All the 2025 Pokémon Day news: a surprise battle game, Mega Evolutions, and more

2 weeks ago 4

It’s Pokémon Day, aka the anniversary of the day the first Pokémon game was released! The Pokémon Company has taken the opportunity to announce several exciting updates as part of its 2025 Pokémon Presents livestream on Thursday, including a surprise cross-platform battle game called Pokémon Champions and the return of Mega Evolutions, a fan favorite mechanic. Plus, we’ll have a new season of Pokémon Concierge on Netflix soon!

Check out all the news coming out of Pokémon Day, plus our analysis of what it all means, below.

  • Nicole Carpenter

    Pokémon TCG Pocket giving away free booster packs to mark Pokémon Day milestone

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    Image: The Pokémon Company

    From Feb. 27 to April 30, Pokémon TCG Pocket players can log in and get three three free Genetic Apex booster packs that guarantee at least one rare card.

    The months-long giveaway is in celebration of a big Pokémon Day milestone — 100 million downloads across iOS and Android. That’s a 40 million increase in players since the last update of 60 million downloads in December. Pokémon TCG Pocket was released in October and became an immediate success for the company. Since then, The Pokémon Company has released several expansion booster packs and run a series of different events.

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  • Nicole Carpenter

    Pokémon TCG Pocket getting Arceus booster pack and ranked matches

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    Image: The Pokémon Company

    More new cards are coming to Pokémon TCG Pocket via the Triumphant Light booster pack, The Pokémon Company announced Thursday during its Pokémon Day broadcast.

    As is customary for big events, however, the news leaked a bit early — reportedly after an ad for the game showing the new content was pushed live ahead of the announcement. The Triumphant Light pack has a scope similar to the Mythical Island pack that was added in December 2024: a single pack with a bunch of new cards, rather than multiple booster packs like with the Space-Time Smackdown expansion.

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  • Nicole Carpenter

    Here’s the next look at Pokémon Legends: Z-A — and its Mega Evolutions

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    Image: The Pokémon Company

    The Pokémon Company debuted a detailed Pokémon Legends: Z-A trailer during its Pokémon Day broadcast on Thursday, its first big update on the game since it was revealed during last year’s event.

    As the name suggests, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is an expansion of the Pokémon Legends series, which began in 2022 with the launch of Pokémon Legends: Arceus — a spinoff game set in a far past version of the Sinnoh region. Pokémon Legends: Z-A, on the other hand, looks to be a future version of the Kalos region. Specifically, the game centers around Lumiose City, the Parsian-inspired city from Pokémon X and Pokémon Y.

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  • Michael McWhertor

    Everything announced at Pokémon Presents 2025

    Artwork of Pikachu from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS

    Artwork of Pikachu from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS

    Image: Game Freak/The Pokémon Company

    It’s Pokémon Day 2025, and that means a new Pokémon Presents, which was full of reveals and updates on all things Pokémon — including our first real look at Pokémon Legends: Z-A, a new Pokémon multiplayer game, and more.

    As usual, there were lots of smaller announcements and updates to The Pokémon Company’s live-service games like Pokémon TCG Pocket, Pokémon Unite, and Pokémon Sleep, alongside news about other adaptations of the franchise.

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  • Nicole Carpenter

    Pokémon Champions, a cross-platform battle sim, announced during Pokémon Presents

    Everyone expected The Pokémon Company’s big Pokémon Day announcement to be an extended look at the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but the company had a surprise as well: a new multiplayer Pokémon game called Pokémon Champions, a collaboration between Game Freak and The Pokémon Works. Game Freak is the main developer of Pokémon games, while The Pokémon Works is a newer subsidiary of The Pokémon Company.

    Pokémon Champions seems to a refocusing of the Pokémon franchise purely on battling. “This new, battle-focused game will feature familiar mechanics such as Pokémon types, Abilities, and moves, creating an environment conducive to rich and varied strategies for new and experienced Trainers alike,” The Pokémon Company said in its YouTube trailer description.

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  • Michael McWhertor

    Pokémon Concierge returns to Netflix in 2025

    The second season of Pokémon Concierge is coming in September 2025, The Pokémon Company and Netflix announced Thursday during a Pokémon Presents livestream. The stop-motion animated series from Dwarf Studios will follow the continuing adventures of Pokémon resort concierge Haru.

    Fans can expect new Pokémon to show up at the resort. The Pokémon Company teased the arrival of Shinx, Corphish, and Arcanine in a brief teaser video.

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  • Michael McWhertor

    How to watch the new Pokémon Presents for Pokémon Day 2025

    A new Pokémon Presents showcase is coming on Feb. 27, The Pokémon Company announced Thursday. The new Presents livestream falls on Pokémon Day 2025, the annual celebration of the monster-catching franchise.

    What time is Pokémon Presents 2025? The showcase will stream on the official Pokémon YouTube and Twitch channels at 9 a.m. EST/6 a.m. PST/2 p.m. GMT/11 p.m. JST.

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