February 27, 2023 was Pokémon Day. Pokémon Day marks the day the Pokémon Red and Green games were released in Japan (the first in the series). In celebration of Pokémon Day, The Pokémon Company released a Pokémon Presents, which is a stream dedicated to new Pokémon content. This stream was about 25 minutes long and gave fans of the franchise a lot to look forward to this year.
The first event that was talked about was the 2023 Pokémon World Championships, which will be held in Yokohama, Japan. This will be the first time ever that the Championships will be held in Japan. After that, they announced the Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic, which is a TCG box set with classic cards and a sleek black playmat.
“Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic is designed to be a premium Pokémon TCG set that will last a lifetime,” President and CEO of The Pokémon Company, Tsunekazu Ishihara said.
Next, they discussed a new animated Pokémon Netflix show, “Pokémon Concierge.” Not much was shown, but we got a sneak peek of the animation style on a Pokémon (Psyduck) as well as a human.
“The series, which will be set at the Pokémon Resort, follows the story of our concierge, Haru, and the many Pokémon who visit as guests,” Overseer of Netflix film and series from Asia Pacific Minyoung Kim said.
The stream now shifts gears into updates and new content for the games. It starts with Pokémon Unite, which announced that Zacian, the box art legendary from Pokémon Sword, is coming soon into this game. The event, Adventure in Zacian’s Weald, has also arrived, which will allow fans to get Zacian for free as well as other rewards. Next up was an update for Pokémon Café ReMix, which adds a new dish from Paldea, the region of the most recent mainline Pokémon games. This dish lures in the first-stage starters of the region to join the crew.
Pokémon Masters EX also had some new content, in the form of some new Sync Pairs, including Hop (Champion) & Galarian Zapdos, as well as the return of Leon & Gigantamax Charizard. After that announcement, Pokémon Sleep was finally on its way, which is programmed to take sleep data and make it into a fun Pokémon experience, which bring Pokémon who sleep in the same way into the island in this mobile game.
“The idea behind Pokémon Sleep is to be a game that makes you look forward to waking up in the morning,” COO of The Pokémon Company, Takato Utsonomiya said.
Next up was the announcement of the Pokémon Go + Plus.
“It is a new device that you can use with Pokémon Sleep and Pokémon Go, ” The Pokémon Company said. “There is a Pikachu inside of your Pokémon Go + Plus.”
Last but certainly not least, new announcements regarding Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the most recent mainline games in the series. Iron Leaves (exculsive to Violet (Paradox Virizion)) and Walking Wake (exclusive to Scarlet (Paradox Suicune)) appear in Tera Raids for a short time. Pokémon Home, which is a storage base for a great deal of Pokémon games, is slated to release support for the new games in early 2023. The last announcement was DLC (Downloadable Content) for these games, in two parts. The DLC is called “The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero.” Part one is called “The Teal Mask,” releasing in Fall 2023. Part two is called “The Indigo Disc,” releasing in Winter 2023.
“In Part 1: The Teal Mask,you’ll be visiting the land of Kitakami as part of a school trip, as your adventures expand beyond the Paldea region,” Utsonomiya said. “In Part 2: The Indigo Disc, you’ll be studying as an exchange student at Blueberry Academy. The Legendary Pokémon that newly appear in ‘The Hidden Treasure of Area Zaro’ are Ogerpon, with its fearsome mask, and Terapagos, resplendent in its glittering aura.”
Overall this stream was packed with new content for Pokémon fans to look forward to over the year.