Additional Highlights from the Pokémon Presents Event

You know, there’s just too much going on with Pikachu lately—or maybe it’s just me being overwhelmed. I don’t know. But here’s what popped up. In some Pokemon Presents event—seriously, they have so many of these—I found out there’s a whole new game called “Pokemon Friends.” Guess what? It leaked on the iOS App Store before they even announced it officially. Classic, right? Supposedly, it’s also coming to Switch and Android. So, you basically have to piece together Pokemon plushies by solving puzzles. And, shocker, they sell extra puzzles—because, obviously, microtransactions are everywhere. Anyway, you can snag it for like ten bucks.

Oh, and did you hear about the Pokemon World Championships in 2025? Yeah, me neither until now. They’re doing the big finale at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Never been there, but I hear it’s where the Anaheim Ducks usually slide around.

Switching gears, Netflix is rolling out season two of Pokemon Concierge on September 4. What’s more intriguing is Aardman—you know, the geniuses behind Wallace & Gromit—are cooking up a series called “Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu.” But hold your horses, it’s only hitting screens in 2027.

Then there’s PokePark Kanto opening in Tokyo in early 2026. Sounds like a blast, right? Probably just in time to celebrate 30 years of this Pokemon craze. Meanwhile, Pokemon Masters EX is getting an update with Carmine from the Scarlet and Violet expansions come July 30. Oh, and Pokemon Cafe Remix is throwing an ocean-themed bash, complete with Lapras and Totodile. I think Lapras might be my spirit animal.

Out of the blue, I stumbled upon this bit: Latias is joining Pokemon Unite on August 8. Plus, there’s some wacky “Electrode Volleyball” mode happening now. Could be fun—or just plain weird.

For you trading card fanatics, some new Mega Evolution cards are out there, but brace yourself—they’re already sold out. Go figure. And there’s this whole raid battle deal in Scarlet and Violet starting tomorrow. You’ve got to take down these “Treasures of Ruin” legends a million times. Yes, a million. What even is that number? Anyway, if you manage it, everyone gets shiny versions.

Finally, something called Pokemon Champions is making waves with its rental feature, where you can borrow Pokemon. Sounds a bit like my life strategy—just rent, never own. They’re also letting you tweak a Pokemon’s stats directly, which sounds kinda neat if you’re into that meticulous stuff.

Okay, I probably missed something—but can you blame me? Pokemon is like a bottomless pit at this point.