You can watch 'Pokémon: Detective Pikachu' for free this weekend

Photo: Amazon Prime Video

Photo: Amazon Prime Video

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Photo: Amazon Prime Video

You can watch 'Pokémon: Detective Pikachu' for free this weekend

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Everyone can use a good laugh right now, and if you need a streaming recommendation, here's one: 2019's "Pokémon: Detective Pikachu."

Unless you were under quarantine the previous 20 years, you know what Pokémon is. The movie in question stars the most famous pocket monster of all, Pikachu. And as odd as it might seem, Ryan Reynolds voices the animated Pikachu. After watching the movie, it'll make sense. Right now, you can watch "Pokémon: Detective Pikachu" for free on Amazon Prime Video if you've got an Amazon Prime membership.

The movie takes place in a world where catching and battling Pokémon is outlawed, and instead, Pokémon live peacefully with humans, working by their sides or living out in the wild. The story follows a young man, Tim Goodman, who comes across an intelligent talking Pikachu. Together they try to solve a mystery about Tim's father.

You can catch "Pokémon: Detective Pikachu" for free on Amazon Prime Video for a limited time, thanks to HBO. Keep an eye out in the film to see all of your favorite Pokémon, as some are more heavily featured than others. I'm holding out hope we'll see some Squirtle Squad action in the already announced sequel, though no theatrical release date has been confirmed.

Sadly, there is no one singing the "Poke Rap" or "Gotta Catch 'em All" theme song in this movie.

Hearst Newspapers participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.

Ana Suarez is the senior commerce editor for Hearst Newspapers. Email her at ana.suarez@hearst.com.

Pokémon Go changes make raid battles and gifts more accessible from home

Pokémon Go players will soon be able to access raid battles remotely as the mobile hit continues to add new features that make for a better experience when playing from home.

The biggest update is that developer Niantic is introducing a new item called the Remote Raid Pass. This will allow trainers to join nearby raids without being at the physical location. The restriction of 20 people per raid still applies, and users will only be able to hold an unspecified limited amount of the one-use passes at once.

This Remote Raid Pass will remain in Pokémon Go after the coronavirus pandemic ends, but Niantic is planning on changing how it operates in future months. Remote trainers currently have the same attack power as those at the raid location, this will eventually change so that those physically there will have an advantage. The developer is also working to add in the ability to invite remote friends to the same raid.

A new bundle featuring Remote Raid passes will be available for one PokéCoin. It currently costs $1 to receive 100 PokéCoins, and there are discounts for purchasing in bulk.

Players also will not have to travel to PokéStops as often. Each night, users with an open Field Research slot will get a new task without having to spin at a PokéStop. Unlike regular Field Research activities, gamers will be able to complete these unique tasks from any location. Trainers' buddy Pokémon will automatically go to nearby locations to fetch gifts so people can stay in touch with friends and share items.

Powering up Pokémon in Pokémon Go will also become less time consuming as players can soon feed Pokémon all of the candy and Stardust needed at once. This quality of life change arrives alongside the ability to stack the effects of Star Pieces, Lucky Eggs, and Incense, which normally need to be manually triggered every 30 minutes.

Other upcoming improvements include a cleaner battle interface that will alter how health bars appear and will show Pokémon types. The in-game shop icon will also show a notification when boxes and items receive updates.

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'Pokémon Go' Adds Remote Raid Pass to Maximize Playing From Home

Niantic announced late last month that Pokémon Go players will have an opportunity to participate in Raids from the comfort of their own home, and new details on this feature were revealed Wednesday.

Remote Raid Passes are coming to the popular mobile game and will allow players to access Raid Battles via the Nearby screen from wherever they are. At the moment, it's not clear exactly when this new feature will launch. For now, trainers should look at the in-game shop for Remote Raid Passes when they go on sale for one PokeCoin, as part of a bundle.

In the future, Remote Raid Passes will go on sale individually for 100 PokeCoins.

Only one Remote Raid Pass will be required to join each raid, and players will be able to hold a limited amount of Remote Raid Passes at a time. Twenty Trainers can join the same Raid Battle, with a limited number of Trainers using a Remote Raid Pass. Raid Battles that you complete with a Remote Raid Pass will count toward any raid-related research tasks or achievement medals.

At launch, Trainers battling in raids remotely will have the same attack power as Trainers who are able to battle at the raid location in person. At a later time, the attack power for Trainers battling remotely will be reduced. Afterward, a Trainer battling at the raid location in person will have higher attack power than a Trainer battling remotely.

Players will also receive a bonus Field Research task daily without having to spin a PokéStop. Once a day at midnight local time, a Field Research will appear. These tasks will be different from Field Research tasks you receive from PokéStops and will focus on activities that you can complete from home. If you don't have an open Field Research slot, then a fourth slot will open up to accommodate the bonus task for you. However, if all four Field Research slots are filled, you won't receive the bonus task.

Your Buddy Pokémon will also now be able to venture to nearby PokéStops and bring some Gifts back for you when you're running low, so you can send them out to friends.

Another new adjustment is to how players level up their Pokémon using Candies and Stardust. Trainers will be able to power up their Pokémon to the desired CP by using both items at once.

Also, players will now be able to use multiple items like Lucky Eggs, Starpieces and Incense at the same time. Instead of waiting for one to expire before using another, trainers will be able to use up to 200 of each item at once.

What do you think of the upcoming updates to Pokémon Go? Let us know in the comments section.

Here’s What’s Happening With Remote Raid Passes In ‘Pokémon GO’

Pokemon GO

Credit: Niantic

There’s a Pokémon GO shaped hole in my life right now. The get outside and catch Pokémon gameplay has been part of my like since it first launched, but coronavirus has made that first part of the equation more or less impossible. Developer Niantic Labs has been scrambling to re-orient gameplay ever since lockdown orders first began to spread across the world, and now it’s unveiled more details on one of the more ambitious updates to the game yet.

Raids are one of the most social things you do in Pokémon GO: you go out and team up with other players in order to fight powerful creatures out in the world. Without the ability to do basically any of that, they’ve almost completely fallen by the wayside in my daily play, available largely only to the people that live inside the radius of a gym(recently expanded). Enter Remote Raid Passes.

Remote Raid Passes won’t allow you to fight at just any gym: you’ll be limited to whatever is inside of your “nearby” range. For some, that won’t help, but for city dwellers and anyone near a relatively dense center or university of some sort, it should bring a good number of gyms online. Once this passes you’ll have your attack power curtailed, but for now you’ll be at full strength.

Niantic is considering expanding the feature in the future:

“We’ll be making adjustments to this feature over time, including changes to the number of Trainers who can join remotely, the ability to invite friends to raids regardless of their location, and the mentioned adjustment to attack power for Trainers battling in a raid remotely. We’ll announce all changes and improvements via official channels, so please stay tuned for further announcements and updates to this feature.

We should be getting a 1 Pokécoin bundle of these in the store soon, after which they’ll be available for 100 Pokécoins. This info comes with some other tweaks that the developer outlines in a blog post.

It sounds like a decent stopgap, though I wonder what will happen when things return to normal, because they’ll be sticking around. It could cause some serious strangeness in places with tons of gyms, and it undermines the basic proposition. That’s wishful thinking for a different world, however. For now, it’s a good idea.

'Pokémon Go' introduces remote raids to encourage staying at home

Niantic is doing more to promote playing Pokémon Go at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The studio has introduced a purchasable Remote Raid Pass that lets you play shared raids (and earn legendary Pokémon) in your area without having to visit their real-world locations. Given that raids normally require multiple people congregating in the same place, this could prove to be a very literal life-saver.

There are other home-friendly changes coming, such as receiving bonus Field Research tasks and gifts from buddy Pokémon without having to visit a Pokéstop.

There are some limitations to the new raiding approach, which should be ready later in April. Niantic told The Verge that only a "limited number" of the usual 20-player maximum can use Remote Raid Passes, so your progress might not be as brisk as it was before. And these passes will cost you. You'll have to spend 100 coins (or 99 cents) per pass, and you'll get the most value if you buy in bulk. It could ge t expensive if you're trying to fill out your mobile Pokédex through raids for the next little while.

Pokémon Rumble Rush Ends In July

Image: The Pokemon Company (Kotaku)

Mobile pocket monster battling game Pokémon Rumble Rush launched less than a year ago to universal agreement that it is indeed a game with Pokémon in it. It's shutting down for good on July 22.

A simplified mobile version of a game series that was already pretty basic, Pokémon Rumble Rush never had a lot going for it. Pocket monsters traveled down a straight path as players tapped the screen to attack waves of mishapen Squirtles, Bulbasaurs, Weedles, and such. It's not a very exciting game, so the end of service announcement that greeted its remaining players this morning is not much of a surprise.

Screenshot: The Pokemon Company (Kotaku)

In-game currency sales have been suspended, though players can still spend the Poké Diamonds they've already purchased up until the July 22 closing date.

Despite the game's impending demise, developer Ambrella is still planning to release an update for Pokémon Rumble Rush on May 27, adding new Pokémon to the game as a sort of last hurrah.

Pokemon Pink Rumored to Be Scrapped Companion to Pokemon Yellow

A rumored datamine alludes to a 'Pokemon Pink', which may have been planned as a companion piece to the 1998's Pikachu-focused Gen 1 spin-off, Pokemon Yellow.The news arrives thanks to Pokemon Historian Dr. Lava, based on information posted in an archived thread on 4chan. Dr. Lava, who has documented a number of Pokemon leaks and datamines, called the information "almost certainly legit". On ResetEra, you can see a screenshot of the alleged leaked source code, with the header referencing a Pink and a Yellow version of the game.

It's thought that the information arrives from the same person or group that leaked the Spaceworld demo ROM (a prototype of Pokemon Gold and Silver) and a series of beta Pocket Monsters that were circulated back in 2018.

The Pokemon community has surmised that a Pokemon Pink would likely have featured Clefairy or Jigglypuff in the spotlight instead of Pikachu - Clefairy having been mooted as a potential mascot for the series before Pikachu's popularity, and Jigglypuff becoming popular due to the Pokemon anime.

Twitter user SnorlaxMonster noted in a reply to the original tweet that a Japan-Only Game Boy Camera frame once featured Pikachu and Clefairy standing side by side, but this was changed into a Wario Land design for the European release of the peripheral. How intriguing!

In other Pokemon news, The Pokemon Company recently announced that players who disconnect from ranked matches in Pokemon Sword and Shield may be permanently banned.

Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN who still can't get the theme from Clefairy Says out of his brain. Hit him over the head with a proverbial rubber mallet on Twitter.