Pokémon Presents 8-8-23 Thoughts.

Hey everyone- after much speculation, a new Pokémon Presents stream went out earlier today; presided over by Pokémon Company president and COO Takato Utsunomiya. As I continue work on my larger projects, here are my thoughts on the announcements shown off.

The presentation led off with an update about the World Championship in Yokohama, which will see the debut of a new animated project called “Path to the Peak.” The series will follow a young woman named Ava and her Oddish as they rise to the top of the competitive circuit in the trading card game. This looks interesting, and I’d like to hear more.

We also got more details on Detective Pikachu Returns, showcasing more gameplay and characters ahead of its release on October 6. In addition to Tim Goodman’s mother and younger sister getting shown onscreen after being mentioned in the first game, a new set of mysteries will lead him to finding his missing father Harry. As someone who enjoyed the first game and the 2019 live-action film, this will definitely be a day-one pickup for me.

The English dub of Pokémon Horizons has been reconfirmed to be “coming soon,” though official dates have yet to surface. The previous “2023 and beyond” date has potentially been impacted by the dual strikes currently in progress. I may have mixed feelings towards what I’ve seen so far, but I am still curious either way.

Now, onto some app updates. Alongside the upcoming Pokémon Go Festival, monsters from Paldea will be joining the game starting this September. The second anniversary of Pokémon UNITE is still underway, with bonuses that are currently live with the code “2NDANNIVERSARY” as shown. As the fourth anniversary of Pokémon Masters EX draws closer, fan-favorite character Nemona has joined the game in a new event. There’s also a Full Moon Event coming to the app Pokémon Sleep. Lastly, Pokémon Cafe Remix has a new event centered around the monster Tatsugiri, currently in progress.

We also finally have seen release of two vintage titles for people who have Nintendo Switch Online: Pokémon Stadium 2 on Nintendo 64 Online and Pokémon Trading Card Game on Game Boy Online. I love the former, and I am definitely interested in playing the latter.

There is also the OVA series Pokémon Paldean Winds coming September 6, which sees familiar faces from the bestselling Pokémon Scarlet and Violet join new students trying to make their way through the Pokémon Academy and the Great Treasure Hunt independent study program. I am actually more interested in this than the 2023 anime; to be completely honest.

While there is still no event for Captain Pikachu, we do have a Mew event that runs until September 18; accessed with the code “GETY0URMEW” as shown. On top of this, this event can be used in the upcoming Tera Raid against Mewtwo, which will run from September 1 to September 17.

To close things out, we finally have a release date for the first chapter of the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, with the Teal Mask set to release September 13. The Indigo Disk is slated for winter of this year. There is also a host of new details; with the story and characters of both chapters set to build on what the base game established. I will likely do another post ahead of release to address them further, but I am liking the variety of new and returning monsters for now. I am very intrigued to see how Ogerpon and Terapagos factor into each respective chapter. Two new monsters that stood out at me are Dipplin, a branch evolution of of Applin that resembles a candied apple (no word on whether the shiny is caramel-colored as of yet); and Archaludon, an evolved form of Duraludon that resembles aa mechanized bridge.

I look forward to sharing more information with you all as it becomes available; and I bid you all a good night. Take care.