The Pokemon Company has started to distribute members of Ash’s current Pokemon team. From now until August 25th, Pokemon fans can get Ash’s Dracovish by using the code GANJ0UAG0882 in the Mystery Gift menu of the game. This is a Level 80 Dracovish with the moves Fishious Rend, Dragon Rush, Ice Fang, and Water Gun. It also comes with the ability Strong Jaw, which increases the strength of Fishious Rend. Keep in mind that Fishious Rend doubles in power when its used on a Pokemon before it attacks on a turn, so players should find ways to make sure that Ash’s Dracovish goes first in order to boost its naturally strong move to killer levels. The Strong Jaw ability also boosts its Ice Fang attack, making it extra effective as a Dragon-type counter.
Ash’s Dracovish is the first Fossil Pokemon owned by Ash. It is an enthusiastic Pokemon with a tendency to nibble on Ash’s head when it’s not in battle, but it’s also a competent battler that has become a powerhouse in battle. Ash’s Dracovish has a strong friendship with Ash’s Sirfetch’d, which will be distributed at a later date to players.
The Pokemon Company is giving away Ash’s team to celebrate Ash making the World Coronation Masters Tournament to determine the world’s top trainer. Ash was able to score a victory over Hoenn champion Steven Stone during the first round and is preparing to face Sinnoh champion Cynthia during the second round. Should Ash win against Cynthia, he’ll almost certainly go up against Leon in the finals. Ash’s entire story arc during pokemon journeys You have involved facing down Leon, so it should be an epic battle.
In an interview with Nikkei, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa says that, while semiconductor supply issues are looking to improve for the remainder of this fiscal year, next year looks more “uncertain.” This follows the publication of Nintendo’s financial report for Q1 2022-2023.
In last week’s financials, Nintendo reported a 22.9% drop in profits for April – June 2022, but the company also reassured people that it would not be increasing the price of the Switch and that the semiconductor shortages would improve over the summer and autumn period.
Furukawa says that Nintendo will “work out the best strategy” as it goes along and that it’s doing its best to “procure high-quality products at an appropriate price”, but that things are only clear for the remainder of the current fiscal year:
“With cooperation from various business partners, we’re on track for improvement from the latter half of this summer. But in terms of our sales forecast of 21 million units for the fiscal year through March 2023, we only have a clear production outlook for this year. Beyond that, things are uncertain.”
This cooperation means that Nintendo Switch supply should improve for the rest of the year, as Nintendo already laid out in its latest financial report, but it’s unknown what the demand and supply will be like next year. Furukawa also states “I can’t say specifically what is in short supply”, but that Nintendo will still be selling all three Switch models — Standard, Lite, and OLED.
While Furukawa once again reassures that Nintendo isn’t considering a price increase “at this point”, the President was asked about rising material and shipping costs.
“For the time being, our OLED model will continue to be less profitable than our other models. Costs have undoubtedly increased for shipping not only by air, but also by sea. We’re thinking about what we can do.
The weak yen may be seen as a benefit for Nintendo, since such a large share of our sales comes from abroad, but our overseas promotional and staff costs also go up. We’re making more inventory purchases in foreign currencies to counter that.”
While the yen is indeed weakening, costs across the world are also rising, causing Nintendo to consider more options, including — as Furukawa states above — buying more inventory in other currencies.
And even though a large percentage of sales come from abroad, Furukawa brings up the issue of shipping costs, and the company needs to think of a way to get around this.
The OLED costs more to produce, and, while it’s more expensive than the standard model (and frequently the best-selling Switch console week-on-week in Japan), it’s only marginally more so.
Still, despite any potential issues with supplies, semiconductors, and prices, Furukawa believes that “hit software” in the latter part of the year will help the console massively, specifically citing Splatoon 3 (9th September) and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet (18th November ).
Other major platform exclusives coming out for the remainder of 2022 are Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Bayonetta 3, while The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 has a chance of squeaking in before the end of the financial year (March 2023) as it’s tenuously dated for Spring 2023.
What are your thoughts on Shuntaro Furukawa’s words? Do you think the semiconductor shortage will improve more next year? Let us know in the comments.
update [Thu 11th Aug, 2022 13:05 BST]: It’s official! Nintendo has confirmed that Kirby’s Dream Buffet is hitting the eShop worldwide on the same day — 17th August! What a lovely little summer treat.
Pre-orders are now available on the eShop (North America, UK) and it will cost £13.49 — so probably closer to $15 in the US.
In Kirby’s Dream Buffet, you’ll be able to play with three other friends through a plethora of food-themed levels and minigames — think Fall Guys, but even cuter.
Here’s a summary of the game from the eShop:
Bump, battle, and boost your way to sweet victory
Have a feast of fun with family and friends in Kirby’s Dream Buffet™ for the Nintendo Switch family of systems.
Roll through a smorgasbord of food-themed stages in delicious 4-player competition as a rounder-than-usual Kirby. Anyone can take the cake in Kirby’s Dream Buffet! This digital game is available exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
Instead of eating enemies to gain his Copy Abilities, Kirby now gets them from food! A burning boost can come from a pepper, or frosting will give Kirby the spins!
You can also dress your Kirby up, and pop a Kirby Car cake on his head. We have our priorities right here.
To cap it all off, here’s a brand new overview trailer to celebrate the game’s release date!
original article [Thu 11th Aug, 2022 11:35 BST]: We got a tasty little surprise during today’s Kirby concert. The upcoming Kirby’s Dream Buffet — which was only announced last month — is coming to the Switch eShop on 17th August in Japan.
You’ll have to make sure you have some room for some tasty treats and all of that Kirby adorableness as the pink (and blue, and yellow, and green, and so on…) puffball will be rolling onto our consoles next week . The game will cost 1500 yen, so around about £9 / €10 / $11.
While this has only been confirmed for Japan at the time of writing this, we expect we’ll be hearing something very soon for Western audiences — we hope the same day!
We’ll update this post as soon as we know! In the meantime, check out the game’s launch trailer below!
Are you excited to play Kirby’s Dream Buffet? Let us know!
The next generation of Pokémon is here! Pokémon Scarlet & Violet kick off the 9th generation of the Pokémon RPGs in style with a few significant changes, including a wholly open world and the chance to tackle the Gyms in whatever order you see fit! But before you dive into the vast Paldea region, budding Trainers first need to decide whether they’ll be Team Scarlet or Team Violet.
Like with most Pokémon games, the biggest difference will be the list of version-exclusive Pokémon, but Scarlet & Violet are also introducing a few other differences depending on what version you pick up.
To find out exactly what you’re getting in each version of Generation IX, read on.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet – Version Exclusive Pokémon
Here, you’ll find a list of all of Pokémon exclusive to each version as they’re announced (thanks to Serebii):
Pokemon Scarlet – Exclusive Pokemon
Pokemon Violet – Exclusive Pokemon
pokemon professors
For the first time in the series’ history, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet are introducing version-exclusive professors.
If you pick up Pokémon Scarlet, your Pokémon Professor will be Sada. If Violet is more your thing, you’ll be greeted by Professor Turo.
World and story themes
In an exciting twist, fans have noticed a few key differences in the aesthetics of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Scarlet seems to embody the past, while Violet looks to the future.
You might have already noticed these things just looking at Sada and Turo, but Sada is wearing cavewoman-like attire, and Turo is wearing a skintight bodysuit under that lab coat. Also, their names are pretty important! sada comes from passthe Spanish word for past, while Turo comes from futurethe Spanish word for future.
Plus, those legendaries certainly have a few visual differences. Koraidon, Scarlet’s legendary, looks like a prehistoric bird-like dinosaur. Miraidon is a metallic lizard with pixelated eyes.
The Legendaries’ Forms
Box art legendaries are the standard in the Pokémon series, but Koraidon and Miraidon have many more differences than their colors and initial appearances. Each legendary has a different form to help with traveling across the many different terrains of the Paldea region — Koraidon’s are all ‘Builds’ while Miraidon’s are all ‘Modes’, again emphasizing that past vs future theme the games seem to be going for.
bikes
Many people noticed that Koraidon and Miraidon seemed to have wheels in their designs when they were first revealed, but we now officially know that both Pokémon can turn into bikes!
Our prehistoric dragon, Koraidon, turns into Sprinting Build Koraidon, a motorbike-looking ride that (for some reason) doesn’t use its wheels! Miraidon, however, transforms into ‘Drive Mode Miraidon’, and it looks like a very sleek jet bike and uses ‘energy’ to accelerate.
Image: The Pokemon Company
Toilet
Again, your water transportation will look entirely different depending on whether you have Scarlet (Koraidon) or Violet (Miraidon).
Koraidon’s ‘Swimming Build’ puffs up its front wheel (or throat) to use as a floatation device, and it uses its powerful legs to paddle across the water. Miraidon’s ‘Aquatic Mode’ looks like it could come out of a futuristic wave race game and uses its jet engines on its legs to move in the water.
Image: The Pokemon Company
Gliding
And, being dragons, these two can fly! Or glide, at least. And to match their past and future theming, each legendary has a specific form it takes when taking to the skies.
Our Scarlet mascot, Koraidon, unravels its tendrils to reveal some grand wings on its head, which it uses to soar through the air for its ‘Gliding Build’, making it look even more like a prehistoric bird. Miraidon, on the other hand, looks like a glider fit for James Bond, as ‘Glide Mode’ makes its antennae extend and spread out what The Pokémon Company calls “a membrane of energy”.
Image: The Pokemon Company
Your school
In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, your character goes to a prestigious school in the Paldea region. Age isn’t an issue, and everyone there is attending to learn more about Pokémon. But there are some pretty key differences depending on whether you’re more partial to the color red or purple.
name and emblem
While the school will always be situated in the Paldea region’s largest city — Mesagoza — the name of the school your character attends, and its emblem will be totally different.
If you pick up Scarlet Version, then you’ll attend the Naranja Academy. In Violet Version, your school is called the Uva Academy. If you know your Spanish, then you know these translate to the ‘Orange Academy’ and ‘Grape Academy’, respectively.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a unique school without a unique color scheme and an emblem. The Naranja Academy has an orange emblem in a rich orange colour, while the Uva Academy’s is proudly purple and embellished with a bunch of grapes.
Uniform
One of the first things we saw in the initial Scarlet & Violet trailer was the different colored uniforms, and this matches which ever academy — and version — you go for.
In Pokémon Scarlet, your uniform has a blue hat, orange tie, and orange striped shorts. Your shoes are black (with a matching backpack), and your socks are white with an orange stripe. In Pokémon Violet, swap the orange for purple, the black for brown, and the blue hat for a white one, as well as black socks with a yellow stripe.
Image: The Pokemon Company
If you don’t like the base outfit, don’t worry! Customization is back, and you’ll be able to buy new clothes and change your outfit throughout the game.
Your character isn’t the only one with a colour-coded outfit, either. Clavell, the director of your academy, has a different colored suit depending on your version. Again, Scarlet’s is a burning orangey red colour, while Violet’s is a rich purple.
Image: The Pokemon Company
We’ll be adding more details to this guide as we get closer to Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s release, so make sure you bookmark this page and come back for the latest details!
