Dec 21, 2019Quick Bits
If you didn’t get to see Pokémon The Movie: The Power of Us following its release last year, you’ll be pleased to know that the adventure anime will land on Netflix on New Year’s Day 2020.
The Pokémon Company made the following announcement:
Ash and Pikachu’s 21st big-screen adventure, Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us, will be available to stream on Netflix starting January 1, 2020.
The film follows Ash and Pikachu as they travel to Fula City for its yearly Wind Festival. The Wind Festival celebrates the legendary Pokémon Lugia who brings the wind that powers the seaside city.
In Fula City, Ash meets five residents who come together to save the day after multiple threats endanger the Wind Festival and Fula City. The five residents include a young athlete, a compulsive liar, a shy researcher, a bitter old woman, and a little girl with a secret.
Mythical Pokémon Zeraora also makes an appearance in the movie.
Dec 20, 2019Quick Bits
Temtem, which is certainly inspired by Pokemon and other creature collection franchises, takes place in the aesthetic Airborne Archipelago and is described by Crema as “a massively multiplayer creature-collection adventure”. Alongside your Temtem squad, you can catch and collect Temtems, battle rival tamers, customize your house, join in on a friend’s adventure and explore a dynamic online world.
Having just announced that the game will be available in early access, the publishers have now released a video showing what the starter monsters look like. For those new the genre, the starter monsters are usually the creatures that you get to pick from at the start of the game, without having to do anything to earn them.
Like many games before it, Temtem offers the option of three different starter monsters. In the video, you get a decent description of the creatures. The overview includes types, abilities, strengths and weakness; pretty much everything you need to know to make your decision before jumping into the game.
Temtem is scheduled to release on January 21st, 2020. For more information on the game, you can Check out the steam page. Be sure to wishlist while you are there. From more awesome games like Temtem, check out my coverage of Pokemon Sword & Shield.
Dec 7, 2019Feature
If you haven’t completed you holiday shopping yet, or would just like to get yourself something nice, I’ve got you covered here! If you’re an animal-lover and a gamer, below are cute gift ideas for both actual games and video game related merchandise. I’ve even separated the categories as follows: cats, dogs, foxes, fish, and birds!
Aside from the obvious games like Planet Zoo, there are many other indie games with a strong focus on said animals or where you get to be them as playable characters! I recommended my favorite things that you can purchase right now, along with other upcoming games you may want to keep an eye out for future gifts! Every game has animals but offers something vastly different from one to the other.
There’s just something about these furry feline friends that is so adorable! Below are some games where you can breed them, grow them (yes like plants), ride them (giant cats), and love them!
Developed and published by Falcon Entertainment for PC, Mac and Linux (Steam here) on December 1st of 2017, the game has garnered very ‘paws-itive’ feedback since its release. Through the eyes of a cat, Cattails allows players to hunt for food, interact with other cats, gather herbs, and explore an expansive world. It’s also available now on the Nintendo Switch here for only $19.99.
This is the main hero from Cat Quest! A Dragonblood descending from a long line of dragon slayers, this yellow warrior must summon his pawsome power to defeat Drakoth and save his sister! The Cat Quest plush, officially licensed from Gentle Bros., is 10 inches tall and made with high quality soft minky. Buy it here for $24.99 and also receive a shiny pin!
The following games are in the images below: Peace Island, Snacko, Mineko, Calico, Catadel.
Dogs are indeed lovable and loyal which makes them the perfect companion in games. Below are some games that allow you to cook with them (be them, not eat them), take photos of them, and make sure they get rescued and/or adopted!
Food Truck Pup: Cooking Chef is a cute mobile cooking and management game by Game Start. Prepare crepes in the cooking game and design your shop with furniture you like. You can dress up the adorable pixel dogs, too. There’s a Shiba Inu, a retriever, a beagle, and more. The game is now available on iOS and Android for free although if this is a gift, you may want to purchase a gift card for those in-app purchases. Shop on Amazon for an App Store card here or a Google Play card here.
This officially licensed mug from Ghost Town Games sports an adorable pattern that includes beloved Overcooked pooch Kevin! It also happens to pair nicely with the other cooking game with dogs above which is something I cleverly thought of just for you! Buy it here for $15.99 by DesignByHumans.
The following games are in the images below: Pupperazzi, PHOGS, Best Friend Forever, To the Rescue, Old Friends Dog Sanctuary.
There’s a surprising amount of games with foxes in them, possibly because they are so majestic and make for a good character in a heartbreaking story. Below are some games that allow you to save the day or arcade with them, and wonder beautiful landscapes.
Super Lucky’s Tale is a charming 3D adventure and platforming game featuring a rambunctious little fox. It is currently available on Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch, and PC. You are set on a journey to help your sister protect the Book of Ages, a great book that contains entire worlds. The gameplay has been compared to that of Super Mario 64, and has delightful graphics that make the whimsical plot that much more fun.
This iconic Star Fox logo probably needs no introduction. It is printed in red on the front of this cool white and 100% Cotton officially licensed T-Shirt. Sizes range from Small to 2XL and is currently on sale from $18.32-$19.92 on Hot Topic here.
The following games are in the images below: TUNIC, Button City, Endling, Me: A Tale of Paws & Leaves, Spirit of the North.
Well maybe I’m not talking about one particular species or type of fish, but some of you may enjoy owning a fish tank or go scuba-diving. There are many wonderful creatures to behold in the depths of an ocean whether you want to fish for them or preserve them. Below are some games for the fisherman to the explorer or conservationist!
Megaquarium is a management tycoon game created by Twice Circled and Auroch Digital. Become an expert in aquatic life and run your very own theme park by managing tanks and staff all while keeping your fish and guests happy! Megaquarium was previously released on Steam in 2018 with very positive reviews. Now, Megaquarium is available on the Nintendo Switch, the PS4, and Xbox One for approximately $25. You can even check out my review of the game here if you aren’t sold yet!
Get a 2-pack pin set of Magikarp and Gyarados from the official Pokemon Center! The sizes are 7 x 3.8 x 0.3 inches and the price is $12.99. If you’re not within the US, find out how you can get this beautiful pins shipped to your country here.
The following games are in the images below: Mythic Ocean, Reel Fishing, Flotsam, Trash Sailors, Jupiter & Mars.
Birds are cute, talkative, and can be downright silly which can brighten anyone’s day. Well except in the case of a particular goose that is. Below are some games all about singing, training, and performing or watching all sorts of activities as birds!
This stealth game with a simple premise and slapstick humor created by House House, has recently become an internet sensation, memes and all. Thanks to the developers, I was able to play and highly recommend buying a copy on the Nintendo Switch, see review here, but you can also purchase the game on the Epic Games Store here for a steal!
These officially licensed Untitled Goose Game socks, made in the USA and of 100% cotton, can be purchased on the developer’s website here for $20. Description is as follows: ” Soft, warm socks with eyes, these foot-protectors have a secret double life: they’re also stunningly lifelike hand puppets! Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Hands or feet: it’s your choice!”
The following games are in the images below: Songbird Symphony, Toripon, Skatebird, KeyWe, Falcon Age.
Haven’t found anything you’re interested in yet? Check out my other article here for Nintendo Switch games, accessories, and more! You should probably take a look at the adorable kitty paw prints grips while you’re there.
Dec 3, 2019News
We haven’t even finished with the special event of increased chances to find Gigantamax Butterfree, Drednaw and Covirknight in Max Raid Battles until early January 2020 in Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. Now there’s another one! Starting tomorrow on December 4th, 2019, check out the Wild Area and the dens for a Gigantamax Snorlax, complete with a new look (giant berry tree on its tummy) and G-Max move called Replenish. This special move doesn’t merely deal damage to targets, it can also restore any Berries that Gigantamax Snorlax’s allies have eaten during the battle!
The Berry seeds and small rocks that were tangled in its belly fur have undergone explosive growth thanks to the power of Gigantamaxing. With a tree sprouting upon its belly, this gigantic form of Snorlax has the majesty of a great mountain.
Whether because of the great weight of its stomach or its unchanged natural disposition, this Gigantamax Pokémon almost never moves. When the time comes to do battle, it lifts its upper body by just a tiny amount and attacks by flailing with its arms and legs. At first glance, you might think it’s not very serious about battling—but these actions pack a tremendous punch. In fact, Gigantamax Snorlax is said to be one of the strongest Dynamax Pokémon discovered.
To learn more about Max Raid Battles and online multiplayer, check out my article here, and to find a list of all Gigantamax Pokemon to date, go here. It’s exciting to wait and see what other new Galar Region Pokemon The Pokemon Company may release!
Nov 26, 2019Feature
The Wild Area and online options become accessible early on in Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. If you don’t like spoiling new 8th generation Pokemon or like to catch as many Pokemon on your own before trading, I recommend getting all of your badges in the main game to fully enjoy everything the online multiplayer feature has to offer. You must have all 7 Gym Badges (last one is the Dragon Badge) in order to find Gigantamax Pokemon in the Wild Area. I go into more details and which select few Pokemon have Gigantamax forms here. See below for more information about playing with other players and ongoing official competitions by Nintendo for rewards and bragging rights!
Link Battles are between you and other players online. If you only want to play with your friends specifically, you can set up a Link Code. A Link Code is a 4-digit password that your friends will have to input in order to join. This is set up this way because everything you do is broadcast live via Stamps (more on that later). Link Battles allow you to choose Single Battle for one-on-one battling and Double Battle where two players can send out 2 Pokemon at one time. Finally, there’s Multi Battle which is similar to a Double Battle but four players are involved and get to control one Pokemon each.
Link Trades are the way to go if you have a certain Pokemon in mind that you want to trade with a friend. You can also connect with someone randomly online and both come to an agreement for a trade. If there’s a Pokemon you know you don’t need anymore, Surprise Trades can be really fun! Select the Pokemon that you want traded and go about your business in-game until your Y-Comm alerts you that they found you someone and the trade is complete. As adorable as Skwovet is (the pudgy-cheeked squirrel), you’ll probably come across it often in Surprise Trades as it is the new Ratata. Other times you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what players send out there!
Go to your menu and click on VS (Victory Station) which displays stats such as whether Shield players or Sword players are winning in categories like “Hatched the most eggs” and “Cooked the most while camping” by comparing numbers with 100 players online. From there, you can select either Battle Stadium for various online competition options or Live Competition to host or participate in battles via LAN.
Nintendo just announced that Ranked Battle Season 1 is now under way until the end of December 2019. During this time, the rules listed will remain the same with restrictions to Pokemon that you can use. Another season will be starting on January 1st, 2020. For this time around, you’ll be entering in Double Battles, using only 4 Pokemon from your team, and all of your Pokemon will be at Lv. 50. At the end of the season, if you’ve competed in at least one match, you can get the following rewards from the Mystery Gift menu.
Battle Points, or BP, can be spent by talking to an NPC in the Pokemon Center in Hammerlocke in exchange for special items.
Going to your Y-Comm and changing your Local Communication to Internet will allow you to see what everyone online is currently up to by displaying Stamps at all times on the bottom left of your screen. This includes Link Trades, Surprise Trades, Link Battles, and Max Raid Battles. In your Y-Comm menu, it is possible to filter your Stamps if you are looking for specific battles to join or only want to see the Stamps of your friends. I usually set mine to Max Raid Battles and pay attention to the specific red ones as they are the “incredibly/massively strong Pokemon” ones. If someone else found a rare Gigantamax Pokemon, you can join in with a total of 4 players. You’ll want to act fast as this can fill up quickly.
If you find your own Gigantamax Pokemon, I recommend Inviting Others as it’s a very tough battle to fight alone or the three other NPCs given at random can be pretty terrible. You’ll come across a few Magikarp that will often faint and then come back after a few turns at full health, only to faint again.
In every Max Raid Battle, any Pokemon can faint up to 4 times before you lose and get kicked out of the den. You also lose if you go over 10 total turns. Therefore, either set up a Link Code for your friends, or wait the full 3 minutes to give players the chance to join. It is possible to have a mixture of players and NPCs if you can’t fill out all four slots.
Even if you have finished the main game of Pokemon Sword and Shield, there are still competitions to enter for rewards and your Pokemon to show-off. If you want to fill out your Pokedex, you’ll need to spend some time in the Wild Area, and to trade for version exclusive Pokemon. Hosting or joining others in Max Raid Battles and Dynamaxing Pokemon is also another fun way to share in the experience and to get the most out of your game.
Of course to do all that you’ll need a Nintendo Switch Online account. You can find the pricing plans here, however, I recommend getting an Amazon Prime account now as you get Twitch Prime and 12 months of Nintendo Switch Online at no extra cost. Find out more about that amazing limited time offer here.
Nov 15, 2019Feature
Pokemon Sword and Shield is finally here for the Nintendo Switch as of November 15th, 2019! For those of you that will only be choosing one of those games and aren’t quite sure yet which one to go for, I’ve made a list of exclusives to help! There will be different things in either Sword or Shield which are as follows: Gym Leaders, Exclusive Pokemon, Legendary Pokemon, and Gigantamax Pokemon with a higher rate of appearance in Max Raid Battles.
You probably already knew that you’d have some Pokemon to choose from if you’re only purchasing one of the two games. However, did you know that you also have two exclusive Gym Leaders to choose from in each game? Consider which type of Pokemon you would rather battle against!
Probably one of the toughest decisions is to decide between the two Galarian exclusives of first generation Pokemon; Galarian Ponyta (Shield) and Sirfetch’d (Sword). However, there are also many other Pokemon to consider that can only be found in one or the other!
There are always two different Legendary Pokemon to choose from in every Pokemon title and this one is no different. Zacian is a fairy-type and Zamazenta is a fighting-type!
According to Pokemon’s official website, from Friday, November 15th, 2019, until early January 2020, players will be more likely to encounter Gigantamax Butterfree in Max Raid Battles. Below are the confirmed Pokemon that are more likely to appear for both games during that same time period.
If you aren’t even sure about purchasing Pokemon Sword and Shield at all today, take another look at everything we know and have covered on these titles here!
Nov 3, 2019Feature
The 3DS is dead! We keep hearing this. Is it true? Well…sort of. It’s certain that new 3DS games are very thin on the ground these days. But even if the amount of NEW games coming to 3DS is scanty, the existing library is already ENORMOUS! And very high-quality, too. Just check out this list of adorable games you can try for FREE right this minute and see if you don’t agree! We highly recommend grabbing your 3DS and snatching these demos off the e-shop if you have not done so already.
Extra Epic Yarn is just the newest in the Kirby series. Including the Virtual Console games, there are 14 Kirby games to play on 3DS. As for demos, 3DS also has them for Kirby: Battle Royale and Kirby: Planet Robobot. This is a Nintendo first-party series, so we doubt we need to tell you what it’s about. This is action-adventure gaming in that adorable way that is so classically Nintendo!
Ever been interested in Monster Hunter, but thought it wasn’t really very, well…cute? Well Monster Hunter Stories is the answer to your problem! This cute spin-off from the main series is just what fans of happy, wholesome gaming would want. Collect monster eggs and hatch yourself some monster buddies, each with unique skills. You can even do some gene-mixing to create monsters with the best abilities. You’re going to need a good team to get through this game’s big world and the many side quests that branch off from the main story.
Cooking Mama is the mother of all cooking games. (Sorry, we had to say it!) And you can try Cooking Mama 5: Bon Appetit! for free any time you want, and see why games that came after it (like Waku Waku Sweets) have modelled themselves after this cute series. And if cooking is just not your thing, have a look at Gardening Mama 2: Forest Friends instead! It’s every bit as cute. Possibly even cuter if you’re more about cute critters and pretty flowers than strawberry-topped cupcakes. (Do we really HAVE to choose? Oh wait…NO, WE DON’T. Both of these games have demos!)
The 3DS has demos for both Style Savvy: Styling Star and Style Savvy: Fashion Forward. In our review of Style Savvy: Styling Star we show that it is a pretty good game itself! But if we compare the two, we give Fashion Forward the edge on it. You won’t just be dealing with designing clothing and dressing customers in these games. Giving someone a new style involves hair and make-up, too!
There are plenty of Pokemon games free to try on 3DS. Not just Sun/Moon, but also Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and spin-off Pokemon games Detective Pikachu and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity! Not sure you’d like a spin-off? Thanks to the wonderful invention of game demos, you can try these charming games for free whenever you please.
Even if you can’t draw, Art Academy instructional games help you produce surprisingly good work! If you love how cute Disney characters are and wish you could draw them yourself, Disney Art Academy is definitely the game for you.
Chibi-Robo!: Photo Finder is a very unique game. We’ve never played another quite like it. In it you are a tiny robot who is helping to make the opening of a new museum a success. You won’t just be cleaning up little messes and finding stamps, you will be collecting relics of the past. You buy pieces of film with silhouettes cut into them, and then search history (our real world!) for an object that matches it. Take a picture with your 3DS camera to match that silhouette as precisely as possible and Chibi-Robo can transport the object and put it on display in the museum!
This game is so unspeakably cute that it makes our teeth ache! It must just be that sweet. But we love it…oh my, yes. Ever Oasis is about defending the desert’s last oasis. You must turn this poor little puddle into a safe haven to house all of the creatures who have been unhomed by the malicious and fast-spreading Chaos. Explore and conquer dungeons and rescue other survivors and escapees. If you can entice them, they will move into your oasis and open their own shops or provide services such as farming for you or heading out into the desert to gather resources. Put those with the right skills into your party and no barrier will keep you back. Build your little oasis into a thriving bastion of health and happiness!
If you love your 3DS, check out our list of the 15 Most Wholesome 3DS Games!
Nov 2, 2019Quick Bits
An exciting new trailer for the upcoming Pokémon anime series has recently been released.
The trailer focuses on the series’s first episode, which is titled ‘The Birth of Pikachu’.
As the title suggests, the episode appears to explore how Pikachu met Ash, or to at least give an insight into the life of the mouse-like creature before meeting Ash.
The episode, which is flashback-like in style, features a lonely young Pichu. Given the episode’s title, we can only assume this is the Pikachu we all know and love.
The first episode is set in the Kanto region. It has already been confirmed, however, that the series will take place across all regions, including Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Galar region.
According to Serebeii.net, the first episode will air on November 15th. This coincides with the release date of Pokémon Sword and Shield.
[source: serebeii.net ]