Author Archives: WhoKnows_WhoCares

New Pokémon Ranger Game

You can tell Christmas is over as the news just won’t stop coming. Hot on the heals of Heart Gold and Soul Silver’s European release date being announced, leaked scans from this months CoroCoro magazine has revealed details of a new Pokémon Ranger game to be released this year.

Titled ‘Pokémon Ranger – Tracks of Light’ the game returns to the popular Ranger format of ‘capturing’ Pokémon with the stylus to assist you in solving problems and tasks. Set in a new region ‘Oblivia’ and against a new bad guy team called the ‘Pokémon Nappers’ the 3rd installment to the Ranger series sees several new additions to the game play. PokéAssists will now send a Pokémon out to help fight the pokemon you’re up against, but will flee when they take damage. You will be able to ride on the backs of several Pokemon, including the legendary dogs, Raikou, Entai and Suicine. Brand new is the ability to call certain Pokemon by drawing a special symbol, current known symbols are for Eevee and Croagunk.

Edit: We now know that the ability to call the Pokémon to your aid will be an add on function to your styler, though how you learn symbols for various Pokémon is not mentioned. You will be able to call the legendary dog’s via this method though, helpful since riding on them will get you past various obsitcals, like Suicune will run down a river or Entai will jump from cliff to cliff. Your partner Pokémon will be a Pichu (who seems increadibly popular with gamefreak at the moment). The Pichu is carrying around a blue Ukulele (like a small guitar if you didn’t know), although why it is nobody seems to know.

New to the Ranger games will be a Multiplayer mode, although its not clear if it will be Wi-Fi or just local wireless (most likely the latter, unfortunatly). Up to 4 players will be able to take part in special missions, and you’ll have to work together in order to capture Pokémon, as you will have to connect the lines that your friends drawn if you want to successfully capture a Pokémon.

Speaking of Special Missions, straight away as the game is released, a download mission will be available that will allow you to obtain a Deoxys, one that will be transferable to your Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold or Soul Silver carts. There is something special about the Deoxys you will get, but that wont be revealed until next month.

According to CoroCoro, the game is scheduled for release on 6th March 2010, with a Demo apearing at DS download Stations and via the Wii Channel in Japan at the end of this month (29th Jan to be exact). Pokémon Sunday in Japan was due to have some news in their game section this week (they teased it last week with a big question mark) nothing big was made about it at the time as they’ve done this in the past and not revealed anything special or new (one time, they reveaed Magikarp… seriously, has ANYBODY not heard about Magikarp). However, with this news from CoroCoro, it means that this will likely be the special feature on Pokémon Sunday. Hopefully they’ll have something new to mention, or at the very least have some video footage.

That’s all we have for now, We’ll bring you more as soon as we know about it

Release date announced for HG/SS in UK (and a shiny Pichu for the Americans too)

The Pikachu Colored Pichu (or Shiny Pichu to you and me) is to be handed out at Gamestop shops in the US between January 3oth and February 14th according to an article on Pokémon.com. You’ll be able to download this special Pichu to any Diamond, Pearl or Platinum cart but it doesn’t do much (except look cool) until you transfer it to Heart Gold or Soul Silver. Once there, you’ll need to take the little feller to Ilix Forrest, where out will pop a special Pichu, the Notched Eared Pichu. After a small event between the two, you’ll befriend the Notched Eared Pichu and thus be apart of your Pokémon collection forever.

In other news, Nintendo.co.uk today released a news article about the Pokéwalker. This is the First Heart Gold/Soul Silver related piece of information on any of the UK’s official sites (Pokémon or Nintendo) and not only talks about the Pokéwalker (confirming that it WILL be heading to Europe) but also lists a release date for HG/SS. March 26th is when European players can enjoy a trip back to the lands of Jhoto, less than 2 weeks after its release in America (and, for the second year in a row, a lot earlier than my initial prediction). This is good news for all the people in Europe and should hopefully mean that us people who usually import the games can wait the extra few days and pick up the game a little cheaper.

That’s all we have for the moment, we’ll bring you more when we learn it.

Pokémon Center Event (Japan) and Official Website Redesign (USA)

Wouldn’t you just know it, just as you finish saying “there’s nothing interesting happening at the moment”, something interesting goes and happens. News out of Japan says that the Pokémon Centers (the real life ones that sell Pokémon related stuff) are handing out a new Pokéwalker Course between 29th January and the 28th February. The course is appropriately titled ‘Event’ and features Chatot, Sableye, Croagunk, Buneary, Pikachu and Pachurisu.

A little closer to home, The American Pokémon site, pokemon.com has updated their site. Along with a fresh new look (something that’s been needed for a few years), the new site brings several new features including an updated Pokédex, a TCG card dex, several free games to play and episodes of the anime you can watch online. There’s also a trainers club which will allow you to make a custom trainer and earn trainer tokens. The site also combines the old go-poekmon.com, and now serves all the TCG and Organised Play news and updates that go-pokemon.com did. The for al those that do Organised Play, part of the new Trainers Club can be used to keep track of all your OP stats.

Along with the fresh new look, the site also has news on the Pokéwalker, confirming that the peripheral will be coming out to with the US versions of Heart Gold and Soul Silver. The article explains nothing new for anyone who’s been following HG/SS since their announcements, explaining that the walker is used to level up Pokémon when not playing the game, it can be used to catch additional Pokémon and items and can communicate with other Pokéwalkers in a feature reminiscent of the original Mystery Gift option in the original Gold and Silver games, giving both users a free gift via infra red, but only once per person, per day and up to ten maximum.

Still no info on Heart Gold and Soul Silver in any form for Europe, nor has the UK official Pokémon site had a refresh (something its needed doing longer than the US one). We’ll bring you more news when we learn about it.

Last Reminder: Pokemon Marathon

Just a quick and final reminder that thespeedgamers.com start their Pokémon marathon tonight from 6pm central time (about 12 midnight gmt). Their goal is to catch all 493 Pokémon in 72 hours. They will be playing Leaf Green, Fire Red, Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, Pearl, Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Any event only Pokémon will be pre-loaded onto one of the carts, but other than that they will be catching all Pokémon from scratch. Whether they achive the feat in 72 hours or not, they will be raising money for cancer charity Ally’s House. You can watch their attempt from the live streams on their website.

Edit 1: As per Pikachu3828 request, I’m going to update periodically the speed gamers progress on their marathon. At the 15 hour mark, they’ve managed to catch 150 Pokémon and raise just over $4,000 for Ally’s House. Also Within the first couple of hours of the marathon, the speed gamers read out my name, donation and comment wishing them luck… so I was feeling really awesome at that point.

Edit 2: 24 Hours have past, 2 days left on the marathon and things are going well. The Ruby version has just beater the elite 4, The Fire Red has finished catching all the Pokémon they planned to capture in that version, they’re over 200 captured total and have currently raised $5,600 of thier $15,000 target.

Edit 3: Over half way though in every respect. At the 40 hour mark they’ve caught over 280 pokemon and raised over $7,200. They’re looking good to complete the task.

Edit 4: 2 Days done, 1 to go. At the 48 Hour mark, they’ve caught around 350 Pokémon, and raised over $8,400. If they manage to raise another $600 in the next 3 hours, one of the speed gamers (Phil) will eat a lolipop with a worm in it. An actual, real worm inside a green lolipop. And he will eat it, but only if they hit $9,000 in the next 3 hours.

Edit 5: Not long to go now. At the 55 Hour mark they’ve caught around 410 Pokémon, less than 100 to catch/evolve, trading them all to one cart is a secondary objective which they will do if they have time. On the chartiy side, they’ve managed to raise $12,200 – so they are getting ever so closer to their $15,000 target.

Edit 6: Final Edit. Well they managed to do it. They’ve got 493 Pokémon in just over 72 hour. Unfortunatly they over ran by a few minutes, but its still a tremendious acheivement. As for their donations, they’ve managed to raise well above their target, with it currently up to $17,500 – the donations will still be up till X-mas eve, so if you can donate, drop by and do so. Congratulation Speed Gamers, you guys are awesome!

Stop the presses: Nintendo uses the word Shiny!

Ok, so they’ve yet to do it in an official game yet, but pokemon.com has just launched its Heart Gold & Soul Silver Microsite. And along with confirming the US launch date as March 14th 2010, the site also has details on the Spiky Eared Pichu event.

If you’ve missed all the previous news posts about this Pokémon, here’s how it works. There’s a special Pichu who’s in the 12th Pokémon movie Arceus and the Jewel of Life. The Pichu is like most Pichu but one of it’s ears has some extra spiky length to it, thus why its called the Spiky Eared Pichu. This Pichu is available to capture in a special event in Heart Gold and Soul Silver by taking a special, event given Pikachu-coloured Pichu to Ilex Forest. After the event, you will have the Spiky Eared Pichu, which you can use like any other pokemon. However unlike any other pokemon, this Pichu cannot be traded nor can it evolve.

The Microsite says that details on how to obtain the shiny Pikachu-coloured Pichu will be revealed at a later date. The site even uses the word shiny when describing the Pichu, which Nintendo have never really done. Still, we’ll bring you details of the event when they are revealed.

Still no details on a European release, I myself am still predicting May.

On a side note, owners of  a Japanese copy of Heart Gold and Soul Silver will be able to download the Champ Path pokewalker course between January 13th and 27th 2010… meaning that there will have been some kind of Wi-fi event on from November the 11th up until Febuary 11th, with only a 2 day break in between each event. The Champ Path course was previously available to anybody who attended the Battle Road Tournament and features level 5 pokemon knowing moves they wouldnt ordinarily know such as Munchlax which knows Selfdestruct, Beldum which knows Zen Headbut, Bronzor which knows Trick Room, Duskull that knows Imprison, Horse with Muddy Water and Magikarp that knows Bounce.

We’ll bring you more news when we know it

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.

Just A Quick Post

Here’s just a quick update to mention that the release of Pokémon Rumble, the WiiWare Pokémon based mash-em-up game recently released in America, will be available to download in Europe on the 20th of November. The game will be priced the same as it is in the US at 1,500 points. Any Passwords for Japanese or American versions will NOT work on a european version, as each version has its own set of passwords.

In forum related news… The Pika Club is now 10 years old, so Happy Birthday to us. We’ ve been around in many different forms in the past 10 years, but our love of Pokémon keeps going strong. So drop by the forums and say Happy Birthday TPC in the related thread in the Newbies area, and check out the General Chat section from Sunday where we’ll have a brand new forum competition

Until Next time…

News Round up, including Events, Marathons and Forum Competitions

Ok, first off I want to apologise for the lack of updates recently. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a busy and turbulent time for me at the moment, so I’m not able to be as active as I would like. Anyway, here’s a quick round up of the news.

First up, the Wii-ware game Pokémon Rumble is scheduled for release in the US on November 16th. No details on a European release but if its anything like Pokémon Ranch, it wont be at the same time.

Arceus. The last, final unavailable Pokémon (unless you count the Japanese movie release) will be released in Toy’s R Us stores in the US between November 7th and November 15th. You’ll be able to download it to any Diamond, Pearl or Platinum cart now and transfer it to a Heart Gold or Soul Silver cart later, where it will unlock a special event.

Also in Arceus News, this Friday (6th November) Australian Cartoon Network will be showing the 12th movie Arceus and the Jewel of Life. No details on a US or European date for showing but both this piece of news and the previous one proves this piece of news that this is all going ahead of the schedule used in the last couple of years.

In other Download events. Japan has a couple for Heart Gold and Soul Silver coming up. The first, between November 11th and November 23rd will be a level 5 Mew. Then between November 27th and January 11th the Enigma Crystal will be available to download… this item needs to be taken to the Pewter City museum to turn it into a Soul Dew. This will then let you fight and capture either Latios or Latias depending on which version you have. On a side note, between January 29th and February 11th the level 5 Mew will be available to download on all Japanese Diamond, Pearl and Platinum carts… so don’t forget to pick up a second if you have a copy of those as well

And now for a couple of pieces of news we’ve been meaning to mention for a couple of weeks. The Speed Gamers (found at thespeedgamers.com) are currently finishing up a Resident Evil marathon raising money for Diabetes research. But on December 18th they try their second attempt at making a complete Pokédex on one card in 72hours or less. The idea is they start from scratch and attempt to capture every single Pokémon and put them onto one cart. They’ve attempted this feat before, and didn’t quite manage it. And with 2 more event Pokémon released since then, they have a great challenge on their hand. Whether they complete the task or not, they’ll be raising money for the charity Ally’s House. We’ll remind you about this attempt closer to the time.

And lastly, don’t forget to drop by the forums and post. We’ve got a few active people around the forums, wanting more people to talk to. Also enter into our monthly forum competition. This month, we’re running a design a trainer competition where the winner will receive a custom trainer sprite and a trainer card made up by me. Here’s an example of what the finish product will be like.

sample

We’ll bring you more when we can.

New Pokémon Wii Game Announced

Sorry about the lack of updates to the news blog recently, amongst thinking I posted something earlier but didn’t (see the end of this post for more on that), I’ve been a bit busy. However, do look for a new competition in the general chat section of the forums this Sunday (18th)

Nintendo officially announced a new Pokémon Wii game today. Poképark Wii: Pikachu’s Big Adventure see’s the most famous Pokémon roaming around a giant amusement park called the Poképark. Pikachu will want to have a go on some of the rides, but unfortunately, a lot of the rides require Pokémon abilities Pikachu just doesn’t possess. The Marine Slider game needs a Pokémon who’s good at swimming to fully enjoy it, and only a flying Pokémon can partake in the Habataki Sky Race.

So what’s a yellow mouse Pokémon to do? Well make friends of course. By teaming up with other Pokémon that are visiting the park, you’ll be able to play mini games with them to become friends, allowing you team up and take on the rides. Mini games include playing a game of tag, battling your soon to be friend, and taking part in a quiz, answering questions on Pokémon.

Being able to take pictures in game and save them to an SD card (and possibly send them to your Wii friends) and with graphics far better than the likes of Pokémon Ranch or Pokémon Rumble (we’ll try and get some pictures for you soon), this looks to be a good, fun title for the Wii. Poképark Wii: Pikachu’s Big Adventure will be released in Japan on December 5th. No details about an English release yet.

As for the next piece of news, I was sure I updated with this, but it seems like I haven’t. Sorry. Anyway, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky has been given a European release date of November 20th. The third Mystery Dungeon game on DS, recently released in the US, features some additional maps, starters and partners from the previous two instalments, plus some other updated features.

That’s all we have for now. We’ll bring you more when we know it.

Oak’s Letter Available for Platinum pt.2

As susspected, today the official European site for Pokémon Platinum toady revealed that the Oak’s letter is available to download from today. We’ve also had information that its also avaialble in Austraila/New Zeland region as well. Between today (28th September) and 8th November, anybody with a version of Pokémon Platinum can use the Wi-Fi option to download the Oak’s letter, thus allowing you to catch a Shyamin. For more details, see the previous post.

We’ll bring you more when we learn it.