Pokémon Black/White merchandise and new Pokémon

Wow news can pop up fast! Right now the latest news comes by way of Pokebeach who managed to snap some pictures of new Pokémon apparently shown in an advert before the first screening of the latest Pokémon movie.

Minezumi

Unnamed Pokémon

It seems like we’ve also got a confirmation for Koromori mentioned in a prior news post by way of a new trailer from Oha Suta. This lends extra credence to the scan and therefore it seems likely that the evolutions for the three new starters it also pictures are probably the real deal.

Koromori from Filb.de

Apparently a user on 2ch (the largest imageboard in Japan) has acquired some merchandise claiming to be new Pokémon too:

Possible new Pokémon

Another Japanese imageboard user has also claimed to have obtained a demo of Pokémon Black/White containing a few new Pokémon. Below is a screenshot supposedly taken from the demo.

Hataboo

As with anything when it comes to new Pokémon take this all with a grain of salt because everyone is scrambling to become the first to report news and in doing so it can be all too easy to accept news from unconfirmed sources.

One thing we can confirm is that there is some Pokémon Black/White themed DS merchandise on the way!

Pokémon Black/White earphones and DS carry cases.

Whether these make it to the west or if they remain solely in Japan we don’t know yet but we’ll let you know as soon as we know. Hit the jump for some more new Pokémon Black/White pictures.

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Featured Card: Uxie (Legends Awakened)

Regular visitors to the forums may or may not have noticed the Card of the Week feature in the TCG section. It has been renamed Featured Card, even though the change hasn’t been reflected in the forums yet. A complaint that I have gotten in the past was because I wasn’t reviewing a card every week, and I sometimes went months between articles. Another change is that it will be published on the front page here from now on instead of on the forums. My past articles will still be there, so check those out if you want to.

Anyway, the featured card this time is Uxie from Legends Awakened. As mentioned in my Claydol article, draw power will be scarce in the next format, and many say that Uxie will be more necessary than before. In this article, I’ll go over what makes Uxie one of the best cards in the game, and why it may see more play next format.

One of the complaints I got was the lack of scans in my articles. Starting today, that will change! This is the League promo version of the card, in case you didn’t know.

Analysis

HP: 70 is pretty good for a non-evolving Basic. It’s 10 out of range of Gengar’s (SF) Shadow Room, but unfortunately can be taken out by Machamp (SF), Garchomp C lv. X, as well as Raikou & Entei Legend in one shot.

Weakness: Psychic is a common Weakness, so be very careful.

Resistance: Nothing to talk about here…

Retreat: One is pretty good for a Basic, so pay it if you have to.

Set Up: Being able to draw up to seven cards can help you set up faster (hence the name of the Poke-Power). The only downsides to this are the fact that it can only be used when you play Uxie from your hand onto your Bench, and if you play against SP decks, Power Spray totally screws up this Poke-Power. There are ways to reuse this Poke-Power, which I’ll explain in the Combos section.

Psychic Restore: Being able to do 20 for one Energy of any type is pretty good. Being able to put Uxie on the bottom of your deck so you can reuse Set Up is even better. This is also one of the only damaging attacks in the current Modified format that can Knock Out a Gengar (Stormfront) without triggering Gengar’s Fainting Spell Poke-Power. Basically you place Uxie on the bottom of your deck, and since Uxie is no longer in play, Fainting Spell doesn’t have a target, therefore rendering it useless.

Combos

PlusPower, Expert Belt: These two cards add damage to attacks, and both have drawbacks. One way around these drawbacks is to attach these cards to Uxie, use Psychic Restore, and send these cards to the bottom of the deck with Uxie, therefore you can reuse these cards later.

Underground Expedition: With this card, you look at the bottom four cards of your deck, choose two to add to your hand and two to return to the bottom of your deck. Assuming that your opponent doesn’t make you shuffle your deck via Judge, you can grab your Psychic Restored Uxie and use it again.

Night Teleporter: Like with Claydol last time, using this and getting heads can get you Uxie, then you play Uxie down and get a fresh hand of seven. If you try this strategy against SP decks, watch out for Power Spray, as that card totally destroys the strategy.

Ratings

Modified (current): With Claydol in the format, Uxie isn’t as necessary in a majority of decks. It can still grab you cards you probably couldn’t have with Claydol otherwise. 7/10

Modified (after September 1st): Uxie will see much more play here, since Claydol will be gone. I expect Uxie to be run in threes in most decks with it’s Level X form as the fourth Uxie allowed. 9/10

Conclusion

Uxie can definitely help out in setting up your stategy. It will become much more useful in September, so if you have a League near you, there’s still a chance that you can get your hands on a set of four before they run out (not to mention that Leagues are a great way to practice with your deck, and maybe get some pointers).

Feel free to leave comments on this article. You can also request a card to be reviewed in this thread.

New Pokémon tentatively announced

A few days ago an image was leaked on a Japanese imageboard purporting to be from a developmental sheet for the Pokémon anime. What is interesting is that this image, while small and blurry, seems to show off 4 new Pokémon including evolutions for two of the starters.

As ‘new Pokémon’ scans always pop up during development of a new Pokémon generation this was not paid much heed until recently when the new girl from the character sheet appeared in silhouette form at the end of the trailer for the new Pokémon anime series, ‘Pocket Monsters Best Wishes’ which was shown after a trailer for the new movie in Japan after this week’s latest Pokémon anime episode.

This isn’t confirmed news by any means but the consistency of the girl lends it credence. Since the sheet is so small it’s hard to clearly see what the names of the new Pokémon are – the best guess given is that the Pokémon to the left of Jesse’s head is  コロモリ (Koromori). With such tiny text it’s really anyone’s guess until more information is revealed and we can say for sure whether this is real or not.

New Pokémon announced

It seems Pokémon Sunday offered more than just a firm Japanese release date but the rest seemed to pass us by unnoticed somehow. We’re here to fix this now because Pokémon Sunday also revealed some other important things: a couple of trailers, one of which reveals some new Pokémon! These videos are courtesy of Filb.de.

The first one shows some meager footage and isn’t especially exciting. The most notable revelation is the Japanese release date.

The second video however is much more exciting as it offers up footage of 8 new Pokémon!

As you can see, as well as new Pokémon the footage also reveals that Pokémon Black/White will have 3 on 3 battles! As for the new Pokémon, information for your dissemination below.

Moguryu (モグリュー) – A mole Pokémon by the look of things.

Doryuuzu (ドリュウズ) – The evolution of Moguryu

Desukan (デスカーン) – What looks to be a sarcophagus Pokémon.

Ononokusu (オノノクス) – A mantis-esque Pokémon. Definitely my favourite of the bunch.

Denchura (デンチュラ) – A tarantula Pokémon.

??? (???) – Then we have 3 new Pokémon we don’t know anything about. These were used to show off the new 3-on-3 battle feature but we didn’t get a look at their names unfortunately. What looks like a ghost type thing, a rock type thing and a…who knows what that thing on the end is supposed to be.

So what do you think of the new Pokémon? Join the discussion in the comments and on our forums!

Pokémon Black and White Officially Dated for Japan

Just a quick update. Pokémon Sunday this week revealed the Official Release date for Pokémon Black and Pokémon White will be the 18th September 2010.

The 5th Generation games will feature loads of new Pokémon including the legendaries Reshiram and Zekrom, and is set in the new Isshu region. They are being made for the Nintendo DS system, and is expected to have some addition features that will work on a Nintendo DSi system.

Pokémon Black and White are also expected to be released in the USA and Europe in Spring 2011.

More news when we learn about it

Jirachi to be made avalable over Wi-Fi

With the Winner’s Path pokewalker course Wi-Fi Event set to end Friday, the European versions of the HeartGold and SoulSilver microsite have revealed its next Wi-Fi event.

Starting on Saturday 26th June and running until Friday 16 July, a special Jirachi will be available to download on ALL DS versions (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HG and SS).

Like the Jirachi already given away in Japan, America and Australia via a physical event (and in Japan via Wi-Fi), this Jirachi will unlock a pokewalker course when transfered to (or downloaded on) HG or SS. The Night Sky’s Edge course features moon based pokemon, such as Clafairy.

The Jirachi will be at Level 5 and in a Cherish Ball. It will be holding a Classic Ribbon and a Liechi Berry. It will know the moves Wish, Confusion, Rest and Draco Meteor. It has the Original Trainer SMR2010 and the ID number 06260.

It is unknown if this will be available to US and Australian versions of the game as well as Wi-Fi, but based on previous Wi-Fi Events, it will be.

We’ll bring you more news when we learn it.

3rd Pokémon Ranger Game given English Name

It’s E3 week this week, and today Nintendo had their Keynote Speech. For those that dont know, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is one of the biggest shows in the Video Game industry, where everyone unvails thier new games, hardward and other suprises.

While it didn’t feature in the main show itself, Nintendo is showing off additional titles at the show to all those that attend, and have posted a list and previews of those games. One of those is the 3rd game in the Pokémon Ranger series. Translated as Tracks of Light in Japan, its now been renamed Guardian Signs for the English market. This will be based off the Symbols you can draw on the DS to call up various Pokémon to aid you. The Ukukele Pichu that joins you as your partner Pokémon keeps its name from its Japanese version. Pokémon Ranger Guardian Signs is set to be released in America before the end of the year.

Head to http://e3.nintendo.com/ds/game/?g=pokemon to see the preview video for the game, and check out the other Nintendo games coming out in the next 12 months, including the DS successor, the Nintendo 3DS!

More news when we learn about it.

Pokémon Sunday Non-Info and some more CoroCoro stuff

Just a quick update. Basically Pokémon Sunday this week didnt reveal any new information. In fact, all they’ve done is just tease all the new Pokémon we know about from this months CoroCoro magazine. There are 2 reasons why this has happened, one is because Pookémon Sunday is filmed a few weeks in advance and the second is because this months issue of CoroCoro magazine isnt officially due out until the 15th of this month. Hopefully we’ll have some video of the new Pokémon in action next month, but Pokémon Sunday will unlikely reveal any other new info.

As for CoroCoro, we’ve got a few pieces of additional infomation. Zorua and Zoroark are only available by thier respective events (the 13th movie Celebi for Zorua and one of the Shiny Legendary dogs for Zoroark). Interestingly, the Zorua and Zoroark are suppose to represent the Zorua and its Mother Zoroark from the 13th movie, Ruller of Illusions: Zoroark.

Zoroark will know Fury Swipes, Faint Attack, Scary Face, and Taunt when you catch it in Black and White, while Zorua will know Scratch, Leer, Pursuit, and Fake Tears. Zoroark can learn a new move called ‘Night Burst’ that will also lower the opponents accuracy. It is clamed to learn the move at a high level.

Aparently, Hihidaruma’s ability, Encourage, will boost the power of attacks, but will disable any secondary effect they have (which would be useful is they disable effects that would lower your own stats)

Acording to Pokebeach, Meguroko’s new ability, EarthquakeSpiral, should be translated as Overconfidence. While this makes more sense for a move that boosts attack power after it KO’s an opponent, most sites seem to be sticking to EarthquakeSpiral for now. However see the note at the bottom of this news artical for info on names.

Also according to Pokebeach, Zekrom’s Ability should be Teravoltage, not Terra Voltage. This makes more sense as teravolt is a unit of messurments for voltage, where as terra would more be for earth moves. Still again, see the note below for names.

One thing to note about names of new Pokemon, Abilities, Moves, Towns or anything introduced into Black and White, is that the name we have for it now is the Japanese name, and it is likely that it will be changed for the English version of the games. The only exception to this are Reshiram and Zekrom, as their names have been featured on Pokemon.com and Nintendo.co.uk – both English speaking sites. However every other name of a Pokémon, Move or Ability has the possibility of being renamed. However until it apears in English, all we have is the Japanese names to work with. As soon as we know English names for things, we’ll start posting them here.

That’s all for now, we’ll bring you more news when we know it!

June Issue of CoroCoro Magazine Reveals a LOT of new Pokémon

At the end of last month’s issue of CoroCoro Magazine, they teased that they would reveal 2 things, one how to get Zorua in Black and White, and 2 was they would reveal a new Pokémon – they lied… they revealed a whole load of new Pokémon.

First up, Chiramii, who is classed as the Chinchilla Pokémon. A Normal type, it’s 0.4 meters tall and weighs 5.8kg (that’s 1’4″ and 12.8lbs). It has the abilities Cute Charm and Technician. It will also know a new move, Sweet Slap, which will hit the opponent several times.

This strange pink blob is Munna, the Dream Eater Pokémon. As a Psychic Type, its 0.6 meters tall and weighs 23.3kg (that’s 2’00” and 51.4lbs). It has the abilities Forewarn and Syncronize. It also knows another new move, Telekinesis, which will hold the opponent floating in the air.

Number 3 on our list today is Giaru, the Gear Pokémon. A pure Steel Type, it will be 0.3m tall and 21.0kg in weight (or 1’00” and 46.2lbs). It will know either the Plus or Minus abilities. It will have yet another new move, Gear Saucer, where it will hit the foe several times with 2 gears.

This little guy is called Mamepato, the Baby Pidgeon Pokémon. It’s a Normal and Flying type and will be 0.3m tall and weighs 2.1kg (1’00” and 4.6lbs). It will have the Super Luck ability and a new ability called Pidgeon Breast, which will prevent defense from being lowered. No moves are known for Mamepato yet.

Hihidaruma is the Flaming Pokémon, and obviously a fire type. It will be 1.3m tall and weigh 92.9kg (4’03” and 204.8lbs). It will have a new ability called Encourage, which we currently do not know what it does. No moves are known for this Pokémon yet

Shimama is the Charged Pokémon. An Electric Type It’s 0.8m tall and weighs 29.8kg (2’07” and 65.7lbs). The abilities it could have are Lightning Rod and Motor Drive. A new move it will know will be Wild Volt, which does large damage, but will also hurt Shimama.

Lastly (so far) is Meguroko, The Desert Crocodile Pokémon. It will be a Ground and Dark type, standing at 0.7m tall and 15.2kg in weight (2’4″ and 33.5lbs). Its abilities are Intimidate and a new one, Earthquake Spiral, which will increase attack when the user KO’s an oppoent – useful for large battles.

We also now know the full stats for the legendary Pokémon, Reshiram and Zekrom. Reshiram is the White Yang Pokémon, will be a Dragon and Fire Type, will be 3.2m tall and 330kg (10’6″ and 727.5lbs) It has the Turbo Blaze ability. Zekrom is the Black Yin Pokémon, it is Dragon and Electric type as the recent rumours suggested, will be 2.9m tall and 345kg in weight (9’06” and 760.6lbs). It will have the Terra Voltage ability. We do not know yet what either ability does yet

In other revealed information:

This lady is Professor Araragi, the Pokémon Professor for the region of Isshu. In one of the screens, she has a Chiramii which she shows during the intro speach when you start a new game. We here at the Pika Club suggested that the 5th gen games should have a female professor back in August 2009, before Black and White were even known to be about. Ok, so she looks different, but we suggested a radical suggestion that the games are going in.

Black and White will feature a new item called C Gear which will have “various connection capabilities” – although nobody knows exactly what that means. Next to the screen that reveals this item, the magazine reads “What’s this screen!?… It looks like a new wireless feature was added!”

Speaking of new wireless features (we don’t know if that’s connected to the C Gear or not), there’s a new feature called Random Match in the Global Terminal which allows you to randomly battle anybody (it says from all over the country, though it also says that international players will join in spring 2011, so it will most likely be a world wide random matching). Speaking of Global Terminals, they are now found INSIDE the Pokémon Centers, they’re found upstairs where the old Union Rooms were, we do not know if the Union Rooms are still included or not as a result.

Lastly, Zorua. CoroCoro Magazine revealed last month that it would reveal how to get Zorua in Black and White and they’ve delivered. Zoroark is captured via Transfering the Shiny Legendary Dogs released for the 13th movie and Zorua is similar. By transfering the Celebi given away for the 13th movie, you’ll be able to catch a level 10 Zorua. This is the same Celebi which unlocks an event in HG/SS that will have you battling the old Team Rocket Boss, Giovanni.

Wow – that was a LOT of info, and there could still be more out soon. Pokémon Sunday is set to air Sunday Morning in Japan (so saturday night over here) and they’re expected to revail something new, and CoroCoro isnt officially out yet, so there could still be info, screens or video still to come.

Check out after the Jump for FULL scans of the CoroCoro Screens, which includs more pictures including an arial picture of the Isshu area (with a heavily dense Hiun at the south of the center area)

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Next TCG Expansion: HS-Undaunted!

The following press release reveals the there will be 90 cards in the set (not including secret cards like Alph Lithograph, etc.). It also reveals a major change to theme decks: now they come with a booster pack and a deck box.

Prereleases for this set should be held the weekends of August 7th, 14th, and 21st (due to Worlds being held on the weekend of the 14th, also the 21st is unconfirmed at this point)

No Challenge Too Great, No Battle Too Fierce: HS – Undaunted

The greatest Trainers are those who are fearless in the face of battle. And that’s you! In the Pokémon TCG: HS – Undaunted expansion, you’ll discover battle-ready Pokémon just waiting to be summoned by the fearless Trainer in you! The powerful Rayquaza and Deoxys become a Pokémon LEGEND to be reckoned with… six Pokémon – from Raichu to Umbreon to Slowking – join the ranks of Pokémon Prime… and Stadium cards like the Ruins of Alph and Trainer cards like Legend Box change every player’s strategy. Are you ready to be Undaunted? HS – Undaunted features 90 new cards and remains compatible with previous releases.

* Exciting new Pokémon LEGENDs – Kyogre and Groudon LEGEND and Rayquaza and Deoxys LEGEND!
* Six Pokémon Prime, including Raichu, Slowking, and Umbreon.
* Brand-new Trainer, Supporter, and Stadium cards with new gameplay strategies!
* Features two theme decks built around the Sun Pokémon Espeon (Daybreak) and the Moonlight Pokémon Umbreon (Nightfall).
* Each theme deck now contains a BONUS booster pack and a deck box for storing the deck!
* Holographic parallel set for players and collectors alike.
* 90 cards in all!