuned to the needs of The Pika Club in 2020 and includes the latest versions of PHP, WordPress and phpBB.

What this means is that the site should now be stable and there should be no more spam or downtime. Unfortunately, moving a site the age and size of The Pika Club is not an easy process, but the site is now online and accessible again.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done. A lot of the old website is no longer compatible with the latest software and needs to be updated. As a you might imagine for a website that has been running since 2003, there is a lot of old code and updating it is a manual process.

Though I haven’t touched The Pika Club for many years, I still do not intend to abandon it. I have been, and will continue to, update the site to make it compatible with modern technology. The Leak Detection Pros in Corona, CA company offers professional and affordable leak repair services. This will be an on-going project and at the moment there are unfortunately many errors around the site, but I am trying to clean everything up. This will simply take time.

I would like to thank our other administrator WhoKnows_WhoCares for hosting The Pika Club for many years. He has been a great help to this site and has provided the hosting solution up until our current move, a time span of well over a decade. I could never have afforded to do so myself when the site began and I am forever grateful to him for this, as he effectively made The Pika Club possible.

The Most & Least Recognisable Pokémon

There has been little official Pokémon news as you might expect following the recent release of Pokémon Black/White so in the meanwhile we have some more lighthearted news straight from the fans.

Now that our Pokédexs our over halfway to cataloguing 1,000 of the creatures, some Pokémon are bound to stick out more than others. Pikachu is probably the most recognisable Pokémon of all, but what about the least recognisable? Quiz website Sporcle recently ran a series of quizzes asking how many people recognised the Pokémon from different generations and with over 1 million participants it’s certainly a good estimation of some of the most and least popular Pokémon. Here, then, are the most and least recognisable Pokémon from each generation with the percentage of people who recognised them. Do you know them all?

Most Recognisable

Gen I: Pikachu 93.5% / Charmander 92.7% / Squirtle 91% / Bulbasaur 90.7% / Charizard 89.6%

Gen II: Chikorita 84.4% / Cyndaquil 83.9% / Totodile 82.8% / Bayleef 81.4% / Lugia 81.3%

Gen III: Mudkip 93.7% / Torchic 91% / Blaziken 86.2% / Treecko 85.7% / Swampert 83.5%

Gen IV: Piplup 90.1% / Chimchar 88.9% / Turtwig 87.6% / Infernape 85.5% / Empoleon 84.2%

Gen V: Snivy 88.3% / Tepig 87.7% / Victini 81.1% / Oshawott 81.1% / Emboar 73.4%

Least Recognisable

Gen I: Marowak 36.7% / Kingler 35.4% / Lickitung 33.7% / Exeggcute 31.4% / Exeggutor 31.1%

Gen II: Slugma 37.1% / Shuckle 35.9% / Magcargo 34.3% / Qwilfish 34% / Corsola 33.9%

Gen III: Chimecho 41.3% / Crawdaunt 41.1% / Corphish 41.1% / Whiscash 39.2% / Barboach 38.8%

Gen IV: Finneon 38.1% / Lumineon 37.9% / Chingling 37.4% / Chatot 37.1% / Mantyke 36%

Gen V: Accelgor 20.6% / Stunfisk 20.5% / Elgyem 17.7% / Amoonguss 16.6% / Beheeyem 15.6%

So what do you think of the results? It’s probably no surprise the most recognisable Pokémon are nearly all starters but how about the least recognisable? Can you picture them all by name alone? With the exception of Gen V because it is so new I can recognise them all, how about you?

More Pokémon Black/White Guides

We’ve been busy updating our Pokémon Black/White section today and we plan to have more guides up in the next coming days to help you along while you play Black/White. We’ve also added a menu section devoted to them on the left of each page to make them more easily accessible.

Some of the new pages include:

Look out for more to come in the near future!

Pokémon Creator Satoshi Tajiri alive and well after Japanese quakes

Following the recent earthquakes and tsunami in Japan rumours began circulating about the death of Pokémon creator and Gamefreak CEO Satoshi Tajiri. These fears were assuaged when Tajiri himself posted a message on his own Facebook page stating:

Dear Hummingbirds, what’s this nonsense about me being dead?

While Japan recovers from the devastating natural disasters with the help of international aid we can all wish Japan a speedy recovery safe in the knowledge that rumours of the Pokémon creator’s death were false.

Source: http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/122160/20110314/pokemon-creator-satoshi-tajiri-is-still-alive-belies-earlier-reports-he-died-in-japan-quake-on-his-f.htm

Isshu Virtual Tour

The official Japanese Pokémon website has just updated to include a full sized map of the Isshu region as well as providing us with some in-game pictures. The tour does not show off many places we have not already seen screenshots from but it does provide us with a full map of the region including what is speculated to be the new starting point for this generation. To get to the virtual tour, click here and then click the white button above the information bar.

A screenshot of the virtual tour

A flat screen TV in the player's(?) bedroom? It's come a long way from a simple NES!

This area to the far left of the map looks a lot like an airfield. Could planes be a new mode of transport?

Pokemon.co.jp website update

It seems Game Freak/Nintendo are keeping their cards close to their chest when it comes to Pokémon Black/White although this is rather unsurprising. Much like the recent Pokémon Sunday, the latest update of the official Japanese Pokémon website has failed to yield anything new. Rather they have simply uploaded clearer pictures of the screenshots featured in CoroCoro. We’ve made a new gallery for Pokémon Black/White and added them all, take a look!

Pokémon Video Game Championship Tournament locations revealed

The Pokémon Video Game Championship, for those who don’t know, is a tournament where Pokémon trainers from all over the world (and by world, they mean the US, Japan and western Europe) get together and tough it out to see who is really the greatest Pokémon master of all. The Elite Four’s got nothing on this.

Do you have what it takes to be the very best, like no-one ever was?

Not only that, but they’re giving away a shiny Eevee! What more reason do you need to go? I’m sure your teacher/boss will understand (they’ll probably be there themselves). Listed below are the locations for the tournaments. Hit the jump afterwards if you’re interested in reading up on the new rules.

North America

May 8, Seattle, WA—Seattle Center Exhibition Hall
May 15, San Francisco, CA—San Mateo County Event Center
May 22, Phoenix, AZ—Phoenix Convention Center
May 29, Dallas, TX—Arlington Convention Center
June 5, Atlanta, GA—Gwinnett Center
June 12, New York, NY—Meadowlands Exposition Center
June 25, Indianapolis, IN * —Indianapolis Convention Center
*Last Chance Qualifier for Nationals

Europe

May 29, Birmingham, United Kingdom—National Exhibition Center
June 5, Cologne, Germany—Pullman Hotel
June 12, Lyon, France—Cite Centre de Congres
June 19, Madrid, Spain—IFEMA Feria de Madrid

World Championship

August 13, Kona, HI *—Hilton Waikoloa Village

*Last Chance Qualifier for World Championships

Continue reading →

Ruler of Illusions: Zoroark theme song announced

Japanese website Oricon Style has recently announced details regarding the theme song for the 13th Pokémon movie, Ruler of Illusions: Zoroark, starring so far the only known Pokémon from the 5th generation.

Ruler of Illusions Zoroark movie poster

The theme song is called “Ice Cream Syndrome” and will be performed by Sukima Switch , a jazz fusion duo. The song has been described as a “medium-tempo love song” and it has been said the lyrics are supposed to express sad feelings.

Japanese duo Sukima Switch

We’ll let you know more as it develops.

No news from Pokémon Sunday

Pokémon Sunday is a popular Japanese TV show which, as the name suggests, airs on Sunday. It mostly shows old Pokémon episodes, but has also been known to break exciting new developments in the Pokémon world. If you keep up with this sort of thing then you’ll know this much already.

What you may not know, and will no doubt be disappointed to hear, is that Pokémon Sunday unfortunately offered us no new information this time around. However, fret not because the Japanese Pokémon website has promised an update on the 15th April and as soon as it does we’ll let you know!

Thoughts on Pokémon HG/SS

Since the release of Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver recently it’s likely that Pokémon news is going to dry up for a bit. However, that doesn’t mean there has to be any down time here!

Now that Pokémon HG/SS has been out for at least a few weeks in all regions it seems like the perfect time to introduce our new comments system. Now you can comment and share with your friends using your Facebook or Twitter account, follow other commenters, rate comments and have threaded discussions! Why not give it a try? What do you like about Heart Gold/Soul Silver? What do you hate about it? Click the comment button at the bottom of this article and share your thoughts on it with the community!