We hate to say it, but the reality is that even with all of the wonderful games out there to enjoy these days, there's still plenty of stuff going on in the world that's sure to bring you down. Life's tough, but some dedicated Pokémon fans are currently gearing up to make some people's Christmases just that little bit brighter this year.
For the last few years, Poké-fans have been taking part in something dubbed 'Operation Delibird'. Our network neighbours over at Eurogamer have shared a piece on the spectacle today:
"Operation Delibird was named after Operation Zubat - an attempt to flood the Wonder Trade system with annoyingly common Zubats - and Delibird, a Father Christmas-cosplaying bird Pokémon with the signature move "Present". But, instead of annoying the recipient of your Pokémon, the intention is to trade something much more desirable as a Christmas gift".
As mentioned there, Operation Delibird is a movement where players aim to build up a number of rare, sought after Pokémon, all ready to send out to random new players - perhaps a child who's finally got their hands on their very first Pokémon game - to give them something special at Christmas. It's been going on for a few years now, and it appears the community is well on board once again.
As you can imagine, logging on to Pokémon Sword and Shield's Surprise Trade feature and receiving something like a version-exclusive Pokémon, a Shiny, or even a Starter Pokémon that you'd otherwise struggle to get could really make someone's day. We think it's a wonderful idea, so we'll leave some tips below which should help you to get involved:
What Is Surprise Trading And How Do I Do It?
A Surprise Trade allows you to send any of your Pokémon to a randomly selected player from around the world. You'll receive the Pokémon that your partner has selected for the trade.
In Pokémon Sword and Shield, you can do this by hitting 'Y' to access the Y-Comm menu and selecting 'Surprise Trade'. You'll be asked which Pokémon you'd like to send, and then all you need to do is sit back and wait for the trade to take place.
For more, the official Pokémon Sword and Shield website has an article on this very topic.
Which Pokémon Should I Send?
Any Pokémon could make someone happy, but the idea behind Operation Delibird is to send rare Pokémon. This could be a Shiny Pokémon, a Version-Exclusive Pokémon, or even one that can only be found near the end of the game.
You can easily save up lots of your chosen Pokémon by leaving one in a Day Care Center alongside a Ditto. By doing this, you'll receive Eggs which will hatch another version of the rare Pokémon you've chosen. Why not save up a whole computer box or two?
How Do I Know I'll Be Matched With A New Player?
Sadly, you don't. One trick Operation Delibird participants use is to wait until they partner with someone who sends a Pokémon that can be caught near the start of the game, hoping that the trainer might only have access to the first few Routes at that point. If you receive a rare Pokémon yourself, jump back into the Surprise Trade and send it away again - hopefully it'll end up with someone who wasn't expecting it.
Sure, it's just a digital monster, but you might just make someone you've never met have something to smile about. And let's face it, you'll feel good doing it, too. Merry Christmas!
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 27
More like another reminder that Pokemon audience isn't entirely reigned by fans either. Big props to everyone involved.
Unfortunately, Step 1: Pay Nintendo money to connect to the online...
I did something like this when I finished Pokrmon X. I knew I wouldn't go back to it so I traded all my high level pokemon before I quit for good. Nice to think someone would get a nice surprise.
Maybe Nintendo could setup a system where every Christmas a player could opt to receive a surprise shiny Pokémon as a gift from another player. This could make the community of players willing to give more excited for shiny hunting at the end of the year and it would also pretty much eliminate most flaws with the current "system".
But the good intentions are appreciated nonetheless.
I just love the pictue chosen for this article.
Ha. That’s pretty sweet. I think I’ll join in on the action. Trade a Sirfetch’d and maybe a starter Pokémon.
Surprise trades are a great addition to the game. Especially when the system knows what country a pokemon is from. Maybe in the next game there will be region locked pokemon, so getting a pokemon from another country would be even more special
@ViewtifulJotun Never thought about doing that, it's a great idea
I grinded for 200 Pokémon to finally get a L1 Larvitar that I could rename; my son jumps on for the first time and gets one and 2 Charmander
Phase 1: Catch as many skwovet and Wooloo as I can on route 1.
Phase 2: Trade out everything and get covered in rare mons.
Phase 3: Realize I just stolen a lot of cool things from innocent kids and feel ashmed until the next games come out.
But seriously, don't hatch such a mean plan!
Be a Delibird, not a Team Rocket's grunt!
@BakaKnight There is atleast one Delibird working for Team Rocket in the anime. In season 5, Jessie, James and Meowth was in debt to the organization for wasting money on their machines, and a Delibird was sendt to collect it.
@tobibra Oh right, I remember that episode!
Well, then be a good Delibird, not a Team Rocket's Delibird!
Been preparing for this ever since I finished the dex. I save a large portion of extra breedjects from trying to get a shiny specifically for today. I hope everyone that gets the breedjects enjoys them (:
Got 4 boxes of Scorbunnies ready to go
I've already completed the Pokedex, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to send out some of my rarer Pokemon.
As for the shinies though...
Even with the shiny charm, one still eludes me, so when I find one, it's gonna be all mine
I'm generous, but not that generous
That is a nice gesture. Wish I can be on the giving side and not on the receiving end. Just started and only up to Rolling Fields.
I get a lot of Level 1 starters already. I assume they're breed rejects but I pass them onto others so people can fill up their Pokedex. I'm prepping a box full of Eevee's for Christmas surprise trading. Let the world be flooded with cuteness and may Pokedex's be filled as the cute little puppers evolve.
I didn’t even know this was a thing.... I’ve done it every year since Wonder trading was introduced. This year I was hoping to breed and send out a few shinies to lucky random players.
@ToonStuff If you have the stomach / time for it, Breeding via the Masuda method more or less guarantees a shiny. Not a matter of if, but when. That said, RNGesus can be cruel from time to time. Took me about 850 Sobbles before I hit my shiny. On average only takes about 200-250 per shiny though, or about 2-3 days of hatching 90-120 eggs daily (about an hour of time per day.... fill 2 boxes with eggs, then start hatching 5 at a time while still collecting eggs for third box, most efficient method I’ve found)
It'd be even better for them to convince Game Freak to bring back all Pokémon--how awful it is that they're not able to work their project with every Pokémon.
@RainbowGazelle : Yeah. I've been resisting that. I'm not paying Nintendo 30 smackers a year just so I can trade the odd Pokémon and play Tetris 99 online. It's an awful value proposition however the suckers try to spin it.
I have a 12 month card via the Tetris 99 physical edition, but I figure that I may use it when NSO has substantially more to offer, or I might just end up selling it.
I once got a shiny Mewtwo in a wonder trade.
Surprise trade has treated me very well this game - lots of powerful, rare, level one Pokemon. What I commonly call "breed-jects" leftover Pokemon from people breeding for competitive Pokemon. Most already have ideal natures and abilities and 3-4 perfect IVs. It doesn't get much better than that.
The amount of time that goes into shiny hunting though - sorry, that's never happening in a surprise trade. If you get one, it's probably hacked. If I were to give a shiny as a gift, it would be to someone I know and care about. A friend or family member.
What a lovely idea.
So the Pokemon version of the Salvation Army, cool.
@RainbowGazelle it's nearly 2020, EVERYONE lost the right to complain about paying for online in 2002 when they all made Xbox Live a huge success. And don't tell me it's about the quality of the service, because everyone complained about that when it was free. You want it to be better? Invest in it and it will get better. Either way, complaining today about a paid online service is a waste of. You already lost.
As for the topic at hand, this is a great thing for those who do end up with a nice surprise. I've got several boxes full of Pokémon I've hatched while trying to build my perfect lv 1 starting team for my second playthrough. The first step was to eliminate the original starters... Their evolutions are pure garbage.
@Nintyfan So how's that working out for you? What has Nintendo done to improve the service since they started charging for it?
For the record, I never complained about the quality of Nintendo's online. It worked fine on the Wii U. And in this case, I only want to exchange a few bytes of data with other users (trading). This has been the same process from the DS through 3DS. I'm not sure how paying is going to improve the quality of Pokémon trading. Will the trades happen 2 seconds faster? Is that where the money goes?
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