The beloved bicycle from Pokemon Red and Blue is being made real by the Pokemon Company, but you wouldn't want to count on it for your daily commute.
The distinctive green and yellow bike (as depicted in the art for the games, its virtual version was various shades of grey just like everything else on Game Boy) was brought to life by the Pokemon Company in celebration of the Poke Times Twitter account surpassing 1 million followers. As spotted and translated by Kotaku, it's set to be given away to the winner of a Twitter contest, though only residents of Japan are eligible to participate. The bike costs 1 million Poke Dollars in Pokemon Red and Blue, so it really is a steal if you think about it.
Perhaps it will take some of the sting off of not being able to win this nostalgic creation if I inform you that it is in fact a full-scale model, and cannot be ridden: there is no chain and gear setup to convert your pedaling energy into forward movement. Heck, I'm not even sure if the pedals can actually turn. But there are a ton of little details that will satisfy even the most exacting Poke-fan, including tire treads that feature several Poke Ball variants and Pokemon designs running along the inside of the bicycle wheels.
The chartreuse body and lemon-yellow wheels don't seem like they should work together, but they really do. I would totally ride this thing around town if, again, it actually went... and if I wasn't worried about snapping it into little pieces, since some of those stylized parts of the frame look pretty darn slim. Maybe if I still weighed as much as I did when I was 8 and playing Pokemon Red for the first time.
It's been a busy 25th anniversary year for Pokemon, with news from just the last few weeks including a live-action Pokemon series headed to Netflix and the launch of Pokemon Unite and its first-post launch character Gardevoir on Switch. The Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes are still set to arrive in November, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus will take the series to a historical open-world early next year.
New Pokemon Snap's already arrived, but it's still growing with a free update that will add 20 new Pokemon and three areas in August.
