Last night's Super Bowl LX marked the official kick-off point for Pokémon's 30th anniversary celebrations, thanks to an ad featuring celebrities like Lady Gaga, Lamine Yamal, and Blackpink's Jisoo sharing their favorite companions from the series. The ad also launched the What's Your Favorite? campaign, which looks to carry throughout the year's festivities.
Pokémon initially teased this blockbuster ad spot on February 4, with a short video of Jigglypuff messing around in what we now know is a recording studio. Even if comments on the video were available, I doubt anyone would have predicted the pink puffball to be sharing a mic with Lady Gaga. Seven celebrities shared their top choice with the world, from gen 1 Pokémon like Jisoo's Eevee and Charles Leclerc's Arcanine, to legendary beasts like Lamine Yamal's Zygarde Complete Forme, showing that there truly is a Pokémon out there for everyone.
But here's the fun part - you can join in the fun and create your very own What's Your Favorite? snapshot in Pokémon Go, and you don't even need to make an account. As Pokémon's 30th anniversary also coincides with the free mobile game's tenth birthday, it makes perfect sense to host this AR photo feature in the app and encourage more people to give it a try. All you need to do is download the app, and you can use the Pokémon 30 photo feature to create your masterpiece to share on social media.
Pokémon also launched a dedicated website for everything 30th anniversary-related, which I'll be keeping a very close eye on throughout the year. Currently, the website features the Super Bowl ad, high-quality photos of all seven celebs and their partner Pokémon, and a brief news piece on the anniversary merch line. However, the official Pokémon website gives us a little more to look forward to, mentioning that the company is hosting Day Out and Night Out events throughout the year for fans to "come together in real life".
The Day Out events will focus on family-friendly activities and programming, whereas the Night Out events are for those who grew up alongside Pokémon. I hope the "fun surprises" mentioned include themed cocktails and mocktails!
While we wait for more news from Big Pikachu, you can check out our guide to all the current Pokémon Go events if you want to get in on the game's birthday celebrations. You can also let us know your favorite Pokémon in the Pocket Tactics Discord server.