Patrons can take their ticket to 1 of the 7 participating Funbox locations from July 13th, 2013 until August 15th, 2013 to receive the Mewtwo. Players need to bring their copy of Pocket Monsters Black, White, Black 2 or White 2 with their Nintendo DS in order to receive the Mewtwo.
Distribution Locations
Living Mall Branch - 5F., No.138, Sec. 4, Bade Rd., Songshan Dist., Taipei City (京華城分店 台北市八德路4段138號5樓)
Mega City Branch - 5F., No.28, Xinzhan Rd., Banqiao Dist., New Taipei City (板橋大遠百分店 新北市板橋區新站路28號5樓)
Big City Branch - 5F., No.229, Zhongyang Rd., East Dist., Hsinchu City (新竹巨城購物中心分店 新竹市中央路229號5樓)
Top City Branch - 5F., No.105, Sec. 2, Taichung Port Rd., Xitun Dist., Taichung City (台中大遠百分店 台中市中港路二段105號5樓)
Kaohsiung Far Eastern Department Store Branch - 6F., No.21, Sanduo 4th Rd., Lingya Dist., Kaohsiung City (高雄大遠百分店 高雄市三多四路21號6樓)
A new Pokémon Center will open in Japan in late November of 2013. The Pokémon Center TOKYO-BAY will be located on the second floor of the LaLaport TOKYO-BAY shopping mall. People can enjoy their shopping fun with their friends and family as the mall will offer a variety of products and services. Over 2500 products will be available at the Pokémon Center.
Satoshi's Pikachu, Iris' Kibago, Dent's Yanappu and Okido's Rotom will all be distributed to the Japanese players of Black, White, Black 2 and White 2 from August 10th, 2013 until September 6th, 2013. The Pokémon will be distributed at the Pokémon Centers in Japan and there will be four separate distribution periods. Further details will be announced on August 2nd, 2013.
Distribution Periods
Period 1: August 10th, 2013 to August 16th, 2013
Period 2: August 17th, 2013 to August 23rd, 2013
Period 3: August 24th, 2013 to August 30th, 2013
Period 4: August 31st, 2013 to September 6th, 2013
The official Pokémon World Championships website for Vancouver 2013 has opened. The Pokémon World Championships are open to all spectators at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Players are required to have their badge in order to take advantage of the Player Only retail hours. Information and details regarding the events have been posted and are listed below.
The 2013 Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 Battle Competition took place on Sunday 14 July 2013 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This was the final in a series of five competitions taking place in Australia over the past 2 weeks, with previous events in Perth (Western Australia), Melbourne (Victoria), Brisbane (Queensland) and Adelaide (South Australia). The winner of each age division in each state was awarded with flights, accommodation and tickets to attend the first ever Australian National Championships in Melbourne on 20-21 July. The winners and runners-up of the nationals will be given the opportunity to travel to Canada to compete in the World Championships next month.
The Sydney competition took place at Luna Park by Sydney's picturesque harbour. Many hopeful competitors gathered at the park prior to the 10am registration, however the crowds did not appear to be as big as those at the Black and White Battle Competition at Myer in 2011. There were approximately 20 entrants in the junior divison (born 2000 or later) and 76 in the senior divison (born 1999 or earlier). These state competitons only had two age brackets however the National Championships next week will follow the official World Championship format with three age divisons.
There were also a few rule differences to the official World Championship rules. Battles were played as one-on-one knockouts with the winner advancing to the next round, with the exception of the grand final for each age divison, which was a best-of-three. Competitors were permitted to change their teams in between rounds however in the grand final battles, players were only allowed to change the order of their pokémon, not the composition of their team.
After registration, players and spectators gathered in the competition room listening to music tracks from Pokémon Black and White. The large room was set up with chairs for both spectators and battlers, which was a welcome change from previous Nintendo Australia competitions where everybody had to stand in confined areas. There was one large flatscreen TV set up at the front of the room to display battles, however due to the number of participants, there were also other battles happening on players' own DS systems at the same time as those on the big screen. These side battles did rely on honesty as they were not supervised by the host once they commenced, however all players appeared to display good sportsmanship with no disputes, and shaking hands and congratulating each other after battles.
Unfortunately the day started off with some technical difficulties, with the TV's display regularly cutting out during the first two battles. The players were able to keep battling on their DS screens but it was a disappointing start for spectators who were keen to watch the battles and possibly get an idea of potential opponents' strategies. Confusion particularly arose when the TV missed displaying players sending out their pokémon, then cut back in to reveal 3 Rotoms on the field - it appeared that there may have been a rule breach till it was revealed that one player's Ditto had transformed into the other player's Rotom.
Luna Park staff soon brought out a new TV which they set up to replace the first. In order to test that it was working, the host Jamie asked for a volunteer to battle against him using whichever pokémon happened to be in his parties on his own two game cards. A young girl took up the challenge and then proceeded to tell Jamie how bad his team was, which made everyone smile. Fortunately this TV worked without any problems, so it was used for the rest of the competition.
The first round of battles was between players numbered 1-32 from the senior division, then the senior battles took a break while the entire junior division competition took place. The young players in the junior division displayed great strategies and skill, as well as maturity and respect when victories were decided - everyone just seemed to be having a fun time playing. When it came time for the junior finals, the numbers resulted in there being three semi-finalists. To resolve this, the host drew one of the finalists' numbers out of a box to be allowed to go straight to the grand final, resulting in there being only one semi-final match between the remaining two finalists. As it turned out, the player whose number was drawn ended up winning the first two grand final battles, so no third deciding match was required and he was declared the junior division champion.
After the completion of the junior division finals, the competition returned to the senior division, with the rest of the players completing their round 1 matches and then moving on to further rounds. As the matches went on, the host tried to keep the spectators entertained by asking their opinions on the battles happening on the big screen, as well as occasionally passing the microphone over and giving people chances to commentate the battles. There were a few giveaways throughout the day for members of the audience who could answer simple Nintendo trivia questions, however there weren't as many as there were at previous competitions, and the prizes were very minor: some Wii U lanyards, stickers and cards for other Nintendo properties - none of them were actually Pokémon-related. Nonetheless, the little giveaways kept the audience engaged, and the younger players especially seemed to really enjoy the opportunity to display their Nintendo knowledge.
Throughout the competition, there was a wide variety of pokémon and strategies used. Many players used weather-themed teams, with sandstorm being a favourite but also rain, sun and hail seen. According to the host, Sydney had its share of unique pokémon such as Ditto and the Eeveelutions, which were generally not used in the other cities. There was also a much higher number of shiny pokémon than seen in previous tournaments, including shiny legendaries. This may have been due to the introduction of the Shiny Charm key item in Black 2 and White 2, or perhaps people just had a lot of time on their hands!
By 4.20pm it was finally time for the senior division semi-finals.
The tension then built in the grand final best-of-three between players Steven and Hugh, who won one battle each and then went on to the deciding match.
Hugh was finally declared the senior division champion and will be flown to Melbourne this weekend to compete in the Australian National Championships.
Overall, although the competition had the impression of being organised at the last minute and didn't seem to have quite the same grandeur as previous tournaments which were much more hyped and had big prizes, Nintendo Australia still did a great job at providing a fun day for everybody and an opportunity for Pokémon fans to meet each other and hang out. Everbody at the event was enthusiastic about Australia participating in future World Championships, and the host strongly indicated that this would be the case after the global relase of X and Y in October. Hopefully this year's competitions will be the first in a series of more regular official Pokémon events by Nintendo Australia, and Pokémon X and Y truly will bring about the age of a completely global Pokémon community.
The official Pokémon website revealed last week that the first ever Pokémon Game Show (ポケモンゲームショー) will be held at Tokyo Big Site (東京ビッグサイト) August 17th, 2013 and August 18th, 2013. Admission is free to the event. Robert from Pokémon Smash will also be in attendance and there will be a lottery to determine who can battle them at the event. This will be the first time that people will be able to play the demo for Pokémon X and Pokémon Y.
Champions' Pokémon Event Distribution
Players of the Japanese version of Pocket Monsters Black 2 and White 2 will be able to download 1 of the 7 Champions' Pokémon. Below is a chart of the Pokémon that players will be able to choose from and their corresponding Champion and game.
Pocket Monsters Black 2 White 2 / Scramble U Battle Corners
Areas will be set aside for gamers to play and battle each other in Pocket Monsters Black 2 White 2. Also there will be an area for Pokémon Scramble U with vending machines for people to purchase NFC figures. The Pokémon Game Show event also marks the first time that players will be able to get Black Kyurem and White Kyurem NFC figures for the game.
Pokémon Tretta
Visitors will be able to receive a special Pikachu Rookie Tretta on a first come first serve basis. To promote the 16th Pocket Monsters movie, a special Red Genesect Trophy Tretta can be obtained if players defeat it in the Challenge Cup.
This will also be the first time that people will able to play Pokémon Tretta Lab for Nintendo 3DS (ポケモントレッタラボ for ニンテンドー3DS). The application will be released in Japan on August 10th, 2013. Tretta players are welcomed to bring their Tretta's to try them out in the Tretta Lab.
The Seoul Character and Licensing Fair (코엑스 서울캐릭터 라이선싱페어2013) is being held from July 17th, 2013 until July 21st, 2013 at COEX. A Jirachi will be distributed outside the Hall B area from 10:00AM to 6:00PM via Infared to players of the Korean versions of Black, White, Black 2 and White 2. No fair ticket is required to receive this Jirachi.
The World Hobby Fair '13 Summer (次世代ワールドホビーフェア’13 Summer) took place at Makuhari Messe on June 29th and 30th, 2013. Pokémon had a large booth at the fair this year which included a stage show hosted by Pokémon Smash International Division members Neese and Maru. Two different battles from Pokémon X and Y were showcased which revealed a lot of new details about the moves that the new 6th Generation Pokémon can learn. Our affiliate Serebii has complied a list which is in the table below.
The booth also had artwork displayed from the new movie 16, had a Tretta area, had a TCG area, had a large screen that showed the trailer from the 16th movie and had an area for the FunFest Mission.
The official Japanese Pokémon website has announced that another Jirachi will be distributed at the Tohoku Pokémon Center from August 1st, 2013 until August 31st, 2013 to celebrate the Tanabata Festival. Players of the Japanese versions of Black, White, Black 2 and White 2 can receive the Jirachi.
McDonalds Japan has revealed a new promotion for their McD de DS (マックでDS) platform called Gather Pokémon Pieces! (ポケモン ピースあつめ!). Patrons of participating McDonalds locations in Japan who bring in their Nintendo DS from July 12th, 2013 until September 5th, 2013 will be able to download the app to their system. Those who collect all 8 puzzle pieces from various McDonalds locations will receive a coupon for a small fries.
The July 2013 issue of Corocoro revealed that a special Jirachi event distribution will take place in Japan from July 1st, 2013 until July 31st, 2013 for the players of Black, White, Black 2 and White 2. The official website has revealed the details and it will coincide with the airing of the anime episode Wish Upon Jirachi! The Seven Days Miracle! (ジラーチに願いを! 七日間の奇跡!!).