Black tentacles writhe beneath a sundering sky as I look out of the train window in Dreadline Express. It's one of the games I was most eager to play at Gamescom 2026: Described on its Steam page as a "psychological horror Metroidbrainia" where deckbuilding mechanics shape your storyline, it sounded like my kind of weird straight off the bat.

The deckbuilding in question comes in the form of cards I collect by observing the world around me. Interacting with objects in my cabin after awakening with little memory of my character's past, I slowly piece together my own backstory as well as what has happened to make this the last human train in existence. Think Monster Train, but instead of roguelike combat, the cards help me contend with narrative choices.

Story time

Dreadline Express is the creation of Czech solo dev Dave Konecny, who sits by my side as I get to grips with his creepy dystopia.

He explains how the cards work, each representing the gaining of knowledge about a particular element of the world, from the train itself to the people on it. Each new card discovered gets added to my card album, which is separated into topics.

The trick is to add specific cards to my hand to use them to bypass dialogue checks or other barriers to my adventure, such as locked doors or items I can't quite make sense of just yet.

For example, striking up a conversation with someone for the first time might have the yellow-eyed NPC remarking distastefully upon how rude it is not to introduce myself first. But, equipping my personal card and playing it before I start the conversation allows me to progress, and can result in a new finding being added to my card collection.

I can swap cards into my hand at will, testing whether a new combination might work in a particular conversation by keeping an eye on the text above each character's head – "tell them about your family," it might read, or "ask about the cult" for example. This indicates when a combination might open up new lines of inquiry or reveal narrative threads for me to pick at later down the line.

But, before I can even go about chatting with my fellow Dreadline Express travelers, I'm summoned to the Train Conductor's office. He tells me that I have been chosen to help decide upon a suitable sacrifice, without which the train cannot progress to its as-yet-unknown destination. This would result in the deaths of everyone on board, I'm told. Is it not better to sacrifice one for the good of the many?

Card-core

I don't have much say in the matter, not even after equipping my personal card and those of my family in an attempt to plead mercy.

It's time to head into the cabin and converse with the other passengers, keeping it zipped about the fact that I'm actually sussing out which of them deserves to die the most. Choosing to help one might result in another's demise, I'm told by Konecny. My job is to choose which characters' stories interest me the most and figure out which configuration of cards leads me further down the rabbit hole.

This grim premise is matched by an equally grim setting. The train is a gloomy place shot through with bright bolts of color, the contrasting light and darkness making it all the creepier to explore. It's also incredibly claustrophobic in here, all dimly-lit corridors flickering in and out of focus, orange-yellow lanterns swaying rhythmically overhead.

Somehow, Dreadline Express is an unexpectedly cozy experience. Everything is text-on-screen rather than voice-acted, and as I flip through my card album to study each description or click through NPC dialogue, I feel like I'm reading a leather-bound book in the warm candlelight of a library.

I only get to play a short 25 minutes of Dreadline Express, but I can already see its genius. As a narrative Metroidvania involving backtracking, card synergy, and a lot of experimentation, it's clear that no two stories on this mysterious journey will play out the same. The game's October 2026 release date is right around the corner, even if a precise date has yet to be given by the publisher just yet, and I'll be right there on the platform waiting to board and uncover all the secrets I might have missed. Including, hopefully, where this blasted train is speeding off to in the first place.

Dreading picking out your next game to play? Our best mystery games give you more to solve, while our best horror games will haunt you.

Game Freak has announced a new laundry-based mobile game with Pokemon director Shigeru Ohmori leading this project.

Obviously, Game Freak is best known for the Pokemon series, and until the recent release of Beast of Reincarnation, I wouldn't have been shocked if many people just didn't know the studio regularly releases games outside the franchise. For console releases, these usually manifest as smaller titles like HarmoKnight, Little Town Hero, and Tembo the Badass Elephant, but, as of late, the studio has released mobile games fairly frequently.

And this week it was revealed what's next for the studio before Pokemon Winds and Waves releases next year, with the announcement of "Ame no Chi Hare Onna." The game – co-developed by Chronogate – is a free-to-play mobile game for iOS and Android in Japan, described as a "laundry game." It's directed by Ohmori, who has been the lead director of the Pokemon series since Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire over a decade ago.

The title is set in modern-day Japan and follows Hare Onna and Kumorin, who can harness the weather and turn it into magic. This aspect is central to the game as the title is set to use real-world weather data as part of the gameplay loop. Granted, I'm not quite sure what that gameplay loop is right now, but thankfully there's more info revealed this week with a "Hare Onna Club Meeting" stream, as well as news at Tokyo Game Show.

But for now, you can watch the teaser trailer, which, if I didn't have the context, I would assume is the opening of a new anime series. But it's been forever since the Hideo Kojima-produced GBA title Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand released, so it's about time we had more weather-based games come out.

Pokemon Center cancels countless reseller orders, but TCG fans seem to have been burned as well.

The Legend of Zelda is a video game as ritual. It's enlivened by ingenious variations from one game to the next, but Nintendo's adventures in the land of Hyrule remain absorbed in the pleasures of careful repetition. These games are curated as much as they are designed; they're gardens rather than wildernesses. And so, at the end of Breath of the Wild, the hero in green defeats Ganon, as he always does.

But wait. This is not quite accurate. At the end of Breath of the Wild - delivered via DLC - Link, the medieval adventurer, gets a motorbike. That was how this particular Zelda ended. And so that was the point at which Nintendo's designers had to decide: what comes next?

It's still hard to know what to make of that parting gift. Noisy, gravel-spitting, rebellious – a motorbike would be unthinkable in any other Zelda game. But then the very idea of DLC would be unthinkable too. How could any of these intricate clockwork worlds have room for even a single additional cog?

This was Breath of the Wild, though, the game that stripped away decades of gadgets and structural rhythms. Link may have defeated Ganon, but much of the rest of the tradition was suddenly scrambled. No more predictable plot beats. No more polite trek from one dungeon to the next, growing more powerful with each step.

Here instead was an open-world Hyrule where the dungeons were largely secondary to the one-shot puzzle or combat Shrines scattered across the earth like a dusting of sugar on a pie. Here was a world where weapons degraded, where beloved horses could be lost forever, and where that familiar trickle of cherished items – the boomerang, the hookshot – was replaced with a handful of new powers granted at the start, and which the game would then rely upon for all its subsequent fun.

What did this mean? Up until now, Zelda had been about containment. The first game was inspired by Shigeru Miyamoto's childhood cave explorations, certainly, but it was born in a moment in which the designer was opening and closing his desk drawers and imagining a garden snug within each. Zelda offers adventuring, but always within safe boundaries.

It's dangerous to go open-world

This approach lasted until Breath of the Wild, which left its players startled, unmoored. Then came the motorbike, and then things took a truly bizarre turn. Two years after the release of Breath of the Wild, it was revealed that the follow-up, Tears of the Kingdom, would reuse the same map and the same structure of Shrines, swapping out the older game's powers but otherwise offering what seemed to be more of the same. What should we make of this? Was all that reinvention just a recalibration, and would we now be back to the business of repetition and ritual again?

Tears of the Kingdom's answer to this question is fascinating, and it takes a while to become clear. On the surface, Link's latest adventure follows a traditional approach to sequels: the stuff you loved, expanded and refined. More Shrines, new powers, another, grander threat to Hyrule. But beware that phrase ‘on the surface'. Underground, Tears of the Kingdom is every bit as wilful and singular as the game it builds upon. Maybe even more so.

Trailers for Tears of the Kingdom at first suggested horror and then sun-baked, sky-minded wonder. You would explore Hyrule, but also an archipelago of ingeniously crafted islands floating overhead. This felt like a sensible approach, but there was a lingering strangeness in the trailers that invited conspiracy theories. Were we really playing as Link? Was this really Hyrule once more? Could things be as simple as they seemed?

Within this online chatter, the dialogue that has dogged almost all Zeldas continued. Since the 8bit days, each new Zelda game has been forced into a conversation with all the others: what's new, what isn't, what are the main reference points? Maybe Tears of the Kingdom was simply a chance for the ground to settle after Breath of the Wild. There's still a princess, a young hero, a landscape that extends to the rosy horizon. But there's something else, too. Something waiting beneath it all.

Something lurking down below

In retrospect, those new powers were an early clue to the true spirit of Tears of the Kingdom. Breath of the Wild offered you ways to engage with the game's physics and bodge your own solutions to the challenges you were presented with. At heart, its powers were abilities designed for manipulating in-game objects in thoughtful ways. They opened up a new, more expressive way of playing, driven by everything from mechanical curiosity to bored tinkering.

By Tears of the Kingdom, though, the powers have become a cross between real-world design tools and explicit hacks. Making use of Ultrahand, Fuse and Ascend, you can craft complex machines and ridiculous weapons, or slip through Hyrule's hidden geometries. Aren't these options that come from a sense of polite frustration with what's come before? Aren't these tools enabling a form of escape?

These powers, pushing at the boundaries of everything from the way the world is created to the way a puzzle can be solved, suggest that the problem with Zelda wasn't that it was becoming familiar, because it had traded in familiarity since the SNES. The problem was that its familiarity could make it slightly airless. That's a hard problem to solve. And so Tears of the Kingdom turned its focus somewhere entirely new, on the game's unseen bedrock, and it built something astounding down there. Something entirely unexpected.

Welcome to the Depths, the underside of Hyrule, far beneath the floating sky islands waiting to be neatly solved, far beneath the grass and sands of the open world itself. Accessed via ugly red-rimmed tears in the earth, the Depths are a vast underworld of darkness and danger. If it's hard not to feel that recent Zeldas are the work of a talented team that is quietly weary of the baggage Zelda brings, the Depths are a perfect response.

Granted, the series is no stranger to parallel worlds, yet the Depths remain very different from the puzzle-piece dimensions of Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. Those were precise additions, printed circuits that slotted cleanly into place. The Depths connect with the land above them, but they're also filled with a sense of chaos, of being half-complete. They're pitch-black and claustrophobic and, tellingly for a Zelda game, they're frequently optional.

Even so, it feels like these spaces were crucial to the people who made them. Why? Because this is the place where this Zelda's eternal conversation with other Zeldas ceases. Immediacy. The chatter and speculation falls silent, and you are left to the unfolding moment.

What a moment. Deep in theatrical murk, the air around you feels thick and treacherous and alive with adventure. There's no vista to draw your eye with distractions, nothing up ahead to plan an idle five minutes around. Instead, you're exploring in order to survive, working to unlock a network of scattered Lightroots, treetrunk nodes that reach down from the ceiling. Trigger them and you get a pool of light and a matching pool of illuminated map. You get fast travel, the slightest sense of your bearings, and the feeling that you're reclaiming a little of this terrifying space.

There's a puzzle down here, and it leads to a useful reward, but for once in a Zelda adventure it's hard to focus on because you're so thoroughly stuck in the present. With the lights off, the landscape ceases to be earth and slopes and trees, instead becoming something mysterious, almost a form of enemy as it occludes the horizon. Actually, forget the idea of a horizon: everything seems to be looming close, tangling underfoot.

Embrace the depths

Life feels clumsy and precarious in the dark. With the lights on, it's often even worse. With crimson pools of heart-sapping Gloom splattered across the ground and up the walls, this is Hyrule as crime scene. There's something gleefully cruel to the design itself: all alone, resources dwindling, unseen enemies pacing around you. Zelda has always made you feel like you're walking in the footsteps of the designers, perhaps to a fault. No more. In the Depths, the designers seem to have moved on far ahead, and they remain out of reach. Instead you must light your own path, all thoughts of the landscape above forgotten.

Endless jostling horror! But it's almost always a choice for you. Above the Depths there's still a story of rescue and reclaiming to be had, albeit one of the oddest the series has ever told. Ancient evil can still be defeated and the land saved. More crucially, Link's story up there is still built of moments of kindness as he explores Hyrule, solving strangers' problems.

But the Depths, that huge, unprecedented, non-understandable id, are down there all the while. Optional or not, it's theme-stating on a geological scale. The Depths are meant to destabilise. Here, at the very bedrock of the game that every Zelda team has to make, is the game they seem to have actually wanted to make this time.

The inchoate nature of the Depths suggests the designers were following their own path in search of what a Zelda game could be, instead of what it should be. And so Tears of the Kingdom advances the eternal conversation about Zelda and ritual and repetition not by upending things like Breath of the Wild, but by having the courage to ignore the conversation entirely. Down here, a new route forward takes shape, one Lightroot at a time. In the shifting darkness, Tears of the Kingdom opens its eyes.

This Tears of the Kingdom article was first published in issue 400 of Edge Magazine. To get more like this delivered straight to your doorstep (or digital device) consider subscribing to Edge.

Pokemon can't stop outdoing itself. It keeps setting new records across its profit, having already made $3.4 billion in net sales so far in 2026.

That number is a 29% increase from last year, according to a June report from Japan game industry consultant Dr. Serkan Toto. The figure was recently republished by Japanese news site Denfaminico Gamer, which game update account Genki translated for a September 8 post that explains, "The Pokémon Company sales revenue has increased by 4.4 times in the last 5 years."

"In fiscal year 2026 sales reached 531 billion yen ($3.4 billion) up from 120 billion yen ($769M) in fiscal year 2021," Genki says based on Denfaminico Gamer's report. Machine translation suggests Denfaminico Gamer also notes that The Pokemon Company has increased its net income by 13.6 times since 2018, and it's projected to earn more than 120 billion yen (about $770 million) at the end of the 2026 fiscal year – an explosive increase from 8.8 million yen in 2018.

These money bags are probably at least partly a gift from major 2026 hits like Pokemon Pokopia, which sold five million copies only five months after its launch, and Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen re-releases for Switch, whose four million sold copies solidified the GBA classic as one of the best-selling Pokemon games ever.

It's all flattering, but Toto says on Twitter that The Pokemon Company is "very likely not happy [these stats] are out there." Kanpō, the Japanese government's gazette, reports them automatically, despite The Pokemon Company being privately held. "Ironically," Toto adds, "we would not get this data if TPC was integrated into Nintendo as a studio (like Kadokawa does not reveal From's data separately)."

But The Pokemon Company has nothing to be shy about. It's consistently growing with every new release – which will hopefully include Pokemon Winds and Waves one day. Though, The Pokemon Company has earned the right to take too long.

Pokemon Center cancels countless reseller orders, but TCG fans seem to have been burned as well.

It's a swings-and-roundabouts kinda day, because the Pokemon Center seems to be cancelling countless reseller/bot orders… but genuine fans may have been caught up in the Pokemon card crackdown too.

Social media is abuzz today with news that bot purchases from the official Pokemon Center store have been automatically shut down. Indeed, I've already seen numerous screengrabs of emails reading "your order has been cancelled." Considering how much of a scourge resellers are for fans of the best card games, this is cause for celebration. (It's near impossible to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration right now because they keep scooping up items to flog at a higher price, with Miniature Market being one of the few places I've seen that isn't absurdly inflated.) However, there are also reports that innocent fans are being burned as well. I've seen just as many complaints that normal Pokemon card orders are being swept up in the cancellation spree.

The where-to-buy account Poke Signals reported on Twitter/X that "Pokemon Center woke up and chose violence! THOUSANDS of bot orders in a gigantic wave have just been cancelled." This was posted with an accompanying screenshot, which was quickly picked up on reddit where the story is fast approaching 4K upvotes. Unfortunately, both threads are full of comments from fans who claim that their orders have been stopped too.

It doesn't seem to be an isolated incident. Reddit's Pokemon TCG thread are full of these stories as well – I scrolled for thirty seconds and found half a dozen. The response is usually the same; the person in question only bought one of an item, and it was all under one account (resellers often use multiple accounts and cards to sneakily get as many products as possible). We obviously can't tell for certain whether these reports are genuine, but the sheer number of them makes me think it's a legitimate problem.

So, what's happening here? The community seems to agree it's one of two things; either a small number of fans are collateral damage in a new push to deter resellers, or the Pokemon Center oversold so is having to cancel orders. Neither is particularly great.

I've reached out to The Pokemon Company to learn more, and will update this story if/when I get a response.

In other card game news, Magic: The Gathering's head designer promises that an MTG Harry Potter set is "very unlikely."

• See all of the current 30th Celebration offers at Amazon

Following one Pokemon Champions lead's suggestion that the RPG series' turn-based combat could see more changes over time, another co-director has doubled down on the idea that the company's new home of competitive battling will allow for that traditional system to be "preserved" forever.

Although Pokemon has experimented more with its battle system in recent years – with Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Z-A offering variations between the former's Strong and Agile-style moves and the latter's real-time combat – the main generational releases and remakes (see the likes of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl) have stuck closely to the turn-based format. However, Champions co-director Kazumasa Iwao recently noted that "there is the possibility that this rule could change little by little."

He went on to say that Game Freak wants to "challenge ourselves by doing new things" – raising the question of what battle system could be planned for Pokemon Winds and Waves – before adding that the development of Champions began with the idea that "it would be good to put the battle system we've constructed into one game that you can keep playing." Now, in an interview with VGC, fellow co-director Masaaki Hoshino has reiterated this concept.

Noting that he loves Pokemon battles to the point that they're "part of the reason why I joined The Pokemon Company" in the first place, Hoshino says: "I would love to keep turn-based battles around like forever, regardless of other Pokemon battle styles out there. From that standpoint, I believe that as long as Pokemon Champions is around, turn-based battles will be kind of preserved and will continue forever."

"Forever" is a word that keeps coming up when it comes to Pokemon Champions. In a group interview with Hoshino attended by GamesRadar+ earlier this year, the lead stated that "we're planning to keep Pokemon Champions going far into the future – basically forever, as long as the Pokemon series is continuing." Now that Champions is the game that official VGC tournaments are set to take place in at events such as the Pokemon World Championships, this is more than a PvP spin-off; it's the lifeblood of the competitive scene, so I certainly hope this is the case.

Pokemon Gold and Silver keep getting referenced by official accounts, and I'm willing myself to believe the classic DS remakes are coming to Switch.

Mega Sharpedo ex in Pokemon TCG Pocket has been a rising star for its rapid energy generation and strong early game, designed to disrupt enemy strategies while speeding up your own in the same attack. For this reason Sharpedo has been hanging around the meta for a while, but it's only now that we've seen it rise to previously unmatched levels when paired with the Wild Swing Gyarados and ever-reliable Chien-Pao.

For more deck builds, find out the best decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket here!

Best Mega Sharpedo ex deck build in Pokemon TCGP

To make the best Sharpedo deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket, use the following build:

• Magikarp (Wisdom of Sea and Sky) x2
• Gyarados (Wisdom of Sea and Sky) x2
• Carvanha (Ruler of the Skies) x2
• Mega Sharpedo ex x2
• Chien Pao x1
• Mantyke x2
• Poke Ball x1
• Copycat x1
• Lisia x2
• Professor's Research x2
• Training Area x1
• Wallace x2

Energy: Water

This deck is all about quick deployment and building up to Stage 1 ASAP, using Lisia to draw both Carvanha and Magikarp and get them on the field, then using Wallace or card draws to evolve them. Once that's set up, you use Sharpedo to come out as your early assault, disrupting your opponents, at the same time building up for Gyarados to do up to 140 damage with its Wild Swing attack.

Not only that, but Wild Swing can be used to discard damaged Pokemon that might otherwise be a weak point. If Sharpedo is badly hurt, you can deny your opponent the Cyrus-drawn victory by having Gyarados send it to the discard pile.

• Pros
  • Incredibly disruptive early game
  • Chien-Pao remains incredibly strong
  • Solid energy generation across the board
• Cons
  • Electric decks are a common weakness
  • Gyarados can only really be used for major damage twice at most

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission

One of the most unique things about Pokemon has always been the ability to transfer your pocket monsters between different hardware generations and across 30 years of games. Now, with Pokemon Bank's impending shutdown next year, one modder has created a working adapter to move creatures from the GBA to the Switch.

The Pokemon Company recently announced that Pokemon Bank is ending service on February 26, 2027. That means several life-long Pokemons could be permanently stranded on the Nintendo 3DS in a few months time - five Pokemon will also be completely unobtainable - but not if modders have anything to say about it.

On Twitter, modder and game dev Drewworks showed off their very impressive homebrew solution in the form of a working GBA-to-Switch trade adapter. "Still plenty of work ahead, but seeing a real GBA communicate and trade with the Switch is pretty incredible," the modder writes. (Good spot, GoNintendo.)

The video above even shows the GBA actively interacting with a Switch 2 console, while Drewworks trades creatures across two different generations of Nintendo hardware. That one random Pokemon NPC was right, technology is incredible.

Cooking up a DIY GBA-to-Switch adapter won't be an easy solution for most players who want to keep bringing older Pokemons into the modern era, of course, but I imagine quite a few hobbyist modders might jump aboard the trend in the coming months.

In other news, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen's Switch ports will become compatible with Pokemon HOME next year as well. Pokemon Winds and Waves is also set to come out sometime in 2027.

Pokemon Winds and Waves might not have turn-based battles as Game Freak veteran hints the combat system "could change" thanks to Pokemon Champions

About Fishing is one of those Gamescom demos I absolutely love – low pressure, in-the-moment stakes, and getting to laugh off my terrible depth perception with the kindly PR who is too polite to tell me I'm awful.

I'm a young woman standing on a pixelated beach. Staring out at the calming grey-green waves, fishing rod in hand, a short on-screen tutorial walks me through the basics before leaving me to my own devices. The mechanics are all about physics and mouse precision, meaning I'm already out of my depth. Yet there's something meditative about my persistent failures.

Maybe my mouse is too sensitive? Maybe this game just isn't for me! But the frustration that usually builds when I find myself sucking at a cool new game never surfaces during my half-hour demo. Rather, I find myself calmed by my own lack of skill, determined to focus and learn how to slow down. I'm sure patience will come in handy later on in the story, when its murder mystery narrative starts to unfold. For now, though, I'm getting a handle on my own nerves and experiencing one of the most visually interesting games on my schedule this year.

Hook, line, sinker

Fishing is a core mechanic in About Fishing. Holding the right mouse button to aim my hook before sweeping my hand in a semicircle, releasing the button, and casting the line… It's a precise art, I tell you.

My headcanon is that my character, being on the younger side, is probably not too great a fisherwoman herself. After catching my first scaly pal (it takes me at least 10 minutes), I carry the trophy further down the scuzzy, lo-fi beach to where an older gentleman reclines on a chair. He turns to speak to me, and his wizened face looks distinctly familiar. Is that…. Former U.S. president George Bush?

No, it's not. But About Fishing does faces brilliantly despite its polygonal PS1-esque graphics. All the faces are those of real actors, I'm told by one of the publisher's representatives, each scanned into the game. Including, somehow unsurprisingly, a cameo from none other than Ben Starr of Final Fantasy 16, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and far too many other new games to count (go, boy, go!). It's not quite LA Noire levels of uncanny realism, but I have to admit – it looks pretty darn cool.

The older man explains how fishing works. I need to be patient, he says, and choose my targets wisely. It's here I get an opportunity to fine-tune my talents. Over-shooting a target is a good thing because I can whack the left mouse button to drop the line early, which is useful if I've already spied a fishy friend to pick on. The underwater camera comes in handy for this, giving a beneath-the-waves view of the creatures in a given spot.

Reel small fish

I try my best to hound one specific fish, who seems entirely disinterested in my line. It's not until I rotate my mouse a little to gauge the difference between the fish and my hook that I see how far away I've landed from it.

This is my main problem with About Fishing: the fishies are lethargic, unwilling to move too far towards the hook, so I need to land within a certain hitbox of sorts to catch their eye.

I try my luck with a shoal of fish hiding behind a rock, figuring that numbers would surely be on my side. But even after I get a bite, I lack the dexterity to flick my hook around said massive rock. The line turns red with stress and eventually breaks, leading to the old man butting in with a helpful quip about how to avoid that happening again. Turning my mouse to angle a fish's head toward my character is one thing, but doing so from behind a boulder? Utterly impossible.

And here I sit for the remainder of my session. It's a slow, methodical process, one in which I find equal parts glee, annoyance, and relaxation. Fans of fishing minigames in the best RPGs will find ample amounts of all three in About Fishing's tactile mechanics – I only wish I'd gotten far enough to see more of its mysterious underbelly emerge from the gloomy depths. Still, this tasty morsel is enough to pique my interest. And, just maybe, set me off on a journey toward some sort of inner peace.

Check out some of the other best fishing games out there if you're keen to dip beneath the surface and catch your own dinner.

Viz Media's new Pokemon: 24-Movie Collection is a Blu-ray behemoth. The collection was announced on the brand's X (Twitter) page today and encompasses every single Pokemon movie on a set of 16 Blu-ray discs. From Pokemon the First Movie and even its CGI remake, Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, you're getting all of the franchise's theatrical outings in one complete set, which is a win for physical media and Pokemon fans alike.

Yet owning this limited-edition Blu-ray collection, which doesn't launch until November 14, 2026, will cost you the privilege of a whopping $399.99 at Amazon. I wish I were telling a Snorlax-sized fib, but the Amazon exclusive collection is sitting at the retailer for its $400 MSRP, although in a cute Poke Ball-shaped case, might I add. It's available to pre-order starting today if you're eager to own the franchise's movie history in one complete set. However, I'm going to need Viz Media to divulge more of the Blu-ray's contents before I lay down my savings in an effort to collect and watch them all.

Viz Media has been pretty sparse with the details of its new Pokemon: 24-Movie Collection so far. The short item description on US Amazon reads that the "explosive 24-movie collection" allows you to follow Ash and friends' adventures from "the origins of Mewtwo in Pokémon: The First Movie to the Unova region in Pokémon Black & White, leading finally to the deep Forest of Okoya." Yet we haven't got a full movie list to see exactly what's in store.

If I were about to drop almost a Nintendo Switch 2's cost equivalent on a complete Pokemon movie set, I'd hope that this would also include the franchise live-action outing, Detective Pikachu, but there's no mention of it. I fear this set is more tailored for the anime fans, as checking the official Pokemon website movie list accounts for 24 releases, but there's no sign of the coffee-drinking CGI Pikachu. For me, that's a bit of a deal-breaker, as that means this "complete set" is missing a big part of the Pokemon movie history puzzle.

The content details are also a little sparse. The Amazon listing states that the films use the Japanese language, and that's it. For a complete set, I'd hope that this release would include the option of the original Japanese voice actors and the English dub cast, particularly so I can relive Veronica Taylor's wonderfully nostalgic portrayal of Ash Ketchum at the start of the franchise. Her name is listed as a "Contributor," which gives me hope. However, there's no indication of whether that means that she contributed to the text in the hard-bound book that encloses the discs, or that it alludes to the English Dub tracks.

There's also no sign if any of the pre-film animated shorts are also part of this set. As a physical film collector, I have the Pokémon Movie Collection Limited Edition Steelbook on my shelf. It contains the first three movies but none of the shorts which proceeded them in the cinema. During a recent Pokemon movie marathon, I was heartbroken not to hear the catchy start of Vitamin C's "Vacation" during the Pikachu Vacation short, as it simply wasn't on the disc.

Hopefully Viz Media has truly made this a collection for Pokemon film fans by rectifying that glaring omission. Or at least, I'd hope that's the case for a set that wants $399.99 of your hard-earned Pokedollars. But we'll have to wait until November 14, later this year, to find out for sure.

In the meantime, check out my top tips for building the ultimate Blu-ray film collection if you're looking to expand your physical film collection ahead of the Pokemon: 24-Movie Collection drop.

• View all Pokemon Blu-rays at Amazon

We're also rounded up the Spider-Man: Brand New Day Blu-ray pre-orders if you're a physical media fan.

For everyone that feels like it's been decades since we got an new, original Naughty Dog game, I come bearing great news: the studio's upcoming sci-fi adventure game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, has officially wrapped filming, marking a major development milestone.

The Uncharted and Last of Us studio shared the news in a Bluesky post featuring Tati Gabrielle, the actor behind Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet's main protagonist, Jordan A. Mun.

"'See you, space cowboy...'", reads the caption, a reference to the iconic manga and anime series Cowboy Bebop, which the game is heavily inspired by.

"That is a wrap on the very ambitious Intergalactic cinematic shoot! This cast killed it! Cannot wait to show you their incredible work when the time is right!"

"See you, space cowboy..."That is a wrap on the very ambitious Intergalactic cinematic shoot! This cast killed it! Cannot wait to show you their incredible work when the time is right!

— @naughtydog.com (@naughtydog.com.bsky.social) 2026-08-31T18:28:43.352Z

Naughty Dog has said the game, which is set to kick-start a franchise, features the studio's "wildest, most creative story yet" and has the "deepest gameplay" out of all of its games, which is quite the claim. My only reservations so far have been related to Naughty Dog's caginess about a release date or window, and while we still don't have anything like that, it's good to see an explicit marker of development progression.

The story sets bounty hunter Jordan out on a mission to capture a legendary crime syndicate, but she's stranded on the alien planet Sempiria, which is cut off from all communications from the wider galaxy. That premise alone is intriguing enough, but what I'm more interested to see is Naughty Dog's take on the sci-fi bounty hunter trope.

As a longtime Naughty Dog fan going all the way back to the Crash Bandicoot games, and as someone whose introduction to manga was none other than Cowboy Bebop, I couldn't be more excited for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Even if the game doesn't defy convention as much as the studio has been teasing, I have no doubt there will be a rich emotional core at its story's center.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet "might need to be edited" to avoid "another Last of Us 2 situation," former Naughty Dog dev warns

What would Pokemon look like if the series borrowed from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's combat system? The question is so unlikely that it wouldn't usually be worth dwelling on, but it is today, because one fan has created a gorgeous proof of concept video.

Earlier this week, BelmontesArt posted a clip to their YouTube channel with a self-explanatory title: "What if Pokémon had the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 battle system?" What follows is a minute-long, fan-made animation showing Decidueye, Charizard, and Greninja battling against Ultra Necrozma, complete with the Clair Obscur-isms you'd expect.

There are timing-based prompts for parrying and blocking attacks, HUD elements that pop in and out of view, a dynamic camera that zooms and sways for maximum dramatic effect, and a turn order stuck to the side of the screen. But our battle-tested Pokemon mechanics aren't forgotten about either - moves can be super effective, and Charizards X/Y Mega Evolutions are actually snuggly mapped to the X and Y buttons. Chef's kiss.

"I really like how cinematic the gameplay of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks, so I thought it might be a cool experiment to mix it with Pokémon," BelmontesArt wrote in the video's description. The animation was apparently made in Blender using modified character models and sound effects ripped straight from Pokemon and Clair Obscur.

While it's unlikely we'll ever see The Pokemon Company so directly pull from the parry-forward combat of Sandfall Interactive's GOTY-winning hit, there's clearly a ton of interest in the concept. The fan animation was viewed over 400,000 times on YouTube in less than a week, and it travelled just as far across multiple social media channels, too.

Next up is Pokemon Winds and Waves, coming sometime in 2027. A series lead developer recently hinted that its combat system "could change" after Pokemon Champions' release, so who knows? Perhaps Pokemon: Expedition 33 isn't such a far off fever dream.

New Pokemon series from Wallace and Gromit animation studio Aardman is coming exclusively to Disney Plus, alongside Ash's first anime run

The Pokemon Company has signed an exclusive deal with Disney to stream Pokemon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd and Pichu, the seemingly delightful stop-motion animated series coming from Aardman (of Wallace and Gromit fame).

Announced during a live panel at this weekend's Pokemon XP event, the full series will be available worldwide next year on Disney+ and the Disney XD channel. There's no exact date or approximate release window just yet, but we were treated to another gorgeous look at the show. Take a look below.

"Join our unlikely heroes, Sirfetch’d and Pichu, in their gallant quest to protect Pokemon across Galar! While their missions might rarely go as planned, their noble deeds forge their friendship as they step bravely into the unknown. Peril, alliances, rivalries, extraordinary Pokémon, and endless laughs await them," the trailer's description reads.

The deal also includes Ash and Pikachu's first classic anime run in Pokemon the Series: The Beginning, which should be streaming now on Disney+ and Disney XD in the US and "select" other regions around the world.

"Pokemon has that rare ability to mean something to longtime fans while continuing to feel completely relevant to young audiences today," Disney executive Ayo Davis said, per Deadline. "This new series Pokemon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd and Pichu brings Aardman's signature stop-motion artistry with a bold, playful new perspective to this beloved world, giving audiences a fresh way to experience the characters they know and love."

For those not in the Poke-weeds, Galar is a region in the video game series that first appeared in Pokemon Sword and Shield. The fact that it's inspired by the British countryside likely makes it perfect fodder for the folks at Aardman, and if the other stop-motion animated streaming series is any indication, Pokemon Tales should be a great old time.

The Pokemon Twitter account was briefly taken over by a hacker peddling their crypto memecoin

Puppeteered by a hacker or hackers of unknown origin, one of Pokemon's official social media accounts was briefly trying to get fans to invest in a crypto memecoin - on top of the Krispy Kreme donuts and endless merch the account usually peddles, that is.

As spotted by NintendoEverything, Pokemon's Twitter (X) account made quite a strange post last night. "Celebrate 30 years of Pokemon in a whole new way," the now-deleted tweet said alongside a contract address. "Introducing $POKEMON, the official Pokemon memecoin."

Of course, The Pokemon Company quickly regained control of its internet airwaves after around half an hour of the crypto ad going live, just in time for the 2026 Pokemon World Championships that kick off today.

The Pokemon stewards explained what went on in a statement to the outlet: "The @Pokemon handle on X was temporarily compromised earlier for ~30 minutes. We're aware that our X account was accessed without authorization and used to publish posts promoting a cryptocurrency.

Those posts were not created or approved by Pokemon and have been removed. We have secured the account and are investigating the incident. We're sorry for the confusion and appreciate your patience."

There's no word on who was behind the hacks or how exactly the ordeal happened, but here's hoping any kids ravenous for more Pokemon stuff weren't blindsided by the scheme.

If I had a memecoin for every hacker who used a massive gaming franchise to push their crypto nonsense this month alone, I'd have two good-for-nothing digital tokens, funnily enough. Earlier this month, a leaker known online as CyberLeek leaked tons of in-development footage from GTA 6 online, using the clips as a backdoor to promote and sell their own memecoin, though the scheme seems to be over now. Pokemon's run-in with a crypto schemer was thankfully much less dramatic.

Pokemon Winds and Waves might not have turn-based battles as Game Freak veteran hints the combat system "could change" thanks to Pokemon Champions

Pokemon Polaroid pre-orders are hitting the shelves, and you can now claim your own Pikachu, Sylveon, or Pokeball instant camera. Not only that, but if you're not keen on the $99.99 cameras themselves, there's a whole host of accessories to snap up, starting from just $14.99. Wondering where to buy these adorable snappers? You're heading straight to the Polaroid Store.

This is where we're seeing stock landing en masse right now, and there's still time to scoop up your Pokemon Polaroid pre-order. As evidenced by the fact that empty Pokemon donut boxes are being flogged online by resellers, it's a jungle out there where Poke-merch is concerned.

That's why I've rounded up the first spots you should hit when pre-ordering Pokemon Polaroid cameras and accessories ahead of their full October 5 release date. This should allow you to beat any potential rush and stay ahead of the curve.

No matter what's caught your eye, I'd recommend moving quickly. Polaroid itself promises that you'll only be able to pre-order them "while supplies last." Once they're gone, it looks as though they may be gone for good.

Polaroid Go Gen 3 (Pikachu Edition)

Polaroid Go Gen 3 (Sylveon Edition)

Polaroid Now Gen 3 (Poke Ball Edition)

Polaroid x Pokemon accessories

Pokemon Polaroid FAQ

Looking for more cool Poke-gear? Here's where to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration. The new Pokemon Halloween merch also seems to be super-effective, because it's already starting to sell out.

• See all camera offers at Polaroid

The Pokemon Company International has appointed series veteran James Turner as the new creative director of Pokemon art and design.

Turner shared the news on Twitter. "It feels great to be working in the world of Pokémon again, with a lovely group of people," he says. "I’m very excited about what comes next!"

Though Turner is most recently known for indie hit The Plucky Squire, made by All Possible Futures, a studio which Turner co-led, his history with Pokemon goes back generations.

Per Bulbapedia (and Mobygames credits), Turner worked with Game Freak on multiple Pokemon games dating back to Pokemon Black and White. Not only that, he directed Tembo the Badass Elephant, one of the stranger non-Pokemon games to come from the studio.

Game Freak only recently released Beast of Reincarnation, an action RPG with a more realistic art style. Our Beast of Reincarnation review praises its combat and, very appropriately for the Pokemon studio, its big ol' dog.

Turner was credited as a Pokemon character designer on Pokemon Black and White, X and Y, Sun and Moon, and Sword and Shield. He was also art director on Sword and Shield, and has dabbled in digital movie and effect design as well as 3D map graphics for the series.

Turner's earliest Pokemon credit was 2003's Pokemon Colosseum, for which he handled camera animation and contributed some special effects. You'll also find a few Pokemon cards under his name on The Art of Pokemon.

Our The Plucky Squire review had high praise for All Possible Futures' 2D-meets-3D puzzle adventure. It sees storybook characters explore the world outside their pages, and was a high point for publisher Devolver Digital in 2024. Its art style, which used segmented lines and delivered a charming, illustrated look, is a recurring point of praise across its reviews.

Pokemon Winds and Waves might not have turn-based battles as Game Freak veteran hints the combat system "could change" thanks to Pokemon Champions.

Pokemon Champions director Kazumasa Iwao says that the mainline Pokemon games could gradually move away from turn-based battles, as Champions is available for fans of the current combat system. Pokemon has a vibrant competitive scene, and having a battle-focused game allows Game Freak to experiment with different types of combat for the mainline games like Winds and Waves.

The Pokemon series has a large number of different battle systems from PokePark to Conquest, but the mainline series has stayed mostly the same, with each new generation making changes and building on existing mechanics. Both Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Legends: Z-A had entirely new battle formats, but these are the exception rather than the rule.

Fans assumed that Winds and Waves would stick to the traditional turn-based formula, but Game Freak could be about to shake things up. In a video on Game Freak's YouTube Channel, which has been translated by GamesRadar+, Iwao explains, "The Pokemon series has always used a turn-based battle system, but there is the possibility that this rule could change little by little."

While this change might not be happening as soon as Winds and Waves, Game Freak's desire to try out new systems is what led to the creation of Champions, which will preserve VGC-style turn-based battles. "There are people who have battled for decades since Pokemon Red/Green or Pokemon Gold/Silver, so we didn't want to say like 'it's changed now, so please buy and play the new games,'" explains Iwao.

"That wouldn't be good. However, at Game Freak we always want to challenge ourselves by doing new things with the series, but we don't want to throw away the battle system that we've built until now," he continues. "Because of this we thought it would be good to put the battle system we've constructed into one game that you can keep playing, and that's where the development of Pokemon Champions began."

The Pokemon World Championships take place this weekend (August 28 – 30) in San Francisco, and Pokemon Champions will be at the center of the video game battles. Going forward, it appears that the mainline games may no longer put competitive fighting at the center, as Champions becomes the focus of the battle arena.

I spent 12 hours constructing a diabolical Pokemon Champions team to challenge the meta head-on, which has caused so many forfeits I almost feel bad.

I took one look at the 2026 Pokemon Halloween collection and let out a loud groan. Make no mistake: my bank account is in danger.

The official Poke-store tends to hit the mark where quality is concerned, but those hits turn into bullseyes with spooky season. The 2026 Pokemon Halloween collection (which you can see in its entirety at the Pokemon Center) is no different, and there are multiple pages of "oh no, I want it" merch ranging from mugs to cozy sweaters. No matter whether you want to decorate home or you'd like the best Pokemon merch with a touch of the eerie this fall, there's no shortage of options.

Some of the cooler items are already selling out (I've seen themed plushies fly off the digital shelves), so fellow GamesRadar+ Poke-merch fan Rosalie and I have rounded up our favorite Pokemon Center Halloween collectibles for 2026. Personally, I'm a big fan of the Pikachu Pumpkin String Lights as well as the Gengar Cardigan. An eerie ambient glow never fails to deliver on Halloween atmosphere, while the latter looks hyper cozy. They're just the tip of the iceberg though, so I'll need to hide my credit card if I want to have any money left over this spooky season...

For more cool collectibles, don't miss these China-exclusive Pokemon TCG figures (they've ruined my entire day).

• See all the 2026 merch at the Pokemon Center

Over the past couple of weeks, official accounts run by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have repeatedly made references to Pokemon Gold and Silver. Maybe it's nothing more than a nostalgic tribute to some classic games. But I'm over here drinking hopium straight from the tap, and I'm willing myself to believe this is a tease for a HeartGold and SoulSilver revival on Switch.

Earlier this week, Nintendo of America tweeted "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold." Attached is a screenshot from Pokopia, recreating the bit in Pokemon Gold and Silver's intro where you find your rival peeking through a window into Professor Elm's laboratory.

That alone would hardly be a reason to infer anything, but it's not the only suspicious recent tweet. Back on August 10, an official Japanese Pokemon account tweeted an image of the ultimate battle in HeartGold and SoulSilver, where you confront the original game's protagonist in a mountaintop battle against his uber-powerful Pokemon team.

Two tweets counts as a pattern, right? After all, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen hit the Switch earlier this year. Wouldn't it make sense for Nintendo and The Pokemon Company to follow up on these modern versions of classic gen 1 remakes with modern versions of classic gen 2 remakes?

And! – I shout as I start stretching red strings along my conspiracy board – FireRed and LeafGreen are about to get Pokemon Home support. If you've completed the Pokedex in those games, once that update hits, you'll be gifted a Celebi in Home. That's the very same legendary Pokemon that was introduced alongside Gold and Silver all those years ago. Johto fever is running wild, baby.

This is, admittedly, a lot of wishful thinking. But we're now celebrating Pokemon's 30th anniversary, and HeartGold and SoulSilver are often regarded as the best Pokemon games ever made. What better way to see out the year than a new way to play the classics?

For now, Pokemon Winds and Waves are the biggest things on the horizon.

The next expansion set, Pokemon TCG Delta Reign, now has a release date; it's due to launch at the beginning of November. In addition, we now have a better idea of what the set will offer fans.

Hitting shelves a couple of months after the the 30th Celebration set, Pokemon TCG Delta Reign is eyeing a November 6, 2026 release date - but fans will be able to get early access at special prerelease events starting from October 24. The expansion also introduces 'Legendary Stadiums' (two Stadiums played alongside each other), and more Mega Evolution Pokemon ex. That includes Mega Rayquaza ex, which is returning for the first time since the game's XY era.

Here's a breakdown of what you can expect from the set:

• Four more Mega Evolution Pokemon ex (Mega Rayquaza ex, Mega Golurk ex, Mega Malamar ex, and Mega Golisopod ex)
• 6 standard Pokémon ex
• New Legendary Stadium mechanic that combines two Stadiums together, with three Legendary Stadiums available in the set (boosters with Stadiums include both required cards)
• 14 illustration rare Pokemon
• 17 ultra rare Pokemon and Trainer cards
• Six special illustration rare Pokemon and Supporter cards

Pre-orders aren't available for Pokemon TCG Delta Reign yet, but it probably won't be long before they start to appear. While the Pokemon Center will sell this set in November, it's probably going to run out of stock fast. With that in mind, I'd keep a close eye on third-party retailers like Miniature Market in the US and Wayland Games in the UK. Both typically offer the range at standard (or close to normal) prices, though this does mean the cards sell fast.

That's certainly been the case with the current set; it's incredibly difficult to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration right now. As such, I'd keep a very close eye out for Delta Reign pre-orders in the coming weeks.

While we're on the subject of poor availability, Palworld TCG dev promises more stock with a 2nd Edition printing and apologizes again for poor availability.

• See the latest Pokemon card offers at Amazon

I'm feeling sorry for myself, and it's all because of China's exclusive Pokemon TCG figures.

China already has a reputation for getting some very cool Poke-merch, but the latest drop takes the cake. In honor of the 30th Celebration (which is grand enough to feature 27 products as is), the territory has pulled out all the stops for exclusive figurines to go with special Pokemon TCG cards.

While there's been a lot of fuss in the community over 13 adorable Pikachu models that match some of the 30 unique Pika-cards dropping alongside this set, an incredible Charizard commemorative figure based on the original card artwork is just as impressive. Actually, looking at it makes me feel weirdly nostalgic; it's the spitting image of the 1999 card, despite being a 3D model. Due to cleverly-placed linework, it feels like a cartoon come to life.

It's unclear if we'll get any of the above in the US or UK (and if we did, my guess is it'd appear somewhere like Walmart before being snapped up instantly), but I don't feel hopeful. While there's a chance these collectors' items could make the trip across the ocean, I'm not overly hopeful. We've seen figures such as these before, and they've remained China-exclusive. The only exception is in the UK at very select Forbidden Planet stores, which occasionally get Chinese Poke-merch in... but again, it's a small batch so I wouldn't say it's a super reliable method.

Not that they're completely out of reach. These items will launch in China this September 16, and I have no doubt you'll be able to get ahold of the figurines via secondary channels such as eBay… but you'll probably be paying way over the odds for them, not to mention painful shipping costs. Considering how it's already difficult enough to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration, this may be a step too far for many. In other words, these models may stay a daydream for most of us.

Back to feeling sorry for myself I go.

It's a day of ups and downs for card game fans; while it sucks that we probably won't get those cool Pokemon figures here, Palworld TCG dev promises more stock with a 2nd Edition printing.

• See the latest Pokemon cards at Amazon

I knew resellers were shameless and will do their level best to flog anything they can, but I didn't realize they'd stoop so low as to sell empty Pokemon Krispy Kreme donut boxes.

No, that isn't a typo; resellers really are attempting to shift cartons at an absurd price. I've seen some Pokemon Krispy Kreme boxes being listed for as much as $99.99, and honestly, my flabbers are gasted.

It's a similar story with the accompanying Poke-cups featuring Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and more. Getting a full collection can cost you well over $100 via eBay right now.

For context, Krispy Kreme just released a Pokemon collaboration with themed donuts based on the beloved pocket monsters. (More than one of our Editors can confirm that they are, in fact, delicious.) Because this is a limited-time drop and fans are going nuts for the tasty crossover, resellers have sniffed out an opportunity to make some easy cash by selling the remains at a ridiculous markup. Or at least, that's their hope; from what I can tell, very few of them are actually being bought. Faith in humanity restored.

These unscrupulous individuals are well known by fans of the best card games, and I can't say they have a good reputation. They typically scoop up all the TCG packs they can to move on with obscene price-hikes attached (which is part of the reason why it's so hard to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration right now), and this means there's nothing left for actual players. In fact, the war on Pokemon scalpers now includes facial recognition checks in some stores in Japan.

"....so they're not just scalping Pokemon cards, but the EMPTY DONUT BOXES?!!?!? ...is having good things as a 90s nerd just NO LONGER ALLOWED anymore?!" Asks @DaJoestanator on X/Twitter. I can't disagree with that sense of disbelief.

In more positive news, the new Disney Lorcana digital game sounds like a cross between MTG Arena and Pokemon TCG Pocket.

• Skip the trash and find actual Pokemon merch at Amazon

The last thing Naughty Dog released was in 2024, and it was the developer's The Last of Us Part II Remastered. To the former The Last of Us and Uncharted series' designer Benson Russell, that's a problem. Now a game development consultant, Russell recommends his former employer spare its next game from the prolonged development period it's accustomed to.

Naughty Dog's upcoming sci-fi adventure Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet has now been in production for six years. While the game doesn't yet have a release date, by the time it finally launches, we could be trudging toward the PS6 generation – which is why Russell tells FRVR in a new interview he thinks Naughty Dog's lethargic release calendar is "absolutely not" sustainable. He says about the developer, "They're one of the key stakeholders that get PlayStation[s] sold, right? So, when you think about it, they have not put an original IP out on this platform. The only thing they've done is The Last of Us [Remake]."

Russell guesses The Heretic Prophet's protracted production period is the result of "another Last of Us 2 situation," his term for Naughty Dog's eagerness to map a concise story to overstuffed gameplay. "It might need to be edited in that regard."

The former designer also expresses concern about The Heretic Prophet's interstellar setting, a huge change from Naughty Dog's more typical Earthly fare, in which the developer plays with ragged North American landscapes and jewel-tone islands for Nathan Drake to look disheveled on. The Heretic Prophet's seemingly grisly melee combat is also new for Naughty Dog, whose action segments are usually more strategic than aggressive – though, I think that look Crash Bandicoot always has in his eyes is also "aggressive."

Still, in Russell's experience, Naughty Dog can struggle in achieving new ideas. Even in those few years after the first Uncharted game came out in 2007, when Naughty Dog was releasing sequels and spin-offs on a nearly annual basis, Russell recalls the developer struggling to perfect its melee combat. He says, "We wanted brawling and all that kind of stuff, but it was a massive investment."

Now, as The Heretic Prophet heads toward its seventh year of development, Russell reflects on the industry-wide trouble of zombified production periods. The biggest titles reveal a small outbreak of developers dragging their feet – GTA 6 is a decade overdue, Fable has been delayed to 2027 after being announced in 2020, the Max Payne 1 and 2 remake has been under construction for four years and counting, and so on...

"I genuinely think these seven-year projects… you can get them back down to five," Russell says. "I think you could at least cut two years off of them, if not maybe a little more, just by defining yourself, getting that North Star solid right in the beginning. And it's not a difficult thing to do."

Otherwise, Russell argues, developers risk making a mess of their games with team changes, technical changes, and the unavoidable frustration of starting over.

And he has a point. But as studio closures and shrinking funds from publishers continue to threaten game development from the outside, it might not make a difference.

Uncharted difficulty was tuned to "slow the player down if they were too good," says Naughty Dog designer: "We can't charge 60 bucks for a 5-hour game."

The solo developer behind a fan-made Pokemon Emerald remake says they've been working 12-hour days for about two years to bring their project to life, during which time they created a whopping 384,000 animation frames and a whole lot more.

Pokemon Gamma Emerald launched into early access last week. Its creator, UndreamedPanic, describes it as a free, "built from scratch" remake, with this early build containing around three to six hours of gameplay. The project adds some quality-of-life improvements not found in the original Emerald, as well as additions like a day/night cycle and the option to let your Pokemon follow you around like in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

As spotted by Dexerto, on social media, Gamma Emerald's dev is adamant that "this is not a rom," nor is it a mod. "I built the assets like sprites, animations, models, music, UI, entire gamma engine myself. Calling it a mod is literally dismissing all of that haha," UndreamedPanic writes. "This is an original creation from scratch. It took 2 years to build with me working on it everyday for 12 hours a day." In a different post, they add: "I've been working to death."

Part of that was the project's animation – in a separate post, UndreamedPanic says "I did 384,000 frames of animation in the past 18 months," which definitely helps explain where those 12-hour workdays came from. Elsewhere, they reiterate: "I built this from the ground up, 0 rom, all me."

Although Gamma Emerald is in early access, UndreamedPanic said at launch that "I am not gonna fix bugs or look at them for a while, I REALLY need a break from this project." After those years of work, I don't think anyone could blame them for having a rest.

Pokemon Pokopia becomes second best-seller on Switch 2 after its first DLC launch, as Nintendo confirms the cozy spin-off has hit over 5 million sales in 5 months.

Polaroid seems to have said "what if Pokemon Snap, but real," because it's dropping a handful of cameras based on the mega-franchise.

Designed to look like Pokemon or items inspired by the series, this Polaroid collaboration includes three models: a Pikachu design, a Sylveon version, and a more classic camera based on the iconic Poke Ball colorscheme. They'll be available to pre-order soon (on August 25) via the Polaroid store or Pokemon Center, and launch alongside a host of accessories like carry-cases this October.

Rather than being different colorways on the same camera, the Pokemon × Polaroid crossover modifies two separate designs. The Pikachu and Sylveon ones give the smaller Polaroid Go Generation 3 a Poke-makeover, while the Poke Ball model is a modified Polaroid Now Instant Camera Generation 3. However, all feature the same shutter button modelled after a Poke Ball.

The cool thing about the smaller designs is that they feature themed straps modelled after their inspiration; the Pikachu one has a charm made to look like the electric mouse's tail, while the Sylveon Polaroid features a strap borrowing the Pokemon's signature colors in a suitably wavy pattern.

All of the cameras come with film whose frames are based on instantly-recognizable pocket monsters, from Charmander to Bulbasaur. These are all protected by darkslides featuring custom Pokemon silhouettes.

You'll also be able to grab a few Pokemon-themed add-ons soon, or use them with an existing Polaroid camera. All are modelled after a Poke Ball; there's a Poke Ball strap, a camera case, and photo album.

Here's a breakdown of exactly what's available:

• Polaroid Now Gen 3 (Poké Ball Edition): $139.99 / £129.99
•  Polaroid Go Gen 3 (Pikachu & Sylveon Editions): $99.99 / £89.99 each
• Special Edition Film: Custom-themed i-Type Film ($22.99) and Polaroid Go Double Packs ($24.99) with themed frames and custom dark slides
• Accessories: Themed Go Camera Cases ($24.99), Photo Albums ($24.99), and universal Camera Straps ($14.99).

These items will go up for pre-order at Polaroid on August 25, 2026 ahead of a full release on October 5.

If you want more nostalgia-fuelled collectibles, fans agree this new Lego Batman Returns Batmobile looks great.

• See all the latest camera models and accessories at Polaroid

Wonderland codes can give you a helping hand in this adventure, as you explore a creepy park full of surprises. While this place was originally built as a paradise, there are now loud noises and jump scares potentially hiding around every corner, so you'll need to stay strong if you want to survive.

The initial promo released gives you a modest amount of free Gems, which is enough to increase your balance but you'll need to earn more of them yourself before you can start buying items to help you through this scary Roblox experience. If you're brave enough to head inside, then here are the codes for Wonderland and how to redeem them.

If you'd prefer some general promos for rewards that can be used across all of your experiences, then check out the latest Roblox promo codes.

All Wonderland codes

The following Wonderland codes are available to claim:

• WORMYGOOD – 150x Gems new!

The initial codes for Wonderland unlock Gems, which can contribute towards an in-game purchase but generally aren't enough to buy anything on their own. Hopefully future promos will increase the amount of free Gems available, to give you more purchasing power.

How to redeem Wonderland codes

To redeem Wonderland codes, start off by selecting the SHOP button on the left side of the screen while in the lobby, then on the next screen hit the CODES icon at the end of the top bar. That will open the Redeem a Code menu, so use the Enter a special code here text box to type in a promo before tapping Redeem to collect your reward. Codes for Wonderland are not case-sensitive, so you don't have to use all caps for them to work.

Expired Wonderland codes

• RELEASE26 – 100x Gems

We have now started to get expired Wonderland codes, even though this whole process has only been added recently. Any promos released will eventually stop working, so claim the codes we've listed as active as soon as you can.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The Eventide is as far from the realms of Mass Effect or Dragon Age as it could be. The narrative-driven adventure is grounded in a more realistic setting, for one, with striking "neon noir" detective vibes riffing off The X Files' brand of paranormal investigation, all presented through a vivid watercolor art style. This contemporary Canadian metropolis is "not cyberpunk, but hearkening back to some of the '90s aesthetics," art director Francis Lacuna offers – so you definitely won't be playing an intergalactic war hero.

As the brainchild of three former BioWare developers, developer Studio Reset is living up to its name. After almost two decades working together on some of the best RPGs of all time, creative director Kaelin Lavallee teamed up with fellow Mass Effect and Dragon Age alums Francis Lacuna and Kris Schoneberg to leave big corp life and form their own studio. "I think we were all very eager to try something new," Lavallee says, "to take these principles that we did learn [at BioWare] about characters and world building and crafting stories, and just apply them a bit differently."

Bright lights, big city

"A bit" sounds like an understatement. The Eventide puts you in charge of a team of paranormal detectives with an ever-growing pile of redacted cases to solve – and you yourself are not an actual character.

"You are facilitating their investigation," design director Schoneberg says, describing the player's role as the "unseen hand" tasked with not only selecting a case, but assigning the two most appropriate sleuths for the task. "That choice may become a little bit more difficult as the case list gets bigger," she hints. "Similarly, you start with a few agents, and they have different perspectives.

"When you look at a case and you look at your agents, you kind of do a little mental math," adds Schoneberg. "So you're making decisions about where you're going and who you're bringing. Then you go to that location with those agents, and at that point you do an investigation."

"How you collect the evidence is just as important as the evidence you collect," Lavallee says when I ask about how missions pan out. With interpersonal storytelling and party dynamics being such a focus in The Eventide, right in the veteran BioWare dev team's RPG wheelhouse, my curiosity is piqued. How do we know which duos to assign to a given case?

"You choose an agent based on their background and their expertise, depending on what you want to kind of uncover on a case," Lavallee says. "We don't have stats in the traditional RPG sense. Every character is quite unique in terms of their abilities and what they are able to see. So you can almost think of them like classes, but I prefer to think of them as lenses on the supernatural. You know, how does the supernatural interact with technology? How does it interact spiritually in cultures? How does it interact scientifically, organically?"

The idea of skeptics versus believers is imperative here, too, linking right back to the team being inspired by Mulder and Scully's dynamic in The X Files.

"I think it all ties back to perspective," says Lavallee. "So, in a BioWare game, each of the companions had their own perspective on the world and what should or should not happen." He references how different characters approve or dislike certain actions or dialogue choices, as well as the player's alignment as either Paragon or Renegade in Mass Effect.

"What we were trying to do with this is take that one step further and apply their perspectives to the gameplay itself. So you get both the character's narrative voice coming through in what they want to see and how they see it, their opinions on the world and on the supernatural, but you also get to see it through their eyes."

Or, you can choose the pair of detectives you simply like the most. "That's the thing that I loved about BioWare games," reflects Schoneberg. "When you'd bring those two characters with you, and all of a sudden they'd start having an argument or something." Picture the autonomous Garrus/Tali romance in Mass Effect 3, which happens if the player doesn't romance either character – anecdotally, something Schoneberg herself "had no idea" about while working on the RPG as a level designer.

But there's no player romance in The Eventide, Lavallee admits. "You're also not necessarily playing matchmaker. Maybe something happens organically. Who knows?"

The promise of branching narratives for coupled agents excites me. Romantic or not, The Eventide puts hands-off character development and emergent storytelling front and center. "You don't get the 'approves, disapproves' [character affinity tracker]. You see it live," Schoneberg says.

As a result, each detective's background, personal arc, and who they're paired up to work cases with becomes integral to how the story plays out. "It's very divergent. For me, I think what makes a compelling mystery is the convergence of all of these possibilities. So there is an ending. How you get there is really up to the player," explains Lavallee. "And then, as things start clicking together, you get closer and closer to the truth of what happened. And I think it's that space where the most fun is had."

Team rebuilding

The Eventide is the direct result of the trio's "shared beliefs," according to Lavallee, in terms of "not just what we want to make, but how we could make it and how we would want to if we ever got the opportunity."

It might sound like a risky pivot, but with industry-wide studio downsizing and layoffs sweeping some of the biggest game developers globally, creating indie games sounds comparatively safer for job security. "It used to be that AAA was sort of a safe harbor. You could have a nice salaried job and create something special, and now, that safety net is kind of gone," Lavallee says. The opportunity to make such a quirky, unique game like The Eventide could only present itself to an independent studio, and who better to helm it than Schoneberg, Lacuna, and himself?

"The opportunity to work with developers and people I trust and respect to create a good game experience – that's underappreciated in the world of companies building products to sell," Lacuna reflects. "Taking a risk to make a heartfelt, focused, passionate game – that is the most interesting thing to me [about going independent], and that drew me to work with these two."

Game development has become "a risky business", says Schoneberg. "A way of de-risking it is by working with people that you trust and have worked with before. That's more valuable than anything else."

Studio Reset's independence gives the devs a chance to get back into their craft at a grassroots level. "The assumption there is that you don't want to get your hands dirty anymore. You don't want to get in the engine. You don't actually want to go make something," Schoneberg continues.

"We want to make something, and we're willing to open up the editor, go find a YouTube video, and learn how to do something 20 years into a career. We are willing to do it, and so many people aren't."

The Eventide is one of many upcoming PC games you need to have on your radar in 2026 and beyond.

On February 25, 2027, Pokemon Bank will shut down, leaving seven generations worth of creatures trapped on old game cartridges. It's a sad milestone if you want to keep adventuring with your childhood Pokemon pals, but if you're purely interested in completing the modern Pokedex, you still can – well, mostly. With the app's closure, a small handful of Pokemon will be unobtainable in the modern console games, and nobody's quite sure when that's going to change.

The current hub for digital Pokemon collecting is Pokemon Home, a storage app that allows you to upload your creatures from any of the Switch games. For now, it also accepts transfers from Pokemon Bank, a 3DS app which – through a long, convoluted history of transfers, trades, and Virtual Console releases – allows you to upload Pokemon from every game released prior to the Switch.

There are now 1,025 Pokemon, and 1,018 of them can be uploaded to Pokemon Home via the modern Switch and Switch 2 games. The missing 'mons? Spinda, Deoxys, Celebi, Victini, Zarude, Iron Leaves, and Walking Wake. Currently, you can catch Deoxys in the eShop versions of FireRed and LeafGreen, and once those games are updated with Pokemon Home support in October, you'll be able to upload that catch with all the others.

That gets us to 1,019 out of 1,025. The Pokemon Company recently announced that the October Pokemon Home update will also give a reward to players who've fully completed the FireRed and LeafGreen Pokedex – a free Celebi. Now we're up to 1,020, but the immediate good news stops with just five Pokemon left to go.

Zarude is a relatively modern addition to the series, as it was introduced in Pokemon Sword and Shield, and is still distributed via online events about once a year. It's safe to expect another such opportunity will come around soon enough. Similarly, Walking Wake and Iron Leaves have been regularly distributed through events for Scarlet and Violet.

Then there's Victini. This li'l guy dates back to Pokemon Black and White on the DS, and has only ever been available via event distributions. And even those have dried up since 2022. There is an important caveat here, since Victini can be caught in Pokemon Go and transferred into Home that way. But if you want to catch all your Pokemon through the mainline RPGs, Victini is currently off the board.

The real, final outlier – the one who's going to leave your Pokedex sitting at 1,024 out of 1,025 – is Spinda. You can catch this Pokemon without much hassle in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, but it's got a weird, unique gimmick: a spot pattern with billions of unique values. That seems to be the reason it's the one and only Pokemon from the Diamond and Pearl remakes that can't be uploaded to Home.

Legends Z-A and its DLC made a wide array of hard-to-obtain Pokemon reasonable to catch once again, but these outliers are all notable exceptions. They've been the subject of plenty of discussion among Pokemon fans on social media, with a lingering question: when will these creatures be catchable again?

Maybe some of them will be reintroduced in Pokemon Winds and Waves. Maybe we'll get to see Spinda again in a seemingly inevitable eShop release of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. Or maybe The Pokemon Company will simply open the floodgates with a host of event giveaways in the near future. For now, we're all just gonna have to make peace with some incomplete checklists.

Check out our ranking of the best Pokemon games.

For anyone hoping to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration, it's a jungle out there... but you can track down cards if you know where to look. That's where I come in. I've spent a long time tracking availability for the best card games, so have plenty of practical suggestions - including live stock.

If you're based in the US, your best bet would be Miniature Market. Even though it's not got the widest range, its prices are by far the lowest. You'll find a greater variety at Walmart, for instance, but it's a more expensive way to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration.

As for the UK, Amazon UK has finally entered the chat with 'invite by request' offers. While this means you aren't guaranteed a purchase, the cost won't be over-inflated. Considering how hard it is to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration across the pond in general, I'll take what we can get.

Regardless, move quickly if you see something you want and it's at a reasonable cost. Products are being snapped up fast ahead of launch, so don't hesitate if the offer is legit; you might not get another chance. Just be sure to check those prices, and if it's a third party seller, their reviews. This should help prevent some heartache.

Where to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration in the US

Things are starting to look up! Reliable indie retailer Miniature Market is back with a small amount of stock this week, and those prices aren't so hideously inflated as you'll find elsewhere. This does mean they'll get snapped up quickly, though, at which point our best bets are Walmart and Amazon. The former has the better range, but it should be noted that both are sporting radically higher costs than normal.

Miniature Market

Walmart

Amazon

Best Buy

Target

TCGPlayer

eBay

Where to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration in the UK

We finally have movement! You can now buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration via Amazon, where a whole host of items have appeared with the 'invite by request' system designed to stop resellers. Although that means you may not get what you're after on the first try, those items will be at a normal price.

Don't want to put all your eggs in one basket? Keep an eye out for Wayland Games or Magic Madhouse. They're traditionally reliable sources of new TCG stock.

Amazon

Wayland Games

Magic Madhouse

Zatu Games

Smyths Toys

Where to buy other Pokemon TCG sets

While all eyes are on places to buy Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration, that's sometimes easier said than done. Fortunately, demand doesn't mean you have to go without cards. Plenty of older sets are widely available, and stock (as well as prices) for them is stabilizing.

I've set our dedicated software to rounding up the best offers as and when they appear, so you'll find the lowest prices on the latest sets below.

Pokemon TCG 30th Celebration FAQ

Wondering what makes this set so special? As the name would suggest, it celebrates three decades of the trading card game with throwbacks to 30 years of sets. This includes an adorable suite of collectible Pikachu cards, an all-new rarity, and box sets that include everything from figures to themed 'Day' and 'Night' packs with a host of accessories.

If you're looking to play something while you wait for stock, don't miss the best board games or the best tabletop RPGs.

• See all Pokemon TCG offers at Amazon

Pokemon Pokopia has only been out in the wild for a little over five months now, but with the recent release of its first DLC Bubbly Basin, it's managed to hit over five million sales.

That's no small feat, seeing as that marks it as Nintendo's second best-selling game on the Switch 2 – after Mario Kart World, of course, which itself boasts over 15 million copies sold, last we heard officially.

The company confirmed the exciting Pokopia-shaped news yesterday, as per Business Wire, with word of its five million sales coming shortly after the release of Bubbly Basin: the cozy spin-off's first-ever expansion, focusing on islands' water rather than land.

In Bubbly Basin, there's a brand-new underwater town to explore, ocean-themed Pokemon to befriend, mermaid-esque furniture to collect, and various outfits to snag.

It's the first part of Pokemon Pokopia's recent expansion pass, which comes with three DLC: Bubbly Basin and two mysterious additions that Nintendo has yet to fully unveil. As it stands now, the pass is $34.99 and includes 30 rare Pokémetal items if purchased before August 31, 2027.

That's quite a bit of time – and, personally, I wonder how Pokopia will be doing by then. Will it boast even more sales? Probably. It strikes me as the infinite-life sort of sandbox sim game that Minecraft is, with no real limit to playtime.

The capacity to build and explore seems endless (heck, so much so, that I feel like I'm constantly encountering complaints that there's too much to do and it's almost overwhelming to folks).

I'm excited to see what the future holds for Pokemon Pokopia – and for us eager players as well, with the second and third part of Nintendo's expansion pass.

Pokemon Pokopia was bioengineered to be the "best selling spin-off" according to Koei Tecmo CEO, but he had no "real expectations" for the cozy game until it became an international hit

A Pokemon PC port known as Gen1Recomp has been going viral over the past few weeks, thanks largely to mods turning the original Game Boy RPG into a three-dimensional voxel world. The project launched with support for Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow, and beta support for Pokemon Gold has just been implemented. Developer BryanThaBoi has also thoroughly answered questions about the project's AI use – though those answers may not be what you're hoping to hear.

Gen1Recomp functions similarly to other PC ports we've seen of classic games. It can play classic Pokemon games pretty much as you remember them, just as an emulator would, but with additional graphics options. Wanna play the game with an ultra-zoomed-out view allowing you to see miles of the map at once? You can do it.

The actual exciting part of these PC ports, however, is the modding potential. Gen1Recomp already has a ton of mods, including some that turn the entire game world into a 3D voxel map, allowing you to see it from an all-new perspective. That's a novelty that's helped shoot Gen1Recomp into stratospheric popularity.

If, however, you don't like your fan-projects to be AI-powered, I'm afraid there's some bad news: Gen1Recomp was made with AI. Or, rather, it was made with help from AI – a distinction BryanThaBoi is very keen to emphasize.

"no, the recomp was not 'made with claude,'" the dev says in a statement on Discord. "was AI used? yes. those are two different sentences and the whole problem is that most people hear them as one. Specifically, using AI = vibe coding. Which is not true. It CAN be true, but in this case it is not."

BryanThaBoi suggests that "vibe coding" is specifically the work of an inexperienced developer who's using AI to paper over the gaps in their own knowledge. That's the kind of thing that the devs behind PS3 emulator RPCS3 were trying to head off when they stopped accepting AI code submissions altogether earlier this year.

But BryanThaBoi insists that his use of AI is different: he's an experienced software developer using AI as an assistant tool, just as he does in his day job. That's the kind of sentiment we saw Valve boss Gabe Newell express when he described AI as a "cheat code" for developers.

"when someone asks me point blank 'is it AI' i have said no, because in the way they mean it, it isnt," BryanThaBoi says. "the second you say 'i use AI' the assumption is vibecoded, hands off, doesnt even know how to develop. thats not what happened here. So it's close to impossible to answer people like this who either have a closed mind about the subject, or dont understand it at all and are just mad any AI touched anything ever."

To those angry about his stance, BryanThaBoi offers a GIF in response. It says "eat a shoe," and you can probably guess what it depicts. I suppose there's something to be said for making your stance clear, but I doubt this response is altogether endearing to anyone who's rejecting AI outright.

These are the best Pokemon games of all time.

Pokemon Bank is officially shutting down on February 26, 2027 - meaning the last proper route to move Pokemon from older generations to the Switch era is being cut off.

Pokemon Day is February 27, and to celebrate, The Pokemon Company has plans to leave our dusty, sometimes life-long pocket monsters stranded on the Nintendo 3DS. But at least it's giving us time to prep beforehand.

"Pokemon Bank, a Nintendo 3DS application that lets players deposit or withdraw Pokémon they have befriended in Pokemon titles on that system from online Boxes, will be ending service," the company writes in its announcement.

3DS players had long been able to store the critters they caught in Pokemon Black and White, Black and White 2, X and Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and Sun and Moon using the handheld system's Pokemon Bank app. Using some creative workarounds, even Pokemon from the GameBoy era were able to be preserved.

Of course, Pokemon Bank was eventually delisted alongside the entire system's eShop in 2023, but since then, fans have been able to transfer creatures over to the Nintendo Switch generations using the more modern Pokemon HOME alternative - as long as you're a paying member, I should add.

"As a result, transferring Pokémon from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon HOME will also no longer be possible," The Pokemon Company continues. "If you have Pokémon stored in Pokémon Bank that you wish to carry over, please move them to Pokémon HOME prior to Pokemon Bank's end of service. Please note Pokemon Bank is not currently available for download."

While Pokemon Bank compatibility is coming to an end, the price of a Pokemon HOME Premium membership isn't changing. To make up for the loss, The Pokemon Company is simply increasing the number of creatures you can store from 6,000 to 9,000 Pokemon starting this October. The Switch ports of Pokemon LeafGreen and FireRed are also getting Pokemon HOME support at the same time.

In any case, you have less than 200 days to dust off your old 3DS clams or 2DS bricks, scramble to find a charger that's probably tangled into oblivion, and save your childhood 'mons from being permanently lost in a dark digital void. Does a Jigglypuff still sing if no one can hear it?

$9,000 eBay auction might hold a secret Pokemon game that's been lost for 20 years

The best Pokemon TCG Pocket deck for Hoopa ex is very good in the current meta, with Hoopa proving incredibly strong owing to its ability to target benches and disrupt strategies in the early game, but at the risk of hurting yourself the further you go into the late game. If you're willing to take this high-risk, high-reward strategy, here's how to make the best Dark Hoopa ex deck build in PTCGP, and what you need to know about strategies, pros and cons.

For more deck builds, find out the best decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket here!

Best Hoopa ex deck build in Pokemon TCGP

The best Hoopa ex deck in the PTCGP meta right now is made with the following cards:

• Hoopa ex x2
• Deino x2
• Hydreigon x2
• Bombirdier x1
• Cyrus x1
• Rare Candy x2
• Deceptive Needle x2
• Copycat x2
• Lucky Ice Pop x1
• Field Blower x1
• Poke Ball x2
• Professor's Research x2

Energy: Dark

Dark decks are usually all about favoring aggressive play over anything else, even to the extent of hampering the user, and that's what both Hydreigon and Hoopa ex do, both damaging themselves to either generate energy or do big damage.

It's worth it through: this is a deck that can run very early on 1 energy, and Hoopa's basic attack is incredibly powerful, especially when it comes to targeting the opponent's bench. Meanwhile, Bombirdier is a major advantage for lowering retreat costs, and the Deceptive Needle doubles down on that early advantage by inflicting chip damage on opponents.

Want an alternative Dark build? Check out the best Mega Absol ex deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket, or the similar Zoroark ex deck.

• Pros
  • Very good early game that also hits the bench
  • Hydreigon remains a low-cost powerhouse
  • Versatile but simple strategies
• Cons
  • Weaker late game, as a result of low health and self-destructive attacks
  • Hydreigon is a Stage 2 evolution

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission

Each Pokemon has their favorite Pokopia flavors, and knowing which foods fit these categories is essential when feeding fussier Pokemon and trying to increase environment levels throughout your world.

Some Pokemon will ask for any food and are pleased whatever you place in front of them. However, others will ask specifically for something spicy or bitter, for example, and only the right foods will satisfy them. For those occasions, you'll want this Pokopia food guide to hand.

All Pokopia flavors and the basic foods

There are six different Pokopia flavors, and each of the berries, vegetables, and other ingredients belong to specific flavor profiles. When a Pokemon asks for a certain flavor, you'll need to give them food from that category, which isn't always as obvious as you'd think (since when were carrots spicy?!).

So, to help, here's every Pokopia and the basic ingredients that fit their profile:

• Neutral
  • Leppa Berry
  • Lum Berry
  • Watermelon [DLC]
• Bitter
  • Rawst Berry
  • Potato
  • Seaweed
  • Sea Grapes [DLC]
• Dry
  • Chesto Berry
  • Wheat
  • Mushrooms
• Sweet
  • Pecha Berry
  • Bean
• Sour
  • Aspear Berry
  • Tomato
• Spicy
  • Carrot

Meals that you make with these ingredients also fit the flavor profiles above, but the cheapest and most resource friendly way to appease Pokemon hunger is with the basic ingredients listed above.

Mosslax offerings

Once you've awoken Mosslax in Pokopia, you can place offerings on their shrine to increase your rewards. For example, offering dry food grants increased feather drops from Ho-Oh and Lugia. You can offer food to Mosslax once per day, with the effects lasting for that day only. These are the best foods to offer Mosslax for each reward:

• Neutral: increases friendship with other Pokemon faster.
  • Vibrant hamburger steak
    • Combine a bean, a potato, any salad, and any other ingredient in a frying pan.
• Bitter: improves your chance of finding rare items.
  • Bitter hamburger steak
    • Combine a bean, a Rawst berry, a Lum berry, and any other ingredient at a frying pan.
• Dry: increased Lugia and Ho-Oh sightings.
  • Crushed-berry salad
    • Combine a leaf and a Chesto berry at a cutting board, while accompanied by a Pokemon with the Crush specialty.
• Sweet: makes it easier to find ancient artifacts.
  • Fluffy bread
    • Combine wheat, a Pecha berry, and any other ingredient at a bread oven.
• Sour: improved stock appears in shops.
  • Flavorful soup
    • Combine fresh water, an Aspear berry, and any hamburger steak at a cooking pot.
• Spicy: increases the chances of Pokemon turning up at habitats.
  • Crouton salad
    • Combine a leaf and any bread at a cutting board.

With this knowledge, you'll be able to increase your rewards and keep Pokemon happy and well-fed. If you're using this to improve Pokemon homes and therefore the overall Pokopia environment level, but need any more advice on doing so, then our separate guide has all the information you need.

Meanwhile, if you aren't sure how to find any of the ingredients listed above, we've got guides on getting hold of Pokopia wheat and Pokopia tomatoes.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Getting certain Pokopia paint colors - specifically black and white - is no straightforward task, and the game also never tells you how to get them. Then there's other colors, like green, yellow, and pink, which may be obvious depending on a random draw when you started your game, otherwise you might have a tough time getting them.

Whichever color you're after, this Pokopia paint guide will tell you how to get it, so read on - and make sure you've got Smeargle around!

How to get Pokopia paint

To get Pokopia paint, you need to give berries to Pokemon with the Crush Specialty. They'll get to work on the berries, turning each single berry into five bowls of paint after a short time.

If you aren't sure which Pokemon have the Crush Specialty, take a look at our separate guide or use the Pokedex filter in-game.

Here, though, are the base Pokopia paint colors and the berries that require crushing to obtain them:

Other colors then require combining the colors above. For example, if you want lime green paint, you'll need to combine green and yellow paint. This can either be done directly with Smeargle or by crafting Paint Balloons at a workbench. There's more on how to paint further down this guide, but you'll get this recipe after meeting Smeargle in Bleak Beach.

How to get all Pokopia berries

The trouble with all of this is that, while there are plenty of Leppa and Chesto berries about, other berries are slightly harder to come by. Luckily, one seed for each rare tree can be found somewhere in the world, so try not to misplace it when you find it. You'll also get one type of tree randomly assigned to your save game when you start playing Pokopia for the first time, which cannot be changed. This tree will be found in certain places, like the orchard in Withered Wastelands. If you're unlucky, your tree might be Chesto or even Leppa, but you can get any of the other types, too.

Whichever berry you're looking for, though, there's one surefire way of getting the tree you want - and it'll even be ready to harvest right away.

To get every type of berry, head to the developer Dream Island, take a photo of each tree with your in-game camera on Object Mode, then 3D print each tree back at any Pokemon Center.

This way, you'll always have access to as many berry trees as you need, as long as you have one Rare Pokemetal for each single tree you want to print. Upon printing, your fully grown tree will be ready to plant.

If you need to know how to get to this Dream Island, check out our separate guide to accessing the Pokopia Developer Island, which has lots of other stuff you can 3D print, too.

Black and white Pokopia paint

Black and white Pokopia paint, meanwhile, works slightly differently. Since these colors don't come from any berries, you have a chance of getting white or black paint back from Pokemon every time they make you any other paint, at the same ratio of the paint they've made you. For example, if you get ten green paint, there's chance you may also get ten white paint, too. For this reason, it's best to always hand over the maximum amount of berries possible.

Do keep in mind, though, that certain berries result in either black or white paint, as follows:

Again, you're never guaranteed black or white paint, so you'll just have to keep crushing berries with your fingers crossed and you'll get some eventually.

How to paint in Pokopia

There are two ways to paint items and buildings in Pokopia. The first is to craft Paint Balloons at a workbench and throw them at items or blocks. The other is to talk to Smeargle and ask them to paint items or blocks for you.

Either way is simple for painting items, but using paint balloons is probably the best, as you won't need to find Smeargle or take the item to them. Just make sure the correct item is highlighted before throwing the balloon. You can take items to Smeargle if you want something a little more complicated, though, including patterns.

However, when it comes to painting buildings, things are a bit trickier. To paint a building without a color in its name, such as the City Den or a Sand Hut, ask Smeargle to follow you to the building, where they will ask if you want to paint it. However, if you want to paint other buildings, like the yellow, pink, and orange huts, it's bad news.

You can paint these buildings, but you'll need to paint each block individually, which takes a lot of time and paint, as one balloon paints one block. You may find you'd rather destroy the building, take the blocks to Smeargle, and get them to paint the blocks, as Smeargle paints ten blocks for the same paint cost as you can paint one. The downside with this is that you have to rebuild the building from scratch.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

While there is no Manaphy habitat in Pokopia just yet, you can still get this adorable Mythical Pokemon to move into Bubbly Basin - after all, they are the one that started it all.

With the Pokopia Bubbly Basin DLC installed, your attention will be directed to an island off of Bleak Beach which seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Here, you'll find a washed up Manaphy, who'll get your started on the Bubbly Basin storyline before disappearing in search of a home for themselves. If you think this means you need to build a habitat for them, you'd be wrong, but you can still get them to move into your underwater paradise.

I've tried to avoid spoilers as best as possible, but there are some ahead, so be warned.

How to get Manaphy in Pokopia

To get Manaphy to move into Bubbly Basin permanently, simply complete the area's storyline by increasing the environment level to 3 and then building the Ocean Temple as requested by Popplio, Professor Tangrowth's underwater replacement.

I'll let you watch it play out from here, but, just like the base game areas, completing the main storyline results in the appearance of a Legendary - or, in this case, Mythical - Pokemon. From this point on, Manaphy will appear in their new home at all times, but you can't build a new habitat to move them elsewhere. For now, at least.

When it comes to building the Ocean Temple, you're going to need some specific materials, including the Pokopia Ocean Door, Seashell Fencing, and Shiny Pearls, and our guides can help you find them.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The Pokopia Ocean Pals rug is a special decorative item that you can find lying around Bubbly Basin, but unlike most items, this one's also part of a quest. During the DLC storyline, flat Pokemon Stunfisk will ask you to find a special rug for them. All they'll tell you is that the rug design features lots of underwater Pokemon, and that it can be found in house in the Bubbly Basin town.

This doesn't give us much to go on, so if you're struggling to complete this request, I've already found the Ocean Pals rug and can tell you exactly where to do the same. So, read on for the exact location of the Pokopia Ocean Pals rug - and a bonus rug to boot.

Pokopia Ocean Pals rug location

The Pokopia Ocean Pals rug is found in a Pokeball, itself found inside a very dilapidated and well-hidden house in the very northwest corner of Bubbly Basin, just behind the play area.

This particular house is hard to find as it's hidden on its own in a cave, seemingly having been buried in all the Pokopia chaos. There are two easy ways to find it:

• Head over the bridge to the play area, and the house can just be seen through some cracks in the cliffs to the left of the slide, behind some Star-Speckled Rocks.
• Head above water when you reach the play area, where you'll find half of the house above ground. Drop down to find the other, sunken, half.

Once you find the house, it's pretty easy to find the Ocean Pals Rug, as it's inside the only Pokeball in the home. With the rug in your inventory, head back to Stunfisk and give it to them to complete your request.

There is another lovely fish-friendly rug found in the town as well, the Swampert Squad rug. If you're trying to give this rug to Stunfisk and it's not working, that's because you've got the wrong one - though it's an easy mistake to make.

Alternatively, if you haven't yet found this blue Pokemon-themed rug, it's in the Pokeball just to the right of the bridge before you cross over from the main Bubbly Basin area. Be careful not to lose it, though, because while no Pokemon has asked for it yet, there's no saying someone won't in the future!

For more Bubbly Basin guides, I've got you covered with help finding the Pokopia Ocean Door recipe and the Windup Inkay toy, as well as how to get the incredibly useful Pokopia Portal Pods for improved storage!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Studio Reset is confident you'll never find a AAA studio making something like its upcoming supernatural mystery game, The Eventide – and its developers would know. The new indie company is made up of BioWare veterans who've worked on games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and The Eventide leads remind GamesRadar+ in an interview that AAA gaming is prone to too much worrying to really luxuriate in the misty X Files vibes they're cultivating.

"Because we are indie, we can take these sort of creative risks that maybe were not available to us in larger companies," says Studio Reset creative director Kaelin Lavallee. "And that's not a knock against larger companies. They have their place and they can do what they do, and they do it well, but at the end of the day, there's a little bit more risk aversion there." So, Lavallee, art director Francis Lacuna, and design director Kris Schoneberg all agree: The Eventide is a creative opportunity they never had before.

A press release describes the paranormal investigation game as "neon-noir." Players will assign two agents with their own unique skills to each strange case that passes their desk in a grungy, but colorfully lit Canadian city.

"As the unseen hand guiding the agency's operations," the press release explains, "players will assign investigators to a growing backlog of unexplained incidents scattered across the city. Each agent brings their own background, beliefs, expertise, and way of seeing the world."

You can get former detective Sam "Brass" Hingle in on a case that requires social discretion, for example, or have cryptozoologist Evelyn "Eve" Atwood put her unconventional biology skills to work.

The game, made in Unreal Engine 5, will purportedly mix "supernatural mystery, mature narrative themes, fixed-camera 3D exploration, agent-driven investigation, and a word-based deduction system to create a detective fantasy around case files, redacted truths, and the uncomfortable space between what happened and what people are able to understand," the press release continues.

This smudgy game made up of frowning characters in long coats sounds like mystical, cigar-puffing fun. Lacuna tells GamesRadar+, "I don't think in any of my previous experiences working on big, multi-million-dollar projects, they would ever greenlight an aesthetic that I am interested in achieving here."

"Like, this painterly [visual] effect would not exist," Lacuna continues, noting, "It exists in the indie world, in the space. It does not exist in the AAA space, and I think that that for me is a great opportunity."

"AAA can throw money at a problem," Lavallee adds, cutting a deeper line between Studio Reset and its developers' BioWare past. "Money, people, and it'll get sorted out. Is it the right solution? Is it the most fun result? Debatable. We can't do that. It's just us" – a team prioritizing creative freedom over all else.

Mass Effect 3 dev demanded answers from the RPG's writing team when she realized her alien husband was hooking up with the Normandy’s most mysterious soldier.

Finding the Pokopia Windup Inkay toy will take you into the deepest depths of the Bubbly Basin - perhaps for the first time. This dark underwater area might look scary, but it's not that hard to explore, and at least when it comes to finding Windup Inkay, I'll tell you exactly where you're headed.

Once you've found it, you can head back up towards the light of day and place the Pokopia Windup Inkay toy as part of the Muddy Playtime habitat, where another sealife Pokemon will join you and friends.

Where to find the Pokopia Windup Inkay toy

To find the Pokopia Windup Inkay toy, follow these instructions:

• Head to the broken bridge in the Imperial area of Bubbly Basin.
• Locate the large, Imperial, descending staircase to the east of the bridge, and go down. Then spin your left stick at the bottom until you drop to the depths.
• Turn back towards the stairs and walk below them, hugging the wall to the north until you see a small cave entrance illuminated by a purple coral (with an orange one inside).
• Follow this tunnel until you reach breakable rocks on your right. Break them to reveal a cave with a Pokeball inside.
• The Windup Inkay is inside the Pokeball, so interact with it, and claim your new toy!

To check you're in the right place, take a look at the map shown on the image above, which also indicates the location of the Windup Inkay. Keep your eyes peeled while you're down here, and you'll also find loads of other important resources and items, including Pokopia Grubby Pearls.

Now you've got the toy, you can build the Muddy Playtime habitat by combining the toy with a Towel Rack and a Floating Log next to some muddy water. You can even change the color of the towel rack by using Pokopia paint. I won't tell you which Pokemon might turn up here, though you might be able to guess at least one.

For more unique Pokemon habitats, check out our other guides on the Pokopia Jirachi habitat and the Sableye habitat, both of which are only available by grabbing event-exclusive items.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Pokopia Seashell Fencing might just be the cutest fencing in the game yet, so I'm sure that you want to place plenty around the Bubbly Basin - and maybe even Bleak Beach, too, thanks to their seaside style.

If, for some reason, these pretty posts don't take your fancy, you do still need to unlock the Seashell Fencing recipe in order to complete the DLC storyline and build the Ocean Temple. It's not at all obvious where to find this recipe, though, so here's how to get it.

How to unlock the Pokopia Seashell Fencing recipe

You can purchase the Pokopia Seashell Fencing recipe from the Bubbly Basin Pokemon Center PC once you reach environment level 3 in the area. It will set you back 500 Life Coins, but since it's essential for the story, that's a relatively small price to pay.

Luckily, you'll already be at level 3 for the story to require these fences, so you shouldn't have a problem grabbing the recipe from the Shop. If for any reason you've gone back down a level, though, you can get it back up using our guide to increasing your Pokopia environment level.

Once you've unlocked the recipe, you can then craft 10 fences with just one Star-Speckled Rock and one Shiny Pearl. We've got a separate guide for you if you haven't figured out how to get Pokopia Shiny Pearls yet.

And with that, you'll be able to craft the ten Seashell Fence pieces required to build the Ocean Temple and have Bubbly Basin looking more fabulous than ever. You'll also need the Pokopia Ocean Door recipe, too, so take a look at our other guide if you aren't sure how to get that recipe - you won't find that one in the shop.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The Pokopia Ocean Door recipe is a must-have when you come to building the "beautiful building" in Bubbly Basin - otherwise known as the Ocean Temple. Fortunately, unlocking the recipe is much, much easier than you might expect, so don't panic when you first see the seemingly tough requirements for this large, stunning build.

You may not be able to tell from the image above, but these majestic doors aren't what you're used to - they're huge! You won't be able to use them on a normal house, but build something big enough, like the Ocean Temple, and the Pokopia Ocean Door makes a great feature.

Where to find the Pokopia Ocean Door recipe

The Pokopia Ocean Door recipe hidden in a yellow Pokeball among the sand that needs clearing before you can start building the Ocean Temple.

So, simply clear the build area of debris and you'll have the recipe you need in no time. Once you've got it, crafting the doors are almost as simple, as each one only requires one piece of Star-studded Rock, which is found in abundance across Bubbly Basin.

There's still more to do before you can build the Temple, including gathering a few Pokopia Shiny Pearls. Meanwhile, the Seashell fencing recipe isn't quite as easy - or as cheap - to unlock as the Ocean Door.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The Pokopia Starmie Doll was added with the Bubbly Basin DLC, giving players a way to access a new Dream Island based on the new underwater town. You should have no trouble finding the doll if you follow the story, but if you want it sooner - and know where to look - you can find the doll fairly quickly.

Either way, you're going to need a Dowsing Machine, so make sure you've got one in your inventory, as the Starmie Doll is buried where you're very unlikely to find it by mistake. Here's how to get to it, but bear in mind that all of this is only applicable if you've got the paid Pokopia Bubbly Basin DLC.

How to get the Starmie Doll in Pokopia

The Pokopia Starmie Doll is located in a cave to the northeast of the Bubbly Basin starting area, but it's hidden under a mound of Star-Speckled Rock.

The best way to get the doll is to progress the Bubbly Basin story by raising the environment level to 3 and completing Popplio's next request to find their friends. At this point, you'll meet Frillish in a cave, and it's here that you can find the Starmie Doll using Frillish and a Dowsing Machine.

However, you can head to this location with any Search Pokemon and a Dowsing machine to find the doll early. So, doing this depends on whether you want to play through as intended or head straight to the Pokopia Dream Island.

If you do want to get the Starmie Doll as soon as possible, find its exact location below.

Starmie Doll location

The Pokopia Starmie Doll is located in a cave to the northwest of Bubbly Basin, which is at first blocked by rock. You can see the cave entrance in the image above.

With a Search Pokemon in tow and a Dowsing Machine to hand, you can now head to the location above to hunt down the doll. There are a few different pieces of treasure to find here, so keep going until you reach the special doll. You'll find the Starmie Doll buried in a patch of Star-spotted Rock in the first area with minecart rails, just after a patch of pink Mossy Ocean Soil. You'll need to head back underwater and destroy a couple of netting walls on your way there.

In this area, get your Dowsing Machine out and press 'A', then your Search companion will lead you to the correct area. Once you've got it, you can head off to the Basin Dream Island, a great place for picking up Pokopia Grubby Pearls.

There is more than one Starmie Doll on the island, and you can find another one buried underground is shining blocks or by using the Dowsing Machine again.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

If you're looking for Pokopia Shiny Pearls, you first need to look for something a little less shiny. Grubby Pearls are actually the item you're after, and they then need to be cleaned up to reveal the shimmering pearl beneath the muck.

Once scrubbed clean, this pretty item can then be used as a crafting ingredient in a number of Bubbly Basin recipes, including the full set of Marine furniture and Seashell fencing. To find out exactly where to find Pokopia Grubby Pearls and how to turn them into Shiny Pearls, read on.

How to get Shiny Pearls in Pokopia

To get Shiny Pearls in Pokopia, you must first find Grubby Pearls and then take them to a Pokemon that knows the Scrub ability. After a while, they'll clean up your Pearls, returning them to your as Shiny Pearls.

Just some of the Pokemon who know the Scrub skill are:

• Sharpedo
• Stunfisk
• Flygon
• Trapinch
• Tyranitar
• Bonsly
• Hariyama
• Clodsire
• Snorlax
• Onix

To find out which Pokemon you already know who have this skill, you can open your Pokedex and filter by Specialty.

The process of turning Pokopia Grubby Pearls into Shiny Pearls is much the same as using Pokemon to turn logs into lumber or getting Pokopia Paper - only you'll find that Pearls are returned to you at a ratio of 1:1.

Where to find Pokopia Grubby Pearls

The best place I've found to look for Grubby Pearls is in the tunnel to the left of the Bubbly Basin staircase - the opposite side to the Pokemon Center entrance. There are plenty of Grubby Pearls to be found down here, so you should have no trouble getting all the Shiny Pearls you need.

You can also collect Grubby Pearls from the Bubbly Basin Pokopia Dream Island, but you'll need to find the Starmie Doll before you can travel there. Plus, if you're desperate, you can buy three Grubby Pearls from the Pokemon Center shop upon raising the area environment level to 3, and some friendly Pokemon may even gift you Grubby Pearls from time to time.

For other shiny things, check out our guide to all the Pokopia Mystery Gift Codes you can get in-game right now.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The Pokopia Portal Pod is an incredibly useful item that players have wanted since the game's launch as it lets you retrieve the items inside from any Portal Pod, anywhere in the world.

Now, instead of trapsing between the Withered Wastelands and the Sparkling Skylands, you can place the most important items in the Pokopia Portal Pod (I'd suggest the most used crafting and building materials), and have easy access wherever you place another Pod. If you need a few of these clever storage devices as much as I think you do, here's how to get them.

How to get the Pokopia Portal Pod

While you can only unlock the Pokopia Portal Pod recipe by increasing your Palette Town environment level, there are other ways of getting Pods, some requiring the Bubbly Basin DLC. Here's every way to get them:

• Increase your Palette Town environment level.
• Pick up two Portals in Bubbly Basin (requires DLC).
• Photograph a Portal Pod in Bubbly Basin (requires DLC) or another player's island and duplicate them at a Pokemon Center 3D printer.

Getting the Pokopia Portal Pod without the DLC

If you have the Bubbly Basin expansion, then read the section below for the simplest method. If not, you can still get the storage pod, it's just requires a bit more effort.

To get a Portal Pod without the Pokopia DLC, you must raise your Palette Town environment level to unlock the Portal Pod recipe. I'm still working on this, and I'll let you know which level unlocks the recipe as soon as I know.

As with all other areas of Pokopia, raising your environment level can be done by inviting new Pokemon to move in and making sure their house is up to scratch. For that and more ways to level up Pokopia environments, see our standalone guide.

If you want a Portal Pod sooner, the only other way to get one without the DLC is by visiting another player's Pokopia Dream Island, snapping a picture with Object Mode, and duplicating the item at a Pokemon Center 3D printer. You may be able to snap a Portal Pod by visiting a Pokopia developer island, and I'll let you now as soon as I've confirmed it's available there.

Getting Portal Pods in Bubbly Basin

Getting access to the Pokopia Portal Pod is easier if you have the paid Bubbly Basin DLC, as two can be found as soon as you access the new area, and you can then use the 3D printing mechanic to make as many as you need.

To get the Portal Pod in Bubbly Basin, simply swim to the house in the far northeast corner of the map, as shown in the image above. Not only is there a Portal Pod inside for you to pick up, but you'll find a second in a Pokeball down the stairs behind where the other Portal Pod is placed.

While this method is easier, it doesn't unlock the recipe, so you'll still need to complete the Palette Town method above for that. However, with this Bubbly Basin Portal Pod, you can use your in-game camera and any Pokemon Center 3D printer to replicate the item as many time as you want.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The original Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green are some of the most beloved games of all time, and for many millions of people around the world, hold incredibly precious childhood memories. You might want to clutch those memories very tightly as you read this, because an AI-generated version of the games' iconic opening scene has surfaced online, and it's every bit the atrocity you would assume.

Courtesy of Twitter user Paulius, who admits "the starter scene is v disturbing," the AI-generated abomination shows an uncanny 3D recreation of Pallet Town being explored in a first-person perspective, and at first everything looks dreary, soulless, and vaguely nauseating, but when the camera enters Professor Oak's lab, the nightmarish effects of the video escalate dramatically. That's when we see exactly what happens when we allow generative AI to chew up and spit out our treasured, lifelong digital companions. For me, the reveal of AI Bulbasaur, then Charmander, and finally Squirtle, was increasingly traumatic.

They're all horrible, but AI Bulbasaur is probably the least offensive. Its red eyes and featureless expression are deeply unpleasant, but probably won't make you lose sleep. Charmander, my all-time favorite Pokemon, looks like it's been put through a meat grinder and reformed by a toddler with two left hands. And then there's poor Squirtle, who spasms out of his poke ball standing unnaturally and wearing an expression I can only perceive as threatening. I fear I'll never be able to wipe that vicious smile or eyes, which appear as portals to black holes, from my memory. Paulius himself describes his AI Squirtle as "forever haunted," which seems about right.

Viewer beware: disturbing content follows.

In case you're wondering what it is exactly about these AI-generated Pokemon that makes them so distressing, it could be the fact that virtually everything you see is generated by Claude AI, using a prompt from "AI whisperer" Matt Shumer. "Mind blowing part: Claude generated all the pixels. Every single one. Zero custom assets," says Paulius, as if he didn't just unleash 72 seconds of viral depression onto unsuspecting internet goers.

The worst part? "chormandur, balbisour, squart," as one user dubbed the AI-forsaken creatures, could one day become "real," if Paulius gets his way.

Only Nintendo can stop him now.

Palworld TCG cards are already selling for up to $4,000 as Pocketpair's tabletop game follows in Pokemon's footsteps, with resellers dominating the market 1 day after launch

This Mega Rayquaza ex deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket is one of the best dragon type decks out there to date, with players experimenting with variations to work out the best build. Right now it seems as though Rayquaza and Dragonair from the Ruler of the Skies set remain a winning combination, resulting in a deck that burns up energy and then brings it right back from the discard pile. If you want to know more, here's how to make the best possible PTCGP Mega Rayquaza deck in the meta right now.

Check out our page of the Pokemon TCG Pocket best decks for more options, and to see exactly how this build hold up against the others.

Best Mega Rayquaza ex deck build in Pokemon TCGP

The best Mega Rayquaza ex deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket is a combo energy deck (like all dragon builds) made of the following cards:

• Mega Rayquaza ex x1
• Dratini (Mega Shine) x2
• Dragonair (Ruler of the Skies) x2
• Gouging Fire x2
• Poke Ball x2
• Ancient Booster Energy Capsule x1
• Professor's Research x2
• Sabrina x1
• Cyrus x1
• May x1
• Copycat x2
• Professor Sada x1
• Rainbow Cave x2

Energy: Fire / Electric

This is the latest build to arise out of the Mega Rayquaza problem - namely, that this is clearly a very powerful card, if only we could get it to work properly. Here the strategy is to use Gouging Fire as your opening tank, either building up its energy or just letting it absorb damage while evolve Dratini and fuel Rayquaza on the bench.

At the same time, keep using Rainbow Cave to mill through energy, so your discard pile is as big as possible for Dragonair and Professor Sada to pull from. Make sure you save Rayquaza for the endgame, and do everything you can to keep Dragonair alive - they're the key to victory, as energy production is too slow otherwise.

• Pros
  • Potentially huge damage output
  • No type weaknesses for enemies to exploit
  • Gouging Fire is a good early game tank
• Cons
  • Struggles in the early game
  • Risk of using Rayquaza at the wrong time
  • If you lose Dragonair, you'll struggle

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission

Vespiquen ex in Pokemon TCG Pocket has become the focus on new powerful Grass type deck builds, able to discard your own cards from the bench for the sake of causing your own damage output to double. Not only that, but there's a wide range of powerful Grass types in the meta, mainly focused on durability and resistance, making this as much of a tank deck as anything else. If that appeals to you, here's how to make the best possible Vespiquen deck in PTCGP, as well as the strategies, weaknesses, and more besides.

See how Vespiquen ex fares in our rankings of the Pokemon TCG Pocket best decks!

Best Vespiquen ex deck build in Pokemon TCGP

The best Vespiquen ex deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket is composed of the following cards:

• Combee (Space-Time Smackdown) x2
• Vespiquen ex x2
• Teal Mask Ogerpon x1
• Shuckle ex x2
• X Speed x1
• Field Blower x1
• Leaf Cape x2
• Professor's Research x2
• Erika x1
• Cyrus x1
• Mars x1
• Copycat x2
• Fragrant Forest x2

Energy: Grass

Vespiquen is your heavy hitter in this deck, capable of doing 140 damage if you discard one of your Pokemon from your bench. That's actually not too bad a sacrifice - your opponent won't get any points from that, and it can actually be a way to remove weak cards from play so your opponent can't use Cyrus or bench-hitting attacks to KO them.

Otherwise, the strategy of play is pretty straightforward. Start with Shuckle ex for the early endurance, building up to Vespiquen on the bench with Fragrant Forest and other draw cards. This shouldn't take long (it's a low energy deck), before you can then bring the big bug out and start hitting for major damage. Meanwhile, Ogerpon ensures you're immune to status effects, including those all-too-common sleep builds we've seen going around.

• Pros
  • Low energy costs
  • Durable deck build
  • Good damage output from Vespiquen ex
• Cons
  • Single strategy
  • Combee is a vulnerability

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission

Strong Puppy Pile deck builds in Pokemon TCG Pocket have come creeping up through the meta since they debuted, and while multiple variants of this deck exist, they all share a common theme and strategy. This is a deck wherein combining Puppy Pile cards increases their damage, and the diverse types on display means you can exploit type weakness all the more effectively. Below I'll explain how the Puppy Pile deck in PTCGP works, and the best build for getting the most from it.

See where the Puppy Pile deck falls in our Pokemon TCG Pocket best decks page!

Best Puppy Pile deck build in Pokemon TCGP

Puppy Pile in Pokemon TCG Pocket is a mechanic wherein every card in your hand and board with that attack all add to each other's power. Here's how to make the best Puppy Pile deck possible:

• Magby x2
• Growlithe x2
• Rockruff x2
• Fidough x2
• Yamper x2
• Poke Ball x2
• Flame Patch x2
• Professor's Research x2
• Cyrus x1
• Copycat x1
• Puppy-Loving Girl x1
• Bounded Field x1

Energy: Fire

This is a deck where you want to get an early advantage and come out swinging, as none of your cards have the durability to survive more than one moderately powerful attack. For that reason, the best opening draw is Magby, who can then empower your cards on the Bench so you can quickly get them out for a second-turn strike. At that point, you want to keep up the offense and stop your opponents from building any coherent strategy.

Fortunately, Fire Energy means that power can keep being circulated, with Flame Patch and Magby both aiding in this. And more interestingly, this is a deck that can exploit the weaknesses of countless other decks, as you have four different types of attack from the different Puppy Pile decks, while Bounded Field massively increases the damage of those weakness exploits. With a hand full of Puppies and a type advantage, you can potentially do 300+ damage in a single attack.

• Pros
  • Huge damage potential
  • Can exploit a vast array of weaknesses
• Cons
  • Incredibly low durability
  • Wholly dependant on you being faster than your opponent

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission

These Cookie Run Crumble codes give you the chance to grab some extra Crystals, Cookie Cutters, and more in the latest mobile game from Devsisters. Having seen such huge success from their other Cookie Run games, Cookie Run Crumble is set to be another hit, only this time it's more passive than ever, allowing you to battle and earn rewards while you go about your day.

So, if having to actually play Cookie Run Kingdom ever bothered you, this idle game is perfect for you, and these rewards will get you on your way to baking the best cookie around, so redeem the CRC codes below.

If you also play Cookie Run Kingdom, then check out our other guide for the latest CRK codes while you're at it.

All Cookie Run Crumble codes

These are the Cookie Run Crumble codes available right now:

• There are no active Cookie Run Crumble codes

Sadly, the introductory codes have now expired, and there are currently no valid Cookie Run Crumble codes to redeem. We'll keep an eye out for any new promos.

How to redeem Cookie Run Crumble codes

You cannot redeem Cookie Run Crumble codes in-game, and instead must enter the code and your DevPlay account MID on the official Coupon Redemption page. To find your DevPlay account MID, simply tap on your profile picture in the top left-hand corner of the game, and you'll find your MID beneath your pfp on the profile window that appears.

Once you've successfully redeemed a code on the site, head back into the game and open your inbox to claim your rewards before they expire. To access your mail, you must first complete Quest 89, Stage 2-1.

Expired Cookie Run Crumble codes

• COOKIERUNCRUMBLE1ST - 10,000x Crystals, 1,000 Flames of Bravery, 1,000x Stellar Points, 10x 1-hour Auto-Hunt Coins
• COOKIERUNCRUMBLENO1 - 10,000x Crystals, 1,000x Flames of Bravery, 1,000x Lucky Dough, 1,000x Rune Crystals

Sadly, the introductory codes that released around the game's launch have now expired.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

PokePark Fishing Rally is a real, official Pokemon game that was released for the Nintendo DS back in 2005 – but only in the most obscure circumstances. Since distribution ended around 2006, the game has effectively been lost media, but some fans are hopeful that this might change with an eBay auction that's currently seeking a $9,000 bid.

A seller who goes by catbearpaws recently listed a "Nintendo DS Development/Test Cartridge" with a starting bid of €7,999, or as eBay calculates it, around $9,104 USD. "This listing is for the exact physical development/test cartridge shown in the photos," the seller explains in the listing. "Acquired as part of a private lot, no further history or provenance documentation is available."

The seller notably included an image of this cartridge booting to a screen filled with Japanese text. A Twitter user called Tiramisu090401 soon realized that this text identified it as a part of PokePark Fishing Rally, and other Pokemon fans soon started taking a great interest in the listing (thanks, Dexerto).

PokePark Fishing Rally was released in 2005 through DS Download Play at the PokePark in Japan. You'd visit a kiosk at the theme park, download the game to your DS, and play it until you either turned off your console or 12 hours passed – whichever came first. The game itself would have you catching various underwater Pokemon, and based on their size, rarity, and level, you'd get a rating that could be uploaded to a high score server.

The key question about this eBay listing is whether the cartridge actually contains the data for the game itself, or merely some back-end program – perhaps the transmission of the high score data. It would be a massive discovery either way, as while there were some later distributions of PokePark Fishing Rally, no copies of the game or its ROM are known to exist publicly.

The Lost Media Wiki notes, however, that "a YouTube user named Tim Schuerewegen has uploaded two gameplay video of the game, which suggests that he may have a ROM dump." But those original videos have long since been made private (archives do exist), and the ROM has never been released or even demonstrated publicly.

That makes this eBay listing the most intriguing sign of life for PokePark Fishing Rally in many, many years. Nobody's bitten on that $9,000 opening bid yet – though there is one "active offer," according to eBay – but here's hoping that whoever ends up with the cartridge helps this game escape lost media hell.

Check out our ranking of the best Pokemon games.