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Pokemon Masters celebrates one-year anniversary with new challenges, features, and a name change

Pokemon's 2019 mobile release turns one year old, and receives a crop of new content in celebration.

Donovan Erskine

August 28, 2020 1:10 PM

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The Pokemon empire far exceeds the mainline titles released for Nintendo handheld devices. With a countless number of spinoffs, series, and films, the Pokemon brand is omnipresent. In 2019, The Pokemon Company released a spinoff game for mobile devices. Titled Pokemon Masters, this game brings battling with some of the franchises’ most iconic characters to iOS and Android devices. As Pokemon Masters hits its one-year anniversary, developer DeNA has announced several new challenges, features, and an official name change. 

As shared on the official Pokemon website, Pokemon Masters will be adding new challenges to the game to commemorate the anniversary. This includes the Champion Stadium - Kanto Challenge. Themed around the region featured in the first generation, the Kanto Challenge will see players facing off against Elite 4 members Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and Lance. The challenge will end with a battle against Champion Blue.

One of the more interesting additions in the update for Pokemon Masters is a change to the game’s title. Moving forward, the game will be officially referred to as Pokemon Masters EX. “A title to reflect all the additions and enhancements that the game has received this past year.” the company shared in the post. The EX suffix is not new to the Pokemon franchise, as it’s often used in the trading card game. 

The one-year anniversary update will also bring new forms of both Blue and Leaf with Sygna suits, as well as six-star EX sync pairs, 3,000 free gems for players, and the aforementioned Challenge Stadium. Pokemon Masters is one of many successful Pokemon spinoffs on a non-Nintendo platform. More are on the way, as Pokemon Unite was announced earlier this Summer.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_