Niantic improves Pokémon GO (accidentally)

Welcome back to another edition of The Victory Road. It’s me, your dungeon-dwelling, trainer challenging friend, Cooltrainer Ace. Take a swig of that Super Potion and settle in.

Here’s this week’s rundown (estimated read time: 3 minutes)

• Niantic accidentally makes Pokémon GO better…and then fixes their mistake.

• The Pokémon TCG Scarlet & Violet 151 expansion gets an English release.

• Ash vs. Leon is live on Netflix

Pokémon GO temporarily improves (thanks to a glitch)

They say you can’t account for luck in life. Like a full-odds shiny Pokémon, you just roll with it when it shows up (and pray while you toss every ball in your inventory).

In Niantic’s case, if their latest update glitch was a shiny Pokémon, they went for the one-hit K.O.

In an update this week, many players experienced an increase in the interaction radius of their character (aka your circle for interacting with gyms, stops, and catching wild Pokémon increased). Given Niantic’s recent changes to remote raids that many players felt negatively impacted people with mobility challenges, this latest radius update came across as a rare W for Niantic.

…except it was an accident. And when they found out, Niantic fixed it.

Needless to say, players and community influencers weren’t impressed. 😬 

Pokémon 151 arrives this September

I’ve been admiring the Japanese 151 cards for weeks by the light of a Charmander tail on this lonely stretch of Victory Road Floor 2. Now Scarlet & Violet 151 is getting an English release!

Coming September 22, 2023, this “special expansion” features all 151 Pokémon from the Kanto region “newly reimagined in Paldea” (new art) and includes:

• 12 Pokémon ex

• 16 illustration rare and seven special illustration rare Pokémon and Supporter cards

• 16 ultra rare full-art etched Pokémon and Supporter cards

• Three hyper rare gold etched cards

Check out the card gallery to see which cards have already been released (it updates daily). Now through September, the “151 to 151” campaign will roll out a new card in numerical order each day on the @PokemonTCG Twitter or Instagram accounts.

The Ash vs. Leon showdown hits Netflix

That’s right, you can see the best fight of the year and you don’t even need pay per view to watch. Let’s just hope Leon doesn’t get lost on his way to the match, amirite???

The third batch of the Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series is live on Netflix in the U.S. And if you haven’t see the Japanese release or the U.S. trailer, Charizard and Pikachu put on one heck of a battle. 🔥⚡️ 

Join Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu on their latest adventures in the Pokémon world and witness the duo’s legendary victory as they achieve the goal of becoming World Champion after 25 seasons of countless battles and challenging quests.

Though this should fill your Poké-hype for a day or two, we’re still waiting on the release of the special episodes that wrap up Ash & Pikachu’s journey. Stay tuned!

Random encounters around the internet

• Flying Eeveelution spotted in the wild? A Japan-based airline is launching the Eevee Jet this August.

• In case you’ve been wondering WTF all the “Project Snorlax” references are about.

• This random Pokémon generator contains all 1,010 Pokémon. Use it responsibly.

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

Until next time,
Cooltrainer “Never been lost like Leon” Ace