Category: Nintendo Switch

  • A Nintendo Direct Happened Yesterday and It Was Just Okay

    A Nintendo Direct Happened Yesterday and It Was Just Okay

    A bunch of games were shown but let’s start with the number one game on my hit list: Splatoon 3. No release date other than “Summer 2022” but they did show a video showing the next version of Salmon Run: Next Wave. New boss salmonids were to be expected, but the biggest upgrade is the Egg Throw. Yes, you can now throw eggs a short distance to be picked up or caught by another player. You can even throw eggs into the egg basket! That’s huge! As sweet as that sounds, I just know the levels are going to be harder to account for new mechanic. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it though.

    And the rest of the Direct was just okay. There were a few things worth pointing out though so here we go in no particular order:

    Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp

    I miss the Advance Wars pixel art style. Maybe it’ll be an option in the game? One can only hope right? Anyway, rather than just upgrade the graphics, slap the two games into this one package, and call it a day, Nintendo gave it once over and then some. There’s voice acting now of all the generals, there’s a new campaign, new enemy bosses, local and online play, and a mapmaker. It’s quite an overhaul to bring the game current adding all of the features you’d expect of a game coming out this generation. Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp comes out on April 8.

    Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC Tracks

    Nintendo is working on bringing more tracks from all versions of the Mario Kart games into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The “Booster Course Pass” will have 6 waves consisting of 8 tracks each. That’s 48 courses in all with the goal of completing them by the end of 2023. The cost? $24.99 for the entire pack. You can pre-order it today with the first wave available on March 18th.

    I guess I should also mention that if you’re in the tiny minority of people who are a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscriber, then you can get it for free. Looking at that screenshot, it feels like Nintendo is desperately trying to add value to its Expansion Pack. The Expansion Pack more than doubles the cost of an annual subscription and since when does any “Expansion Pack” cost more than the base product?? Not worth it. If you have a regular sub just pay the 25 bucks and be done with it.

    Triangle Strategy

    I love me some pixel art and this game looks gorgeous. Very reminiscent of Octopath Traveler. I never ended up playing Octopath but this one I might try to carve out some time for. There’s a new demo out for allowing you play up to the end of Chapter 3. If you like what you see and end up buying it, your save data carries over.

    Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series

    I really enjoyed Klonoa on the Game Boy Advance and never really had the opportunity to play other games. But I’m kinda excited for this one. This game collects the first two Klonoa games in one package in Klonoa Reverie Series. This collection comes out on July 8.

    And The Rest…

    The Direct actually kicked off with Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes.

    No Man’s Sky is coming to Switch. Go see what all the fuss is about this summer.

    The next Mario fighting game disguised as a sports game is coming in the form of soccer in Mario Strikers Battle League. The game can be played 5v5 (up to 8 human players in 4v4 with one computer AI goalie) and will include items, tackles, special shots, and hyper strikes. It also includes a character customization feature. You can play 4v4 on one system. There’s also online play with club mode and a club can have up 20 players. That’s probably where the Battle League part of the title comes into play. I’m just guessing here. The game comes out on June 10.

    The tactical RPG games Front Mission 1st and 2nd are coming to Switch. I never played these games but I’m intrigued. Front Mission 1st comes out in the summer. No release window for 2nd.

    Disney Speedstorm looks like a Mario Kart rip off. I suppose it’s hard to make a fun combat racing game without being compared to Mario Kart. Honestly, they should have just licensed the characters and created content updates as paid DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe instead. This game comes out in the summer.

    Do things Luke could only dream of in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed starting on April 20.

    Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection will include two bonus short films that I assume is exclusive to the collection. This comes out on February 17. I should mention this game is made by Ubisoft.

    SD Gundam Battle Alliance will be released sometime in 2022.

    Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is out on April 7. Sorry this game looks like ass.

    Kirby and the Forgotten Land will be ready to swallow your car on March 25.

    MLB The Show 2022 comes out on April 5th and features cross-platform play.

    Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece for Cloud collects Kingdom Hearts 1.5/2.5, 2.8, and the Re-Mind DLC. You can also get each individual game in the eshop right now and they’re all on sale too!

    Portal and Portal 2 will be arriving on Switch in the Portal Companion Collection. Portal 2 will include local, online, and splitscreen multiplayer. No solid release date other than 2022.

    Live a Live is coming stateside. This is the first time it’s being released outside of Japan. You’ll be able to play it on July 22.

    Wii Sports is being resurrected as Nintendo Switch Sports. It includes Tennis, Bowling, and Chambara. It also includes new sports Soccer, Badminton, and Volleyball. There’s local and online play with random matchmaking. There’s a leg strap accessory, the same one used for Ring Fit Adventure, that can be used with a Soccer drill. An update will allow you to use it in the Soccer game. There’s an online beta play test happening from February 18-20. The full game comes out on April 29.

    There’s a new Taiko game coming out in 2022, Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival. It includes 76 songs out of the box including a Legend of Zelda theme song. Up to four players can play. There’s also an in-game subscription that will let you access over 500 songs at launch.

    There’s a paid DLC update for Cuphead called “The Delicious Last Course”. It includes a whole new island with new bosses and a third playable character, Ms. Chalice. You can start dying a lot again on June 30th.

    There a free update for Metroid Dread. The update includes “Dread Mode” which gives Samus 1hp. The update also swings the pendulum the other way and includes a “Rookie Mode” which increases recovery and maybe softens the enemies a bit? I don’t know. There’s a second update incoming in April where a Boss Rush mode will be added. Kinda feels like an indie title now.

    Nintendo Switch Online will be graced with not one but two Earthbound games: Earthbound for NES and Earthbound Beginnings (better known as Mother in Japan) for SNES. Both games are available now.

    Zombie Army 4: Dead War comes out on April 26.

    GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon is available now.

    Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yahiba- The Hinokami Chronicles comes out on June 10.

    The mobile game LEGO Brawls is headed to switch on June 2022.

    Two Point Campus will be released on May 17.

    Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was announced. Slated for a September 2022 release.

    You can check out all the trailers and the Direct stream on the Nintendo YouTube channel.

  • PokéMondays: Shiny Legendary Birds Coming To Pokémon Sword / Shield

    PokéMondays: Shiny Legendary Birds Coming To Pokémon Sword / Shield

    Okay, I fully intended to write up something on Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but to be honest, I haven’t even started yet. I always intend to get the screenshots I want when I start the game but it’s so fun I just end up playing it for a couple of hours and before I know it, it’s time for bed. It’s that good.

    Instead, I’d like to share with you that getting some shiny legendaries will be a piece of cake soon. Right now, if you have a copy of Pokémon Sword and/or Shield, you can register for the online competition. Trainers who compete will be awarded with a shiny legendary bird. There are three separate competitions you’ll need to participate in if you want all three:

    • For the February 2022 International Challenge, registration is open right now until February 17th. You’ll need to compete from February 18th through the 20th. Participants will receive Shiny Articuno (Galarian form).
    • For the March 2022 International Challenge, registration is open from February 24th until March 10th. You’ll need to compete from March 11th through the 13th. Participants will receive Shiny Zapdos (Galarian form).
    • For the April 2022 International Challenge, registration is open from March 31st until April 14th. You’ll need to compete from April 15th through April 17th. Participants will receive Shiny Moltres (Galarian form).

    Now some places are saying you only need to compete in one battle, but I swear I read somewhere that it was at least 3 battles, but I can’t find that source anymore. I’ll be doing 3 obviously cause I’m paranoid like that.

    To register for the competitions, follow these simple steps:

    1. Start your game, Pokémon Sword or Pokémon Shield.
    2. Open up the game menu and select VS option.
    3. Select the Battle Stadium.
    4. Select the Online Competitions.
    5. Search Official Competitions.

    One other thing you might need to do is register for a Pokémon Trainer Club account at Pokémon.com.

  • PokéMondays: I Preordered Pokémon Legends: Arceus Because I Am A Weakling

    PokéMondays: I Preordered Pokémon Legends: Arceus Because I Am A Weakling

    I had a moment of weakness and ended up pre-ordering Pokémon Legends: Arceus because of the stupid pre-order bonus that Amazon was offering. There are a variety of bonuses you can get with your pre-order from various vendors. The only other notable one was a set of three art cards from GameStop but the outfits won me over. I remember back in the day when I played X/Y, which were my first Pokémon games, you can buy different outfits and change into them which I thought was kind of dumb. It ended up being one of my favorite features for some odd reason. Same with Sword/Shield but not so much with Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl though. But Arceus has this nice art style that I’m digging so I had to get my outfit locked in.

    Amazon’s pre-order bonus for Pokémon Legends: Arceus

    I was totally not going to get this game until I was done with BD/SP, but I couldn’t help myself. This looks like a mix of Breath of the Wild and Pokémon. I might abandon BD/SP and start this one on day one because BD/SP is such a snooze fest.

  • PokéMondays: First Impressions of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

    PokéMondays: First Impressions of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

    My shiny hunting has been put on the backburner for now. Ever since I got Sword and Shield I’ve been on this kick to complete those games as well as Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (which I’ll refer to as BD/SP going forward). I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to keep it going with the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Arceus game but the way things are now, BD/SP is killing any momentum that was gained by Sword and Shied (Sw/Sh for short.

    From the previews it looked like it might try and catch lightning in a bottle the way Link’s Adventure did. A 3D reimagining of a 2D game with chibi characters? Count me in. But after playing it for a couple of hours I am kinda not impressed. The characters in the overworld are of the chibi variety but once you battle for your life from the constant mugging attempts, your characters become a little more proportionate and normal-sized. The overall color palette is rather soft and kind of muted. That combined with the character style and the animation, sometimes I wonder if I’m watching a bad kids cartoon being played out on my Switch.

    Can y’all just leave me alone please?

    There are a couple of things about the game play that really bug me. Probably my biggest gripe is the amount of “trainers” that “challenge” you. We all know these are just people trying to mug you for money. One of them even says they’ll wait in the bushes and attack the next person that comes along. I’ll try and get a screenshot of it but it’s pretty ridiculous. But back to my point, the number of trainers you have to fight is atrociously high. You have to travel from town to another to get your gym badges, but along the way there are a so many battles that are unavoidable. I just want to get to the end game and start filling my dex.

    Oh, that’s kind of a nice sentiment…

    It’s pretty well documented that the game was released too early. There were some game breaking glitches that were found soon after the game was released. I’m not sure how many of them are still in the game but since the one patch I downloaded when I started, there hasn’t been another. Also, it doesn’t connect to Pokémon Home yet, which is a bummer because I was hoping to fill the majority of the dex with the ones I caught from Sw/Sh.

    Waitasecond are you okay?!?

    Also, the economy just blows. I haven’t gotten to the point yet where I can get Amulet Coin which doubles the amount of money I get from mugging other trainers. And I haven’t figured out the method to earn a steady income yet either. The Gen VII games I don’t think I had this hard of a time making cash so I can buy balls and potions. In Sw/Sh, I don’t think budgeting my money was ever an issue. But in BD/SP, I can barely catch any Pokémon along the way because my funds are low and I need to buy potions. And don’t get me started on the lack of Quick Balls. I haven’t looked up where to find them yet but even if I knew I don’t think I’d be able to get a lot.

    You’d think the Veilstone Department Store would have great balls. But like the sign says, I guess they only have dreams.

    Oh and the controls! Why is it that if I hit a wall at an angle, my speed drops to like 1/4 speed? Because your character isn’t locked to a grid, navigating around rocks and walls because an extreme exercise in patience. If you’re not lined up correctly on the path, once you bumb into a rock you’ll come to a near halt. The only way around is it to use the D-pad to move but if you want to use the D-pad and run you’ll have to go back to the old days of holding down the B button.

    I suppose if I slowed down just a bit, take a breath, and play the game the way its intended, I’d have a better time and the issues above wouldn’t be issues. But I don’t wanna. I just want to fast track my way to becoming Champion so I can beat on all the criminal elements trying to mug me and fill my dex.

    I have 5 out of the 8 gym badges and then if they’ve followed the classic Pokémon formula, I have to face the Elite Four to become champion. That can’t come soon enough because so far this game sucks.

  • PokéMondays: When It Rains, It Pours

    PokéMondays: When It Rains, It Pours

    Yeah I missed PokéMondays last weeks and I feel really bad. I had a pretty good streak going! The holidays coupled with my daughter’s birthday, and end of school year, well something had to give. And if PokéMondays is the only thing that I failed at that week, I’ll count my blessings.

    Well, I never did run into a shiny Zekrom, but I did tell myself I’d stop doing Dynamax Adventures as soon as I would get ANY shiny. And here it is, a Shiny Heatmor. I don’t already have one so this was nice to get. And it finally released me from Zekrom hunt. I got this pretty much the same day as that PokéMondays post. And wouldn’t you know it, the second I step outside of the DA cave and go exploring, I run into this:

    A shiny Nidoran♀! And from a random encounter no less. It was quite jolting, which is to be expected by a random encounter shiny. Two shinies in one day! That was a pretty good day I must say.

    Since then I’ve completed most of the stories but am stuck now at “soft resetting” for a shiny Terrakion. I put “soft resetting” in quotes because I’m using the Campsite method and it’s not quite the same thing but the idea is the same. Normally I’d be keeping count at how many spawns I go through, but my watch calculator is locked up keeping track of all the soft resets for shiny Zapdos in Ultra Sun.

     

     

  • PokéMondays: Pokémon Sword and Shield Review, A Shiny Hunter’s Perspective

    PokéMondays: Pokémon Sword and Shield Review, A Shiny Hunter’s Perspective

    Nick already did an excellent review of Pokémon Sword and Shield and for him it landed one star higher than where I would have placed it. To me, the story is really secondary to the experience of catching them all to get the shiny charm. That’s been my end game goal for a couple of iterations now. That being said, the story was nonsensical and had these events that weren’t really explained in any meaningful way. I remember when The Rise of Skywalker came out, there was a meme about final epic battle and it said “things are happening”. That’s kind of the best way to describe the last half of the main story arc including the post game story that leads up to the capture of the box legendary: things are happening. It doesn’t get into great detail on why the things are happening or how any of gets tied together. Story elements are left unresolved and the whole thing just feels unsatisfying.

    But like I said, the story isn’t something I was heavily invested in. Completing the Pokédex and chasing the shiny charm was my main goal and that part I enjoyed. The mixture of visible Pokémon in the overworld as well as the random encounters in tall grass made encountering Pokémon a much more controlled experience. The visible encounters were actually quite useful to help filling out the dex. Actually seeing the Pokémon let’s you avoid the ones you already have and encounter the ones you don’t. It removes a TON of the guessing game and randomness from previous iterations of the game. There were still Pokémon that can only be found in certain areas by a “!” random encounter but I felt like I was looking up Pokémon encounter rates on Bulbapedia FAR less than before.

    Don’t get me wrong, looking up Pokémon on Bulbapedia or Serebii is still a necessary activity if you want to complete the dex in a timely manner. Some Pokémon can only be found in certain parts of the Wild Area and under specific weather conditions. By manipulating the date on your Switch, you can fast forward or backtrack to a specific date to trigger the desired weather conidition. Even then, some Pokémon may have a low percentage rate of appearances. But overall, because of the density of the Wild Area and the pokemon you encounter along the story progression, filling the dex felt like a fast and easy accomplishment.

    Once you get the shiny charm, that feeling of efficiency goes right out the window due to the mechanics of the hunt. Every Pokémon game has a different method for shiny hunting that doesn’t involve breeding, and Sword and Shield’s method might just be the worst. Here’s a chart that breaks down the odds taken from the Shiny Pokemon reddit:

    Number KOed Brilliant Chance Extra Rolls Brilliant Shiny Odds Brilliant Shiny Odds + Shiny Charm
    1-19 1.5% 1 1/2048 1/1024
    20-49 2% 1 1/2048 1/1024
    50-99 2.5% 2 1/1365 1/819
    100-199 3% 3 1/1024 1/683
    200-299 3% 4 1/819 1/585
    300-499 3% 5 1/683 1/512
    500+ 3% 6 1/585 1/455

     

    To get the absolute best odds at 1/455, you’ll need to knock out or capture at least 500 of a given Pokémon AND encounter a brilliant (yellow aura) one. That number sounds stupidly high and that’s because it is. I spent a couple of nights just circling Route 1 looking specifically for a shiny Wooloo. My first one came in at 83 encounters and my second one came in 417, and neither one was brilliant. Skwovet though? It took over 700 before getting my first one and that one came from a brilliant one. I’m at 888 encounters now and still need a second. There were a couple of times where I’d circle Route 1 avoiding any non-brilliant Skwovets and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s better to fight all of them than just waiting for a brilliant one to appear. Brilliant Pokémon only have a 3% chance of spawning, and that in itself is really low. The odds are really stacked against you, but the real problem is trying to hunt for a specific low encounter rate Pokémon.

    Pokémon SunMoon/UltraSun/UltraMoon didn’t have this problem. Sure there were still Pokémon that had the 1% or 5% low encounter rate, but once you hit it, you can make SOS calls all the live long day and every call would, for the most part, summon the same Pokémon. It made targeting a specific Pokémon for shiny hunting so easy. Plus, to maximize your odds in UltraSun/UltraMoon, you would just need to feint 30 allies that answered the call. Just 30! The odds become 1/273 with shiny charm. There are some low encounter rate Pokémon that had also had a low SOS call rate, like Dhelmise, but there weren’t that many of those kinds of Pokémon. And for those, that’s where the Masuda Method really comes in handy.

    If you don’t know the Masuda Method is a method of breeding Pokémon using one of your Pokémon and a Pokémon from an entirely different region. Foreign ditto’s are the most popular foreign Pokémon to get due to the fact that it can breed with any Pokémon to produce an egg of the same non-Ditto Pokémon. This is a popular method for shiny hunting if you don’t mind having boxes and boxes full of rejects that you have to release one at a time. Every method has some sort of time sink element built into it, and releasing Pokémon is it for MM. If you’re a subscriber to Pokémon Home things can be sped up pretty significantly because Home allows you to release multiple Pokémon at once. Masuda Method has the same odds across every game ever since that method was revealed: 1/512. It is probably the best method to get a specific shiny with the best odds in Sword and Shield despite Dynamax Adventures having 1/100 odds.

    Dynamax Adventures’ odds sound great on paper and if you go through and catch all four Pokémon, you have a pretty good chance of getting something shiny. At least that’s what you’re supposed to beliee. 1/100! That’s like, 1%!. But even that is still not great. Out of the 40 or so DA’s I’ve participated and catching 4 Pokémon each time, I still haven’t seen a single one and I’m well over odds at 160 total captured Pokémon. The worst thing about it is the amount of time between checks. On average, an SOS call in the Gen. VII games is just a few seconds. In Sword and Shield it’s around 8-15 minutes between checks making it a huge time sink.

    The other issue I have with DA shiny hunting is that you don’t really know what you’re going to get. For Dynamax Adventures, you go through a a series of caves and encounter three regular Pokémon before hitting the final legendary. Those first three Pokémon are completely random, so its fine if you don’t care which shiny you get. For the fourth legendary, it too is also random unless you’ve encountered it at least once before AND you did not capture it that first time. I made the mistake of catching Reshiram on my very first DA. Around my fourth run, I encountered it again but wasn’t able to catch it. The scientist at the DA cave said I could save it’s location and try and hunt for it next time. When I selected Reshiram as my target on my next run, the scientist told me that since I already caught one, I wouldn’t be able to catch another one. This is something I should have realized before but it was an oops moment for me. I could always hunt for a shiny Reshiram in another game so it’s not a huge loss but still, that door of opportunity in Sword is effectively closed.

    I’ve been shiny hunting Zekrom for the majority of the 40 DA’s I’ve participated in and still can’t get the green-tipped shiny version, or ANY shiny Pokémon for that matter. I feel like trying to get shiny legendaries from Ultra Wormholes in US/UM is still the way to go as the soft resets are much faster. In the end it probably evens out: 1/100 from Sw/Sh Dynamax Adventures with about a 10 minute buffer between checks, or 1/1365 in an Ultra Wormhole with just seconds between resets. I’m still going to try and get a shiny from a DA though just to prove to myself that it’s possible. And once I do, I’ll finish off the Crown Tundra Pokédex, its story content, and then finally move on to Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Pokémon Sword and Shield will be one of the last Pokémon games I’ll want to spend time shiny hunting in as there are better more productive ways to do it in other games.

    So yeah, if you haven’t caught my drift by now Shiny Hunting is pretty bad in Sword and Shield. I will say, however, that the shiny animation is pretty satisfying and a marked improvement over the Gen VII animation.

  • PokéMondays: I Am In The Middle of Five Pokémon Games

    PokéMondays: I Am In The Middle of Five Pokémon Games

    Earlier today, while I was playing Pokémon Sword on the TV with my OLED Switch, I had my kids’ Red Mario edition Switch in handheld mode in front of me while also having my 3DS out doing an SOS battle. It dawned on me that I may have a problem. Because while those were the current active games at that moment in time, I realized I’m also keeping in mind what legendary raids are happening in Pokémon GO (Zekrom and Reshiram right now, with Kyurem coming up), and also trying to complete the National Pokédex in the Gen 6 games (XY/ORAS). And I STILL haven’t cracked open the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl games.

    My endeavor to catch them all is a bit slow going right now probably because I’m spread just a tad thin. I realize I need a spreadsheet to keep track of all the shinies so that I don’t double up on any of them but that may be an unavoidable situation. I don’t really count the shinies in Pokémon GO as real Pokémon. The acquisition feels way too easy and it’s just from a completely different breed of game.

    The featured image is of Kubfu, my latest acquisition form the Isle of Armor DLC. I’m almost at the point where I need to figure out which tower I want to climb. Once I’m done with this island, I’ll probably hit up Brilliant Diamond before attempting the Crown Tundra DLC just to shake things up a bit, and then play through Isle of Armor on Shield, etc.

    I didn’t have a real PokéMondays topic to write about hence my mental vomit pouring out on this post. But I need to put something down to keep this thing going. All that being said, as scatterbrained as it was, it’s actually helped me focus on what I want to write about for next week. Thanks for bearing with me in this, my most awkward and nonsensical post thus far.

  • PokéMondays: How to Get Shiny Zacian and Shiny Zamazenta The Easy Way

    PokéMondays: How to Get Shiny Zacian and Shiny Zamazenta The Easy Way

    Did your GameStop run out of scratch cards to get either Shiny Zacian or Shiny Zamazenta (or both) before you had a chance to get one? I was fortunate enough to be able to get a Shiny Zamazenta card. I asked the dude at my local store if they got the same allotment of cards as last time and he said they did. And this guy didn’t know anything about generating a new code from the register either. But fret none, as I have recently found out a second way to get the codes. Over in Europe, the Shiny Legendaries promotion was run a little differently as both codes were released at the same time. GAME.co.uk made the distribution so easy it’s laughable how something similar wasn’t implemented here. Simply visit GAME’s Shiny Zacian and Shiny Zamazenta site, input your email address, check the box and hit submit. Within a day or so, you’ll be emailed a pair of codes, one for each legendary / game. I submitted my email to see if it would work on Wednesday of last week and my codes showed up in my inbox on Friday morning. Despite the promotion being intended for European players, I had no issue redeeming them on my U.S. system. The promotion ends on November 18th UK time. Since the site is still up I can only assume they’re still giving out codes. Worth a shot I say.

  • Friendly Reminder To Pick Up Your Shiny Zamazenta Code

    Friendly Reminder To Pick Up Your Shiny Zamazenta Code

    Just a friendly reminder that starting today in the US you can pick up your free Shiny Zamazenta scratch card from GameStop locations. The code is redeemable in Pokemon Sword only and it will show up automatically in your party or in a box. And if you missed Shiny Zacian, GameStop may have some leftover cards. The Shiny Zamazenta run ends on November 26, 2021. If the store has run out of cards they should be able to print one out for you from the register. And if you’re in Canada, this distribution already started for you last week.

    I fast tracked my purchase of Sword and Shield just for this distribution. No telling when these legendaries will be available again as shinies.

  • PokéMondays: Got The Z Boys

    PokéMondays: Got The Z Boys

    After last week’s run on the Elekid evolution line, I decided to try my luck again at Zorua after my last failed attempts.

    Shiny Zorua

    Shiny Zorua, 160/393

    And luck was with me this time! Only 59 calls to get this beautiful teal and brown Shiny Zorua! He looks almost as good as Shiny Noibat. Maybe it’s the teal color I don’t know but they both look sharp!

    Shiny Zoroark

    Shiny Zoroark, 161/393

    For some reason, they decided to not carry the same teal coloring for Shiny Zoroark and going with a purple motif instead. Still looks good but honestly I would have loved a teal mane on this guy. This one was a marathon run of 756 calls before the second shiny Zorua came. A quick XP grind later and here we are with its evolved form. I figured since the first one came so early, it would take me awhile to get the second one. I’m sort of sensing a pattern here…

    In Other Pokémon News…

    • I was gutted to find out I completely missed out on the mythical Zeroara distribution. No only did I miss Zeroara, I missed its shiny form distribution as well. Ah well. Here’s hoping that they’ll re-distribute these somehow in the near future.
    • Ever since I picked up Pokémon Sword and Shield for the Shiny Zacian and Shiny Zamazenta distribution, I find myself playing it a lot. There’s a couple of quality of life improvements that I really appreciate. Probably the biggest one being that I don’t have to visit a Pokémon Center to access my boxes. I’ve been playing it so much I haven’t even cracked open Metroid Dread yet.
    • Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl are right around the corner. I have no business getting them but let’s be honest, I probably will. I cancelled my pre-order for Sw/Sh way back when, I don’t see what good it’ll do me to cancel BD/SP if I’m just going to end up getting it anyway. Might as well do it now and get it over with.