Pokemon Day 2018 Offers Tons Of Celebration Today

By Jesse Collins ·

Pokemon came out in Japan in 1996 on February 27. It's grown more and more for 22 years. What can they do but celebrate the massive phenomenon any chance they can?

Pokemon Day 2018 Offers Tons Of Celebration Today

Pokemon has been around for 22 years as of today and it really is showing no signs of slowing down or going away anytime soon. Every year, on February 27, The Pokemon Company celebrates their behemoth franchise with a party. This year, they opted to do some special things. Heading over to Pokemon.com/PokemonDay, they are utilizing the hashtag #PokemonDay on Twitter and posting things that players and fans send them.

First thing on their list is the recent 20th film they produced and put out in theaters, Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You! I went to the theater, myself, paid real money, and watched it with my wife. You know, like an adult. It's cheesy and completely changes the usual storyline of the original 1990s anime, completely diverting at the end of the original first episode (which was also named "Pokemon - I Choose You!"). Ho-Oh, the legendary bird Pokemon, flies by, and the opening theme starts for the movie. After that, it's completely different. For the Pokemon Day celebration, you can watch Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! in its entirety on Pokémon TV yourself. This is completely free and for a limited time, so it's worth seeing what all that hype was about that made the news. 

Pokemon GO became so mainstream when it came out that it actively got people that didn't care about Pokemon to be, well, active. For the celebration, "Pikachu wearing a festive party hat" returns to Pokémon GO. Basically, it's a wild Pokemon that you can catch, like any others, except it knows the move "Present". Oh, and it will give you triple the usual Stardust when caught. This Pikachu is only going to be available to catch through 1 p.m. PST on February 28. For Pokemon Day, they have also released the Red and Leaf outfits, which give the avatar the outfit of Pokemon trainers Red or the female counter-part, Leaf. But, who needs those when you have the Team Rocket outfit that I do?

Okay, so, Amazon Echo and Google Home owners can get in on the official action as well. The new Pikachu Talk app is live for Hey Google and Alexa! Seriously, you can talk to Pikachu and if you stop for a moment, it reminds you that Pikachu will leave if you don't talk. Starting at "Ask Pikachu to talk", you can ask it questions, say things for it to respond, or several other things. I'm ashamed to say I talked to Pikachu for over ten minutes last night. But, saying things like "use Thunderbolt" will make it yell it's name. Ask it to sing "Happy Birthday" and Pikachu will sing for you. Asking it to tell a story will have Pikachu tell a full story in Pikachu-language. Asking it to sing will give you one of two responses. One is "Pi-ka pikachu!", to the tune of a Pokemon Center healing noise. It's adorable. Do it.

Snapchat users can decorate their pictures in Pokemon-themed hats and "items". Snapchat Lenses featuring Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle will be available for a short time starting today. Get details on the Pokémon Day Snapchat filters here!

#PokemonDay is the hashtag they insist for Twitter today!

Here are some interesting facts that popped out on their lists! According to Pokemon.com's statistics, the most-viewed Pokemon in their online Pokedex is:

Knowing that, it's not a surprise when some of those Pokemon show up on the most-viewed Pokemon TCG cards on their site, as well:

In addition to everything going on above, there's so much more. On their official website, they list some of the items I mentioned already, plus:

On their page, they break down all of their festivities, which are listed below:

  • It's been an amazing year for the world of Pokémon, with fun new games, huge events, and big announcements coming out in 2017. Check out our list of the top moments in the Pokémon universe since the last Pokémon Day.

  • Pokémon Center is also getting in on the Pokémon Day fun with a new addition to the Pokémon Gallery Figure collection. The Charizard Gallery Figure DX is the first in a new line of oversize, deluxe Gallery Figures coming out in 2018. These figures showcase dynamic battle poses on an even bigger scale! Check out the Charizard Gallery Figure DX in the Pokémon Center!

  • During the seven days leading up to Pokémon Day, we've been counting down some of our favorite aspects of being a Pokémon fan, from choosing our ideal partner Pokémon to exploring the diverse regions of the Pokémon world. Take a look at the complete countdown!

On top of the Pokemon Day festivities, March brings the Regigigas and Heatran event, which will be distributed through the Pokemon Trainer Club email and will work on Pokemon UltraSun and UltraMoon. If you can make it out to Gamestop quick enough, though, the Dialga and Palkia event is still available until tomorrow, but if you can score a free code card, the codes work on UltraSun, UltraMoon, Sun, and Moon until May.

I know I'm celebrating by playing Pokemon UltraMoon today. What are you doing to celebrate?

If you enjoy card games like Pokemon and you haven't tried Hearthstone, then check out our news on their Year of the Raven event.