Pokémon HOME hits next week

Plus, Ash's World Championship run gets the dub

Author

Cooltrainer Ace
May 18, 2023 • Estimated Read Time: 7 minutes

Welcome back to another week of news from The Victory Road. As always, my name is Cooltrainer Ace and I will be your flight attendant on this journey of enlightenment & entertainment. Enlightentainment. Let’s get into the news.

This week’s rundown:

  • The HOME update (finally) has a release)

  • Watch Ash bring home the ‘ship on Netflix this June.

  • It’s the end of the road for a longtime Pokémon GO community.

  • Paradox Donphan is the next Scarlet & Violet raid boss.

The HOME update is coming

Ah, there’s nothing quite like the smell of Vileplume in the morning, unless it’s a breaking news story dropping just hours before this here email is set to hit your inboxes.

In an announcement that everyone was waiting for but no one saw coming, The Pokémon Company revealed this morning that connectivity between Pokémon HOME (why are they always yelling HOME and GO at us?) and Scarlet/Violet will arrive on May 23, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. PDT. You’ll need to update HOME to version 3.0.0, then voila!

Two important notes:

  1. In the latest version of HOME, you an exchange HOME points for League Points that can be used in Scarlet & Violet. (Since we’re all starving for LP or money, I guess?)

  2. When bringing a Pokémon from HOME into a linked game, you can now change the moves it knows from a list of moves it has learned up to that point. These moves are limited to moves that can be learned in Sword & Shield, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl (some moves excluded), Legends: Arceus, and Scarlet & Violet.​ This will allow you to have your Pokémon know the moves you want it to before moving it out of Pokémon HOME.​

    A note from Cooltrainer Ace: there’s a lot of vague language in this explanation, so be extra careful when transferring Pokémon in HOME that are from a pre-Gen 8 game. Their moves MAY be reset.

Here’s a handy chart showing home compatibility between the various games out there.

As a bonus to celebrate the new connectivity, you’ll receive a Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly, all with a Hidden Ability as Mystery Gifts in the mobile version of HOME after you transfer a Pokémon from Scarlet or Violet.

This update also allows trainers to get Roaming Form Gimmighoul from GO into Scarlet and Violet. Here’s instructions on how to catching the Roaming Form in GO, if you haven’t yet.

Netflix & Pokéchill: new Ultimate Journeys episodes get the dub

Time to pop that corn, grab a beverage and kick your feet up (well, almost): new episodes of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series are on their way, including the ever-so-epic Ash Ketchum’s Legendary World Championship.

Premiering exclusively on the ‘Flix June 23, 2023, we mortals can witness Ash and Pikachu “achieving the goal of being crowned Champion of the Pokémon World Coronation Series after 25 seasons of countless battles and challenging quests.”

Don’t worry though, it’s not time for a final goodbye to Ash and Pikachu just yet. If you’ve been waiting on the English finale featuring the collection of special episodes, their availability will be announced at a later date (probably Fall).

For now, we’ll settle for watching the GOAT at his best. Sniff. I can still remember the first time Ash and I battled back on Victory Road Floor 2. They grow up so fast.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Silph Road

Poor one out. The Silph Road (no relation to The Victory Road) sadly announced they’re closing shop after an incredible 7 year run as an amazing resource to the GO community.

For those unfamiliar with Silph Road, the site’s subreddit (which will remain active) describes itself as a grassroots network of trainers whose communities span the globe and hosts resources to help trainers learn about the game, find communities, and hold in-person PvP tournaments!

Chances are if you’ve played Pokémon GO, you stumbled across some of their research or discoveries. Many players credit The Silph Road for creating and shaping the PvP scene that GO is today.

In 2022, Niantic sponsored The Silph Road to cover operations costs and keep the website running. That appears to have come to an end in what the team called “a bittersweet conclusion.”

New Scarlet/Violet raid alert: Great Tusk & Iron Treads

I tried really hard to come up with something punny about elephants or Donphan…please forgive me. The $h*t hit the Phanpy.

Beginning today, Thursday, May 18, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. PDT to Sunday, May 21, 2023, at 4:59 p.m. PDT Great Tusk will appear in Tera Raid Battles in Scarlet and Iron Treads in Violet.

Both will be 5-star raids but the catch is that they’ll spawn with various Tera Types. While they are version exclusive, it doesn’t look like there is any limit on the amount you can catch of either Paradox form.

Random encounters around the internet

Niantic has announced the next slate of Community Days and Special Events for the upcoming season of Pokémon GO:

  • Saturday, June 3, 2023 (event)

  • Saturday, June 10, 2023 (Community Day)

  • Sunday, July 9, 2023 (Community Day Classic)

  • Saturday, July 22, 2023 (event)

  • Sunday, July 30, 2023 (Community Day)

  • Saturday and Sunday, August 26–27, 2023 (Pokémon GO Fest 2023: Global)

  • Sunday, August 13, 2023 (Community Day)

Obscure Pokémon Fact of the Day (from u/Mx_Toniy_4869)

Until next time,
Cooltrainer “did I tell you about the time I fought Ash Ketchum” Ace