Pokemon XY Volume 1 Releases on DVD August 4th

A listing for the first DVD box set of Pokemon season 17 has appeared on Amazon. According to the listing, the set contains three discs and ten hours of video. For those wishing to purchase the episodes digitally, the entire season is already available on Amazon Instant Video and iTunes,

April Fool's Day Recap + Pokemon Colosseum Part 10

If you were wondering what went into the April Fool's article published earlier this month, you can find out in this video:

Transcript:

Hi folks, Steven here. First off, I wanted to tell you about a written interview I recently posted on the PokePress blog with a player that used a Primal Kyogre deck at Wisconsin states last month. We talk about how he chose the deck, what his matches were like, and so forth. It’s a pretty good read and I’ll post a link here so you can take a look if you haven’t already. 

The next thing I wanted to do was sort of dissect the April Fool’s Day gag I posted on the site back on the first. If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend you take a look through first before listening to the rest of this. Now, I think came up with this idea of the most ridiculous Blu-ray combo pack sometime last year, probably around when the bogus Blu-rays of the first three Pokémon movies started appearing on eBay. My goal was to come up with things that started out plausible, and then got progressively more absurd as the article went on. 

So, since this is supposed to be a fake news article, we start off with a summary paragraph that contains the basic information about the combo pack-the movie, who’s releasing it, the date, and the price. The price should probably be your first tip-off that this is a gag article, because although I think $99.99 is a somewhat fair price for what you get in the made-up package, it’s obviously a bit more than your typical multiformat combo pack goes for. 

The next paragraph describes the first piece, the standard Blu-Ray. To give this a bit of credence, I started off by linking it to the resmastered version that was shown in early 2014. I also made sure I mentioned the Pikachu short and a few key features that people would definitely want to know about if this was a real story. At the end, I note that there will be retailer-specific special features, a facet of movie releases that I’ll admit I’m not a fan of, but I do think it enhances the story a bit. 

Next up we have the 3D Blu-ray. This part ends up being particularly silly since from what I’ve heard it costs about a million dollars to do 3D post-conversion on ten minutes of video, so just converting the main feature would cost about seven million dollars. Typically this would have been funded for a catalog title by doing some sort of theatrical re-release, but in this case it’s being figured into the cost of the set. Home 3D never really took off as well as the studios would have liked, so I seriously doubt we’d ever actually see something like this anyway. 

Nearly every combo pack includes a DVD and/or a digital version of the movie, so I figured why not include both of them on this one. 

I always try to put in some sort of musical angle on my April Fool’s Day articles, and this one is no exception. For the special edition of the pop soundtrack, I wanted to point out here that every one of the extra things I list does actually already exist-there is a Spanish version of the First Movie Pokémon theme, several remixes of “Don’t Say You Love Me”, a very minorly remixed version of “Makin’ My Way”, and an alternate version of “We’re a Miracle”. I also threw in a digital version of the score, because why not at this point? 

Next, I knew I needed to represent the card game in some way, and thankfully there are some recently released Mew and Mewtwo cards that I was able to pull in. The online TCG is also still out there, so I made sure to include a code for it. 

Finally, we finish off the set with a Mewtwo Amiibo. Originally it was going to be a plush, but after Mewtwo was announced as DLC for Smash Bros. and the frenzy for Amiibo kicked in, I knew I had to include one to make the set complete. I also realized that some people buying this set wouldn’t have gotten the DLC by registering the games, so I decided to throw in yet another code so they can unlock the character. I will say that I feel a bit lucky that I was able to get this out there just before the Nintendo Direct that announced that there will, in fact, be an Amiibo for Mewtwo. 

Finally, as a way to wrap up the article, I state that advance copies will be given to the top finishers at this year's Pokemon US Nationals. 

So, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of the article I posted. I do hope that someday a real Blu-Ray for Pokémon: The First Movie does come out-preferably a little less excessive than this one. Thanks.

If that still wasn't enough for you, check out the latest episode of Pokémon Colosseum:

Pokemon TCG State Championships 2015: Primal Kyogre

Omar Rehan

The following is an interview with Omar Rehan, who placed in the top four of the Masters Division of the 2015 Pokémon TCG Wisconsin State Championships using a Primal Kyogre deck.

Where are you from, and how did you get into playing the TCG? 
I am from Maple Grove, MN. I grew up watching the show like most other children of the 90’s, and I remember having the cards and wanting to play the game back then, but it wasn’t until I was sixteen that I had the money and transportation to start getting into the game competitively.

What made you choose to play Primal Kyogre for this tournament?
I saw the list that Kevin Baxter posted in his interview on YouTube and thought that this deck would be very under the radar and a strong contender. With a bolstering 240 HP, an Ancient Trait allowing for a double attachment of energy to Primal Kyogre that is impossible to stop, and an attack that does 150 damage to the active and thirty to every other EX Pokémon on the field, it can very quickly create overwhelming board pressure and be a Goliath to opposing Pokémon. Going into the tourney I was expecting a large amount of Yveltal and Toad variants and some Fighting + Crobat decks, which I thought Kyogre would do well against. I did know that matches against Genesect variants would be heavily not in my favor, however thankfully that deck performed poorly at this year’s event and I didn’t play against any of them.

What are some of the other cards in your deck that help Kyogre out?
Rough Seas was the MVP of my weekend. Healing thirty per turn from every Pokémon on my field was such a nice advantage to have. Besides that, Dive Ball was also a card I really enjoyed. I remember playing in 2009 and Luxury Ball was one of my favorite cards, and it felt like I was playing four of them in this deck. Keldeo EX with Float Stone was a combination of cards great against any deck with Hypnotoxic Laser. I think the final card that really allowed this deck to be so successful was Suicune. In my top eight match it was able to win a game pretty much on its own.

Do you use the Kyogre Spirit Link card? Why or why not?
I definitely did. It is of utmost importance that you are able to stream Kyogre’s attack, and since you have to move 2 energy off of Primal Kyogre to another Pokémon on the bench with each time, you can pump up other Kyogre on your bench.

What worked well for the deck in the tournament?
I think that the main reason for my success was the metagame. A majority of my opponents hadn’t ever played against this deck before and weren’t prepared for it. The lack of successful Grass decks also was a huge blessing. I did end up playing against two Flareon/Leafeon decks in Swiss, but I was able to come out the victor in both of those matches.

How did those matches go?
The first guy I played against using Eeveelutions crushed me in game one as expected, but lost the second game due to an extreme misplay. The third game went down to the wire and I won after he did 230 damage (ten short of the knock out) to my last Primal Kyogre with his last Flareon using every card left in his deck. The second person I played using the deck was much more aggressive with his discards and much less aware of his resources, so game one he only set up one Leafeon and he set up 3 Flareon all on the second or third turn. I was able to KO the lone Leafeon and then played Lysandre’s Trump Card two or three times to sneak that game. The second game he discarded a lot of energy and all his VS Seeker and Lysandre’s Trump Card while burning through his deck. At the end of his explosion, he had one Leafeon on the field and a full bench of stuff he was unable to attack with. I actually didn’t attach any energies and used the stadium Rough Seas until he decked himself out.

What didn’t work so well, and are there any changes you might make if you used this deck again?
Until my loss in top four, there were very few issues that I had (my record to that point was 7-0-2). The deck I ended up losing to (which ended up going on to win the tourney) was Aromatisse. The first game I prized two of the three Primal Kyogre in my deck, so it was hard to swing blow for blow with him over the course of the game and I lost. The second game I was unable to draw any supporters and he just slowly rolled me. Despite all that, based on what the metagame for this tourney ended up being, I was really happy with the sixty cards I chose.

Warner Home Video Announces Pokémon: The First Movie “Catch ‘em All” Blu-Ray Combo Pack

In a press release sent out today, Warner Home Video announced a special “Catch ‘em All” Blu-Ray combo pack for Pokémon: The First Movie that will be released on August 11th with a suggested retail price of $99.99. The pack includes multiple versions of the movie, music, and several physical bonus items.

The pack starts off with a Blu-Ray edition of Pokémon: The First Movie, based on the digitally remastered version that was shown on Cartoon Network in early 2014. In addition to the full main feature, the disc also includes the “Pikachu’s Vacation” short and the extended “Story of Mewtwo’s Origin” featured on 2001’s “Mewtwo Returns” DVD. Additional special features will vary by retailer.

The next item in the set is a 3D Blu-Ray, the first time that the movie will be available in this format. A representative for Warner Home Video stated, “We had an excellent opportunity to bring this movie to life in a new way using 3D conversion. In particular, the underwater segment and the fight scenes look incredible.”

Rounding out the video portion of the set, both a widescreen DVD and digital HD version of the film are included. The digital HD code will be redeemable on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Instant Video.

The combo pack also covers the musical aspects of the film, starting with a special expanded edition of the Atlantic pop soundtrack to the movie. In addition to the original 16 tracks, the album includes a Spanish version of the Pokémon Theme, remixed versions of “Don’t Say You Love Me” and “Makin’ My Way”, and an alternate version of Christina Aguilera’s “We’re a Miracle”. A digital code for the score to the movie is also bundled in.

Much like when the movie debuted in theaters, the Pokémon Trading Card Game is also represented in this collection. Both Mew ex and Mewtwo ex from the Legendary Treasures expansion are included, with special foil stamps similar to the ones on the promos given out back in 1999. A digital code provided in the box will let players unlock the cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online as well.

Finally, the set includes what is described as a “North American exclusive” Amiibo of Mewtwo for use in Super Smash for Wii U and 3DS, which like other Amiibo in that series will allow players to train the character within the games. Additionally, the set will include a code that will unlock Mewtwo in one copy of one of the games.

While the set is scheduled for release on August 11th, the press release notes that “special advance copies” will be given to top finishers at the 2015 Pokémon US National Championships being held in Indianapolis, IN from July 3rd-5th.