Skip to main content

Twitch is hosting a massive Pokemon marathon in honor of the franchise’s 20th birthday

pokemon
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Almost exactly one year ago, the originator of crowd-powered gaming, Twitch Plays Pokemon, managed to catch all 151 of the Pokemon the project set out to catch. Considering the special bond that Twitch has with Pokemon, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it is doing something special for the franchise’s 20th birthday.

Pokemon Day is this Saturday, February 27, and while festivities will be held around the world, you don’t need to leave the comfort of your home to get involved. Starting at 10 am ET, the official Pokemon Twitch channel will kick off a celebration of its own, streaming Pokemon games, hosting discussions and interviews, and providing other coverage. The Pokemon website mentions this is for “fans of all ages,” so be sure to be on your best behavior.

Starting at 6 pm ET, the stream will switch over to a 24-hour marathon of Pokemon-related animation. The broadcast will feature movies, fan-favorite episodes of the many iterations of the TV show, and animated specials, rolling on until it comes to a close at 6 pm ET on Sunday evening.

For fans who’d rather get involved in person, celebrations for Pokemon’s 20th anniversary are taking place in New York and Los Angeles. On February 27 a celebration is being held at Rockefeller Center, while the Pokemon pop-up shop at JapanLA in Los Angeles will have a small opening-night celebration on Saturday, remaining open until March 27.

As a franchise with “gotta catch ‘em all” as its most recognizable catch phrase, Pokemon has always been all about the merchandise, and that isn’t changing for its 20th birthday. On Saturday, re-releases of Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow, will hit the 3DS eShop, while a New Nintendo 3DS Pokemon 20th Anniversary bundle is headed to retail.

The Pokemon 20th Anniversary bundle comes with Pokemon Red and Blue pre-installed, and includes a pair of swappable face plates featuring art from the original games.

Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
Sonic Dream Team’s next free update adds a new zone and ranking system
Sonic swings on a bar in Sonic Dream Team.

Sonic Dream Team is getting a significant free update on Wednesday, April 17, that will add more levels and a ranking system. The update for the Apple Arcade exclusive comes on the heels of layoffs at developer Sega Hardlight, which was impacted by a recent restructure at Sega.

Sonic Dream Team launched as part of Apple’s iOS game subscription service in December. Though it’s only garnered a handful of critical reviews since then, including a positive one from Digital Trends, the platformer has received positive praise from Sonic fans (it currently has an 8.8 user rating on Metacritic). This week’s update is Sega Hardlight’s biggest content drop for the title.

Read more
This satisfying $7 mobile puzzle game is money well spent
A box in Boxes: Lost Fragments has an octopus on it.

If you're looking for a new mobile game that'll keep your hands busy and you have $7 to spare, Boxes: Lost Fragments is money well spent.

Developed by Big Loop Studios, Boxes: Lost Fragments is a moody puzzle game where players are tasked with opening 20 intricately designed, themed puzzle boxes, all while unearthing a creepy gothic narrative. If that sounds a lot like The Room series, it is. You can either read Boxes as a total ripoff or a respectful homage, but one thing is certain in either case: It's extremely satisfying.

Read more
The PS5 Pro may be coming even sooner than we thought
Two versions of the PS5 next to each other.

An enhanced PlayStation 5, colloquially known as the PS5 Pro, is all but officially confirmed now, with a new report revealing that dev kits for the enhanced console are in the hands of developers and that Sony wants games for it ready by August.

Last month, internal documents revealing the specs of the PS5 Pro leaked. It won't offer a massive leap in power, but it will have a better GPU and some new machine learning technologies, and it should make things like ray tracing and stable frame rates much more possible with games made for the PS5. On Monday morning, The Verge released a report affirming the leaked specs and confirming that PS5 Pro dev kits are now in the hands of more developers.

Read more