2018 Is the Year of the Legendary Pokemon

2018 is gearing up to be a legendary year for the Pokemon franchise.

Earlier today, the Pokemon Company announced a series of special giveaways and other events that will all feature Legendary Pokemon from various Pokemon games.

The centerpiece of the Legendary Pokemon celebration is a series of monthly giveaways featuring different Legendary Pokemon. As we reported yesterday, players can go to GameStop beginning on February 2nd to receive a code to unlock Palkia in Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Ultra Sun or Dialga in Pokemon Moon or Pokemon Ultra Moon. A press release for the event hinted that not every Legendary Pokemon giveaway will need physical codes, so players will need to check each month as to how to get that month's Legendary Pokemon.

Not only is the Pokemon you receive dependent on the game you have, its initial moveset and level will also vary between game. For instance, Legendary Pokemon unlocked in Pokemon Sun and Moon will be at Level 60, while the Pokemon in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are at Level 100. There's also a chance that Pokemon will come carrying a Gold Bottle Cap, which can be used to improve a Pokemon's IV stats.

Future monthly distributions are as follows:

March: Heatran or Regigigas

April: Raikou or Entei

May: Xerneas or Yveltal

June: Shiny Zygarde

July: Tornadus or Thundurus

August: Groudon or Kyogre

September: Latios or Latias

October: Reshiram or Zekrom

November: Ho-oh or Lugia

A trailer for the new celebration also teased new TCG products as well. In 2016, the Pokemon Company released special "Mythical" box sets containing a special full art Pokemon card and a pin that coincided with monthly distributions of various Mythical Pokemon. However, we haven't seen any TCG merchandise plans for this event, so we'll have to wait and see. At the very least, we'll probably get a Shiny Zygarde box set in June. More information about the TCG products will be released closer to launch.

Pokemon Go will also get special promotions featuring Legendary Pokemon in 2018 as part of the event. A press release announcing the Legendary Pokemon celebration promised more details on the Pokemon Go tie-ins soon.

The Pokemon Company also set up a new website for the Legendary Pokemon celebration, which features a basic schedule of the year's event, along with some bonus activities and information on all the different Legendary Pokemon.