Games

Pokémon Masters EX's 4.5 year Anniversary celebrations have now formally concluded, but that hasn't stopped the flood of returning classic events, with 2021's Bugsy & Scyther Sync Pair-Up Event making a special return to the game until April 5th, at 10:59pm (PDT). This is the first time the event has been re-run since its original run from July 22nd through August 5th, 2021. The developers have also released a small announcement regarding the game's next High Score Event, scheduled for May.

Continuing on from the recent launch of the new The Power of Dance Costume Event, Dahlia & Ludicolo are making their debut in Pokémon Masters EX today in a new Poké Fair Scout. A minor bug relating to incorrect Battle Rally Details has also been resolved, with players set to receive some in-game compensation for this error.

Continuing on from the return of Lamenting a Millennium earlier this week, the second Villain Event from the Galar Chapter, Hear the Cheers!, is making its own return to Pokémon Masters EX until April 1st, at 10:59pm (PDT). This is the first time the event has been re-run.

After launching in July last year with the Galar Chapter of the Villain Arc, the Lamenting a Millennium Villain Event is making a return today to Pokémon Masters EX. This is the first time the event has been re-run. Two fair-exclusive sync pairs who featured in this Villain Event will also be making their return in a special Double Feature Poké Fair Scout. Both the event and scout will run through to April 1st, at 10:59pm (PDT).

iateyourpie returned on Monday March 18th, 2024 with the latest incarnation of his Ironmon challenge run series, with his first stream of Super Kaizo Ironmon peaking at over 5000 viewers. Ironmon has been a popular challenge run for streamers since its conception in 2020, particularly the Kaizo ruleset. It can be described as a cross between a randomizer and a permadeath challenge, wherein Pokémon that have fainted can no longer be used, with many additional rules and restrictions tacked on to make it even more difficult for the sake of difficulty and entertainment to stream viewers. Ironmon challenges are not related to the Nuzlocke challenge.

This week, the Pokémon Trading Card Game Live will be receiving an update to Version 1.12.0 ahead of the release of Scarlet & Violet— Temporal Forces and the 2024 Standard Format rotation. This update will resolve a large quantity of issues impacting on both gameplay, and general app stability both in and out of matches. As usual, the update will be preceded by an 8 hour long maintenance window, which is scheduled to start at 8:00am (PDT) / 3:00pm (UTC) on March 19th.

Pokémon Sleep will enter a maintenance period this week on Thursday March 21st, ahead of a planned update of the software to Version 1.4.0. This maintenance period is expected to last for roughly 4 and a half hours, from 1:00am until 5:30am (UTC). This update is primarily intended to prepare the game for the Raikou Research event starting on March 25th, but also makes a small number of quality of life changes for the game.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are giving players more opportunities to catch certain Version-Exclusive Pokémon this coming weekend, with the Paradox Pokémon Brute Bonnet and Iron Hands making their first appearance in a 5-star Tera Raid Battle event in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. These raids will be available starting Friday March 22nd at midnight (UTC), and will run through until Sunday March 24th at 11:59pm (UTC).

Continuing on from the recent launch of the new The Power of Dance Costume Event, Tierno & Crawdaunt are making their debut in Pokémon Masters EX today in a new set of Spotlight Scouts.

2022's Raise Tyrogue! Egg event is returning to Pokémon Masters EX today, alongside a set of Costume Scouts featuring the debut of Irida (Special Costume) & Zoroark.

A limited-time distribution of a Sprigatito has been announced for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. This Pokémon is based off of Liko's Sprigatito from Pokémon Horizons: The Series, which recently made its US debut on Netflix. This distribution will remain available until September 30th, at 11:59pm (UTC) / 4:59pm (PDT).

Pokémon UNITE has released a new version, now available for all players to download. This version implements several balance changes to various Pokémon in the game. As announced in February by the official Pokémon UNITE X (formerly Twitter) account, Miraidon has joined the fray, and along with it, draft picks and new events have also been added.

In Celebration of World Sleep Day on March 15th, a special gift is now being distributed in-game in Pokémon Sleep to all Sleep Researchers. This gift can be redeemed by anyone who logs in to the game before March 31st, at 6:59pm (UTC).

Continuing the month of 4.5 Year Anniversary celebrations in Pokémon Masters EX, the first of two new Costume Sync Pairs are making their debut today alongside the brand new The Power of Dance Costume Event.

Registration for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet's 2024 Global Challenge III Online Competition will open next week on March 21st at Midnight (UTC). Registration will remain open until the end of the month, with the competition itself scheduled to run from March 29th, at Midnight (UTC) through to March 31st, at 11:59pm (UTC).

The special distribution of Pawmot which was announced for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet late last week has now commenced. This Pawmot, which is based on Nemona's Pawmot as seen in the music video of the YOASOBI song Biri-Biri, is being released to celebrate the song's physical CD & LP release in Japan. This distribution will remain available to redeem until February 28th next year.

Multithon 2024 is being held this week from March 14th to March 17th, with an additional preshow on the 13th. This year's marathon, which is raising money for BluePath Service Dogs, will feature both Pokémon Red and Pokémon Emerald, alongside Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX in a multiworld format using Archipelago. The event's stream will be active on the Multithon Twitch channel from 9:00am (PDT) to around 12:30am (PDT) each day if the event.

2023's Solve the Case! Costume event continues with the return of Part 2 of the event today in Pokémon Masters EX.

Niantic has announced that the annual Pokémon GO Fest will be returning once more this year with 3 separate on-site events, as well as a global event. The three on-site events will be held in Sendai, Japan from May 30th to June 2nd; Madrid, Spain from June 14th to 16th; and New York City in the United States from July 5th to 7th. The global event meanwhile will be held on July 13th and 14th. This year's edition of the Pokémon GO Fest will see the debut of the Mythical Pokémon Marshadow.

2023's Solve the Case! Costume event is returning to Pokémon Masters EX today, alongside a set of Costume Scouts featuring Costume Sync Pairs who originally made their debut in Parts 1 and 2 of the Solve the Case! event. Also launching today is the game's latest Ultimate Battle challenge, Ultimate Battle: Palmer's Rumbling Might.