Mimikyu to join UNITE on October 19th alongside this year's Halloween Festival event - Blaziken and Mewtwo's Pokébuki Style holowear now available

A range of information on upcoming events in Pokémon UNITE in October has been revealed via an update to the Japanese official website, including the release date of Mimikyu, who was first revealed as an upcoming playable Pokémon during the closing ceremony of the Pokémon World Championships in August, and the game's next in-game tournament. This week, Blaziken, who was revealed in that same announcement, has joined the fray as an All-Rounder, while Mewtwo has also received a new Pokébuki Style Holowear.

Mimikyu joins the fray October 19th
Mimikyu will join Pokémon UNITE on October 19th. While no further details have been explicitly revealed at this stage about how Mimikyu will play, the purple UNITE license and attacks shown in the initial preview video implies that Mimikyu will be an All-Rounder utilizing ranged physical attacks.

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First details on the 2023 Halloween Festival event
Pokémon UNITE's annual Halloween Festival event will return alongside the launch of Mimikyu on October 19th. Judging from the Japanese press release, this event appears to be largely unchanged from past years, with players competing in a special limited time quick battle mode, with Halloween-themed game mechanics tied to the event. These battles will once again be held in Mer Stadium, which gets a facelift for the event with a variety of Pokémon-themed pumpkin lanterns illuminating a special nighttime version of the arena.

In this mode, players normal Battle Items are instead replaced by a Pumpkin Toss, allowing them to turn opponents into giant pumpkins! Pokémon turned into pumpkins will drop all their Aeos energy, and will not be able to perform any of their normal auto-attacks or moves. Instead, the Pokémon will be limited to a Pumpkin Push attack, which knocks opposing Pokémon a large distance away. This can make turning your opponent into a pumpkin into a double-edged sword, as they could easily knock you away from scoring, or far enough away that you can't help out in a furious melee.

By completing battles in this mode, players will be able to earn Pumpkin Coins, a special currency that can be spent a capsule dispenser which hands out a variety of Halloween-themed cosmetic items. Pumpkin Coins can also be earned through daily login, and a variety of daily missions that require you to participate and win battles in Mer Stadium.

It is expected that a variety of new cosmetic items will be added to the game for this event, including avatar items, and a Halloween themed pose, sticker, background, and frame. A variety of new Halloween-themed Holowear should also be available, including the cape outfit for Mimikyu shown in the promotional screenshot.

Other events coming in October
UNITE Day weekend
October's Pokémon UNITE Day weekend will be held on October 7th and 8th.

In-game Tournament
Pokémon UNITE will be holding its next in-game tournament starting October 14th, at 3:00am (UTC), running through to October 15th, at 2:59pm (UTC). Registrations for this tournament will be open from October 6th, at 10:00pm (UTC), closing immediately before the tournament begins.

As with September's tournament, players can only participate in teams of 5. Battles will be held in the Theia Sky Ruins, under the following ruleset.

• Draft mode
• All Held Items fixed at Level 30
• No Boost Emblems

UNITE Club Membership Rewards for October
The Holowear of the Month for August's UNITE Club Membership will be a new Halloween Party Clefable Holowear. Other rewards from October's pass include, Aeos Gems, 7-Day Trial Licenses, 7-Day Trial Holowear, Portrait Frame and Chat Speech Bubble customizations, a 10% discount on purchases and the Hoopa Set avatar item. Players who pay for this premium membership will immediately receive the new Holowear and other rewards at the beginning of next month. More information about the UNITE Membership Club can be found on Pokémon's official support pages.

Pokébuki Style: Mewtwo now available
Pokébuki Style: Mewtwo is now available for purchase at Zirco Trading for 1,050 Aeos Gems. This new Holowear features special Audio/Visual FX for Movement. Players who purchase Pokébuki Style (X): Mewtwo will also receive Pokébuki Style (Y): Mewtwo as bonus, and vice-versa. This limited-time bonus will remain available until December 30th. Players who purchase Pokébuki Style: Mewtwo will not receive the counterpart as a bonus after this date.

Blaziken joins the fray
Blaziken has joined Pokémon UNITE this week as an All-Rounder Melee unit, with Expert difficulty. Blaziken is heavily focused on Offense and Mobility, with mediocre Endurance. Players start as Torchic, who evolves to Combusken at Lv. 5, then Blaziken at Lv. 7. Alongside its release, Blaziken has also received two new Holowear: Orange Unite Style: Blaziken and Purple Unite Style: Blaziken. These holowear, which have no special effects, are available in-game at the cost of 350 Aeos Gems each.

Blaziken ability Blaze places fire fragment marks on the opponent when hitting them with a basic attack or move. Enemies with five fragments will receive additional damage and restore the user's HP when hit. When Blaziken's HP is at half or lower, additional HP is restored.

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Blaziken will switch between Kick Style and Punch Style while in battle, with both styles featuring different moves. While in Kick Style, players can use Blaze Kick and Overheat, while in Punch Style, players can use Focus Blast and Fire Punch. The style currently in use also changes Blaziken's UNITE move. While in Punch Style, Blaziken's UNITE move is Spinning Flame Kick, which deals damage to nearby enemies and increases the user's attack for a short time; whereas in Kick Style, Blaziken's UNITE move is Spinning Flame Fist, which deals damage to nearby enemies while increases the user's speed for a short time. After using their UNITE move, Blaziken then switches to the other style.

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As of the time of writing, the community does not appear to have received the arrival of Blaziken particularly well, with continuing complaints about Mewtwo (Y) being unbalanced resulting in Blaziken having been somewhat neglected at launch.