Piplup Gets Swole in New Pokemon Workout Videos

Piplup is shedding its penguin bod for a new ripped physique. Earlier today, The Pokemon Company posted the first of three videos showing Piplup engaging in a workout routine with a Gold's Gym trainer. The new videos are part of Project Piplup, a multimedia marketing campaign designed to showcase Piplup's personality. The first video, released below, shows Piplup doing squats, lunges, and other aerobic exercises under a trainer's watchful eyes. Of course, as Piplup has incredibly stubby legs and a very round body, it seems that the exercises don't have the strenuous effects intended. Piplup will go through an intermediate and advanced training regimen in subsequent videos. 

Project Piplup launched last year in the run up to the release of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which are remakes of the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl games in which Piplup first appeared. The marketing project mostly features a large mascot version of Piplup participating in various videos, including choreographed dance routines. Like The Pokemon Company's Project Eevee, the point of Project Piplup seems to be to remind fans that the franchise has multiple high-profile cute Pokemon besides Pikachu.

In addition to Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which were released in November 2021 and features Piplup as a starting Pokemon choice, Piplup will also appear in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, a new style of Pokemon game due out at the end of this month. The game is set in a past version of the Sinnoh region (called the Hisui region) and places players at the forefront of collecting data for that region's first ever Pokedex. Unlike traditional Pokemon games, there won't be a separate overworld map and battle screen. Instead, players can engage with Pokemon as they see them in the wild, although players can be attacked if they don't have a Pokemon ready to go. Numerous other changes, such as a "real time" battle structure in which a Pokemon's speed and battle style determines move order (with one Pokemon potentially attacking multiple times before their opponent), will also be implemented in the games. 

Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be released on January 28, 2022.