Few things make us feel old like a favourite game celebrating a landmark anniversary, especially one as well known as Pokemon. While we didn't really get the obsession to begin with, we can still remember when Pokefever gripped the playground, when anyone who was anyone gathered behind the PE shed to trade their 'mons - meetings conducted in secret ever since the school banned GameBoys. With it's addictive blend of critter catching, raising and battling, Pokemon went on to be a runaway success, spawning numerous sequels and spin-offs, as well as TV shows, merchandise and more - and now into it's twentieth year, the juggernaut is showing no signs of slowing down either.
For a game that's all about collecting, it makes perfect sense that Nintendo have chosen to celebrate the landmark birthday with a number of giveaways of some of the rarest Pokemon out there. First we had a Mew giveaway at GAME, then last month brought us a nifty Celebi download, and for April came a downloadable Jirachi, a cute little white doll with a bright yellow hat, known as the 'Wish Pokemon'. Available since the 1st of April, and not as an April Fool's either, this week marks your last chance of getting hold of the beastie, with the promotion ending on Sunday, the 24th April. To get your grubby paws on your own Jirachi simply:
- Boot up your copy of an eligible Pokemon game - that's Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Pokemon Omega Ruby. Don't forget that multiple games means you can get multiple Pokemon too!
- From the main menu of the game select the 'Mystery Gift' option, rather than loading your save, as per usual.
- Then click on 'Receive Gift' at the top of the list, pressing 'Yes' to open the communication channel when prompted.
- Next, you need to scroll down to 'Get Via Internet', picking 'Yes' to allow it to connect to the internet on the prompt that follows.
- It'll take a little while to search for a gift, before returning one entitled 'The Mythical Pokemon Jirachi'. Click on the 'Yes' option once more to kickstart your Pokemon download!
- Once downloaded, you simply need to load up your save, head to your nearest Pokemon Center and speak to the delivery girl to the left of the main counter. Beware that you'll need at least one space free in your Pokemon party in order to pick up your newest addition though!
Jirachi is a pro at sleeping - able to hibernate for a thousand years at a time, it only wakes up for seven days at a time. In fact, when attacked it doesn't even have to wake up to defend itself!
The Jirachi you receive will be on level 100, and comes with three moves that cement it's position in your party as a healer - or really, whatever you want it to be, given it's fairly even stat distribution. A dual steel and psychic type, Jirachi has a few weaknesses, suffering double damage when against Pokemon and attacks of the Ground, Ghost, Dark and Fire elements - balanced out by it's immunity to Poison and resistance to Psychic attacks. It's ability, Serene Grace, doubles the chance of a move having an additional effect, giving Jirachi's Confusion attack a boost; as well as dealing damage, it now carries a greater chance of leaving your opponent confused afterwards, increasing their chances of accidentally damaging themselves when their turn comes around. Jirachi's remaining two moves, Wish and Rest, play up to it's healing strengths, with Rest putting Jirachi to sleep for two turns, fully restoring it's own health in the process. With Wish, Jirachi makes a wish on the one turn, and then, at the end of the next turn, whichever Pokemon is in play will be healed by half it's maximum HP - exploiting this by using Jirachi to cast Wish, then switching to another Pokemon on your next turn can let you heal up the rest of your party, potentially turning the tide of battle in the process.
So there you have it - make sure you download yourself a Jirachi by the end of this week, before it's too late! And check back in the next week or two for details on the next Pokemon birthday promotion, where you'll be able to nab yourself the legendary dark Pokemon, Darkrai instead!
