Today the Pokemon Company showcased a few new projects they are working on. The video started off with Pokemon Smile which is an app for a mobile device that is designed to help kids improve brushing habits by saving Pokemon while they brush. At the end of the trailer, it was announced that the app would be available 6/17. They followed Pokemon Smile with a trailer for Pokemon Cafe Mix. Pokemon Cafe Mix is a swirl-type puzzle game that has players serving Pokemon customers their drinks by solving puzzles. Players will be able to hire Pokemon as well as expand their cafe. The game will be a free-to-start game and will have in game purchases. I would compare this to being a similar path Nintendo took with Super Mario Run. The game is available for preload, however won’t be available to play until 6/23/2020. For Nintendo Switch owners, the game must be played in handheld mode only.
Third up in the Pokemon Presents was the brief announcement that New Pokemon Snap, an old Pokemon favorite from the N64 era, is making a return. For those unfamiliar with Pokemon Snap, players took on the role of a Pokemon photographer that goes out into the wild to photograph Pokemon in the wild. Players were actually able to take their N64 memory cards to Blockbuster to have the picture printed out as well.
The Pokemon Company made two announcements for the Pokemon Go game. The first was that Pokemon Go Fest 2020 would be all digital this year due to the current state of COVID-19. For the prior 3 years, the event was held in certain cities throughout the world. This year, the event will be available to players throughout the world. The second announcement was that mega evolutions would be coming to Pokemon Go. As for a date, it was just simply stated as “later this year”.
To celebrate the launch of the Isle of Armor expansion for Pokemon Sword/Shield, they announced a special Max Raid Battle event would be taking place 6/17-6/28. For this event, players would be battling against Zeraora. However, the Pokemon Company put several criteria on the event in order for players to win a Shiny Zeraora. The first is that a player must move a Pokemon between Pokemon Home and Pokemon Sword/Shield at least once during the event time. Zeraora cannot be caught during the raid and players will be required to have an internet connection and the latest Wild Area News in order to challenge it. The biggest criteria is that 1,000,000 players must beat the raid in order for players to receive the prize which is a Shiny Zeraora.
Overall it was a brief Pokemon Presents that ended with a typical Nintendo “and one more thing”. They stated they have a new project they are working on and will show it off during a Pokemon Presents on 6/24/2020. With how short the Presents was today, I feel they could have shown off everything together. It will be interesting to see what project they have in the pipeline when they showcase it next week.
