Welcome to Vol. 3, issue 27 of Johto Times! This week’s issue includes another chapter of my Legacy of Pokémon feature, where I share my personal memories and experiences with the Pokémon franchise. This feature focuses on the eighth generation of games, and some prior spin-off titles which I missed out on. It was also the time when I decided to complete several Pokémon TCG sets from my childhood. I hope you’ll enjoy it, and check out previous features in the series. As always, we also have a recap of the latest Pokémon news!

As a reminder, we are currently running a poll to determine the fans’ favourite Pokémon. Until July 31st, 2025, fans can choose six Pokémon originating from each Pokémon region, and the ten highest-ranked Pokémon in each poll will go through to a grand final in August 2025, where we will determine the overall winner. So far we have received more than 325,000 votes! Check out the poll here and be sure to share it with your friends!

Pokémon Sleep celebrates the second anniversary of its global launch, on July 20th, 2025

Pokémon Sleep will be celebrating the second anniversary of its global release on July 20th, 2025. To mark the occasion, Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip will make their game debut during the Second Anniversary Fest, which begins on July 14th, 2025. Prior to that, a Second Anniversary Prelude event will take place with Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly having a greater appearance rate, and a bonus 150 sleep points will be given out each day of the prelude, which will run between July 7th to July 14th, 2025.

For more information, be sure to check out the Pokémon Sleep website

Source: Pokémon Sleep, Pokémon Sleep

Another Sneak Peek event is currently live in Pokémon TCG Pocket, giving players a chance to see one card before making their selection. It's a great way to increase your chances of picking a card you really want! This event runs until July 5th, 2025.

Source: Pokémon TCG Pocket in-game news

As we reported last week, Pokémon GO's 9th Anniversary Party is currently taking place, ending on Sunday, July 6th, 2025, at 20:00 local time. Full details can be found on the Pokémon GO website.

Source: Pokémon GO

Feature: The Legacy of Pokémon - Part 8 (Generation VIII)

Mainline Pokémon games have been influenced by a variety of locations around the world, and up until this point, had included four parts of Japan, New York and Hawai’i in the USA, and France. So I was thrilled to see a game based on the UK, my own country, for generation VIII. My initial first reaction to the announcement of the game wasn’t great, mostly due to the starter Pokémon designs, and the low quality visuals. Because of this I decided not to buy the game, but thanks to my hobby as a writer for video games, I had the opportunity to evaluate it prior to launch.

Pokémon Sword was provided to me as a review copy by Nintendo and I felt an immense responsibility to describe my experience as fairly as I could, drawing on my years of exposure to the series and writing something that would help fans make an informed purchase. Unfortunately, reviewing the game impacted my enjoyment, as I had to complete it quickly in order to get my opinion out there while the game was still relevant. As part of my review, I highlighted some of the odd decisions Game Freak had taken, such as locking volume controls behind the easy to miss Hi-tech Earbuds, and the introduction of TR’s (Technical Records) as single use devices, which I thought was a strange decision. I also highlighted the overall poor animations and graphics across the game, and felt that it probably needed more time for polish before it was released.

But I had praise for it too, specific locations of the game did look quite beautiful, Ballonlea and the Gravesite of the Slumbering Weald in particular. Sword took on a very different look and feel to the games I played as a teenager and it was amazing to see how far the series had come since the Game Boy days. I also enjoyed seeing how real-world towns, cities and landscapes across the UK influenced the design of locations in the game, many of which I have visited personally.

I found humour in the slang terms used in the game’s dialogue, and the addition of Pokémon themed on England. These include Stonjourner, which resembles the prehistoric monuments at Stonehenge, Sinistea, which is conveniently based around Britain’s love of tea, and I assume Corviknight was inspired by ravens found at the Tower of London. They were fun and welcomed additions that I enjoyed discovering as I played. Characters such as Opal and Bede provided some comic relief, and I thought Hop was a well-written rival with great characterisation and story, clearly someone who wanted to live up to the same standards as his champion brother, Leon. The character of Ball Guy was my favourite of them all, and I would make a point to visit every Pokémon Gym and locate him and receive one of his Pokéballs and watch him dance.

My copy of Pokémon Sword

I have plenty of good memories of Max Raid Battles with some of my online friends, such as Axel, Komodo Zero and Quaddy. We tried our best to obtain as many legendary and shiny Pokémon as we could, and I loved this co-operative gameplay, which added to the longevity of the game. While the downloadable content for the games were underwhelming overall, Pokémon Sword was an above average experience and a step forward from Pokémon Sun. I first beat it on November 24th 2019, with a team that included Appletun (Apple Crumble), Sirfetch’d, Lanturn, Rillaboom (Donkey Konga), Gardevoir and Centiskortch. Appletun and Sirfetch’d in particular have become my two favourite Pokémon from this era.

This generation also marked the time I first tried my hand at competitive Pokémon battling. I appreciated the patience of my friend Axel, who tried hard to teach me the basic mechanics of Sword and Shield. I brought together a team made up of legacy Pokémon from my past, games such as Colosseum, Ruby and FireRed, along with creatures from Pokémon GO and Pokémon Sword, a team that reflected my journey through the series up until that point. It was an interesting experience, but not something I felt overly enthusiastic about.

The game is memorable to me for a deeply personal reason. Prior to the release of Sword and Shield, a close member of my family had a significant medical issue which created a large amount of stress. While we were awaiting the diagnosis, I was doing everything I could to take my mind off the situation, trying to find distractions to get me through this difficult time. I spent this period writing the review, which served as a good distraction.

I tried to find other ways to take my mind off things, and one was finally organising and tidying my living space, something I had been putting off for a while. One afternoon, as I started to clear out the bottom of my wardrobe, I came across a cardboard box and a folder filled with my old Pokémon cards from childhood. I spent a while looking through them, reminded once again how close I had come to completing the Fossil set, and decided that it was finally time to finish it.

A selection of holographic Pokémon Cards from my Fossil set

As I previously mentioned, I was only ever able to obtain 56 of the 62 cards required to complete the set back in the day. The six remaining cards that had escaped me were the holographic Haunter, Hitmonlee, Magneton, Raichu and Zapdos cards, and a non-holographic rare Hypno. In less than two weeks, I had searched eBay for the best prices I could find, and on October 22nd 2019, I had obtained the final card needed to complete my first ever trading card set. I saw it as a monumental achievement, and I didn’t want to stop there. In the same month, I was able to finally complete both of my Pokémon Tazo collections too. I feel that the last quarter of 2019 was the point where my nostalgia and love for Pokémon began to take off again, likely due to this trip down memory lane. A month later on November 13th 2019, I searched online for local groups that I could possibly attend and try to make some new friends with common interests. I met someone who lived locally called Adam, who was a big Pokémon fan and as enthusiastic about collecting the trading cards as I was, and we quickly became good friends, trading with one another to help get ourselves closer to completing some of our Wizards of the Coast sets.

On January 13th 2020, I had the pleasure of meeting up with an online friend called Antoine, who was visiting from overseas. We spent a really nice afternoon together, and at some point, decided to browse a few shops. We went to my local CeX store, and found a copy of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. When I made a comment that I had never played it before, he was surprised. He urged me to buy the game, explaining how much he personally enjoyed it, but I felt the price was a little too high. He then offered to buy it for me, which is when I knew he was serious about how important this game was to him. After some discussion, we agreed to pay half each, and I walked out with my first ever Mystery Dungeon title.

After playing through Explorers of Sky, I can see exactly why it’s such a beloved title. The story, characters, music and graphics were exceptional. There were moments where I cried, scenes where I shouted at my Nintendo DS, and memories that will stay with me forever. I can’t believe that I missed out on such a special game and series for so long. Explorers of Sky allowed me to see Pokémon in a whole new light, and opened my eyes to new possibilities for what Pokémon games could be beyond the mainline series. I have to thank my friends Antoine and Axel for following my progress through the main story, and helping me respect this masterpiece of a game.

Shortly after completing the main story, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX was announced for Nintendo Switch, a remake of the first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games for Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. On March 11th 2020, soon after completing Explorers of Sky, I had the pleasure of reviewing the game, now with a broader knowledge of the mechanics and features of the series. I praised Rescue Team DX for its vibrant art and fantastic music, and after doing some research, confirmed that it had been faithful to the original titles. It was a little easy, but still highly enjoyable. I think it’s a game I will revisit in the future and I hope that Nintendo will consider releasing more of them.

By March 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, I spent more time at home, protecting myself and those around me from potential exposure. Pokémon was a good distraction through those difficult times. On May 28th I purchased the Snorlax trading card to fully complete the Jungle set, and on September 28th 2020, I continued to grow my Pokémon card collection by taking the opportunity to purchase a substantial number of them from a friend. These included cards from the Base set all the way to the Great Encounters set. Adding these cards to my personal collection vastly increased it, now owning almost triple the number I had as a kid. Many of the cards helped to fill gaps in early sets I had been trying to finish and, thanks to the purchase, I was almost able to complete the Base set minus the Revive trainer card, which I obtained the following year.

On May 8th 2020, after reading about the game on Twitter, I bought Pokémon Puzzle Challenge from the Nintendo 3DS eShop and poured hours into it. I spent two summers in 2021 and 2022 finally reading the first two arcs of the Pokémon Adventures manga, a total of fourteen volumes. I had purchased them years previous, and decided that while I had all the extra time, I would break the seals on them and finally read them all. The story was a great departure from the games, highlighting an alternative story that gave some cool background on some of the characters and locations from Kanto and Johto. I really enjoyed them but felt the finale wasn’t as grand as it probably should have been.

My copy of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

To close out generation VIII, I played three further Pokémon releases: New Pokémon Snap on April 30th 2021, Brilliant Diamond on November 19th 2021, and Legends: Arceus on January 28th 2022. The original Pokémon Snap was a game that I didn’t play a great deal of in the past. I only owned the Wii Virtual Console version, but I remember hearing many fans in the community campaigning for a sequel. When it was finally announced, I was super happy for those who had waited so long for a new game. In my review, I praised the vibrant and beautiful habitats and how the game was a chill and relaxing title to wind down with after a busy day. As someone with a keen interest in photography, I felt New Pokémon Snap could even inspire young people into taking up the hobby themselves. Like the original, it was a little repetitive, but I did praise The Pokémon Company for their willingness to revisit a classic series.

A selection of holographic Pokémon Cards from my Base set

Despite my initial excitement to return to the Sinnoh Region in Brilliant Diamond, fourteen years since I last explored it in Platinum, I was left underwhelmed and disappointed by what I experienced. These remakes were just a bit too faithful to the original games, stripped back with very little of the original content we saw in Platinum, something I thought would have been expected, especially after all previous remakes included content from their third pillar games. BDSP initially launched with glitches, placeholder music, and no finalised title screen, which is simply unacceptable. While I tried to disregard the online backlash the game was receiving and go in with an open mind, I didn’t find the game to be a fulfilling experience. I hope that a future playthrough will help me appreciate the game a little more, along with all its post-release updates.

Legends Arceus on the other hand was a huge surprise, a refreshing and enjoyable game, and something that I felt was a turning point for the franchise. While I was disappointed with the unbalanced battle system and graphics, the improvements over the traditional formula, such as seeing Pokémon roaming free across the Hisui region, being able to swap and select moves without having to use TM’s or a Move Tutor, improvements on selecting items in menus, and a variety of excursions, side quests and challenges to complete, were all massively welcome. Arceus was the breath of fresh air that this tired series needed, and I literally couldn’t put it down! I even completed the Pokédex and was left wanting more by the time it was finally all over. It was a joy to play, and made up for the poor offerings from Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. I crossed my fingers that a similar approach would be taken in generation IX.

It was because of Legends Arceus that I decided to make 2022 the start of righting the wrongs I had made with Pokémon throughout the years, determined to repurchase the games I let slip away and revisit titles I hold dear. I repurchased Pokémon Y with the intention of giving the game a second chance, and when I heard my friend was interested in selling off the majority of her Pokémon game collection, I decided to buy them all. Included in this assortment of games were copies of Pokémon White and Pokémon Platinum, two games I highlighted earlier that I had regrets about selling. Another was Pokémon White 2, which made up for missing it the first time around. Ever since the release of Pokémon GO, the price of Pokémon titles had risen drastically, and the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t help the situation, with demand rising for these legacy titles. I’m thankful that my friend sold me the games at a fair and reasonable price, otherwise there’s no way I could have ever justified owning them again.

On August 17th 2022, I also managed to complete another trading card set, thanks to my local friend Adam, who obtained a holographic Dark Charizard card from the Team Rocket release. It marked my fourth completed set. If I could travel back in time and tell my younger self that he would one day complete the Base, Jungle, Fossil and Team Rocket sets, he would never have believed it.

Promotional art found within The Trafford Centre for the Pokémon Art Through the Ages event

By the end of generation VIII, I was super enthusiastic for Pokémon again. I had been impressed by the direction Game Freak had taken for Legends Arceus, and expressed to my friends that all I wanted from the next big title was an open world Pokémon game in a modern setting, building on Legends Arceus, and refining things further. Little did I know what was coming down the pipeline…

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