Pokemon Go is almost certainly the closest thing we will ever know in the real world to the feeling of catching actual Pokemon. They’re not physically there, but we can see them on our phone screens and catch them like we’re real-life Pokemon trainers. The game doesn’t need to exist in the Pokemon anime since that fictional world has real Pokemon. Nevertheless, it’s about to.
Pokemon Go Is Coming To Pokemon Horizons
Pokemon Go crossovers with the Pokemon anime aren’t new. There have already been a few of them that put special versions of certain Pokemon into the game. That’s exactly what this next crossover will do, except it comes with the bonus of a tie-in episode that will make playing Pokemon Go in the fictional world of Pokemon Horizons canon.
It’s going to be a while until we can watch an English-dubbed version of the upcoming episode, but it will air in Japan on September 18, shortly after the Pokemon Horizons Celebration Event begins in Pokemon Go. That’s why the first trailer for the episode has been shared online, giving us a first glimpse of exactly how the world of Pokemon Go will be incorporated into the anime.
The trailer begins by showing footage of someone catching Friede’s Charmander in Pokemon Go. The limited edition version of Charmander will be available in the game once the event is live later this month. You’ll also be able to evolve it into a Chameleon with Friede’s goggles, and then a Charizard.
The incorporation of Pokemon Go into the anime then goes a step further as the trailer cuts to a panning shot that shows several trainers gathered around a PokeStop along with their Pokemon. Captain Pikachu is even shown spinning a PokeStop, turning it purple to show it has recently been spun as Poke Balls and Razz Berries come tumbling out of it, just like they do in the game.
Well, not exactly the same, as the anime items don’t arrive in bubbles.
How Much Of Pokemon Go Will Make It Into Pokemon Horizons?
Exactly how or why Pokemon Go exists in the Pokemon anime universe remains unclear. Even though the trailer starts with what appears to be a shot of someone catching a Charmander in the show, that might have just been included to get the neat cut from Friede’s Charmander in the game to the close-up of the same Pokemon in the show.
The unlikely crossover might be nothing more than introducing PokeStops to the anime. A mechanic that works the same way as it does in the mobile game, where that world’s trainers can spin stops when they see them to stock up on supplies. If there is more to it than that, perhaps we might see trainers team up to take on powerful Pokemon in raids, or maybe even actively use Pokemon Go to hone their real-life skills. Whatever the plan is, it’s going to be an incredibly meta move that ties together two mostly separate branches of the Pokemon tree.
- Released
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July 6, 2016
- ESRB
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e
- Engine
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Unity
