In lieu of the creation of their world famous Pokémon franchise, Nintendo is proudly celebrating Pokémon’s 20 Year Anniversary this year, with their trend #Celebrating20Years. Since its creation in 1996, the Pokémon series has been a large part of many childhoods, and has even carried over to their adult years.
An exciting beginning to the 20 year celebration was a commercial indicating the joyous occasion that was supposed to air during the Superbowl, but was released days in advance. The commercial was made to highlight the concept that training as hard as you can will take you where you want to go in life, which is an important message in the Pokémon franchise.
Along with the commercial surprise, the Nintendo Company has been giving different Pokémon that play key roles in specific games, such as: legendary and unobtainable Pokémon, away to players around the globe as a gift to every supporter and lover of the game series. The giveaways are monthly events that you can reference online at www.serebii.net, in order to see when an event in your country is happening, and who the special giveaway happens to be.
Even more so, the Nintendo Company’s long awaited Pokémon Go is scheduled to finally be coming out at some point this year. This new game will be different than usual ones by actually being an app on your mobile device. In this version, you can come across different types of Pokémon from every region, including legendaries, in your everyday life, i.e., when you are at the beach, walking on the streets, or even at a park while you are out with your dog. This new concept is very exciting and convenient for players who do not have access to a Nintendo 3DS, because they can actually play the game at their leisure.
A few other fun and exciting additions from the celebration are the revamped versions of the original Pokémon games: “Red Version,” “Blue Version,” “Yellow Version,” and “Green Version,” which is available in Japan only, sadly. These games are available for download in the Nintendo eShop off the Nintendo 3DS for players to obtain and enjoy the original moments of their childhoods. With these revamps, fans can relive the glory days of the original 151 Pokemon that they grew to know and love as they set off for their first Pokémon journey.
Two final parts of the celebration, that everyone should be excited for, that have been announced so far are the releases of the new Gen VII Pokemon games “Pokémon Sun” and “Pokémon Moon”. The games are rumored to be released during the holiday season, leaving many fans excited for a special holiday gift containing the newest installment of their childhood. With that being said, the games are still under development, meaning there is not much to be known about potential new starter Pokémon, or legendaries. As time goes by this year, more and more news will follow about the newest features the game will have to offer, hopefully including a new region, new starters and legendaries, as well as several new Pokemon to add to every trainer’s Pokédex.
The trend of #Celebrating20Years has fans from every corner of the globe on the edge of their seats as they wait to see what Nintendo will be throwing at them next for the continuing chapters of the Pokémon world. Until more news comes out, players are recommended to continue their journeys and train to be the very best like no one ever was.