Pokemon Go: Where Are You Going?

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Pokemon Go is slowly unveiling new Pokemon, beginning with the babies of Gen 2. Yes, those tiny cuties you couldn’t stop fawning over are now in Pokemon Go. The baby Pokemon will hatch from eggs found at various Pokestops. The following are new baby Pokemon featured in Pokemon Go:

Igglybuff and Cleffa hatch from 2k eggs
Pichu and Togepi (which can evolve into Togetic after 50 candies) hatch from 5k eggs

Magby, Elekid, and Smoochum hatch from 10k eggs

Also floating around in Pokemon Go is an exclusive Pikachu all dolled up for the holiday season with a Santa hat. When the holiday Pikachu evolves into Raichu, the hat stays on.

This new update was ushered in this past week along with Niantic partnering with Sprint and Starbucks. Those two locations in particular are now Pokestops across the nation and beyond.

Players, however, are disappointed with this feature of only Gen 2 baby Pokemon (excluding Tyrogue). They were hoping for something on a larger scale like the release of Gen 1 legendarys and/or all of Gen 2 Pokemon. Personally, I believed we were getting those traits as well: dataminers managed to locate codes for Mewtwo and Mew within the game. So why aren’t they being released? Why aren’t the rest of Gen 2 being released?

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it feel free to share, comment, critic, and subscribe.

So tell me, what baby Pokemon do you want?

A Very Pokemon Go Halloween

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Halloween, possibly one of the best times of the year is this Monday. Everyone is getting into the spirit with decorations, pumpkin carvings, and throwing parties. Even Pokemon Go is getting into the swinging wake of the season by introducing a special Halloween event.

Running from 10/26/16 – 11/1/16, Drowzee, Hypno, Cubone, Marowak, Meowth, Gastly, Haunter, Zubat, Golbat, and Gengar will appear more often than usual as spooks of the season. Trainers’ Buddy Pokemon will double the candies, while catching Pokemon will grant trainers six candies, and transferring Pokemon will give trainers two candies as well as hatching and evolving them.

This is a great way for trainers to build up their teams and celebrate Halloween. It’s also great for trick or treaters who are not only receiving candy in real life, but in Pokemon Go as well.

Speaking of Pokémon Go, on 10/23/16 the game received an update. This update consists of different colored eggs to determine the mileage needed to hatch them. Green is for 2 km, yellow is for 5 km, and purple is for 10 km.  A low battery indicator has also been added to the game as well as type icons for Pokemon’s information screens.

Thanks for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, comment, and critique.

So tell me, will you be catching Pokemon this Halloween?

Pokemon Sun and Moon: Coro Coro News

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

I swear one of these days this blog is going to turn into a Pokemon blog. Regardless, we have new information regarding Pokemon Sun and Moon. We are now starting to see the game’s effects of what appears in Sun vs Moon based on today’s Coro Coro leak. Coro Coro is a certified magazine that often preaches Pokemon news.

Pokemon Sun features:

       -An UB-02: Expansion encounter with Tapku Koko. This Ultra Beast looks like no one we have seen thus far. It’s named ‘Expansion’ for the expanding weapon it uses in combat and is exclusive to Sun 

       -The evolution of Rockruff: Lugarugan. Lugarugan’s Sun form only appears in this version

       -The trainer faces off with Gumshoos, a Totem Pokemon.

Pokemon Moon features:

       -An UB-02: Beauty encounter. This Ultra Beast looks incredibly like Lusamine even down to her pose. Is anyone seeing a pattern here?

       -Lugarugan’s Midnight form which appears only in this version. It looks more like a werewolf which does reflect upon the Chinese hack months ago that foretold of a ‘werewolf Pokemon’. Whoever the hacker was received correct information. Now here’s hoping we obtain those amazing possible final evolutions of the starters. 

       -The trainer fights Alolan Raticate, a Totem Pokemon.
 

We’ve also learned that UB-01’s name will have a deeper meaning and that in the next issue, Type: Null’s power will fully be revealed.

In more relation to Pokemon news, Pokemon Go’s Pokemon Go Plus will finally be available at $35 on September 16^th, 2016. This device will help you catch Pokemon and collect items without having to look at your phone. Pokemon Go will come to the Apple Watch later this year. On the Apple Watch you can receive notifications about Pokemon, but you will have to catch said Pokemon on the IPhone.

Pokemon Go may also be intertwined with Pokemon Sun and Moon based on a picture Coro Coro revealed.

serebii.net

From what the picture exposes, we may be able to catch Alolan forms of Pokemon in  Pokemon Go. While this would eventually be a nifty feature, I personally would love to see us establish the other generations before encountering this new breed of Pokemon.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to comment, critique, share, and subscribe.

So tell me, what do you think the Ultra Beasts are?

Pokemon Go: Coming Full Circle

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Good God on a roller coaster, so much has happened in this past week.

For starters, Pokemon Go has launched in the USA and with it came glitches, strange locations, and some rather hilarious findings. Pokemon Go has motivated people to explore unknown areas, exercise, and befriend others who want to be the very best.

This game has caused the franchise to come full circle and it’s absolutely wonderful.

When Pokemon first appeared in my childhood, everyone befriended each other over these creatures. The playground was filled with children trading cards, kids battling or trading over the cable link, and others gushing about how Mewtwo was better than Mew based on the first movie. I was one of those children; my first holographic card was a Mewtwo and my first card ever was a Ponyta given to me by a dear friend who moved away. I chose Squirtle because I loved the Water type, clung to streetlights’ glow for driving in the dark and past my bedtime, and hated Lance’s Dragonites terribly. The graphics didn’t matter to me as long as my Blastoise won the battles.

My childhood gave way to my teen years where my love for Pokemon waivered. I was an adolescent “too old” for Pokemon, but still had the guilty pleasure of whipping out the DS and training my Totodile to be a mighty Feraligator. The very few geeks I knew still clung to this game and we fought over a strange new feature called wireless combat. The cable links were tossed into the basement, no longer needed and the cards were stored away in the attic. The last card I ever collected was a promotional card of Entei from “Pokemon: Secret of the Unown”.

For the longest time I stayed away from Pokemon, keeping true to my attitude of being “too old” for the franchise. When I entered college my mind was absolutely blown at people my age (18 (if not older)) playing a game that was originally designed for children. I was unsure of how to respond to this, but I knew that I couldn’t keep away from the nostalgic franchise. I started to bring my DS more and learned about IV/EV teams and crafted my dream team that would have made my younger self awe at its power.

I’m now an adult. I have XY, Pokemon Go, and ORAS and plan on purchasing Pokemon Moon when it releases. On those games I have more shinys than my younger self could have ever dreamed of, a wonderful team, and the fantastic ability to play with Pokemon as those they were pets in real life. I treat them well and in turn, they help me bring my opponents ‘ HP to 0.

Other adults like me were introduced to Pokemon at a young age and I’m sure the majority of them have Pokemon Go. Because of this app, they can explore the world they never knew and make friends along the way. Some people have eliminated their depression, anxiety, or even learned to cope with their lives because of this app. It’s such a simple, wondrous thing that’s helping so many while broadening the virtual/augmented reality world.

Thank you, Pokemon for coming full circle from my childhood into my current adulthood and exposing me to this world we live in, the friendships I’ve culminated with people and Pokemon alike, and for crafting me into the woman I am today.

Thanks for reading tonight’s entry. Feel free to comment, critique, share, and subscribe.

So tell me, what do you think of Pokemon Go?

Pokemon a Go-Go

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

This week the registry for Pokemon Go Field Test in North America launched.  You can still sign up for it; in doing so, you’ll be testing out Pokemon Go before it is finalized for the public.

So, what do we have so far in regard to Pokemon Go?

Your phone (or the Pokemon Go Plus wristband (not yet available) which will need to be near your phone) will vibrate when a Pokemon is near. Simply toss a Pokeball and the Pokemon is yours – there is no battle. Pokemon battles against trainers appear to be crafted from quick time based events wherein you swipe left or right to attack and defend. This also applies to gym battles which are incredibly different than what we have seen through the years. Gym battles now consist of the player joining one of the three teams (Red, Blue, or Yellow). These teams compete with each other for the Gym’s Prestige aka ownership of the gym. Trainers leave one Pokemon at the gym to guard or fight for said prestige. When a team obtains control of a gym, they can use it to further their trainer levels through battles with the rival teams.

From how it sounds, gym battles aren’t a one and done deal as within the games: you fight the gym leader, you get the badge, next gym. Instead, it appears that the battles will never end not only for ownership of the gym, but for levelling up trainers as well.

Pokemon no longer need to level up either, but your trainer level does. It’s still uncertain as to how levelling up trainers will work, but all we know is that exploring the area and catching Pokemon are key notes in this process. My guess is that it’s determined based on how many steps you take.

Besides, you do find Pokemon eggs that hatch after walking for so long. Players can also encounter Pokeshops and items at art installations, historical locations, and monuments. However, you can also purchase in game items and extra items. Pokeballs weren’t included in this concept, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were especially if you’re nowhere near those sightings. Yet Pokemon Go will be a free to download game in spite of its in game purchases.

Pokemon can evolve in this, but not in the way you’d expect. Since leveling up Pokemon is out of the question, you now have to catch Pokemon of that type until it eventually evolves. Ex.: To evolve Tentacool into Tentcruel, I would need to catch x amount of water type Pokemon until it evolves. When the Pokemon will evolve, it’s not mentioned.

I’m a bit iffy when it comes to Pokemon Go because of its weird transition from the gameplay we’re so familiar with to the phone. We’re not receiving those heart pounding, tedious battles that paid off in the end, the gym battle system seems never ending and confusing, and leveling up/evolving seems strange.

At least we get trainer customization and the ability to catch Pokemon which are cool, but will these factors hold up in the game?

Thanks for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, comment, and critique.

So tell me, what are your thoughts about Pokemon Go?

Pokemon Go-ing Through Tests

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Yesterday, Nintendo announced that Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem would be receiving mobile gaming apps this Fall. The gaming company also declared that they would focus on a new Legend of Zelda game at this year’s E3 and that the NX, a gaming console, will be released March 2017.

All this news is fantastic, but where exactly does that leave Pokemon : Sun and Moon and Pokemon Go? We haven’t necessarily heard anything from them in a while, especially the former. Thankfully, we have some information regarding the latter.

Yesterday, test footage of Pokemon Go leaked from Australia. While nothing is set in stone, here’s what  I managed to discover:

·         They’re only using the original 150.

·         To evolve Pokemon, you have to collect ‘Evolution Shards’. From how it appears, there are four sections to an ‘Evolution Shard’. I’m honestly on the fence about this feature, because I feel it takes away the anticipation we have when waiting for a certain level for our Pokemon to evolve.

·         The camera plays a heavy role in this app. The camera allows you to see the Pokemon (which randomly appear), capture said Pokemon, and change the background from a pixelated green field to your actual surroundings. If you pass by something, it may appear on the app as an icon that you can click and receive items from. You can also receive items from Pokemon stores which haven’t been implemented into the game as of yet, but have been confirmed by game creators.

·         Capturing Pokemon is rather unique in this app. When a Pokemon appears it will have a colored circle around it – each Pokemon’s circle is different.  Touch the circle and your ball will be thrown, resulting in a hopefully successful catch. Touch outside the circle and the Pokemon will most likely not be caught.

·         As a trainer you level up by catching Pokemon, fighting, and bumping into circles that level you up automatically. 

·         The fighting system appears to be the same, however, Pokemon only have two moves. An example of this was Porygon only having Thunderbolt and Quick Attack.

·         You can also obtain Pokemon by receiving eggs. From how it appears, you can have more than one egg with you. These eggs hatch into Pokemon from the original 150.

·         The gym is something I’m still trying to wrap my head around. From what I understand, you enter a gym and proceed to join a team (Red, Blue, or Yellow) to fight the gym leader. You select a Pokemon to fight with. Once that Pokemon is fighting in the gym, it cannot be taken out until the match is won.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to subscribe, share, comment, and critique.

So tell me, what are your thoughts about Pokemon Go?

Pokemon Go: Gotta Go Global

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Pokemon Go has people everywhere more excited than an Electabuzz using Thunder Punch. Last night we received some incredible news about this up and coming game for our phones.

Pokemon Go will feature Pokemon Gyms that you can use to level up your Pokemon. Players are encouraged to take advantage of gyms whenever they encounter one because they will be a scarce commodity.  Gamers can also join with other teams to fight in the style of double or triple battles.

The Pokemon will be obtainable no sooner you leave your house. Within five minutes from your home you will encounter a Pokemon – it may not be a legendary, but it will be a Pokemon nonetheless. There will be a population of Pokemon living near every player. Pokemon will also be available in specific areas based on their typing. For example, Staryu may be found at a beach, Weedles may be found in a forest, and Pidoves may be found on statues. Legendary Pokemon will be much more difficult to find based on their status in the Pokemon world and location in our world. To catch em all, players are encouraged to trade with friends or travel extensively (though the prior option would be easier).

The Pokemon Go Plus (the watch like device that will be worn for this venture) will vibrate when a Pokemon is nearby. After entering a certain button sequence, the Pokemon will be captured and can later be viewed on the Pokemon Go app.

Pokemon Go will be played everywhere from the Alpines to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between. This venture will literally unite the world in Pokemon, friendships, combat, and a lifetime of memories to come. To be honest, I never thought I’d see anything like this in my life, but I am more than excited to embrace this new world of Pokemon.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to comment, critique, share, and subscribe.

So tell me, what gym leader would you like to fight?

Pokemon Go!

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Pokemon Go was announced for 2016 for the iPhone and Android devices. Pokemon Go is about as close as we’ll get to capturing Pokemon in real life. The app uses real life locations to help you capture wild Pokemon such as Pikachu, Snorlax, and many, many others. This app allows you to trade with others who have this app and battle them as well.

Since this is something incredibly massive to Pokemon fans, including myself, I’ve decided to list some of the things I would love to see from this app.

1.Event Pokemon

In the trailer, we witnessed Mewtwo fly about Times Square with a time limit so that everyone present could capture the Psychic beast. This appeared to be an Event only Pokemon, which is something that has happened in many Pokemon games from Red to ORAS. Personally, I’d love to see more Event Pokemon and Pokemon that release on the holidays or month of. For example, for October they could release a shiny Ghost or Psychic type (because if they’re making Pokemon real, chances are shinys will be real too). For December, they could release a shiny Ice type (preferably Delibird because it has the move Present and the colors of the Christmas season).

2.Event Items

Now automatically in the game we have Pokeballs to catch em all, but from how it appears we gain more balls the more we play. Yet there are special tools used to catch Pokemon or summon them. We see a Snorlax in the trailer and the only way for Snorlax to awaken is by the Pokeflute. This makes me wonder if there will be an Event Item distribution to receive the Pokeflute and use it to catch Snorlax. If Nintendo plans to include Pokemon from other generations, then there are some that need special items. Hoopa needs the Prison Bottle to change into its Hoopa Unbound form and obviously the Mega Stones exist to make other Pokemon like Gardevoir and Blastoise to Mega Evolve.

3.Pokemon Amie

When Pokemon X & Y were released, I immediately fell in love with Pokemon Amie. The ability to play with your Pokemon and in return, that Pokemon would show its loyalty and love for you in combat. It was a wondrous notion that stole my heart. To have this experience in the games was fantastic, but to have it in real life? That would be absolutely outstanding.

4. Implementing Other Tech

Let’s say you just got into a battle with a fellow trainer and they completely annihilate your team. By charging your phone (regardless if it’s fully charged or not (though I can imagine this game would drink a ton of battery juice due to its use of maps and location)), your team would regain their health. 

5.  Mega Evolution

Going off my point earlier with the use of special (possible Event) items, this would be a neat concept. The idea of Mega Evolution seemed Farfetch’d at first, but it’s evolved into something incredible. The thrill of activating your Pokemon’s Mega Stone to cause them to transform into an even more powerful, tremendous beast – it’s intense. Wouldn’t it be even more fantastic if we could replicate it on this new app?

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, comment, and critique.

So tell me, what do you want to see from Pokemon Go?