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 16^th. 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 7^th and November 15^th. 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 (6^th November) Australian Cartoon Network will be showing the 12^th 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 11^th and November 23^rd will be a level 5 Mew. Then between November 27^th and January 11^th 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 29^th and February 11^th 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 18^th 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 (18^th)

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 5^th. 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 20^th. 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.

Oak’s Letter Available for Platinum

Ok, so last month, Platinum players were able to use the Wi-Fi download to get the Members Card key item, allowing them to do a subquest allowing them to catch a Darkrai. Well now the next downloadable key item, Oak’s Letter, is being made for download over the Wi-Fi between September 28th to November 8th. At the moment, this date only applies to people with the US version of the game, however since the Member’s Card could be downloaded during the same time frame in both US and Europe, its quite possible that it will be available in Europe as well… we’ll bring you an update when we know for sure.

The Oak’s Letter will change the top end of route 224, the route found via the side cave near the end of victory road. Instead of a large rock, the area turns into a large amout of flowers. Its here that you’ll encounter a Shaymin, you’ll be able to battle/catch it as well. Once caught, you can take it to Floroma Town to get the Gardicia flower (if you haven’t traded a Shaymin and got the item already). The Gardicia will change Shaymin into its Sky Forme during the day (4am-8pm), it will revert back to land forme during the night, if you box it, or if you use it over Wi-Fi battles.

We’ll keep an eye out for a Euro date for this event, so expect an update about that in a couple of days – otherwise, more news when we know it.

Lots of News

It’s been a week since Heart Gold and Soul Silver were released in Japan and we’ve managed to clear up some things about what’s new to the game. A lot of this information is just specifics as to stuff mentioned in the last news post. If you’re interested in any of it, head on over to the Heart Gold Soul Silver section of our forums and ask for explanations in anything you’re interested in.

In other news, the 12th movie has been given an English title. Arceus and the Jewel of Life is the third and final in the Diamond and Pearl movies, following on from The Rise of Darkrai and Giratina and the Sky Warrior. This movie will see Ash and friends in Michina Town which has a long history with the legendary Pokémon. According to legend, after the creation Pokémon gave the townspeople some of its power (the Jewel of Life mentioned in the title), the people then betrayed Arceus. As you can imagine, Arceus isn’t best pleased over this, and its rage sets to destroy the world. With the help of Dialga, Ash and co head back in time to try and undo all mistakes made.

There’s no release date yet on the 12th movie, but like the Arceus reveal itself, this reveal is a few months earlier than it has traditionally been in previous years, leading me to believe that it could be released earlier than the Easter/early spring release the movies usually get.

Speaking of Arceus, the creation Pokémon is the subject of the next TCG set due for release on November 4th. Platinum – Arceus will have over 100 cards, including multiple energy types of the main Pokémon itself.

Back to Heart Gold and Soul Silver, a couple of the things we’ve learned is that a lot of Sinnoh and Hoenn Pokémon show up in the wild. During the bug contest in the National Park, if you try it on a Thursday or a Saturday after you get the national dex, Hoenn and Sinnoh bug types will show up, including Wurmple and Kricketot. Also after getting the national dex, the music channel will play either the Hoenn sound on Wednesday or the Sinnoh sound on Thursday. Played in various areas across Johto and Kanto, these two sounds can make either Hoenn or Sinnoh Pokémon show up in the wild.

Also, if you’ve got a copy of HG or SS, don’t forget to download the special Yellow Forest Pokéwalker course. This course features a lot of Pikachu, some of which may know surf and fly… otherwise impossible moves for a Pikachu to know.

That’s all for the moment, we might update with some more HG/SS news/features/explanations soon. Otherwise, more news when we learn it.

Heart Gold and Soul Silver News/Info

Ok, so today sees the release of Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver in Japan (US and Europe have to wait till spring next year). A lot has changed in Johto since the old Gameboy Colour games, and we’re here to bring you a brief run down of everything known so far.

Gyms and Gym Leaders: Almost all Gym’s on both sides of Mt. Silver have had a redesign, and a lot of the Gym leaders have had their levels tweaked. Most of them have gone up (the Kanto lot especially), but a couple (including Whitney) have gone down in level. All the Kanto Gym Leaders now hand out TMs when beat

Red has been training up in mount silver since we last saw him, and he’s gotten impressive as well. His Pikachu is up to level 88 now while his Venusaur, Blastoise and Charizard are now at 84 and his Snorlax is now at level 82 (all up 7 levels). He’s also switched out his lowest level 73 Espeon for a level 80 Lapras. And you thought he was tough before.

For those of you hoping that the Leaf Green/Fire Red version of Kanto, prepare to be disappointed. It’s mostly the Gold/Silver/Crystal version. Cinnabar Island volcano still blew (so that’s gone), Mt. Moon is still small and there’s no Safari Zone in Fuchsia. However, Viridian Forest (which was removed in G/S/C) still exists in the game, and in the old Safari Zone’s place is HG/SS version of the Pal Park, so if you still have some Pokémon on GBA games, here’s where you can get them picked up.

Speaking of Safari Zone, it was said that it was moved, we now know where. Remember that strange new area west of Cianwood? Well that’s where the new Safari Zone is located. It mostly works like the other Safari Zones, there are 6 areas and each one has a specific list of Pokémon contained within. The new twist, however, is that you can rearrange the areas in any way you like using a computer in the entrance. This means that if you want to search a certain area for a certain Pokémon, you can shift it to be the entrance area and not waste too many precious steps to get there.

Bizarrely, Johto Pokédex has increased from 251 to 256. The extra 5 Pokémon are Yanmega, Likiliky, Mamoswine, Ambipom and Tangrowth. All these Pokémon evolve from standard Johto Pokédex Pokémon via the learning of moves, which may explain why they were added.

Team Rocket has had a bit of change in leadership. Several admins (all named after real life rockets) have been introduced. Lambda, Athena and Apollo will crop up at various points in the game to fight for Team Rocket’s honour (and to try and take over the world, of course). During the battle of the Goldenrod Radio Tower, you will actually disguise yourself as a member of Team Rocket to sneak in.

Speaking of Bosses of Team Rocket, Giovanni is back in this game. He’ll appear during a special event to do with Celebi, and you’ll get to battle him as well. No idea’s how to activate this event… probably by using a download item like Darkrai and Shaymin in Platinum

Remember those Kimono Girls who all have Eeveelution Pokémon? Remember they’d have an important part in the story? Well one of the things they’ll do is let you be able to find both Ho-Oh and Lugia… which you can’t do until you battle and beat them all. Depending on which version you get, depends on the level of those Pokémon. On Heart Gold, Ho-oh will be level 45, same level as Lugia on Soul Silver. The other legendary will be level 70

Speaking of legendaries, here’s a quick rundown of all the ones in the game: Entei and Raikou roam around the world, while you have to follow Suicune to several places in both Johto and Kanto before being able to fight and catch it on route 25. All dogs are at level 40. Articuno is in the seafoam caves, Zapdos is outside the power plant and Moltres is in Silver Cave. All 3 birds are at level 50. Mewtwo is at level 70 hiding in Cerulean Cave. As described in the previous post, Heart Gold will allow you to get Kyogre while Soul Silver will let you get a Groudon in route 47 after getting the National Pokédex, getting a Kanto starter and picking up a coloured orb. Once you’ve caught one of them, trade to get the other one (must be from a HG/SS game) and show them to Oak, he’ll give you another orb that will let you catch Rayquaza from the same place. Latias and Latios both roam the lands at level 35 each.

After you beat your rival several times across both Johto and Kanto, he’ll end up training around the Dragon’s Den. Head up there and you could end up in a double battle with him against both Clair and Lance.

Any Pokémon you have will follow you. They use the one at the start of your party. If it’s a very large one and you enter a small area, it will re-enter its ball. Also if the Pokémon is shiny, it will be shiny in its over world sprite. While walking around, it does have a chance of picking up items like berries and accessories, like they did in Amity Square

After you’ve beaten Red, all of the gym leaders leave their gyms at certain times/days. If you go meet up with them, they’ll get added to your contact list and they’ll then call you for rematches.

And that’s it for the moment… and while that’s a lot of info and this post is MASSIVE already, here’s a side note. Remember Melee! Pokémon Scramble? Well it’s heading over to the US under the new name of Pokémon Rumble. No release date yet, but it shouldn’t be within the next month or two. Hopefully it will also be released in Europe before the end of the year

And that really is it… for now anyway. More when we have it.