Pokémon fans world over will immediately recognize the title of “Pokémon Center” not only as the place to heal your Pokémon in-game, but also as the name of the awe-inspiring Pokémon Center store, a store dedicated to Pokémon merchandise that’s limited to a few exclusive locations throughout the world– mostly in Japan. Anyone who wasn’t lucky enough to live close to one of these stores has surely always hoped that one might someday pop up in their location, but with how limited the stores were, this wasn’t very likely for most.
Fans in North America may have had their wishes somewhat granted with the opening of the Pokémon Center website, which doesn’t give you the experience of walking into the store, but allows you access to lots of exclusive merchandise.
However, for Pokémon’s 20th Anniversary, it’s gone even bigger. On Amazon Japan, an exclusive “Amazon Pokémon Center” has opened: a section of Amazon dedicated solely to Pokémon merch. It’s even been set up for easy navigation, with sections for toys, games, movies, hobbies, fashion, and miscellaneous goods all present!
Just from quickly browsing through, it looks like this store has exclusive content that even the Pokémon Center website doesn’t, meaning that shopping here provides its own benefit. The appearance of this Pokémon Center on Amazon seems to coincide heavily with the announcement of the “Pokémon Center Online” which is set to open on February 10th. This online shop will be similar to the Pokémon Center website that we have in North America, but with a few twists.
In the Pokémon Center Online, there’s a feature called Poké Points that can be used to play minigames within the website. Certain players of these minigames will be selected to receive special goods that are otherwise unavailable.
It’s also announced that as a promotional campaign for the website, a complete set of Pokémon Red and Green gym badges will launch for purchase. The website will also present shoppers with a gift every time they’ve spent 5,000 yen.
It appears that this website will be different from the Amazon website, though it’s possible that they are the same and it’s simply launched early. No word yet on whether or not anything like this will appear on North America’s or any of Europe’s Amazon stores, but we sure hope it does! Keep your eyes out and, if you’re feeling up to it, browse around the new store!
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Written by George Comatas
As a wannabe social media personality and professional in the world of sarcasm, George does his best to always adapt to the changing world around him. He considers himself a maverick: a true-to-heart gamer with the mind of a pop star. Whether this makes him revolutionary or a setback, he's yet to find out. But one thing’s for sure; he's one-of-a-kind.
