Kaito Meagher

Earlier this week, four games for the Sega Genesis were added to the list of games available on the Nintendo Switch to buyers of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack bundle. One of these games is Pulseman, a game developed by Game Freak which originally released in Japan in July 1994, roughly one and a half years before the Japanese release of Pokémon Red & Green.

In Pokémon GO on November 5th, shortly after the conclusion of the Dratini Community Day Classic event, players began noticing Poké Stops around the world turning gold which, when spun, had a chance of revealing a mysterious coin (called the ?????? Coin in-game), followed by an unknown Pokémon tagging along the player like a Buddy Pokémon to help them search for more coins. The following day, a trailer was posted, revealing this Pokémon to be Gimmighoul, specifically its Roaming Form. At the same time, a page on the official Pokémon Scarlet and Violet website went live showing an empty treasure chest and a counter that was slowly counting up, which then redirect to a new page with further details on Gimmighoul once the counter hit 999.

Nintendo this week has published a major update to their Nintendo Switch firmware, version 14.0.0, that adds the ability to group the games on the owner's console into various folders. A feature of this kind had been highly requested since the console was first released back in 2017, and in fact had already been featured on past Nintendo systems, most notably the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

On March 30, 2021, The Pokémon Company announces a set of four books published by Pikachu Press known the "Pokémon Primers" series. The first two books in the series, Pokémon Primers: ABC Book and Pokémon Primers: 123 Book were launched upon the announcement, while two more books, Pokémon Primers: Shapes Book and Pokémon Primers: Colors Book are slated for release later this year. Features in the book include over 100 tabs per book for readers to lift up and enjoy, as well as a pronunciation guide for various Pokémon featured in the books.

Earlier this week, it was announced that a casual competition would be running in Pokémon Sword and Shield between 4:00 p.m. PST February 25, 2021 and 3:59 p.m. PST February 28, 2021, the Global Challenge Winter. The casual competition will allow trainers to battle with teams including one Legendary Pokémon out of a set of Legendaries not normally allowed in online competitions.

On September 29, 2020, the Official Pokémon YouTube channel premiered a video showcasing various new features coming in the Crown Tundra expansion of the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield games. As was announced earlier, the Crown Tundra, like its predecessor, the Isle of Armor, will be introducing 100 more Pokémon not in the original version into the game, including many Legendary Pokémon from previous installments (while some legendary Pokémon, such as Mewtwo, Reshiram, Zekrom, Solgaleo, and Lunala, were already coded into the game from the start, they needed to be transferred from past games in order to be available in Sword and Shield). Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres are even set to receive regional variants. At the Crown Tundra, the player will meet Peony, who will place them in charge of his team as his expedition chief. In a mode called Dynamax Adventures, the player can explore caves with teams of other players using rental Pokémon to encounter and catch Legendary Pokémon...

A new podcast published by The Pokémon Company International, titled "The Play! Pokémon Podcast", has launched. The Play! Pokémon weekly podcast will cover various details about the competitive Pokémon scene, such as the Trading Card Game, Pokémon Sword and Shield, and Pokkén Tournament DX. It is hosted by Jay Blake and features contributions from various competitive Pokémon experts. The first episode of the podcast features Kay Dyson, Jeremy Jallen, and Brendan Hansen as guests. Dyson and Jallen discuss various stats of Pokémon and decks, respectively, throughout the first three weeks of the Pokémon Players Cup for VCG and TCG. Following this, Hansen discusses some of the players who qualified for the finals in the Pokkén Tournament DX tournament. Each episode also ends with a question of the week that Blake asks the other guests of the show. The first episode has him asking the others which Pokémon would work for them if they were the owner of a cafe or restaurant in the...