Pokémon 25th Anniversary: What to expect, details, merchandise, and more

Nintendo has always dedicated itself to developing great games and franchises and bringing them to gamers, they enjoyed a rareified position within gaming, loved by casuals, collectors, hipsters, tryhards and critics. 

From Super Mario, to The Legend of Zelda, , Star Fox, Metroid and many more, their new releases are regularly some of the most anticipated every year, and 2021 looks to be no different, with Nintendo to celebrate the 25th birthday of one of the most successful franchises in the industry..

Pocket Monsters, or more commonly known as Pokémon, is a video game whose main idea, created by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori, has stayed train to that designed back in 1996: Catch, train and collect pocket monsters, defeating villains and trainers in the way, all on the journey to becoming a Pokémon Master.

In this way, and through a tribute to the evolution of the franchise through various generations and media, is how the celebration of the 25 years of the Pokémon franchise has been presented, a milestone long awaited by fans of the video game and Nintendo in general.

• Read more: New Pokémon Snap releases in April, watch new trailer

From a video game saga that has become an essential part of the industry, a trading card game that has seen a resurgence in recent years, an anime series with more than 1,100 episodes following the journey of Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and other merchandise that generates millions of sales worldwide, Pokémon has become a media monster, being the highest-grossing media franchise of all time.

The 4 highest-grossing media franchises of all time (Picture: TitleMax, 2019)

Pokémon 25th Anniversary: What to expect?

Through a website dedicated to the celebration, The Pokémon Company has revealed the first details of what they will released in the coming months.

As for video games, a lot of special content will come to Pokémon GO, where weekly events have already been activated with each region of the Pokémon world as the protagonist, in addition to the launch of New Pokémon Snap in April.

Likewise, a special announcement is expected for a new title of the main saga in February, with all the compasses pointing to the highly anticipated remake of the fourth generation games: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

Going on the side of the trading card game, the launch of a special set has been confirmed starting from March, in which the initial Pokémon of each region in giant size will be included in each pack, along with two additional regular packs. The order of release for each pack in the set will be regressive, starting with Galar in March, and ending with Kanto in October.

(Picture: Pokémon)

Along with this, there will be plenty of merchandise throughout the year pertaining to the 25th anniversary, with the first item announced being a special folder for collecting cards, featuring a white and embossed design featuring the initial Pokémon from all regions, and that will include a giant Pikachu card based on its Base Set design.

• Read more: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes will be revealed in February, according to leak

Finally and being something more than unexpected, The Pokémon Company will collaborate with several artists to release music dedicated to the 25th anniversary in the coming months, with Katy Perry and her song "Electric" being the first of those announced.

(Picture: The Pokémon Company)

The celebrations of the most successful franchise in history are just beginning, and it’s expected to be one of the largest celebrations in the industry, to commemorate the trajectory of a video game saga that has marked many generations.