Pokémon Pokopia isn’t too complex for a life simulator, and it’s luckily a lot more streamlined and intuitive than something like Animal Crossing, which has its notorious quirks. I’m still early on in the game, but I’ve played enough that I can give you a few tips I’ve picked up that might help you in the opening hours.
The time-skip exploit is a godsend for impatient players
We wrote about this in a separate post, but in Pokopia, constructing things like homes and buildings takes a little bit of real-world time. You can spend time tending to other things while your Pokémon friends help build these structures, but you can also trick your Switch 2 into thinking that all that time has passed by messing with the system’s internal clock. Just go to the system settings, go to the Settings menu, scroll to Date and Time, and from here you can turn off the internet-based synchronization and move the clock up and down to your liking. Doing this will make Pokopia think the time to build has passed, and let you get to decorating.
There’s reason to log on every day
Pokopia offersa little service-game-style reward for booting the game up each day. Some of the challenges that get you currency refresh every day, and the store has a rotation of daily items, like furniture, that you can buy. You won’t miss anything game breaking for not logging on, but there are reasons to turn the game on every day, even if you’re not gonna get a full play session in.
Ditto can return to its base form to squeeze into tight spaces
Through most of the game, Ditto takes on the form of their old trainer as they run around and help other Pokémon. However, if you’re trying to squeeze through a space that it looks like Ditto can’t fit through, the Pokémon will actually transform back into its natural pink blob form and you can move through those spaces, giving you access to some areas you might not have realized you could reach.
Strafing helps you build with precision
Ditto carries its entire inventory in its body, and if you have several items of the same type and want to lay them down in rapid succession, you can move side to side by holding down the ZL button and strafing. This is great for laying down materials like bricks, or using attacks like Water Gun that affect a very specific space on the ground with precision.
Move your workbench somewhere you can easily fast-travel to
Several quests and Pokémon requests require you to build an item on your workbench. You can save yourself some time by keeping your workbench close to your Ditto’s home, as you can fast-travel to it easily from the pause menu and start crafting as soon as you get the materials.
Swap your run and jump controls
Pokopia has two default settings for its run and jump controls. When you first boot up the game, you’ll have to hold down the B button to sprint, which is pretty inconvenient for moving the camera with the right stick on the same hand. You can alter your buttons as you like, but the simplest option is the one Pokopia gives you by default which swaps the run button with the jump button, letting you run by holding down R, freeing up your thumb to move the camera as you’re flailing about.
Suck up your loot
Sometimes you’ll have to pick up multiple items in a small space, such as when you cut down a tree and it becomes several pieces of wood you have to carry. A small thing to keep in mind is that you can pick all of these up at once by holding down the Y button, which will make Ditto suck the items up in front of it, Kirby style. If you don’t have enough space in your inventory, however, you won’t be able to pick them all up.
You get rewarded for maintenance
I spent a good 15 minutes or so just using Water Gun on the ground to revitalize the soil and grass on my island. Normally I’d consider this an OCD-fueled distraction, but Pokopia rewards you for these little bits of maintenance by tying them to challenges. Completing these will get you currency and help you level up to get access to new items in the shop.
One ‘mon’s trash is another ‘mon’s treasure
There are a lot of rocks, twigs, clumps of dirt, and other seemingly worthless items to pick up in Pokopia. These can be used to build structures and craft items, but you’d be surprised how much the other Pokémon on your island go nuts for the most innocuous things. Pick even worthless stuff up off the ground if you see it. Your favorite Pokémon might think it’s a gift.
The mouse controls are great
Strafing is a quick way to get some precision in your building, but if you want to go the extra mile and have a solid surface to use them, the Switch 2’s mouse controls are a dream in Pokopia. Managing a space and chipping away at a wall with your Rock Smash ability becomes a lot more intuitive when you can just point and click.
Just take the guide down in photo mode
One of the small, odd quirks of Pokopia I’ve noticed is actually in the photo mode. You can take pictures and selfies with all your friends, and unlike in Legends: Z-A, these photos are not automatically stored on your Switch 2’s storage system when you take them using the in-game shutter. Instead they end up in a limited menu in the game itself, and you’ll have to manually send them to your Switch 2’s capture menu for easy sharing. Save yourself the trouble and just remove the UI guide while in photo mode and use the Switch 2’s screenshot button. There will be some quests that require you to take a photo, however, and you’ll need to use the in-game option for those.
