news roundup…

oh man – i have a few lousy days and the news just keeps flying off… ok i’m going to try and recap all of it in this news post – oh boy!

Anime News:
Febuary 5th sees the Cartoon Network in the USA premier the 13th Pokemon Movie, Zoroark: Masters of Illusions (check your local listings). One week later on Febuary 12th sees the same channel debut the latest pokemon series, Pokémon: Black & White. When announcing the new show, it announced the English names for Ash’s new companions. Iris keeps her Japanese name while Dento becomes Cilan – these names are important to the new Black/White games as both characters appear. Cilan is one of 3 possible Gym leaders at the first Gym, you’ll fight him if you start with Oshawott as your starter. Iris appears in both games, but in White version she’s the 8th Gym leader.

TCG News:
Not something i seem to post often around here, which is both a shame and something I plan to rectify in future. Following on from the next TCG set, Call of Legends, out on Febuary 9th – The first set to be based on Black and White will be released in April. This is a month earlier than the usual schedule the TCG sets get released, so whether the second B/W set will be released a month earlier or whether there will be a month longer gap is currently unknown – we’ll let you know all we can when we can.

Game News:
Ok, here’s the bulk of the news and we’ve got a lot to get through. First up, Victini, while keeping its Japanese name, has been announced for distrabution outside of Japan. While announced for the UK specifically, the info will most likely apply to the US as well. The Liberty Pass is an item allowed to catch a boat from Castelia City to Liberty Island where you’ll fight a couple of Team Plazma members before having a chance to fight and capture Victini. This item is set to be downloaded via Wi-Fi between March 4th and April 22nd

The Pokemon Company International has announced details on how the Global Link will work outside of Japan. Featuring the same features the Japanese version uses, Global Battle Union (keeps track of your online Battle stats), Global Trade Station (similar to the old GTS site) and the Dream World (allowing you to play with your pokemon away from the game, obtain berries and pokemon with abilities unobtainable via any other method). The Gloabll Link will be accessed using Pokemon Trainer Club Accounts, the account system used at Pokémon.com (which recenly launched reigon variation sites, so now pokemon.com is the official site of not only america, but the UK, Australia and other european countries). If you dont have a Trainer Club account yet – you might want to pop along to pokemon.com to get one now in preperation. We’ll let you know when the Global Link site launches for USA/Europe

Right – last thing, i hope, is that IGN has once again annouced some more pokemon names. All of these names apeared on the leaked list that appeared a few weeks ago – i will be updating the unova dex we have on this site will be updated with these names over the weekend. For now, here’s the new pokemon (with sprites, not sugimori artwork, i dont have time to upload the cooler artwork)

the first 2 pokemon they announced were Pansage, the grass elemental monkey who’s name was revealed on the back of the B/W box art already, and Victini, who’s name was confirmed in the Wi-Fi event above. They did annouce the english name for Pansage’s attack that can hit anybody on the opposing team in a 3v3 match regardless of where Pansage is placed. The attack is called Acrobatics. Meanwhile, Victini’s ability ‘Victory Star’ keeps its Japanese name.

Shikijinka:

Deerling is a pokemon who changes his image depending on the season. it’s herbivore ability is now called Sap Sipper

Basuro:

Basculin has 2 different looks, depending on the version your playing, one type is very common while the other is very rare

Swanna:

Swanna keeps its Japanese name. it’s Gale attack is now called Hurricane

Miruhoggu:

Watchog is the evolved form of Patrat.

IGN also featured Alomomola and Sewaddle as well.

That’s it for the news for now – hopefully we’ll bring you more news as soon as we learn of it.

Events A-Plenty

To celebrate the fact that the greatest Pokémon games are about to be released on western shores, several events have been announced on both sides of the pond.

In addition to getting the Shiny Legendary Dogs Downloadable at gamestop, Nintendo are heading across the USA on thier grand Mall Tour. Kicking off Febuary 5th, The tour features playable demo’s of Black/White, special screenings of Movie 13, Zoroark – Masters of Illusions, Scavanger Hunts and cool Prizes. To see where and when the tour is going across the states click to see the pokemon.com news article here

Also mentioned for the US, Celebi will be distributed via Gamestop Stores. Originally rumoured to be handed out after the shiny beasts during the week of 27th February to 5th March, the actual dates of this event arent yet mentioned. It could be that week, or it could be during the entire of the Mall Tour… or it could even just be in the gamestop stores at the mall when the tour rocks up there. We just dont know.

Meanwhile, over in the UK… Those shiny beasts have been confirmed to be coming to our Wi-Fi… From Febuary 7th, Connecting to Wi-Fi with any European Version of a 4th Gen Game will get you a Shiny beast that will, once transfered to Black/White will allow you to catch a Zoroark. What we dont know is how long the event will last and if we’ll be getting one of the beasts at random or if we’ll have the oppertunity to download all 3. Also unknown is if, like all Wi-fi events of the past year or so, American Versions of the game will also be able to download these beasts as well, despite already had them distributed in Gamestop stores…

Also confirmed, Celebi will be heading to the UK [Finally!] – details on when and where are unknown, but its possible it will be the same as Arceus last year, in which a couple of weekends before the release of the new games, Selected Game stores will have this illusive pokemon to download, along with other pokemon related stuff going on… Reliable plumber in California can be found at onestopplumbers.com/. This will be the first time Celebi has been available in the UK for 10 years, when a small, under publisied tour was done for Gold and Silver… how times have changed.

That’s all we know on all these events – as soon as we have more details – we’ll bring them to you.

Movie 13 News… Now in English!

A couple of weeks ago we brought you news about the 14th Pokémon movie coming out in Japan in 2011. But the movie that came out this year in Japan, the 13th movie, has yet to come across to English speaking countries yet.

We’ll worry no longer (not that you were worrying anyway) – Pokemon.com has announced that the 13th Pokémon movie, titled ‘Zoroark: Master of Illusions’ will be airing on Cartoon Network in Feburary.

To Celebrate its release, The HeartGold/SoulSilver Microsite has announced that Gamestop stores in the USA will be giving away the shiny versions of the Legendary Dogs Raikou, Entei and Suicune. In Japan, these legenday beasts were a Pre-order bonus for movie 13 tickets, and you could chose one of them. However you lucky Americans can get your hands on all three.

Between January 3rd and January 9th, heading to Gamestop will get you the shiny Raikou. Between January 17th and January 23rd, Entei will be available to download instead. Lastly, between January 31st and February 6th you’ll be able to get Suicune. All pokemon are level 30, and transfering any one of them to Black or White (when it’s released) will unlock the battle that will allow you to Capture Zoroark – see how this all connects up?

That’s all we’ve got for now – we’ll bring you more news when we learn it

More New Pokemon coming soon and a new Japanese Wi-Fi Download on the horrizon

Ok, so we’ve just filled you in on some of the new Pokémon that have been leaked during the past week or so, we’ll there looks like there are even more on the horrizon. Pokémon Sunday this week showed another sillouete in a teaser for next weeks show, saying they have more Black and White footage to reveal. The sillouete does not match any of the Pokémon being leaked so far, so we’re guaranteed to know about 1 new pokemon in the next week. However the way it was worded made it sound like they will reveal even more Pokémon, which means we could get confirmation (along with names and other vital bits of info) on some of the Pokémon posted in the previous post.

We’re also expecting the next issue of CoroCoro magazine soon. While not officially released until next week, the info and some scans are usually leaked a few days earlier and usually contains all the info Pokémon Sunday is due to show, so expect More New Pokémon sometime during this week.

In other news, Japan currently has a Wi-Fi event going on that will allow any Japenese Pokémon DS game to download a Scizor representing the one owned by Goon, a henchman in the new 13th movie Ruller of Illusions: Zoroark. This event finishes on the 14th July, so if you have a Japanese copy of any DS Pokémon game, you might want to get on Wi-Fi quickly to download it. On the 15th July, a new Wi-Fi event will occur on the Japanese games. Representing Satoshi’s main Pokémon (that’s Ash Ketchum to you or me), a Lv 50 Pikachu will be available to download. Holding a Light Ball, it will know the moves Volt Tackle, Iron Tail, Quick Attack and Thunderbolt. It will apparently have the Naughty Nature. The event will be available until August 10th.

That’s all we have now, we’ll bring you more news as soon as we can

New 13th Movie Pokemon to be given away

Yet another pokemon is to be given away to Japanese pokemon fans to tie in to the upcoming 13th movie, Ruller of Illusions Zoroark. But this on will be given away over Wi-fi, meaning anyone with a japanese copy of one of the DS games will be able to get it

Based of of a character called goon, who is a bodyguard for the main badguy for the movie, players will be able to download a Scizor between June 18 to July 14.

The Scizor will be level 50, male and will be in a Cherish Ball holding a Starf Berry and a Classic Ribbon. It will also know the moves X-Scissor, Swords Dance, Iron Defense and Agility, and its ability is Swarm. It has an Adamant nature. None of this will be random and every Scizor downloaded will be the same.

Along with downloading over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the Scizor will also be available from the Nintendo Zone, DS Download Stations, and participating McDonald’s in Japan itself.

We’ll bring you more when we learn it.

Celebi Movie Download Confirmed

It’s good news for those in Japan and semi good news for the rest of us. Leaked info from this months CoroCoro magazine reveals that Pokémon fans heading to see Ruler of Illusions Zoroark will be able to download a special Celebi to their carts.

One of the rarer and harder to obtain legendary Pokémon, especially in the UK, Celebi will come in the standard Cherish Ball and have Nasty Plot, Leaf Storm, Recover and Healing Wish as it’s move set.
The Celebi, which is holding a Jaboca Berry, will unlock a special event in HeartGold and SoulSilver which involves you travelling through time into the past, learning more about you rival and Team Rocket and a battle with former Team Rocket boss Giovanni upon your return to the present.

Also revealed in CoroCoro were some more details on the Pre-order Download of the Shiny Legendary Dogs. By Pre-ordering your tickets to the 13th movie, you will be able to download one of these shiny dogs from Pokémon Centers across Japan. Previously we learnt about one of the moves each Dog would know, now two more have been added to each list.

Entei will now know Howl and Crush Claw along with the previously known Flare Blitz
Suicune will have Air Slash and Aqua Ring alongside Sheer Cold
and along with knowing Zap Cannon, Raikou will have Aura Sphere and Weather Ball.
The dogs will be holding a Custap berry, a Rowap Berry and a Micle Berry respectivly.

The Shiny Dogs will be available for download between June 18th and August 31st, while Celebi will be available to download from theatres from the movies release on July 10th until September 30th. Hopefully, either later this year or early next year, the Celebi will make its way into an event in the west, even better would be if the Legendary Dogs were to make it over here as well.

That’s all we have for now, we’ll bring you more news when we learn about it

Shiny Legendary Dogs heading for Japan

This months CoroCoro magazine has been released and it contains some post worthy news (which is good because we’ve had nothing to report for a while now)

While there is no details on the new games being released this year (although it does say they will be revealed next month, so details should appear soon), they have detailed the pre-order gift for the latest Pokemon Movie.

Pre-order tickets to see the movie and you’ll be able to download Shiny versions of the legendary dogs, Raikou, Entai and Suicune. Along with being shiny, these three will each know a move they wouldn’t otherwise, Zap-Canon for Raikou, Flare Blitz for Entai while Suicune gets Sheer Cold.

No details on if these three will unlock a special event in HG/SS or if they will make their way over to the west

more when we know it

Only 5 more till we know about 500 Pokémon

First, don’t forget that if you live in the UK and are interested in being in a Pokémon TV Advert, check out the post below this one.

Ok, so this is what happens every month. Scans from CoroCoro magazine, which isn’t officially released until this weekend, have surfaced on some Japanese image boards (which is how we learn and get a hold of them)

As predicted, they have revealed all about our mystery silhouetted Pokémon, and a whole lot more as well. They’ve not only show its picture, but given its name, type, height, weight, species… AND it’s pre-evolved form as well.

The Pokémon on the left is from the shadow, called Zoroark it’s described as the ‘Monster Fox Pokémon’. It’s 1.6m tall (about 5’ 2”), and weighs 81.1kgs (about 179lbs). The Pre-Evo, Zorua, is on the right, it’s an ‘Evil Fox Pokémon’ and is only 0.7m tall (about 2’ 3”) and 12.5kgs (about 28lbs) in weight. Both are Dark Types (Zorua will most likely be pure Dark Type, Zoroark may become Dark & Something else, but for now, we just know it’s a Dark Type)

Zoroark (and possibly its pre-evo form), will feature in the 13th Pokémon movie, which has now been re-titled Phantom Champion Zoroark (or Ruler of Illusions Zoroark, which ever translation you want to go with… probably doesn’t matter as it will get changed when it finally comes out in English anyway). The movie is scheduled for release on July 10th in Japan.

In Other CoroCoro revealing news, the magazine brings more details about the new Ranger Game, Tracks of Light, due for release in Japan on March 6th. Between the games release and May 17th, there will be 2 Special Missions available, One involving a Deoxys (which apparently can only be played in multiplayer), the mission sees you chasing a Deoxys who changes forms, the Form you catch is the one that you can send across to HG/SS. CoroCoro reveals this month that if you catch the Attack form, it will know Meteor Mash, while it will know Detect if you get the defence form. The second mission running from March 6th will be a Manaphy Egg Mission, similar to those featured in the last 2 ranger games.

From March 18th until May 17th another 2 Special Missions will be available. One sees you out to catch a Shaymin Sky Frome, while the other sees you after a Heatran. The Heatran will know Eruption when it gets onto a HG or SS Cart.

The only other Ranger news CoroCoro revealed was a new character called Banema, who will help customise your capture styler and help you learn new Ranger Signs. If you missed one of our earlier news articles about it, Ranger Signs are special shapes you make with the styler that will allow you to call certain Pokémon to you. Amongst others, you’ll be able to call the legendary dogs, which are needed to overcome certain obstacles.

That’s all we have for now, We’ll leave you with the other couple of pages from CoroCoro showing the new Pokémon, and you can drop by the new Gen 5 topic on the forums to talk about it HERE… we’ll bring you more info when its released

The Path to Generation 5 Begins

Could this be Pokemon Z?

Well there he is. Junichi Masuda was on this weeks Pokémon Sunday in japan, ‘revealing’ a brand new, Generation 5 Pokémon. Ok, so all he showed was a sillouete and this Pokémon was key to the 13th movie, which translates as either Phantom Champion Z or Ruler of Illusions Z. Could the sillouete be of Z itself, only time will tell.

And it wont be much time either, Pokémon Sunday is set to reveal all about it in 2 weeks time (21st Feb) while the new issue of Coro Coro is out next week (15th), so we might get more details about it in the coming days. It also looks likely that the new Game Series being released later this year, which were announced a couple of weeks ago at Nintendo’s Investers/Quaterly Earnings meeting, will be the Generation 5 Games (although they could have given us a bit more time to enjoy Heart Gold/Soul Silver don’t you think).

We’ll bring you more when we learn about it… and I get the feeling there will be a lot to learn in the next 12 months

Not so Quiet on the Eastern Front

It’s been a bit quiet recently in regards to pokemon news. Not a lot has been going on… at least until now.

First out of the block is news that the Next Pokémon Movie has been anounced. The 13th Pokémon movie will still be apart of the Diamond and Pearl set (although is a seperate entry from the previous 3 movies that were linked together) and will be called Phantom Champion Z. The movie will focus on Jhoto Legendary pokemon, including the 3 legendary dogs and Celebi. The movie is scheduled for release in Japan in July 2010.

The second piece of news is a possible  release date for Heart Gold and Soul Silver for America. Amazon has updated its pages for the two items with both the box art for the games (which includes the Pokéwalker) and a release date of March 14th 2010 (which is a saturday, matching the release of the previous couple of games). While Amazon on its own is not the most reliable source for release dates, this could mean that the announcment for the release could be soon. If the date IS accuralte, it ALSO matches the prediction I made earlier this year right here – now all I need is to be right for the European Release and I rock.

Don’t forget to vote in the new website poll on the right. Is the Most Christmas like Pokémon the presant delivering Delibird, the raindeer like Stantler, The Christmas Tree imitator Snover or Pikachu in a santa hate – its completly up to you to decide. Also drop by the forums and tell us what you’d like us to work on around the site over the festive season in this thread – Take part in the Forum Competition (which this month is a caption competition), look out for a new forum based roleplay starting up soon and of course generally post and talk around the forums.

We’ll leave you with a reminder that the speed gamers start their attempt at catching all 493 Pokémon from scratch in 3 days this Friday 18th December at 6pm CST. The marathon aims to raise money for Ally’s House, a charity who helps Children suffering from cancer.