Pokemon Game Gets a Surprise Update in China

An unexpected Pokemon game will receive a major update...in China. Pokemon Quest, a free-to-play [...]

By Christian Hoffer

An unexpected Pokemon game will receive a major update...in China. Pokemon Quest, a free-to-play game available on mobile devices, tablets, and the Nintendo Switch, will receive a major update in China next month. The update will add the first Johto Pokemon to the game, as well as new events and costumes. Sadly, there's no indication that Pokemon Quest will be updated outside of China. The Chinese version of Pokemon Quest, which is titled Pokemon Adventure, already has several exclusive features not found in the Japanese, American, or European versions, such as PvP, player customization, and boss Pokemon.

Pokemon Quest is best known for its distinctive cube motif, with all 151 Pokemon looking not unlike Minecraft characters. Players build team of 3 Pokemon that automatically trek through areas, with Pokemon controlling their ability to use special moves. Players also manage a base camp, which has a cooking feature that can be used to attract new Pokemon, and can also train Pokemon (which in essence causes other Pokemon to the leave camp) and equip them with Power Stones that can increase their stats. The base game came out in 2018, but fans haven't seen any sort of major update since its initial release despite it having over 10 million mobile downloads.

The Chinese version of Pokemon Quest, meanwhile continues to see support as a sort of live service game. Notably, the Chinese version has occasional events (such as one that introduced clone versions of Pokemon from Mewtwo Strikes Back EVOLUTION) that other versions of the game haven't had.

Pokemon Quest was developed by Game Freak, so this isn't the case of a third-party company prioritizing one market over the other. Still, it seems pretty odd that Game Freak would choose to push one version of Pokemon Quest over another.

Given that no official Pokemon channel outside of China has commented on Pokemon Quest, it seems like this will be limited to Japan only. We'll have to see if these additions (or any of the other extra features from the Chinese version) will eventually make their way to what was once seen as a potentially popular game.

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