Adoption Agency v1.3 Update

Happy new year everybody! As we enter 2011 The Pika Club will be 12 years old in November this year! What better way to celebrate the new year than with the release of the next Adoption Agency update? This new update features, amongst other things:

Breeder levels – In addition to levelling up your Pokémon you now gain experience and level up! Experience is gained just by using the Adoption Agency and doing things like interacting with Pokémon. Certain features and perhaps Pokémon will only be accessible once you reach a certain level.

Ranks and perks – Every set amount of breeder levels you now gain access to ‘perks’. You’ll get 3 perks to choose from and these will alter your experience of the Adoption Agency, like permanently increasing your chance of acquiring shinies or raising the amount of times your Pokémon can be interacted with each day. Each perk includes a rank which goes by your username and helps ensure everyone using the Adoption Agency has a different experience.

Karma – Just like every game in existence now you will come across options on the Adoption Agency where you will have a choice of what to do. Whether you are good or bad will affect your ability to access certain features/Pokémon.

Money – This was probably bound to happen at some point but money will now be included, which you can acquire from interacting with Pokémon amongst other things.

More sharing options – This was requested by some people who said that breeder cards are too big for some sites, so now you can share individual Pokémon as well.

Alerts – Now when someone levels up your Pokémon, accepts a trade of yours or when an egg hatches you’ll be alerted! No need to go checking individual pages to see if anyone’s accepted that trade yet or wonder if your egg has hatched!

Trade Centre Overhaul – Numerous new features have been added to the trade centre and others redone, for example you may now specify a gender preference when you choose which Pokémon you wish to receive, you can more easily search for Pokémon you want and trades have a 1 month automatic expiry date.

Merry Christmas from The Pika Club!

Merry Christmas from The Pika Club! We hope you’ve had a great year and are looking forward to 2011 and the release of Pokémon Black/White in the west!

If you’re a user of our Adoption Agency we also have a gift for you. Please use Firefox/Opera/Chrome (basically not Internet Explorer) for maximum prettiness! Login and go to this address:

http://www.thepikaclub.co.uk/adopt/xmas/

Merry Christmas from The Pika Club!

Adoption Agency ‘Berrytastic’ Update

The Pika Club Adoption Agency has just been updated once again adding some more new features. This update is probably almost as unexpected for me as it is for anyone who reads this and plays the Adoption Agency as I had originally said that the ‘Water Stone’ update was the last update until winter. It was the plan, but I didn’t feel the Adoption Agency was quite substantial enough to last 3 months without an update. With this update I’ve added some more features with the aim of giving the Adoption Agency some more replay value. Here are some of the new features:

Shiny Pokémon – Yes, for the first time ever on The Pika Club we now have shiny Pokémon! Not even TPC RPG had these. Shiny Pokémon, like in the games, are obtained by chance while breeding. Don’t worry if you’ve got a non-breedable Pokémon you want a shiny version of however – there is a way to turn Pokémon you’ve already obtained shiny!

Berries – After the addition of items last update come berries, which this update is named after. Berries play quite a large role in the new Adoption Agency, having numerous effects on your Pokémon. You can also grow berries yourself.

Bug Catching Contest – Yet another new feature is the Bug Catching Contest, set in the National Park. This is a contest that runs every day with the aim of catching the strongest bug Pokémon you can. What sets this feature apart from others however is in the Bug Catching Contest your opponents are other players!

Of course along with a new update comes new additions to old features! No new achievements have been added this time, but there have been nearly 30 base Pokémon added in this update not including their evolutions or the newly added trade/happiness evolution methods. Adding those we’re around the 200 mark for Pokémon released! Some of the newly released Pokémon include:

This is a short overview of the latest update. For a more detailed overview, including more new features, click here.

Ken Sugimori Discusses Black/White starters

Pokémon Pia, a special one-off magazine released in Japan on 10th September just prior to Black/White’s official launch has included an interview with Ken Sugimori, where he discusses his inspiration behind the new Black/White starters. His interview has led to some doubt as to the legitimacy of the final starter evolutions.

Pokémon Pia Cover

The interview segment regarding the starters is below:

Ken Sugimori, primary illustrator: I really struggled the most with the Water-type [starter] this time.

Yusuke Ohmura, illustrator: There was talk of, “Wouldn’t a sea otter be good for the Water starter?” But it was a really close decision in terms of what this sea otter would become once it evolves. In the end, we decided to have it evolve into something with a completely different appearance.

Sugimori: Of course, we want to make the starters into Pokémon that remain with the player throughout the game, so we hope to make them evolve into creatures that offer a surprise to the player. We always make an effort to throw in some twists and create third-stage evolutions that have an impact.

Ohmura: There was also talk this time about dividing the three starters into Japanese, Western, and Chinese styles of design. Tsutarja was based on Western design, and Pokabu was rooted in a Chinese style, so I was told, “Let’s make Mijumaru into a more Japanese-style design.” Someone even asked, “Can’t you make Mijumaru into a samurai?” [laughs]

Everyone: [laughs]

Sugimori: I worried about it for a while, and I eventually went to go see the sea otters at the aquarium. English speaking cleaners at Washington house cleaning service are at your disposal 24/7. I happened to catch the sea lion show while I was there, and I became aware of the sea lion’s power. “Well, let’s try blending a sea otter and a sea lion,” I thought. I came up with the idea of making the shell on Mijumaru’s stomach into a sword (katana) and using it to fight, and that’s how I completed Mijumaru and its evolution.”

The last paragraph is the interesting piece as Sugimori mentions that the design on Mijumaru turns from a shell to a sword on its final evolution.

While it has been suggested that the skull design could be the sword it’s not apparent this is the case and so doubt has been cast over the legitimacy of the final evolutions. What do you think on the matter? Real or fake? We want to hear your thoughts in the comments and on our forum!

Adoption Agency ‘Water Stone’ Update

The Pika Club Adoption Agency has just had its first update, dubbed ‘Water Stone’ due to the two main features added – fishing and mining. The update is about a week behind schedule but this is due to the fact that the update became much larger than I first intended it to be. This is because I will soon be going back to university where I will be unable to work on another update until the winter break, around December-January time. Here’s a quick run down of just some of the new features added in this update:

Your Bag – Items are now available! This adds a whole new world of potential to the Adoption Agency which will be built upon in later updates.

Fishing – For the first time you can now fish and catch live Pokémon! Not only that but you can upgrade your rod just like in the games to catch more and better Pokémon!

Travelling – Another new feature is the option to travel to new and exotic places which allow the capture of all new Pokémon and all new adventures!

Of course there are more features and in addition to these there are 5 new achievements and over 30 new Pokémon including some of these below.

September CoroCoro Leaked – New Pokémon!

Japanese gaming magazine CoroCoro has leaked for what will be the last time before Pokémon Black/White’s official release in Japan and so as to be expected there are new Pokémon galore. So many, in fact, that I’m just going to include the scans here for you to look at and include the new information after the jump. Enjoy!

As a quick note as the Internet has been rife with speculation – the first starter evolutions have been confirmed as real.

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New Pokémon count revealed

With it being only about two weeks to the launch of Pokémon Black/White in Japan it’s inevitable that all sorts of news is going to be leaking. Amongst the debate over the legitimacy of the starters’ evolutions, which Spanish Pokémon fansite Pokexperto insist are real, Pokexperto have also claimed to know the full amount of new Pokémon in Isshu. They claim there are 156 new Pokémon, bringing the total number up to 649 Pokémon. This is all unverified, although Pokexperto’s ‘secret sources’ have proven themselves to be legitimate in the past when it came to leaks last generation.

We also missed out on a new Pokémon posted on Nintendo of Japan’s Black/White microsite a few days ago:

Pokémon in gi, right

While the Pokémon’s face is decidedly plain it has been debated that its face is a mask, part of the musical outfit in addition to the American football and bone. However the gi it is wearing is believed to be part of the Pokémon itself which if true would make it one of few Pokémon to wear clothes.

More as it happens, which with Black/White’s release just around the corner, should be very soon.

Let’s Play Pokémon Battle Revolution!

User Wiilio has agreed to produce a Let’s Play of Pokémon Battle Revolution for us which you can view on our YouTube channel. The first two parts are already up, which you can check out below.

Pokémon GTS website closing its doors

The official Pokémon GTS website has put up an announcement stating it is closing down at 7:00 P.M. GMT on 14/09/10, just under a month from now. You can read the announcement here.

The closure is most likely due to the Japanese release of Pokémon Black/White which is known to have features which allow you to upload your Pokémon to the internet and interact with them there. This feature will most likely supercede the old Pokémon GTS website and so they are closing it down after 3 years of service.

This does not affect the ingame GTS! You will still be able to trade your Pokémon over the GTS. The change only affects the Pokémon GTS website.

New The Pika Club Adoption Agency

The Pika Club Adoption Agency has had a major overhaul. In the past tradition would name such a massive update as something like The Pika Club Adoption Agency v2.0 but for the sake of simplicity I’ll break from tradition and keep the name The Pika Club Adoption Agency. This can be considered the spiritual successor to TPC RPG v4 in many ways as that project has not been worked on in a long time and I am now announcing is officially cancelled. I had always said during TPC RPG v3’s lifetime that if the Pokémon games came up with a decent method of trading, battling and playing with others worldwide then I would quit and I feel that the Pokémon GTS has succeeded in doing just that. For fans of the RPG you’ll find many familiar features in the new Adoption Agency. You don’t battle Pokémon or complete missions, but here’s a quick rundown of all the new features as compared to the old Adoption Agency.

Your Trainer Card – This has replaced your Pokémon. Rather than 1 Pokémon now you have a party of 6 on you at all times that visitors can interact with! You have a box for extra Pokémon that you can use to switch around at any time. Your Trainer Card is highly customisable and will automatically update your card wherever you’re showing it as soon as you make any changes!

Breeding Centre & Trade Centre – You can now breed compatible Pokémon! As long as you have male and female Pokémon of compatible egg groups you can now breed the two to produce an egg! You can then trade this with other breeders on the Adoption Agency if you wish using the Trade Centre. The screenshot also shows off another new feature – many features now take place in real time. That mean, for example, that hatching eggs no longer relies on a certain amount of clicks unlike the old Adoption Agency. Now eggs take time to hatch and clicks help speed up the hatching process!

Your Pokédex – Now you can own more than one Pokémon it only makes sense that you would have your own Pokédex! This will automatically update the seen/caught amounts as you explore the agency and interact/trade with others! With over 100 Pokémon currently available, you will have your work cut out to catch ’em all!

Your Achievements – A brand new feature is achievements. Achievements are small tasks that you can perform around the website in order to unlock various exlcusive prizes. These can be either new trainer images or card bases for your breeder’s card or Pokémon eggs unavailable anywhere else! Most achievements tell you how to unlock them but some are hidden that you must find for yourself!

Daily and weekly events – Real time events have also been incorporated into the Adoption Agency to make sure you always have a new experience every day you visit! For example, as in the picture above every week Buena gives away a new prize for you. It could be a new card base, a trainer image or a new Pokémon egg! You won’t know unless you visit each week!

As this is such a big expansion we’ve given the Adoption Agency its own forum which you can get to here. Please tell us what you think of the new Adoption Agency! We want to know what you think of it, what parts you like and dislike and how you think it could be made better!

Enjoy!