Download Mythical Celebi at GameStop

Nintendo is running their Pokemon Black and White Tour currently, and one of the attractions is the ability to download a special Pokemon to your copy of Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, or SoulSilver, the Mythical Celebi… who I guess isn’t all that much of a myth if you can just download it.

Mythical Celebi

However, the Pokemon Black & White Tour is only visiting a few cities over the next few weeks.  So that Pokemon fans not near those locations won’t miss out on everything, Pokemon.com has announced that from February 21st through March 6th of this year, GameStop will be hosting the same Celebi download event that is accompanying the tour at all of their US locations.

Download Celebi – Meet Zorua

Downloading Celebi and transferring it to Pokemon Black & White will allow you to meet (and capture) the Pokemon Zorua.  That Pokemon is otherwise unavailable in the game.

This is an in-store only event.  You must got to a US GameStop store during the dates listed to be able to download these Pokemon.

However, since it is an in-store event, you will be able to download these Pokemon to Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver.

As usual, all of the details are available at Pokemon.com.

Download Ash’s Pikachu at Toys R Us

Nintendo is really cranking up the download events for the launch of Pokemon Black and White.

First they announced the GameStop shiny Pokemon download event(s).

Then they announced the Pokemon Black and White Tour, which includes a download of its own.

And now Pokemon.com has announced that from January 30th to February 13th they are bringing in Toys R Us for… a Pikachu download event?  Really?

I am famous, everybody loves me!

I mean, yes, Pikachu is the head honcho, the top of the Pokemon Pyramid of Fame, he even has his own page on Wikipedia unlike most of his 392 fellow monsters, and his own balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but after that Yellow Forest Pokewalker route, does anybody not have enough Pikachu yet?

OMG Pikachu!

The place was nothing but Pikachu.  You had to catch dozens of ordinary Pikachu to get the mildly special Pikachu. I knew people who were very sick of Pikachu after that.

To be fair, this download event is for a Pikachu that has all the same abilities that Ash Ketchum‘s Pikachu has in the long-running Pokemon Anime TV series.  This includes, according to the promo page, Volt Tackle, Thunderbolt, and Iron Tail.  I’m not sure why they wouldn’t mention the fourth ability, since Pokemon can only have four abilities, and I am going to guess that regular viewers of the TV series could probably name it, so why hide it?

To create some minor mystery I guess.

And Pikachu also comes holding the Light Ball, which doubles up his attack stat and makes him 19% more adorable.

This event works with all of the DS native main-line Pokemon games, so you can download to Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver.

Since we’re big on Pokemon at our house, I am sure we’ll be at Toys R Us downloading this extra special Pikachu to all of our copies of Pokemon.

Details on the event and how to download Ash’s Pikachu are available here.

Entei Download This Week at GameStop

I almost forgot that this week is the second of the three Shiny Pokemon download events at GameStop.

This week, through this coming Sunday the 23rd, the Pokemon to be downloaded is Entei.

Shiny Entei

You need these Pokemon for Pokemon Black and White.  When you transfer them to Pokemon Black or White you will unlock the ability to catch the new Pokemon Zoroark.  Zoroark will otherwise not be obtainable in the game.

It sounds like you will need all three for the unlock, so head to GameStop before this coming Monday for the download.

The final download event will follow in two week.

• Suicune – January 31st through February 6th

That fill then be followed in some areas by the Pokemon tour.

And then, finally, Pokemon Black and White will ship on March 6th.

Six Raikou Later…

The first GameStop shiny Pokemon download event ended last weekend.  It was for Raikou and it ran from January 3rd through January 9th.

Raikou Complete

My daughter and I, out on a Sunday shopping trip on the 9th (milk, cat food, lunch) parked in a spot directly in front of one of our nearby GameStop store fronts.  That put is well within range of their WiFi, so we sat in the car, listened to music, and downloaded Pokemon.

This also kept us from going into the store and actually buying something, which is always a danger.  Sorry GameStop.  So we kept our distance to download.

And download we did.

Since the event was available for any of the DS based Pokemon games, we were able to download the shiny Raikou into:

• Pokemon Diamond (x2)
• Pokemon Pearl
• Pokemon Platinum
• Pokemon HeartGold
• Pokemon SoulSilver

So now we have a veritable pack of shiny Raikou on our hands now.

There are two more GameStop download events coming.

• Entei – January 17th through January 23rd
• Suicune – January 31st through February 6th

Plus there is a road show mall event coming up that I will post about later.

All of which is driving towards the launch of Pokemon Black and White in March.

Shiny Pokemon Events Coming to GameStop in January

This looks to be the first event in the build up to the release of Pokemon Black and White.

Pokemon.com has announced that GameStop will be hosting three Pokemon download events in January and early February.

The events will be:

• Raikou – January 3rd through January 9th
• Entei – January 17th through January 23rd
• Suicune – January 31st through February 6th

These Pokemon will be special.  Not only will they be special “shiny” versions of the three legendary Pokemon, but when you transfer them to Pokemon Black or White it will unlock the ability to catch the new Pokemon Zoroark.  Zoroark will otherwise not be obtainable in the game.

This is an in-store only event.  You must got to a US GameStop store during the dates listed to be able to download these Pokemon.

However, since it is an in-store event, you will be able to download these Pokemon to Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Details about the event and how to participate are available at Pokemon.com.

National Pokedex – It Is Done

It is done.

I have managed at last to complete the National Pokedex achievement in Pokemon SoulSilver.

I had twelve Pokemon to go about a week and a half ago.  I have been working on it since then.

At 8:40pm this past evening, having obtained an item called a “razor fang,” I gave it to my Gligar and went out to battle some wild Pokemon.  Several battles later, Gligar obtained enough experience to level up.  Since it was after 8pm and he was in possession of the razor fang, he evolved upon leveling up, becoming a Gliscor.

Gliscor

That was the last Pokemon I needed.

I ran off to Pallet Town and spoke to Professor Oak.  He congratulated me and now my trainer card is green and has two stars on it.

The Mark of Success

My wife and daughter were both underwhelmed with the prize.  But it was more about the sense of accomplishment.  Plus what was Professor Oak going to do, give me another Pokemon?

I have now captured, evolved, or otherwise managed to obtain all of the 485 Pokemon that are directly accessible in any of the standard Pokemon RPGs. (Plus 6 of the special even Pokemon, for a total of 491.)

This has taken quite a bit of work.  We received Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver back in late March, and by the end of June I was working on the last big fight in the story line.  Since then, my main focus in the game has been to complete the National Pokedex.

This has meant me sitting on the couch in the evenings with my DS in my hands and my Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver player’s guide next to me while I hunted in the Safari Park or dowsed for special items needed to evolve specific Pokemon.

The player’s guide for a Pokemon game is an absolute necessity for finishing the National Pokedex, though it does have a mistake or two… like the one about where to obtain the razor fang.  I would have been done a day earlier if it had not been for that.

You can find all the information online, but the presentation is rarely conducive to finding specific details.  The player’s guide is nicely laid out, indexed, and full of tables for finding just the item for which you are looking.  My only complaint is that the print in some parts of the guide is so tiny that I have to go stand under a bright light and hold the book practically up to my nose to read some key details.  I would say that it might be time to look into reading glasses, but I never have a problem with print in a standard paperback for example.

But the effort that went into completing the National Pokedex goes beyond playing Pokemon SoulSilver.  I was able to finish the National Pokedex because I had already started working towards it in other games.

Games that contributed to finishing the National Pokedex:

• Pokemon Sapphire
• Pokemon Emerald
• Pokemon LeafGreen
• Pokemon FireRed
• Pokemon Diamond
• Pokemon Pearl
• Pokemon Platinum

I spent quite a bit of time with Pokemon Diamond attempting to finish the National Pokedex.  That really laid the groundwork for me, as I managed to collect 380 Pokemon there.

And of those 380 Pokemon, some came from having access to the older Game Boy Advance (GBA) cartridges.  In Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, having one of the older games in the GBA slot of your Nintendo DS caused otherwise unobtainable Pokemon to appear in game so you could catch them.

My daughter and I also played through quite a bit of Emerald, LeafGreen, and FireRed, during which we captured and migrated quite a few Pokemon to Diamond.

And then there was the Global Trade Station in Diamond, a source of many of my rare Pokemon.  It turned out that Meowth, a popular Pokemon that is featured on regularly on the Pokemon TV series (where it is the only regularly appearing Pokemon who speaks English… I haven’t quite figured that one out), was not available in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, but was easily obtained in FireRed.  So I used to harvest and migrate Meowths to use for trade fodder in the Global Trade Station.

I was able to obtain some hard to find Pokemon for my many Meowths.  People in Japan seemed especially eager to obtain them, as I ended up with quite a few Japanese named Pokemon.

In all my daughter and I played through to at least the regional championship and National Pokedex kick-off in the following titles:

• Pokemon FireRed
• Pokemon Diamond
• Pokemon Pearl
• Pokemon Platinum
• Pokemon SoulSilver
• Pokemon HeartGold

But now I am done.

There are other goals to pursue in Pokemon.  There is a long list of other “end game” activities, enough to put any MMO to shame.  But the National Pokedex is enough for me.

Besides, I have to rest up.  Pokemon Black & White are due out in the Spring.

Gotta Catch ’em All, Dammit!

I am going to do it.

I am going to complete the National Pokedex in Pokemon SoulSilver.

That involves catching all of the catchable Pokemon.

Hence the famous tag line. (I almost wrote “catch phrase.”)

An Example of Pokemon Mania

There are a total of 493 Pokemon in the game.  However, 9 of them are only available through special events.  These 9 are not required for the National Pokedex.  You only need 484 for that.

Only 484.

I wrote about catching those Pokemon back when I was playing Pokemon Diamond.  It seemed impossible.  I capped out at around 380, or over 100 Pokemon short of the goal.

With Pokemon SoulSilver, I had a new opportunity, and a few advantages.

First, I had a my copy of Pokemon Diamond with nearly 380 caught Pokemon.

Really, that is part of the whole experience, having to transfer Pokemon that you cannot get in your current game over from your old Pokemon game.

And to help things along, I finished up Pokemon Pearl and Platinum, since both offer a couple of special Pokemon.

Then there is the fact that we have two Nintendo DS Lite units in our house, mine and my daughter’s, so I can easily transfer Pokemon back and forth between games.  Plus certain Pokemon only evolve when you trade them. (And to get that 484 number you have to get each Pokemon in all of its various stages of evolution.)

And then there is the fact that my daughter is/was playing Pokemon HeartGold this time around, which has some Pokemon in it that you cannot get in SoulSilver.

And even with all of this, I have been holding my Nintendo DS in my hand every time my wife and I have sat down to watch TV because I have to hatch a Pokemon egg or level a Pokemon up so it will evolve or check the Global Trade Station to see if anybody has accepted my current trade offer. (I have been breeding and trading Piplups fairly successfully.)

I spent a couple hours in Pokemon Diamond, in the underground, trying to dig up a fossil that could be turned into a specific Pokemon (a shieldon, if you must know) because I couldn’t find one for trade.

And after all of this, my Pokedex shows I have caught 479 Pokemon.  Of course, I have 7 of those special event Pokemon, so the number I need to hit is 491.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.  I have just 12 Pokemon left to go.

I need a the following 12:

• #176 Togetic – Once my Togepi is at “high friendship” leveling it will evolve it into this
• #303 Mawile – I have to check the game daily to see if this one is available
• #454 Toxicroak – A matter of leveling up a Croagunk to 37, easy
• #460 Abomasnow – Again, just need to level up my Snover to 40, in progress
• #461 Weavile – Have to find a special item, have a Sneasel hold it, and level it up between 8pm and 4am local time… I’m not making this up
• #464 Rhyperior – Have to my Rhydon hold a special item and trade it to another player, but have to find the item first
• #466 Elecivire – Another special item hold and trade, but I have the item this time
• #468 Togekiss – Need Togetic, first one on the list, to get this
• #470 Leafeon – Need to evolve an Eevee in Pokemon Diamond then trade it over, easy
• #472 Gliscor – Similar story to Weavile, need an item and a time frame
• #474 Porygon-Z – A Porygon2 has to hold a special item then be traded, ala Rhyperior, with the same issue
• #488 Cresselia – Have to go catch this in Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum

And if I want to be a completionist and get all 493, I also need a Manaphy, which is only available at special download events.  And once I have that, I can breed it to obtain the final Pokemon, a Phione.

Aside from those last two, not an impossible task at this point.  And then I will be finished.

At least until the next version of Pokemon, Black & White, shows up in the US.  It is already available in Japan and is selling very well.

And when I get it, who knows how many Pokemon I’ll need to catch.  But it looks like the Pokemon are numbered up to 649 with the new games.

Jirachi Download Event Dates Announced

Pokemon.com played coy for a week, then finally let us know the dates for the last download event before Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

You will be able to download Jirachi at GameStop from February 27th through March 13th, just one day off from the timeline I predicted in my previous post on the subject.

As has been the pattern in the past, there is a promise of something special when you transfer Jirachi to HeartGold or Soulsilver as part of the promotional ad copy:

One of the most elusive Pokémon is soon going to be available: receive Jirachi into your Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum Version game for a limited time at participating GameStop stores in the United States and Puerto Rico! This Jirachi is very special, with unique moves and items that will make it a must-have for your Pokémon collection! Plus, Jirachi holds a secret that will be revealed when you trade it into a copy of Pokémon HeartGold or SoulSilver Version!

The secret, according to Pokemon.com, is a special Pokewalker route that can only be unlocked by Jirachi.

The Pokewalker is, of course, the pedometer device that was previously announced as part of the Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver package.  We’ll see how much this adds to the game in just over two weeks when HeartGold and SoulSilver are released.

Jirachi GameStop Event Announced

As part of the build-up to the mid-March release of Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Pokemon.com has announce that there will be another download event at GameStop.

While the dates for this download event have not been announced, I would have to think that February 28th through March 14th might be a reasonable guess.  That would mirror the dates for the recent Pichu event and would tie right in to the March 14th launch date for Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

More details, such that they are, at Pokemon.com.

[Edit: The download dates have been announced.]

Return to Pokemon Platinum

Pokemon Diamond first showed up about two years ago.

It came with my daughter’s Nintendo DS Lite back on St. Valentine’s Day of 2008, all of which was part of the plan to keep her busy on the plane for our trip to Maui that year.

And it was a huge hit.  Big enough that I ended up with a DS Lite of my own for my birthday that year along with a copy of Pokemon Diamond.

That immersed us in the Pokemon subculture and we have been Pokemon fans ever since.  We formed our own little Pokemon gyms at home, finished the main storyline of the game, and kept on in the seeming eternal struggle to finish up the national pokedex along with all of the other end game achievements.  We go to all the download events and generally still play Diamond on a regular basis.

The popularity of Pokemon Diamond at home lead, of course, to other Pokemon games.  There was Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, which is sort of NetHack meets Pokemon.  It was a decent game, but the promised WiFi play proved to be so limited that it was a joke, which soured me on the game. (My daughter still plays it.)

My daughter also picked up Pokemon Ranger, which didn’t appeal to me so much, but which she seemed to quite enjoy.

We even picked up some of the GameBoy Advance games like Pokemon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald because those need to be available to have a prayer of completing the national pokedex.

On the Wii there was Pokemon Battle Revolution, which got a lot a play time from us.  We spent more than a few weekends battling each other or strangers over the Nintendo WiFi connection.

And there was Pokemon Ranch, which was more of a video toy than a game, but which helped drive the national pokedex effort by setting goals and occasionally coughing up a needed Pokemon.

We even got Pokemon Snap from the WiiWare shop, which is a rail shooter of sorts, only you take pictures of Pokemon rather than shoot them… regardless of how much you would rather be shooting them some days.

But nothing ever really supplanted Pokemon Diamond.  Our travel gear always included our DS Lites, our Pokemon Diamond cartridges, and the Prima guide to the national pokedex to help us continue our hunt.

We had hope for Pokemon Platinum though.  Being a classic Pokemon game, we thought that when it came out, we’d give up on Diamond and start playing that instead.

But we never quite made that transition.

Pokemon Platinum is one of those odd games in the Pokemon niche.  The pattern of game release usually has a pair of games (Diamond/Pearl or Ruby/Sapphire) which each have Pokemon exclusive to one or other of the pair, followed up by a re-work of the game (Platinum or Emerald) which keeps the same basic storyline and only adds features and access to more Pokemon.

So when it arrived, Pokemon Platinum fell flat.

We got through the first couple of gym badges, then went back to Diamond where we were having fun battling and catching those remaining Pokemon.

So when we were packing for our recent trip to Maui, I was sorting through which DS games to bring along.  Our Diamond cartridges went into the case, naturally.  So did a few other games.  And, which a couple of slots left, I decided to throw in our Platinum cartridges as well.

It turned out to be a good idea.  On the plane my daughter and I, with five hours to kill, started getting back into the game.  We moved along, collecting up a gym badge each while getting our bearings.

And once on the ground in Maui, when we had some time to play, we began to work out our strategy to get through Platinum.

With each gym badge you are able to control Pokemon that are traded to you of a higher and higher levels.  This meant that, with our Pokemon Diamond cartridges along for the ride as well and two DSs on hand, we started upgrading our Pokemon with each new gym badge by trading back and forth from Diamond to Platinum.  This accelerated our progress considerably.

Sure, you can use ugly words like “cheating,” but the game allows it and you are limited to a given level cap with each gym badge.

We both now sit at 6 gym badges and our goal is to finish off the base game by defeating the Elite Four and the Sinnoh League champion before Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver come out.  However, we would really like to finish it before the special Pichu download event ends on February 14th.

So this weekend might see some serious Pokemon action at our house.  We’re stuck in the Distortion World area, which is something that wasn’t in Diamond.  Once we find our way through that though, we should be good.