Pokemon Weekly News Roundup [April 10 - 16]

Hey guys, [member='Chris'] here with something I'll be doing every week from now on - the Pokémon Weekly News Roundup! This will include a more compact version of the week's news regarding the Pokémon Video Games, Anime, Trading Cards, Merchandise and any other Special Announcements that are made. It'll also be a place to discuss sch topics without having the site flooded with separate topics for literally everything. So, without further ado, let's get right into it!


VIDEO GAMES
For the main series:
The latest Global Mission has been completed, and prizes are being given out. Check in to your Pokémon Sun or Moon game to receive your 4000 (Global Link members) or 2000 (non-Global Link members) Festival Coins. The Love Ball and Rare Candy prizes will be given via a Serial Code through the Global Link later this month.
The next Global Mission has been announced, coming April 25th. It involves harvesting Poke Beans from the Poke Pelago.
A Ho-Oh distribution has been announced for Japan to tie-in with the latest Pokémon movie. It will be distributed via a Serial Code in the August Issue of CoroCoro, which is the issue that will release the month after the movie's first airing.
The Ash-Pikachu distributions have begun in Japan, with the first being the Kanto/Johto Hat Pikachu. This Pikachu is Level 1, has it's nature set to Hardy, knows the moves Thunderbolt, Thunder, Quick Attack, and Agility, and also holding a Pikashunium-Z, which allows it to use its special Z Move. This distribution will end on May 1st, with a repeat coming in July.

For the spin-offs:
Pokémon Duel has had a balance patch, making changes to a few figures; Venusaur, Drapion, Bulbasaur and Weezing. Check Serebii.net for more details.
Pokémon Duel has also had an app update, introducing new figures into the game. These figures are Virizon, Sceptile, and Trevenant (EX), Grovyle, Lilligant and Crobat (Rare), and Skorupi, Swellow, Chikorita, Phantump and Petilil (Uncommmon). To celebrate the game's 1 year anniversary, there are also Sextuple Boosters available from the store for 300 Gems, which guarantee at least 1 EX pull. Players can only buy 5 of these per account.
Pokémon Shuffle has received its weekly update, which has included new Special Stages. Check in on your game to see what's available!
A new event has begun in Pokémon GO to celebrate Easter. From the 13th of April to he 20th of April, rarer Pokémon will hatch from 2 KM Eggs, Pokémon that hatch from Eggs will give more candy, and all XP earned is doubled (this does stack with the Lucky Egg, giving a x4 multiplier when it is active, I checked myself), and Lucky Eggs are 50% off in the in-game store.

ANIME
For the main series anime:
A new episode has aired in Japan this week. This episode was titled "Beware of Shovels!". Next week's episode will be titled "Here's a Real Shocker! A Dugtrio Split-Up?!"

For the movies:
There has been no news regarding Pokémon movies this week.
TRADING CARD GAME
Lots of new trading cards have been revealed. Notable releases are the full art print of Karen in "Best of XY", Machamp-GX in the expansion set "SM2+", and the Lucario Spirit Link/Mega Lucario reprint in "Best of XY" (Japan) / "Mega Powers Collection" (International). All of these and more, as well as translated Japanese cards, can be found over at PokeBeach's TCG Page.

MERCHANDISE
Lots of new pieces of Pokémon merchandise have been revealed. Notable releases are the "Rotom Mystery Room" collection added to the Pokémon Center Website, and various plushes relating to the latest Pokémon movie coming to Japan. All of these and more can be found over at Pokeshopper.com's News Page.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
The previously announced Shiny Tapu Koko and Team Skull 3DS themes are now available for purchase internationally. The Shiny Tapu Koko theme features a shiny Tapu Koko, as well as Lycanroc, Golisopod and Kommo-o, and plays the Battle! Guardian theme from Pokémon Sun and Moon. The Team Skull theme features art of various Team Skull members, and plays the Battle! Team Skull Boss theme from Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Well, that's it for this week! Feel free to discuss any of the news down below, and I'll see you all next week! This is [member='Chris'], signing out!