Tomorrow is Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, and The Pokémon Company is going all out to commemorate the big date. There’s a livestream tomorrow to reveal upcoming projects, new art for all 1000+ monsters circulating social media, and anniversary merchandise that includes throwbacks to the past 30 years of history. Now that we’ve seen some of that merch, y’all, I need the black-and-white Pikachu plush made to look like the little guy’s original Game Boy sprite.
Game Watch attended an anniversary event in Japan that showcased several of the upcoming merchandise collaborations, and it’s unclear at the moment how many of these are coming stateside, but we might hear more in the next day or so when Pokémon Day actually begins. Some standouts include charms and art based on every box art from the mainline games, a line of camping equipment with the original Kanto starters on them, and the previously announced Fat Pikachu plush that harkens back to the mouse’s original round design.
The real winner is the pixelated Pikachu plush that carries all the distinct features the mouse had in the original games, long before it was morphed into the universal design we see today. The plush is missing the iconic yellow and red color scheme because it’s made to look like the critter’s sprite on the original Game Boy, which only displayed games in a monochrome color scheme. But it also has some features that have been phased out of the character’s design over the years, such as the colored paws and grey circle on the belly, though those elements have been retained by Raichu, its evolution. God, I shudder to think of how much that is going to cost on import and resale sites. Please come to the States, grey Pikachu. My shelf calls to you.
You can check out Game Watch’s gallery to see the full line of products that were shown off, as well as some photos from the event.
