A new fad is sweeping the Adoption Agency! Pokédolls are the hottest thing right now and you gotta catch ’em all!
Not a very impressive collection...
Adoption Agency members will find a new link under ‘Trainer Hub’ which will take them to this new feature. Enjoy!
The Pika Club Adoption Agency has recently been updating to v1.4, 5 days ahead of schedule! This new update includes:
Enjoy this latest update, the next one should be in summer sometime around June/July!
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:
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/
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.