Pokémon sword and shield players will have two weeks to collect a special Pikachu linked to today’s International Space Station event. Between now and January 15th, Pokémon sword and shield players can collect a special Pikachu that knows the Thunderbolt, Swift, Wish and Celebrate moves, and has been holding a Comet Shard using the games’ Mystery Gift function. Pikachu is generally unable to learn Desire and only had the Celebrate movement as part of special gifts. Remember that Celebrating is a harmless move that literally makes the Pokémon celebrate in battle without any other effects. The movement is only effective when used as a Z-Move, a feature that is not present in the Pokémon sword and shield.
This particular Pikachu is a special offer linked to the current live broadcast from Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency of the first sunrise over the International Space Station. As part of the festivities, Pikachu and Rayquaza appeared via Augmented Reality in space. Pikachu appeared alongside an astronaut on the International Space Station, while Rayquaza flew over the earth, similar to how the Pokémon appeared on various Pokémon media.
Despite some hype on the Internet, the live stream did not contain any significant Pokémon ads. Some expected the Pokémon Company to use the ad to announce new games, such as remakes of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, or use the event to formally launch the celebration of its 25th anniversary. However, since the live broadcast was being conducted by an agency separate from the Pokémon Company (and the Pokémon Company barely advertised the live broadcast), any major announcement was, at best, a long shot.
Pikachu, called KIBO Pikachu in honor of the Japanese experiment model on the International Space Station, can be obtained through the Mystery Dom function between now and January 15th. Players will need to connect to the Internet to retrieve Pikachu, which is available to all players.