Pokémon Features
Feature Every Pokémon Game Narrative, Ranked From Best To Worst
Relatable villains and rivals that experience character growth make for the best stories
Pokémon games aren’t going to win a Hugo Award anytime soon for their narratives, but that doesn’t mean our many myriad adventures forwent interesting story beats. From Kanto to Galar, quirky villainous teams have strived to dominate Pokémon and people,...
Talking Point What Does Your Favourite Pokémon Say About You?
Pikachu? Wow, so basic
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are on their way, presumably adding another hundred-or-so critters to our 'Dex, and we can't lie — some of them are already winding their way into our hearts. There's Fidough, the purebread dog that everyone loves, Smoliv and Lechonk, the little guys with meme names, and Pawmi, Gen IX's Pikachu...
Soapbox For A Jaded Pokémon Fan, Scarlet And Violet Is Exactly What I Need
Just when I thought I was out... They pull me back in
For many years now, I've been buying the mainline Pokémon games primarily out of some twisted sense of obligation. Back in 1999, Pokémon Red and Blue launched at the perfect time for me; I was ten at the time of its release and had already gotten a good sense of what Pokémon was all about...
Feature Dynamax Ain’t That Bad - Pokemon’s Recent Battle Mechanics Ranked
VGC pro Wolfe Glick talks Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, and Dynamax
From Generation III onward, Game Freak has altered Pokémon’s core battle mechanics in some way or another. Double Battles and the Physical/Special move split fundamentally changed the way people play Pokémon both casually and competitively, but it’s the latter three — Mega...
Feature Is Pokémon Unite Ready For Its Moment At The Pokémon World Championships?
The Pokémon MOBA showcases its competitive chops in August
Before last year, a Pokémon spin-off in the style of League Of Legends felt like an obscure offshoot, even for a franchise that’s pitched Pikachu as a coffee-swilling detective. In many ways, a Pokémon MOBA makes considerable sense – as a world filled with hundreds of unique monsters...
Gen 9 starter final form predictions brought to life
A new generation of Pokémon is on the horizon and with it comes speculation and anticipation that runs as rampant as a horde of Tauros. During this time, a new generation’s Starter Pokémon take the centre stage, particularly their final forms. With Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, releasing on...
Memory Pak Becoming The Very Best In Black & White 2's Pokémon World Tournament
Like no one ever was...
Walking out into the arena of Pokémon Black & White 2’s Pokémon World Tournament (PWT) for the first time, I had chills. The lights were dimmed, the crowd was watching, and the commentary was introducing me – my character – as if I were some sort of celebrity. Well, sure, I’d saved Unova and become the Champion...
Feature A Pokémon Retrospective: Generation 8 – 2019 To 2022
Gen-erally speaking
Six years ago, running up to Pokémon’s 20th anniversary, we did a rundown of each of the generations of Pokémon, and then brought it back three years ago to cover Generation 7. Now, we’re truly in the news cycle for Generation 9's Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, so it’s time to take a look back at the last three years,...
Feature Which Pokémon Is Tastiest? - Food-Based Pokémon, Ranked
Gotta eat ‘em all
We here at Nintendo Life are always hungry because, while not many are aware, writing about Nintendo everyday works up a massive appetite. So it’s only natural that when the new Pokémon Scarlet and Violet trailer revealed another food-themed Pokémon, we couldn’t help but wonder how it would taste.
Feature How The Quintessential Essence Of Pokémon Games Inspires Gen After Gen
Insight from Pokémon World Champions and Temtem’s Director
In 1998 my Canadian elementary school banned everything to do with Pokémon. The games, the trading cards, and discussions about the anime – all of it was off-limits as Pocket Monster fever swept through North America like a swarm of Rattata, distracting us from our in-class reading of...
Back Page Pokémon Moms Speak Out About Palindromic Regions And Raising Champions
A trio of Pokémom
In the magazine business, the Back Page is where you'd find all the weird goofs that we couldn't fit in anywhere else. Some may call it "filler"; we prefer "a whole page to make terrible jokes that are tangentially related to the content of the mag". We don't have (paper) pages on the internet, but we still love terrible jokes...
Feature 6 Things We Pokémon Vets Want To See In Pokémon Scarlet And Violet
Old Pokémon players yell at Game Freak to get off their lawn
The year was 1998. The Spice Girls were blowing up radio stations, and Nintendo had every kid under the age of 15 glued to their Game Boys playing Pokémon Red and Blue. Many of those kids, including some of us here at Nintendo Life, are now in their thirties – and therefore not long...
Feature 7 Reasons For Picking Starter Pokémon, But How Do You Pick Yours?
What's love got to do with it?
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have finally been shown to the world and in spite of all the important debates whirling around the internet right now about the development team's enormous workload, concerned speculation over exactly how we're going to catch all of the new Pokémon this time around after Arceus' welcome re
Poll Do You Think Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Have Eye Issues?
And no, we're not talking about Compound Eyes
Just look at the way they stare right into your soul! Eyes. Yep, this is the latest controversy amongst Pokémon fans. We've left behind the five frames-per-second Gyarados' and Magnezone's flying through the skies of Hisui in Pokémon Legends: Arceus already because there's a brand new Pokémon game to...
Soapbox As A Recent Pokémon Convert I'm Excited For Scarlet And Gen 9
#TeamScarlet
Soapbox articles give our team a chance to share some personal perspectives; today it's the turn of Tom Whitehead to admit he might be a Pokémon fan now. Back in early January I wrote about how Pokémon Legends: Arceus would be my first game in the series, a confession for which I was instructed to recite 10 'Pika-Pika' chants and...
Poll Are You Excited About Pokémon Scarlet And Pokémon Violet?
A new generation is coming this year
Whether as part of a surprise strategy, out of respect for current events or a mix of both, the weekend's Pokémon Presents broadcast had very little publicity and build-up. The main English-language social media channels didn't even promote the event, with live stream pages only going live in the final hours...
Feature Which New Hisuian Pokémon Are Viable For Competitive Play?
Gotta rank ‘em all
Pokémon Legends: Arceus raises a lot of questions about the future of the official competitive Pokémon format, VGC. Will Frostbite replace the Frozen status condition? Will Drowsy supersede Sleep? How will overpowered new moves such as Stone Axe and Victory Dance translate into a ‘typical’ Pokémon game? Will there even be...
Soapbox Pokémon Legends: Arceus Is A Reminder That It's Never Too Late To Change
*click
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Stuart thinks back on decades of trying to get into Pokémon, and his joy at finally coming in from the cold... Back in the misty vales of 1999 and at the frankly silly age of 12, I must...
Feature Pokémon Legends: Arceus Has Made Pokémon Downright Disturbing Again
Putting the monsters back in your pocket
There's not a person alive who doesn't know what Pokémon is these days, not a single soul who couldn't correctly point out Pikachu in a line up of every pocket monster there has ever been. The series' success has seen it spread its easily merchandised charms to all corners of commercialism, from Funko Pops...
Soapbox I'm Looking Forward To Going To The Past With Pokémon And Ace Attorney
Super-nostalgia
My knowledge of "the past" is relatively limited to specific periods of history. I have a degree in Ancient Greek and Latin, so I could tell you all about Suetonius' account of Claudius' imperial reign in excruciating depth, although I doubt you'd want me to. I know a lot about the Tudors, because I went to school in England, and...
Talking Point A Poképro And A Pokénoob Discuss Pokémon Legends: Arceus
It's a Tom and Kate debate!
As we all know by now, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has taken the well-trodden Pokéformula of the last 20 years and turned it on its head. For fans who've been playing the games for years, it's an exciting reinvention of the series — but what about people who are completely new to Pokémon? And what about people who really...
Soapbox Pokémon Legends: Arceus Raises The Question - How Much Do Janky Graphics Matter?
THE TREE TEXTURES! THEY'RE BURNING MY EYYYEEEEESSSSSS
I have a secret to admit. I am... a little bit bored of Pokémon. If I'm completely honest with myself, I have been for a while. I've played almost every mainline game, but I started losing momentum around the time of Sun and Moon. It just seemed so overwrought and complicated, with the...
Talking Point Do You Consider Pokémon Legends: Arceus To Be A Mainline Title?
It doesn't even have two parallel versions!
Let's get this out of the way, first: Pokémon Legends: Arceus is, canonically, a mainline Pokémon game. Serebii master Joe Merrick confirmed as much late last year: As he puts it in another tweet, "it is not a spin-off... It's no more a spin-off than Super Mario Galaxy is to Super Mario World." He's...
Feature Our Totally Infallible Predictions For Hisui Forms In Pokémon Legends: Arceus
60% of the time, we’re right every time
Few Nintendo franchises ignite as much speculation as a new Pokémon game. Leading up to release, dozens of new ‘mons are trickled out, making headlines and setting Pokémon communities ablaze. Pokémon Legends: Arceus, while not the beginning of a new generation, sparked a similar fervor when they showed...
Random Remember Those AI-Generated Pokémon? Now You Can Catch One Of Your Own
Ultra Beasts ain't got nothin' on these
A few weeks back, as 2021 was coughing and spluttering to its final days, we wrote about a Buzzfeed data scientist named Max Woolf, who had created a Pokémon-inventing AI algorithm. The results ranged from "awww, look at that... pile of limbs and eyes" to "oh dear lord, does anyone have a flamethrower?" But...
Soapbox After 25 Years, Pokémon Legends: Arceus Will Be My First Pokémon Game
Can it be the Dark Souls of Pokémon (nah, probably not)?
Soapbox articles give our team a chance to share some personal perspectives; today it's the turn of Tom Whitehead to make a confession. We all have our hidden shames and gaming gaps, and it's time to share one of mine. Despite writing words about Nintendo for nearly 8 years I've always...
Hands On Knobs, Bums, And 4D Armrests - Getting Comfy In Secretlab's New Pokémon Chair
Well, it's more like "bums on"
If a person's life story can be told through the state of their office chairs, then mine would be near-unpublishable. I have left a trail of destruction in the wake of my sedentary lifestyle: hard-wearing workhorses passed down from my parents, a fancy Herman Miller at my former job, and the peeling faux-leather...
Feature Where Does Competitive Pokémon Go From Here?
Aaron “Cybertron” Zheng on what the future holds
Two years have passed since Pokémon Sword and Shield inaugurated the eighth generation of Pokémon games. With it came indignation from some fans, though most agreed Sword and Shield didn’t flounder when it came to its competitive scene. Pokémon tournaments are played under the Video Game...
Feature How Accessible Are Zelda, Pokémon And Animal Crossing For Blind Gamers?
Top Nintendo Switch games evaluated for players with vision loss
When it comes to accessibility options in video games, some companies have been quicker than others to acknowledge the need and introduce basic features into their games. While progress has been made over the past few years, there's still much room for improvement and even the most...
Feature We've Ranked All 151 Gen 1 Pokémon And It Nearly Killed Us
Brother, can you spare two hours?
The term 'genwunners' gets thrown around a lot in the wider Pokémon community, but when forced to actually rank all the original 151 we think many fans would think twice about at least a few of the original 'mon. That's not why we decided to subject ourselves to ranking all 151 of them, but it was an adequate...
Soapbox Pokémon Journeys Is Like The Original Series, But 151 Times Better
Ash made a friend his own age!
Life's been difficult lately. As much as I want to catch up on all the heart-racing tension of all the TV shows that everyone else is watching — Squid Game, Succession, the new season of The Witcher — I just don't have the energy for it. If I only have an hour or two after work, I don't want to spend it on edge,...
Random These Bot-Generated Pokémon Might Be Better Than The Real Thing
This is what happens when the Pokémon nozzle gets clogged
You know we love bot-generated content. We've used various bots to create front-page stories, and to write a better Ace Attorney script than Shu Takumi, but we haven't dabbled too much in the wild and wonderful world of Pokémon. But Max Woolf has. Woolf is a data scientist at Buzzfeed, and...
Talking Point How Do You Feel About Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl's Affection Rates?
STOP LOVING ME SO MUCH
How can your pets loving you ever be a bad thing? Well, in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, it can very easily ruin your strategies. In the Pokémon games, there is a statistic that's often called "friendship" or "affection", which can affect a few different mechanics in the game. It tells the player how close...
Feature 10 Pokémon That Deserve A Hisuian Evolution In Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Scyther shouldn’t get all the love
With Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl releasing last week, we’re now all aboard the Pokémon Legends: Arceus hype train, and we don’t expect it to stop chugging along until the game drops early next year. From the Pokémon Presents last August, where we learned of new evolutions for the oft...
Feature Pokémon Donuts: A Review - Pokéheads Or Pokébutts?
Which taste best?
In celebration of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s release, The Pokémon Company had the brilliant idea to partner with Japanese company Mr. Donut and release throughout Japan a lineup of fried dough inspired by some of our favourite Generation IV Pokémon. We can’t think of a better way to herald the release of a...
Down the path of a farming sim
This year's selection of Pocket Monster-catching video games has been a point of contention for fans since they were announced back in early 2021. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are from-the-ground-up remakes of the 2006 Nintendo DS games that fans have been begging for for years, so what’s the issue?...
Feature Which Artist's Work Would You Love To See On A Pokémon Card?
[Artist's name], I choose you!
It's basically a nerd's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Pokémon Company is once again running a competition where the winners get their art on a Pokémon trading card. Isn't that what we've all dreamed of since we very first saw a shiny Charizard on the playground? As much as I'd love to submit my...
Talking Point Which Pokémon Legends: Arceus Starter Are You Going To Pick?
Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott, oh my
Rowlet. Wait, sorry, I have to write more words than that? Fine. The 2022 release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus was shown off earlier this week, during the latest Pokémon Presents, but we already knew that the game would feature three returning starters: Oshawott for the Water type, Rowlet for the Grass type,...
Soapbox Spin-Offs Can Be A Way In Rather Than A Sell-Out
Playable windows into other worlds
Ah, spin-offs. The cynical shareholder-approved cash-grab created for a series that’s got a little too big for its boots. The desperate last-ditch attempt at trendy relevance for a fading favourite. A shoddily resurrected IP’s woefully undercooked stab at attracting a new audience. They’re the “Grandma...
Poll Pokémon Unite Is Imminent But Divisive - Are You Planning To Try It?
On paper a golden idea, but the online reaction is mixed
If you were to devise an ideal spin-off genre for the Pokémon franchise, there's every chance a cross-platform MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) would qualify as a particularly good idea. That's exactly what Pokémon Unite will try to deliver when it arrives on the Switch eShop on 21st...
Soapbox Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Release Date Worries Me, But Hopefully I'm Wrong
A potential Poké-hit, if it's treated with respect
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on hot topics or random stuff they've been thinking about, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. Today, Ryan talks about the surprisingly early release date for a big-name Pokémon title. Pokémon...
Memory Pak My Very First Shiny Pokémon
A tale of heartbreak, loss, and sparkles
Earlier this month, there was a news story about a Pokéfan who had managed to catch not only every single Pokémon, but also every single shiny. Considering that the likelihood of finding a shiny Pokémon is around 1/4096 — although you can increase the rate slightly with various methods — this is a...
Back Page What's Your Pokéshape Star Sign?
Just read the piece, it'll make sense with context
In the game magazine business, the Back Page is where you'd find all the weird goofs that we couldn't fit into the rest of the pages. Some may call it "filler"; we prefer "a whole page to make terrible jokes that are tangentially related to the content of the mag". We don't have pages on the...
Feature Pokémon Snap - The 64DD Origins Of A Picture-Perfect Spin-Off
Grab your Camerupt
Even amongst die-hard fans, chances are low that you’ve beaten most Pokémon games. Sure, main entries and subsequent remakes are one thing, but when you consider Pokémon’s seemingly endless spin-offs, that becomes a completely different chat. Now clocking over a hundred games, some may have fallen into relative obscurity,...
Feature Pokémon Origin Stories - The Inspiration Behind Your Favourite Pocket Monsters
A quarter-century of Pokémon designs
Pokémon is a juggernaut of a franchise. Countless games, movies, merchandise and mobile apps make this literally the biggest media franchise ever made in terms of cold hard cash. Of course this couldn’t have happened without long-lasting appeal, and one area that the franchise nearly always seems to nail down...
Feature Would You Rather: Eat A Pikachu, Or An Eevee?
Sit down at our table for the most unethical meal you'll ever eat
Welcome to "Would You Rather", where we ask you to choose from two (or more) equally awesome/horrible things, and find out if you're in the majority or the minority. Of course, you can always argue your case in the comments. Bienvenue, hungry diners, and welcome to the Nintendo Life...
Feature 10 Pokémon Spin-Offs You May Have Forgotten About
We explore some of Pokémon’s lesser-known adventures
When main Pokémon entries continuously bring in millions of sales every time, it’s hardly surprising that Nintendo’s hit series has so many spin-offs. Since Pocket Monsters: Red and Green arrived in Jap
Soapbox How One Large Vegetable Highlights The Issue With Japan-Only Merch
I want the Big Turnip
While perusing news on the upcoming release of Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town - a game I am reviewing, and a series I love - I stumbled upon something special: a limited edition turnip plushie, available only in Japan. I... love the big turnip... And, you see, the thing is, I want the Big Turnip. But more than just...
Memory Pak Taking My First Starter Pokémon All The Way To The Elite Four
Making my parents proud by beating a video game
My first Pokémon was a Chikorita named Chicky, and I loved that tiny green horse-thing with all my heart. I came to Pokémon a little later than many of my friends and peers, having missed out on Pokémon Red and Blue by not owning a Game Boy, but I spent many hours watching others wander around...
Soapbox Pokémon Diamond And Pearl's Greatest Contribution To The Series Was The Underground
And sort of inventing Pokémon God
There's a Pokémon Presents tomorrow - the Pokémon-flavoured version of a Nintendo Direct - and I should be feeling like a kid on Christmas, since the announcement of a remake for Pokémon Diamond and Pearl seems almost certain. But I feel more like a kid on someone else's birthday: wishing I could