A lot of people think that Nintendo is lagging (pun intended) when it comes to their online strategy, though you’d never know it based on how well their consoles sell. When it comes to free DLC though, I think they’re slightly ahead of the curve. For instance, the steady release of free DLC in Mario Kart Wii, Animal Crossing: City Folk, and the Pokemon games on the DS has kept a small, internal smile on my face for over a year now.
Case in point, Nintendo and EB Games/GameStop are teaming up to give away shiny versions of the legendary dog Pokemon. Shiny Raikou will be available from Jan. 3-9, shiny Entei from Jan. 17-23, and shiny Suicune from Jan. 31- Feb. 6 (in both the USA and in Canada). All you need to grab them to head down to a participating store, and bring your DS and a copy of Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold, or Soul Silver. Like the knotch eared and super-jaundiced Pichus from earlier this year, these “special” Pokemon don’t actually do anything interesting on their own. However, they can be used to find and catch Zoroark in Pokemon Black/White when it’s released next year.
As much as I love free Pokemon, I feel a little bad about this whole thing. What about the people who spent days, maybe weeks, catching “legit” shiny legendary dogs? For them, this must be like if the government started giving away gold, or if Jake Gyllenhaal started giving out freebies. It’s a total devaluation of their chosen currency.
(Thanks for the tip, vApathyv!)
GameStop Canada – Shiny Entei, Raikou, and Suicune event dates [GoNintendo]
