Thursday, May 14, 2026

Pokémon Games at the Arcade

Pokémon is not known to be a major influence in arcade gaming, especially given the fact that its first games are what is known in the trade as "consumer software (CS)". Nevertheless, many years after the fact, Pokémon games did break out in the arcade, albeit having only a relatively minor presence - which in fact still lingers even today. I've decided to round up a few of these Pokémon arcade games, which I have to say is an idea that had been in the works for about a year but only could realize now.

One of those games is Pokkén Tournament, something that WCS fans approximately a decade ago would recognize. The game did get its start at the arcade, and it was played with an actual handheld controller that would be a hint of its eventual presence as a console game and in the competitive arena. Although the game has exited the competitive Pokémon scene and it can now be considered a "niche" game, its legacy has been cemented, and fans can still play it if they are interested in it.

Next, there is (or was, to be explained shortly) Pokémon Tretta. This game features combat using Pokémon tokens in square form against the CPU, as well as capturing Pokémon to earn their tokens. Mega Evolution was also involved, in particular with an accessory. Unfortunately, the service for it ended a somewhat longish time ago, and the arcade machines themselves weren't widespread - in fact, limited to certain regions too. Still, the game that follows this one carries over the mechanics. 

That next game would be Pokémon Mezastar. While still only playable in some select regions (including how accounts are handled), Pokémon tokens are still used, though this time they're elliptical instead of square. Species from the seventh and eighth generations also appear, including those with Gigantamax forms. The fast-paced combat is engaging and could become addictive, especially after one play or even a few, and it further demonstrates the advancement of this game after its predecessor. 

It's still a relative rarity to find Pokémon games at the arcade, particularly when there is the concern of regional availability as with the last two games above. Yet it's also important to know that Pokémon has an arcade presence in some way, which is impressive given its start in console gaming and even if it will likely remain more well-known for that, compared to arcade gaming. Fans who see any of these games might just want to play them for the experience that they have to offer.

Two years ago: Alive, in Life
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Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Days of Pokémon Disappointment

Pokémon is supposed to bring joy to all who deal with and experience it. Unfortunately, in current times, it seems that it also brings its share of disappointments, whether personal or shared. That also can be described as ongoing on the basis of days, which can make the disappointment all the more regrettable. With that, I thought I'd outline some of those disappointments that have plagued my days and those of others.

Due to extenuating circumstances and for convenience, for today's Raid Hour in Pokémon Go, I joined my local community's meetup... and was reminded of why I rarely do so, at least a primary reason for such: I'm not able to keep up with the others, in particular their pace. It is why now I prefer alternative arrangements for this and other events. The disappointment here certainly lies in the fact that it is the local community, and it has become a certain "color" for today and even other days (and players) when it is involved. 

Meanwhile, scalpers continue to take root in some affairs involving Pokémon goodies and TCG items - unfortunately, even for ones that revolve locally. This has also caused some commotion for those local goodies due to the exposure, in particular for their prices and scalping practices that in a way has also led to unsavory effects. The things done by scalpers are already proving to be disappointing enough, but the spread of what they do to other people makes the situation even more of a disappointment, now and later on.

Then, the "Firestar effect" seems to continue to be felt even now on social media, based on the comments of some users on there. Now, there has even been an incident that is completely unrelated to Pokémon games yet has echoes of what happened back then, also involving real competitions and questions of what is fair and unfair. Being informed of the new incident is a real disappointment, not to mention the sentiments that linger after what happened with the tournament where the Pokémon game incident happened.

Having been exposed to or having dealt with the happenings above, both related and not related to (or at least, in whole or in part evocative of) Pokémon, disappointment would certainly be felt, perhaps even by eventual readers of this post. It's a regrettable state of affairs that disappointment is felt even with the happiness that Pokémon things bring, and given what has transpired, fans like me may still feel it in the days ahead.

One year ago: A Pokémon Card Binder
Two years ago: Horizons of Promise
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Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Pokémon Sites on ".gg" Domains

The ".gg" domain for web page addresses is a domain that is affiliated to Guernsey, but in real usage, it is also very popular among gamers (and web sites associated with them) because the initialism "GG" stands for "good game" - something I may or may not touch upon at a later time. Accordingly, it is also used by some Pokémon web sites, which are also popular due to the size of the fandom. With that, I thought I'd go over some of these web sites for their significance among Pokémon fans and of course the use of the above domain.

For those who deal with Pokémon Go, they'll likely recognize two websites that bear the ".gg" domain. One of those is the former The Silph Road and Silph League Arena (silph.gg), which bears mention because of the very fact that it has the domain. After its demise and with more recent developments, there is Dracoviz (dracoviz.gg) that serves half of the purpose of the former site - specifically the community or grassroots tournament aspect. Either way, the sites affirm usage of the domain to represent the game players as such. 

More recently, there is RK9 (rk9.gg) - yes, like the above is to Dracovish as this one is to Arcanine in phonetics - which serves Pokémon gaming more generally. In fact, its purpose is to consolidate info for Play! Pokémon tournaments wherever they are concerned (Europe and the Americas) with relevance for the individual pillars of the "pantheon" along with info for prospective spectators and registration aids for competitors, including for recent VGC. This site demonstrates significance for itself just as much as it does for its domain.

Certain players, specifically those for Pokémon Go in certain regions of Asia, will also likely have dealt with the start.gg web site, as that site serves as the tournament organizer for qualifiers of that game for some countries in the region. It's somewhat different (and perhaps a bit obscure) compared to how things are done for Pokémon Go elsewhere, but it bears mention for the relation to the topic at hand and its spirit.

Web sites for Pokémon affairs or otherwise can be registered with more typical domains, but specialty domains like the above have a certain spirit to it, even if technically they're more relevant to a country. The web sites mentioned above that have the particular domain and relation to Pokémon affairs of different kinds possess that spirit, and there is something to be said for what they have in common to make a "good game" just that.

Three years ago: Listen to Our Hearts
Five years ago: Three Bears
Eight years ago: To Know the Unknown
Nine years ago: You Are Blessed
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Monday, May 11, 2026

Elite Decks in TCGP

Besides the usual decks that players build with the cards that they collect in TCGP, some decks are also built and obtained in a different manner - at least in a more recent stride by the game. In fact, as the game calls them, they are meant to be "supreme" decks, ones that may need a good amount of time to familiarize with. They are accordingly called "elite decks", and they're something to be pointed out for the possibilities they can offer.

Currently, there are only two of these "elite decks", and they're both of the Fire type, based on Mega Blaziken and Mega Charizard Y. Those who have obtained their decklists can see that they are organized under the Fire type heading, which might just imply that there would be more of these "elite decks" for other types and the Pokémon that bear those types. That remains to be seen, of course, but the current decks already furnish challenges of their own.

How are these decks obtained? Mega Blaziken was obtained starting earlier this year as part of a gift mission, and its availability in fact just ended a couple of weeks ago - but prospective players should have logged in at least once to obtain the gift mission. Mega Charizard Y is available now and for more or less the next three months, so this would be a great time to log in, obtain the gift mission, and deal with its intricacies for the "elite deck".

When obtained, the needed cards for the deck are collected, along with the deck in rental deck form (for trying things out) and decklist form (for building the actual deck), just like regular decks. Aside from trying things out, one of the missions for the "elite decks" is using the rental deck three times to obtain pack hourglasses, so there is a side benefit to the actual use of the rental deck, at least until the deck is built for real usage in various situations.

Now, as for how these decks fare - at least, the ones that currently exist - they really do stand up to their "elite" moniker. The Mega Blaziken deck in particular has it alongside Entei, both in 'ex' form, so a player may need to recognize the situations where one or the other is best to be played. And then there's the Mega Charizard Y deck, which offers similar challenges with the deck's namesake card also being an 'ex' card.

These "supreme" decks have a lot of potential, and that applies to the currently existing ones as well as their future possibilities that may just be conjured up sooner if not later. Like other regular decks, there is a need to playtest them to check how they might work for a given player, but attaining mastery of them remains something noble - one that might lend some credence to the "elite" quality of the decks, and players too.

Three years ago: Cold Appearances
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Sunday, May 10, 2026

The Aeos Shooter in Pokémon Unite

For some play modes in Pokémon Unite, the player or players may need a boost in their battle efforts, particularly if they're going to be repeated many times over for particular achievements or tasks. That boost is provided by a feature that becomes an "adjunct" to them, which is called Aeos Shooter, and it's one that players will deal repeatedly with as they deal with the battles repeatedly, and for that, some explanation is in order.

This feature most often accompanies (or accompanied, in the past) an edition of Panic Parade, which although it involves collaboration with multiple players, they'll still need to boost the Pokémon to deal with the intensely difficult upper-level modes. Most recently, this feature has been incorporated into the new Solo Mode, which also eventually ramps up in difficulty and will necessitate players to make use of the feature on their own.

In order to boost the Pokémon, players essentially buy boosts of stats with currency earned from the play mode in question. The stats are reminiscent of ones from the main series, for those who play - Attack, Special Attack, Defense, Special Defense, HP, and Damage (instead of Speed). They'll start by buying low-level boosts, and as more currency is earned and they go to higher levels of play, they'll buy the higher-level boosts for that.

Aside from boosting Pokémon, the earned currency in past editions had also been used - outside of Aeos Shooter purposes - to be able to buy useful items like dice for a Unite License "challenge" event or even a Rename Card, which otherwise would have to be purchased with Aeos Gems that not everyone may have. But this is more of an "adjunct" to an "adjunct", yet it does deserve a mention for what it is in relation to the above.

Given the feature, it partially goes without saying that boosts should be purchased as soon as possible, and especially so if players are to be dealing with play efforts of higher difficulties. Having some boosters for each of the stats is also helpful, as is focusing on leveling up the most important stats for certain efforts - Attack, Defense, and Damage being important. Of course, some things may still depend on specific progressions.

Even though the Aeos Shooter feature is specific to secondary play modes of Pokémon Unite, the feature does hold some unique aspects of its own, for which the above explanation should be helpful in shedding light to those unique aspects. The stat-booting aspect is a major one in this regard, especially as it applies to allowing higher-level play for those play modes and players to go above and beyond what is typically mustered.

Seven years ago: Trading Styles
Eight years ago: The No's of Go
Nine years ago: Site Design
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Saturday, May 9, 2026

Pokémon Go Community Day, 5/9/2026

The pig is a fascinating creature, especially with regard to Pokémon, which has a few species families that resemble the creature. One of these families were lately introduced along with Paldea and the other members of the ninth generation, and it's got some fascinations of its own. Perhaps that is why now it is given the treatment of Community Day for all those fascinations... and maybe some peculiarities for those who are averse to pigs, even ones that are only as realistic as an actual impression of them.

So, that species family is the Lechonk family, which evolves once into Oinkologne. However, the latter has different male and female forms, so much so that they also have different stats. Thus, they could almost be considered different Pokémon, and that makes for a fascinating Community Day fodder - the first of its kind, in fact. In this way, the inclusion of Lechonk in Community Day may just open the door for other Pokémon with differing male and female forms to become a part of it.

For this edition's bonuses, the main one is quartered hatch distance, another good opportunity to hatch some stagnant Eggs. The special move for both Oinkologne forms is Mud Slap, which may benefit the female form's PvP practicality. The rest of the bonuses are the usual medley of double catch Candy and Candy XL chance, photo bombs, extended Lure Modules (1 hour plus extra encounters) and Incense (3 hours), discounted trades and an extra Special Trade, Field Research and the paid Special Research (titled "Don't Hog the Spotlight"), and special backgrounds.

Like many of the past editions this year, I opted to go somewhat far for it to deal with it in the best way - and that worked out just well enough. I got all the resources that I needed to evolve my "necessities" and still have enough for posterity and future use. The camaraderie seems to affirm that this may be the best approach for the future, not to mention that it allows for other side agendas to be fitted in with it.


While pigs may remain a very divisive point of contention, whether they're real ones or impressions of them, there is no doubt that they've made their mark in the Pokémon world. This month's edition of Community Day is an affirmation of that, at least for the latest entrant from Paldea that has managed to turn a few Trainer's heads, especially with consideration of the family's structure. It became a "when pigs fly" sort of moment, but it may just allow Trainers to "pig out" in a different way at a later time.

Two years ago: Submerged in Attraction
Three years ago: Towards the TCGL Horizon
Five years ago: Glyphs of Pokémon?
Six years ago: Playing Pokémon All Day
Seven years ago: Getting Lucky with Friends
Eight years ago: A Place for VGC
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Friday, May 8, 2026

Favorite Pokémon Go Buddy Souvenirs

I see the need to fill in the posts of this blog quickly (which in a way might or might not have worked out), so I thought I'd do that with what might be a quirky but very much related Pokémon topic for that purpose. Now, in Pokémon Go, Buddy Pokémon that have a Buddy level of Ultra Buddy or higher can collect little trinkets called "souvenirs", which are mostly inert but are sometimes necessitated for certain tasks - which makes the quirk evident. Yet for all their worth, they still have a value of novelty, which is why I thought of gathering up a few that represent my personal favorites and explaining them in a post.

Most Pokémon like to collect botanicals as their souvenir trinkets, and it's no surprise that I enjoy a few of these. My favorites in this class of trinkets are the Cactus Fruit, Pretty Leaf, and Tropical Flower. The first of these is reputed to be similar to something that would come from the Unova region's Desert Region, while the last is evocative of Alola, which I consider some pretty strong regional associations. Although the second one is generic - which may be true for the others as well in some sense - the meaningfulness is still evident.

Other souvenirs are comprised of abandoned human-made objects but still with a meaning imbued in them; for these, my favorites are the Torn Ticket, Marble, and Lone Earring. These objects - a ticket stub, a globose stone that is reminiscent of Mega Evolution stones, and a neatly crafted piece of jewelry - are things that I would also collect if I were the Pokémon. In fact, in some sense I collect similar things all the time when I deal with certain things, so it is understandable for these things to serve as mementos for non-humans too. 

For those lucky enough to have attended (and of course, bought a ticket for) a big-time paid Pokémon Go event, their Buddy Pokémon will likely have collected the Tiny Compass and/or Paper Airplane souvenirs... and I have too, if that hasn't been made evident. These souvenirs also become my favorites in that regard, since I have had the opportunity to collect them, which in doing so become mementos of me and the particular Pokémon that were able to collect them. Hopefully, others can share the joy when they can also do the same. 

A song I had discussed in the very distant past of this blog may be quite applicable to the essence of these souvenir trinkets, and perhaps especially so for the Pokémon alongside the Trainer of them. The souvenirs might not have much use in the game in a broader sense (maybe just like the real-life versions of them) aside from being key to some very specific tasks, but as reminders - and now to fill up a blog post - they're novel and likeable enough for that.

One year ago: Everyone's a Miracle
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