2016 VGC World Champion Wolfe Glick created the first real-life Pokémon Gym.
On Youtube, WolfeyVGC shared a ten-minute video explaining the countless hours he put into building a facility that resembles the in-game Gyms throughout the Pokémon series. The Gym will even include a person at the front door to explain the process. Players can face other VGC competitors at the New York City location and defeat Gym Leader Wolfey to win an acrylic badge. The featured competitors include past VGC champions Aaron Traylor, Aaron Zheng and James Baek. Eventually, Wolfey hopes to hold a similar event to the Elite Four section in Pokémon games.
Each Gym in the Pokémon franchise has a specific type for players to strategize against. At Wolfey's Gym, the champion has a Water-type team consisting of Quaquaval, Pelipper, Barraskewda, Tatsugiri, Palafin and Coalossal, who actually has a Water Tera Type. Those outside the venue can watch Wolfey's battles on a big screen to prepare for their own matches. Attendees traveled from not only New York, but also Nevada, Louisana and Maryland to battle or spectate the unique event.
The Pokémon Champion Takes All
Starting in 2009, the Pokémon Video Game World Championships first took place in eight different countries: USA, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Germany, France, UK and Canada. Consequently, the annual event grew in popularity and hosted players across the globe. In 2022, live competitions returned after a brief absence due to COVID-19 restrictions, and the competition granted Eduardo Cunha the World Championship title, the second European player to accomplish the feat.
While VGC has called Pokémon Sword and Shield its home for the past three years, the franchise's recent installment, Scarlet and Violet, will likely take its spot in the next tournament. Released in November 2022, the Generation IX games are set in the Paldean region, based on the Iberian Peninsula. Scarlet/Violet beat the Generation VIII titles' sales record in just eight weeks, which took the latter three years to reach. Its groundbreaking sales led to the recent installment becoming the most pre-ordered Pokémon game in the video game series' history.
Despite Scarlet/Violet's massive sales record, the Generation IX games are not without their plentiful technical issues. On Jan. 12, The Pokémon Company announced that a software update, Update Ver 1.2.0, would arrive in late February. The upcoming patch will "include bug fixes and add functionality." However, it's unclear if it will make any performance improvements to Scarlet/Violet. In terms of the added functionality, it's undetermined if this means the Generation IX games will receive integration with the storage service Pokémon HOME. Traditionally, it takes around four months for Pokémon titles to connect with the convenient application.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are available on Nintendo Switch.
Source: YouTube