Eye yi yi, Lucy. The news just does not want to stop coming in today - all while I am on slow dialup and have to post stories with lots of images. Seriously folks, if you are still using dialup, you have no idea what you are missing out on with DSL / Cable. Read the previous news story on the Diamond and Pearl starters if you have not been here today yet. Tomorrow, we will have a new card review.
EX Crystal Guardians Images - PokeBlob has been able to obtain a Pokemon World magazine containing several pre-release EX Crystal Guardians images (not scans - computer images). He scanned the pages containing the images, and you can see all of the cards below. The images are not the best of quality, but you can at least read the text on the cards. Remember, between Friday and Saturday, we will have EX Crystal Guardians scans from the pre-releases, so be sure to check back here for the scans as usual! If you yourself can scan some cards, please e-mail or PM me for details on how the cards should be scanned and sent here. Thank you!
I am on dialup and on vacation, so updating is hard. The Diaruga above is done by Cascade_Gon_Pory. If you don't like it, there will be a new header next month. :p
Diamond and Pearl Starters and Other Info - All of the information below is translated by Bangiras and is from the Japanese magazine Coro-Coro. Click the thumbnails below for larger images (note that the page is split into two images). The first three Pokemon in the first image are the Diamond and Pearl starters. As we told you in a previous news story, GameFreak in the past has said things about their games that did not turn out to be true. The Darkness / Fighting / Psychic starter thing they said on the official Diamond and Pearl website a few weeks ago is now false, and you can now dismiss all of the fake Pokemon floating around that appear to be of those types.
- Naetoru (Grass Starter) is the Little Root Pokemon. It is pure Grass, with Overgrow as its ability. Its name means sappling+tortoise.
- Hikozaru (Fire Starter) is the Baby Monkey Pokemon. It is pure Fire and has Blaze as its ability. Its name means "little flame monkey."
- Pocchama (Water Starter) is the Penguin Pokemon. It is pure Water, with Torrent as its ability. His name is a combination of "pocchan" and "shamo," which means "rookie fighting bird." Perhaps it will be a Water and Fighting Pokemon in its final evolution?
- The (confirmed) Electabuzz evo is called Elekiburu and his special ability is Electric Engine. It raises his Speed.
- Elekiburu learns an attack called Giga Impact.
- Rozureido is a Bouquet Pokemon, Grass/Poison, with Natural Cure and Poison Point.
- Lucario learns an attack called Feint, and it can hit through Protect/Detect.
- Perap learns an attack called Chatter and it confuses the opponent. You can record your voice into the DS microphone and he repeats it when he does the move.
- Drapion learns Poison Spikes, and when a new Pokemon enters the field it gets poisoned. It's like Spikes, but instead of doing damage, it poisons.
- Bonsly is Pearl-exclusive and Mime Jr. is Diamond-exclusive.
- Mime Jr. has Soundproof and Filter as its abilities.
- Bonsly has Rock Head and Sturdy as its abilities.
Interesting news today on the Diamond and Pearl front. Hopefully our header will reflect the news by the end of the day.
Info on the Next TCG Set - The next TCG set will indeed be featuring Diamond and Pearl Pokemon, and will be released sometime between October and November. We will see the return of "flavor text" (the Pokemon PokeDex descriptions on the bottom of cards), as well as the levels Pokemon are at. Sets will also now not only have booster packs and theme decks, but "entry packs," in which new players can learn how to play the game. Whether or not the "entry packs" make their way to America and other countries is unknown at this point. We will have more information on the next set as we get closer to Diamond and Pearl's release date of September 28th, and you can be sure we will be your #1 (and possibly only) source on this information.
New Diamond and Pearl Names - Thanks to Vincent and this official product website, we now know the names of three new Diamond and Pearl Pokemon - Naetoru, Hikozaru, and Pochama. These three Pokemon will be included with the Japanese toy set, Pokemon Medal Collection, so there names are most likely genuine. Hikozaru's name translates into English as being a "fire monkey," Naetoru's name translates as to being a "beetle," and Pochama is similar to "child" and "young." This is the only official information that is known at the moment on these new Pokemon, but we will keep you updated on this news as we receive more developments. The rumors going around that these are the starter Pokemon and that Pochama is a penguin do not have any official basis.
Bellossom Card Review - Our Strategists have reviewed [Bellossom from EX Unseen Forces] this week. To discuss the card and the reviews, you can post in this forum thread. To read previous card reviews, please visit our new [Card Reviews] section.
I will update tomorrow - was so busy today (and will be again tomorrow). Tomorrow we will have some news and a new card review (and possibly a new header). In the meantime, if you can scan EX Crystal Guardian cards from the pre-releases next week, feel free to drop me a PM and I will tell you the specifications for scanning!
And since there is nothing to comment on, I leave you with this old Pokemon Red and Blue commercial that you probably have not seen in seven years.
Pikachu must had been absorbing some helium before the cameras started rolling.
Nada Going on - There is no news. Seriously, I can't find any. :p So, to show I am still alive, I'll just post my progress with content. I have been working on EX Holon Phantoms scans for the past few days, and have about fourty scans done (because of their weird holo effect, it takes about five times longer to work on them than a regular holo scan - I spent 15 minutes on some!). I am going to try to finish them this week. I am also making the scans a little larger this time around, and making the watermark a bit smaller, so people can still somewhat make avatars out of the scans and not have the watermark totally ruin the picture. Then I will jump back to EX Unseen Forces, since I am missing a lot of scans from it, and after that, I guess I will work on more scans and content.
I will be going on vacation Thursday, and I do not know if I will have internet this time. The past three or four times, I have been able to get it, but who knows what could happen this time. I will be on vacation during the EX CG pre-releases, so the only way I can work on scans is for people to send them to me to work on (which was the case last year, and the year before). If you happen to get any cards and have a scanner, please drop me an e-mail!
And since there is nothing to comment on, I leave you with this old Pokemon spoof video that everyone has probably already seen by now. :p There are no freaky green ladies in this one.
Stupid interweb.
Pokemon Wal-Mart Day List Updated! (EDIT #1) - The list of Wal-Marts that will be celebrating the release of EX Crystal Guardians has been updated with almost two hundred new stores! To check if your Wal-Mart will be holding the event, click here. Note: There is still a huge spelling error on that page. :p
Sunflora (EX Unseen Forces) Review - We have two extensive reviews on [Sunflora from EX Unseen Forces] today. All of our reviews will now be included on our new [Card Reviews page] (under 'Trading Card Game' in the drop down menu), so if you want to access a card we have reviewed in the past, you can just go to that page. Also, I realized only yesterday that the commenting thread for ATM Rock was not open to posting for people on our forums, so now it is open for posting. To comment on the Sunflora card reviews, click here.
New Pokemon Ranger Logo - Looks like Nintendo did not like the old logo. The Pokemon Ranger logo has been redone, as shown below, and reflects the Japanese logo a bit more now. Remember, the release date for it is October 30th in the USA.
And since there is nothing to comment on... for this news story's commenting thread, I leave you today with a cool Team Rocket video. Do not play it if you suffer from laughter attacks, heart attacks, panic attacks, attacks in general, or are viewing this website at night while other people are sleeping.
EDIT #1: I have added the release date for Pokemon Ranger to the right menu.
Let's play a game. It's called "Find the two spelling errors and one general error on the following POP announcement pages." :p
Errata on Blastoise and Articuno ex - Blastoise and Articuno ex just became more powerful. POP has announced that the person using Blastoise or Articuno ex's attack will be able to choose which energy the opponent has to discard, not the opponent as previously ruled. POP has also clarified some issues with Holon Energy WP and Ancient Technical Machine [Ice]. To view the announcement, click here.
Wal-Mart to Celebrate Launch of EX CG - Going to miss a pre-release? Wynaut go celebrate the launch of EX Crystal Guardians at Wal-Mart?
Come on in to your local Wal-Mart store between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday, August 26th, to celebrate the launch of the exclusive PokeÌmon Trading Card Game EX Crystal Guardians "Earth Shower" theme deck! To celebrate at participating stores, we'll be offering demos of how to play the PokeÌmon TCG, as well as handing out 2-card promo packs and cool PokeÌmon activity books while supplies last!
EX Crystal Guardians won't be released until Wednesday, August 30th. Don't miss your opportunity to take advantage of this Wal-Mart-exclusive offer!
The first thing I noticed when reading this article was that they are calling one of the EX Crystal Guardians theme decks "Earth Shower." As we know from the images I posted here on July 17th, the two theme deck names were "Storm Surge" and "Green Cyclone," so what could this new theme deck be? A combination of the two? A brand new one exclusive to Wal-Mart? I suppose we will find out soon. To check if your local Wal-Mart will be promoting this event, click here.
EDIT #1: We are now 96.5% sure they are fake (good thing too since they are ugly).
Fake Pokemon or the New Starters? - The below Pokemon are being classified as FAKE (guilty until proven innocent), so do not assume they are real yet. This image comes from an unknown source, and by the looks of it, the image seems to be fake. Bangiras did translate the names, which are right next to the Pokemon's corresponding Japanese text, but even she thinks the image is a fake. Recently, many Japanese fans have been creating fake Pokemon, so it's not out of the realm of possibility for these three Pokemon to be forged (they like to trick stupid English peoples with their fake Pokemon). :p Most likely, I will edit this story later saying "EDIT #1: Yep, the Pokemon below were fake," but you never know what could happen. They do appear to be of the Fighting, Darkness, and Psychic types just by looking at their coloring, which would correspond with what was said on the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Yahoo site the other day, so you never know if they could be real or not. I will update this later when we find out more information.
Clearer Picture of Korobooshi - N-Touch has posted a better quality picture of Korobooshi, the newest Diamond and Pearl Pokemon to be revealed at the PokeJungle Tours in Japan. Click the thumbnail below for a larger image.
The response to the new VAs was extremely positive on all fronts. Barely anyone disliked them, and PUSA is most likely taking in all of the feedback people have been posting (such as Ash sounding too girly). Also, I am re-doing the EX Holon Phantoms scans now, and they should be up soon.
ATM Rock Card Review - Our strategists have reviewed Ancient Technical Machine [Rock] from EX Hidden Legends. We will now be posting the reviews on the website instead of the forums, and you can comment on the reviews (such as agreeing with them, pointing out errors, expanding on their thoughts...) on our forums from now on. So, to read ATM Rock's review, [click here], and to comment on the reviews for it, click here.
Few More Lucario Clips - People were requesting to hear Bonsly, Weavile, Mime Jr., and Queen (Lady?) Eileen, so I decided to post them. Note that 4Kids mispronounced Bonsly's name - it should be Bon-sly, not Bon-zlee (as pointed out by a PUSA representative yesterday).
Also, since some people could not get the Battle Frontier opening to play yesterday, I put it into a different format to watch. Click here to watch it. I would suggest you right click the link and download it if it does not play in your browser. Note that the video is dark because the room in which it was filmed in was dark. :p
Pokemon Showcase - It looks like PUSA has taken to television now with advertising new Pokemon products. They must have taken the idea of advertising products this way from the Shop 'N Squirtle (or whatever its called) show on Pokemon Channel. Anyways, the video below on YouTube shows off a lot of their unique products - a lot of products that you probably haven't seen if you don't frequent the Pokemon Center website. Just watching it makes me want to buy some of them (the Ash statue, Pokemon watch, plushies...).
