Tuesday, January 13, 2026

App Notifications of Pokémon Go

Being that Pokémon Go is an app on a smartphone, it can (and does) leverage the functionality of said device - certainly if one has allowed for that to happen. One way that it can do so is by periodically generating app notifications (through the system OS) for in-game happenings, which appear when the game is not actively running and/or when one is in an app other than Pokémon Go. It's a fascinating part of the game and it actually has come somewhat of a long way, which has now become the prompt to make a discussion of it here.

In the beginning, the notifications were somewhat rudimentary. They would mostly consist of Pokémon returning from Gyms and friends sending Gifts - even for the latter, the sender was not identified. Later on, it was finally possible to identify these senders, and there are even ones for Egg hatches, which began to show the possible diversity of these notifications. By tapping on these and the other kinds of notifications to be mentioned, the game is opened and if possible, the screen relevant to the notification is displayed.

More recently, there have been lots of notifications for the various in-game events. One of these is often generated just as a certain event starts (within a few hours) and the Trainer doesn't have the game open. In similar fashion, another one is generated at the tail end of certain events (again within a few hours, this time before the events themselves end), often with a reminder for them to catch a debuting species or form, or to complete Timed Research and/or Collection Challenges. These may become rather useful for some.

Other notifications that have appeared include those for weekly progressions, as one for the weekly Adventure Sync after it's been completed (Mondays after 9 AM) to remind the Trainer to collect the rewards from the feature. Then, the recently (re)implemented Weekly Challenges have periodic notifications as well at every quarter milestone, gently nudging the Trainer to help make progress on and complete it. These progression notifications illustrate just how helpful and varied they can be for a Trainer to keep up with things.

Like other apps on the smartphones the game is on, Pokémon Go can extend its reach to some key aspects for dealing with the apps on the devices and the devices themselves in general. The usage of notifications is a particularly clever one to keep its player Trainers in the loop of what is going on, has gone on, and could possibly go on as well, given the ones detailed above (and more that haven't been detailed due to the scope of this write-up). With the notifications, they can stand to do much more just as the game does more. 

Four years ago: Goh's Workstation Setup
Five years ago: The Rain and Pokémon
Eight years ago: My Pokémon Show
Nine years ago: Pokémon and Cosplay
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Monday, January 12, 2026

Quickies: When Trees Have Memories

A certain myth states that trees possess memories and stories of the past. This myth has the implication that trees are not only alive biologically, but also spiritually in a way of speaking. Meanwhile, the people associated with the trees would keep track of what they know by a writing system that is evocative of the spirits of the trees, given their paramount importance. All this sounds like an elegant myth, and it seems it could also be applied to Pokémon in an equally elegant manner with its certain species that are pretty much sentient trees.

I'm of course talking about the likes of Trevenant, Exeggutor, and Sudowoodo (even if the last of these is just a "fake" tree), which are somewhat capable as far as trees go in battle, and their sentience is a given. In this way, they definitely do hold memories and stories, especially if they - the Pokémon - are associated with Trainers who are dear to them. Their related humans may only use a script that resembles Unown script to communicate with each other, but for the trees, at least some spiritual connection may be evident.

Now, the myth I mentioned above is from Ireland, which happens to be the land from where the singer Enya hails from, who happens to have an album entitled "The Memory of Trees" with the album's title track being the first. It's an instrumental piece that to me sounds like a spiritual journey through a forest of sentient trees, which could be a wonderful thing. The trees may not be any or all of the Pokémon species I mentioned above, but the same journey could conceivably apply somewhere in the vastness of the Pokémon world.

Whether trees are actually sentient could be considered up for debate, but there is no doubt that they're alive in different ways. The same is true of the Pokémon species that resemble trees in their appearance, although these trees are definitely sentient given the way they are and do their things in that world. Either way, they might just have certain capacities for holding memories, and thus the myth and the associated musical piece above may just ring true for all regular trees and Pokémon trees.

Two years ago: #25 Makes a +62 Journey
Three years ago: A Solitary Pokémon Fantasy
Seven years ago: These Sides of Paradise
Eight years ago: Another Big Shuffle Update
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Sunday, January 11, 2026

The Year of Plush?

It has come to my attention that Pokémon is also wanting to try out a little something new for this year, much like as they did last year with the "Year of Eevee". This time, though, it seems to be more specifically focused on a particular area of Pokémon, being merchandise: according to Pokémon Center, this will be the "Year of Plush", which could mean a lot of things given that the subset of Pokémon merchandise (and itself as an area of merchandise) can be broader than one might think it is. That's the reason for the added question mark in the title, which also becomes the prompt for further exploration of the topic in a post.

The announcement should also have come to the attention of a great deal of fans, since those who subscribe to the e-mail newsletters for all things Pokémon (which includes the one for Pokémon Center) should have received an edition of the newsletter containing that very announcement. Something prominent within this edition, one that comes up when one opens it, is the illustration containing a number of Pikachu and Ditto prominently along with a few other Pokémon in different moods and situations. For those who don't subscribe, the same illustration may be found on different social media accounts for Pokémon.

As far as merchandise content goes, the e-mail newsletter edition suggests that in fact Ditto and Pikachu will figure in prominently, given the associated promotion for Pokémon Natures plush featuring the two Pokémon species, including how they appear in the illustration. Then there's the new entry of a Pokédex Plush for Mimikyu, which of course means a life-size edition of this niche but highly appreciated Pokémon species (ahem) for fans to appreciate as well. The present offerings are quite fascinating and are surely to be accompanied by others throughout the year, given that the announcement is for that very period.

Plush dolls for Pokémon are pretty common by now, so technically there doesn't need to be a full, entire year for celebrating them. Still, the upcoming Pokémon anniversary of this year, as I've already hinted about in my actual "yearly theme" post, actually has something special going for it, so it seems to be quite pertinent to celebrate that alongside even the most common matters for Pokémon... which include plush dolls. With that, the "Year of Plush" can be construed to be a totally ambitious premise of a common matter that is made even more special by all kinds of circumstances for Pokémon and all its fans.

Six years ago: Faults in Some Stars
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Saturday, January 10, 2026

On Timelines That Float

Certain universes have what's called "floating timelines", where the characters in said universes don't change in age and/or appearance even though they progress just as the world around them does, which includes the coming and going of other characters. The "timeline" thus "floats" because the characters progress on their own, like they are on a vessel floating upon the "sea of time". It becomes clear that some perspective shift is involved here.

Now, if this sounds like something that does occur in Pokémon, that's because it does (or did): the anime is said to do this when Ash was still around. The change in the regions and the addition of more Pokémon species were indications that the Pokémon world continued to progress, despite that Ash and other people in connection remained pretty much the same. Their progressions "float" and "cruise" upon that of the world itself.

The "floating timeline" aspect in turn contributes or gives rise to a "relevance" aspect, by which the stories and adventures remain pertinent to both old and new fans. This has obviously worked quite well for the Pokémon anime during the time it had Ash - perhaps a bit too well, since he is still quite cemented to the anime even well after his departure. It only means that the connection to the character and related adventures is extremely established.

Speaking of all this matter about time(lines) and how they float, it is also known that time itself may be the only thing that can provide answers to its progressions. That's the essence behind a certain popular song by one of my favorite artists (nonetheless), which I also thought about as I examined the matter about "floating timelines". With that, the discussion becomes the perfect entry point for finally mentioning the song on this blog:

Who can say if your love grows
As your heart chose?
Only time
And who can say where the road goes?
Where the day flows?
Only time
Who knows? Only time
Who knows? Only time
-- "Only Time", Enya 

Just like how time may hold all the answers to life - and possibly the universe and everything - the progression of people in that life and characters in adventures and stories may have all the answers for all kinds of people who enjoy them, regardless of what time they are living in. That becomes something that "floating timelines" enable, for even without apparent change, there is still something to be gained where they are of concern, for Pokémon or otherwise.

Seven years ago: Custom Pokémon Merchandise
Eight years ago: A Pokémon-Pikachu Balloon
Nine years ago: Where It All Started
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Friday, January 9, 2026

Triangulation in Pokémon Terms

The term I mention in the title of this post - "triangulation" - might only be heard in certain advanced contexts, ones that also likely don't or won't involve Pokémon. Yet I also feel that Pokémon can somehow be involved in demonstrating how the term can manifest itself in those contexts and furthermore beyond. It's also a bit of a mental exercise for me as a blogger to try and do that, certainly then to present the results here in a post all its own. 

Basically, the term involves ascertaining things. For a possibly half-realistic and half-Pokémon example, to determine where a disturbance in the ground may be coming from, two Diglett can be employed to sense the vibrations. Where their vibrations intersect with that from the ground, that would be where the disturbance is, and that's what "triangulation" is. The realistic part of this is certainly not having to use Diglett to accomplish the objective.

Meanwhile, I myself benefit from the "triangulation" process for this blog. I'm effectively doing that when I'm gathering information for a post, like from the separate infographics for certain Pokémon Go events as well as from the official web site and from the experiences of others and my own. In doing so, I'm able to write up something with a certain weight to it, and others can benefit from the information contained in that writeup.

Now, those advanced contexts might involve research of some kind, and that definitely invokes the Pokémon Professors as something they'd do all the time, and might even require the help of aides, as Ash and Goh did for Professor Cerise. In fact, their efforts are essentially invoking the "triangulation" process, synthesizing all their data to something that would let them understand "the whole" of things, the point of the process in general.

Some terms like "triangulation" sound advanced, particularly in the contexts they're usually used in, but when they're considered to a certain depth as with that term above, they might not sound all that advanced and in fact turn out rather pedestrian and necessary for some everyday matters. Of course, a little bit of Pokémon might just help in that regard, and that can serve well for those whose dealings are always somehow linked with the franchise.

Three years ago: The Post URLs on This Blog
Seven years ago: Pokémon Ceramics
Eight years ago: Hitching a Raid Ride
Nine years ago: A Tale of Two Shirts
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Thursday, January 8, 2026

Ranked Play Updates in Pokémon Unite

Along with the update to how Unite Licenses are procured in Pokémon Unite a while back, its Ranked play mode also received a few updates, specifically to the all-important aspect of how players would progress in it. The updates are somewhat significant to both prospective ("new") players as well as existing ("old") players, so they've got to be discussed and explored for all their worth to all of those players, including what they can do with them.

First up, the system of match win medals and Performance Points is gone... or rather, the former is removed, and the latter is reworked into a new system, just called "Rank Points". In order to advance through the ranks, a player now has to purely earn points by winning the matches (and hopefully not lose), although bonus points are still awarded for certain achievements during a match, which are quite helpful in any case.

Then, there is the addition of a new rank. That new rank is the Legend rank, which is placed above the Master rank and is earned with extremely high ratings. Players of a certain "next-door" MOBA might recognize its similarity to that game's rank, and therefore this could be an incentive for them to try playing Pokémon Unite. Of course, they surely won't be able to get there immediately, but they can keep trying with great efforts.

Meanwhile, there is also a slight but significant change to the Theia Sky Ruins map: the central "Legend pit" now features Kyogre with similar effects to Groudon, with the rest of the map more or less the same as the previous update. This makes it a "deepwater" edition instead, and the variety that the map updates give seems to be rather welcoming, at the very least to keep the map from being perceived as boring and stagnant in a way.

Of these updates, the most intriguing one would have to be the rank update, again due to the semblance of "parity" that it gives with other similar games. There also may be concerns that the new progression system might make things slower and/or more boring than before, but it may have to be admitted that the new system is simpler in some respects. That may be the most important thing, given the state of the game today and to come.

If these changes - including the previous ones - are of any indication, it is that certain efforts still need to be made by players and the game alike to make them as best as they can be, and not to slip further into a "rut". The least that they can do right now is still to continue their efforts in Ranked play with whatever they can muster while awaiting further changes to make it and other parts of the game even more conducive to "united" efforts.

One year ago: The Year of Eevee
Six years ago: Locks on Shiny Forms
Eight years ago: The Three-Count
Nine years ago: On the Subject of Go
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Wednesday, January 7, 2026

The New Pokédex in Pokémon Go

As I had brought up in my annual "Hoppip Report" at the beginning of this year, I wanted to discuss the Pokédex in Pokémon Go, which has had a big change. That big change is actually quite old by now, being that I mentioned it close to a year prior when discussing gameplay vs. visual changes in the game. With that, it's got to be addressed, for it is actually a fascinating topic to make a discussion out of it, and I've chosen this very moment to do that. 

So, with the new Pokédex, when one opens it, one is presented with a list of regions for the origin of each species, as well as a selector at the bottom for the various kinds of forms that the new Pokédex keeps track of. Choosing one of these regions (which will have a silver border when "complete") jumps to the section for that region for the selected form index, for which the Pokémon are now listed by rows of four instead of five as in the previous version, due to the larger rectangles used to display the entries, a rather nice visual improvement.

When a Pokémon entry is selected, the caught forms for that Pokémon are displayed in a tab of their own, which as shown by the Hoppip entry, also contains the ones for 100%, Lucky, XXS, XXL, Shadow, and Purified. Of course, not all Pokémon will have these (specifically, ones that haven't become Shadow obviously can't become Purified either, and those that can't be traded can never become Lucky), so it depends on the species. The Info tab has the usual description and size stats, while the Battle tab has type matchup information and the list of moves (even special ones) that a given species can learn. It has become rather informative as a result.

The new changes absolutely invite Trainers to register as many forms as possible, and in fact that is what happens: capturing a new Shiny form and obtaining a "special" form (Mega Evolution, Max forms) will also bring up the form registration screen, which also now contains the numerical and regional indicator. As well, an alert can be set for a particular species through their entries, which will bring up notifications if that species happens to be present in the wild somewhere nearby. These extra changes are not only functional but also assistive.

It's been a year since the aforementioned changes to the Pokémon Go Pokédex, and it may be safe to say that the quality of the feature has improved overall and somewhat helped Trainers out, even me. While much can still stand to be improved in other gameplay areas for this game, some of the improvement may be (or have been) helped by the new improvements to the Pokédex, and they might just bring on other improvements in gameplay.

One year ago: Give Me Five
Four years ago: A Movie-Watching Dream
Five years ago: Previous Plus One
Seven years ago: Family Affairs
Eight years ago: Rethinking Salt
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