Pokemon gets a special 3DS bundle for its 20th anniversary

With both Red and Blue

February 27 marks the 20-year anniversary of the release of Pokémon Red and Blue in Japan. In those 20 years, the lovable game about pocket monsters has grown into a marketing mammoth. Like an earlier Angry Birds, almost anything could be found emblazoned with a recognizable Pokémon branding.

Times, they don’t change that much. On February 27, a new 3DS bundle will be released that will fittingly pay proper tribute to both those original games and the merchandising machine those games spawned. This bundle will feature two included cover plates — one with Red‘s Charizard, the other with Blue‘s Blastoise. The 3DS will also come with both games pre-installed on the system.

In Europe, the celebration’s the same in sentiment but varies slightly in execution. Across the pond, three different 2DS packages will be offered wherein the system is colored red, blue, or yellow depending on the version of the game picked. There’s no word on whether this will be made available in the US.

These new bundles shouldn’t come as much surprise to anyone who has followed the arc of Pokémon, because its owners have largely made a living on selling fans the same experience over and over for two decades now. It’s disingenuous, but it’s also okay. If it weren’t okay, people would have stopped paying long ago. That’s why these bundles feel mostly like The Pokémon Company raising its glass of champagne and proclaiming “To 20 more years!”

Special Edition Pokémon Nintendo 3DS Systems [Pokémon], @NintendoEurope [Twitter]