6 Ultra-Rare Secrets You Need to Know in Pokémon Pokopia

It’s Pokémon Pokopia’s launch day, and I hope you’re all very excited to dive into what is undoubtedly a major GOTY contender.

I’ve been playing Pokémon Pokopia for a little while now, and it didn’t take long for me to settle on a perfect score of 10. This is a spin-off that endlessly charms and delights.

“There’s no one reason why Pokémon Pokopia is so special; this game is a sum of its parts, without a single weak link in the chain,” I said in my review.

“It’s a title that offers a unique spin on the cosy formula, made all the more magical by the familiarity of this wonderful franchise.

“You’ll be hard pressed to put it down, and it's certainly a title that we’ll all be discussing when this year’s GOTY discussion rolls around.”

If you’ve been counting down the days until launch, I’m imagining you’ll know what to expect from the general formula.

Players will restore habitats to lure in new ‘mon then maintain the happiness of those ‘mon by improving the habitat further.

There are plenty of other elements that make up Pokémon Pokopia though, so I’d like to fill you in on six of my favorites - and don’t worry, I’ll be doing so in a spoiler-free manner.

6. Try Giving Drifloon a Doll

In the Withered Wastelands, players can unlock Drifloon. This isn’t a guide, so I’m not going to spoil things by divulging exactly which habitat you need to create to do so.

As the game’s starter area though, you should unlock Drifloon within the first few hours.

Once they’ve set up home, you can unearth a fun little feature by showing Drifloon a doll.

There are various dolls dotted around Pokémon Pokopia’s various lands. They’re more like plushies, based on different ‘mon.

Nintendo

Pikachu and Eevee examples were amongst the earliest I found.

If you show Drifloon a doll, they can transport you to a special island location, known as a Dream Island, designed purely for you to scavenge supplies.

The island you’re taken to depends on the doll you show, and you can only show one doll per day.

The islands on offer feature crafting items obtainable in the regular maps as well as some exclusives. Ooo.

5. The Team Initiation Challenge

Again, you’ll unearth this one in the Withered Wastelands, although it’ll likely take you a fair chunk of the game to complete.

If you explore the map of this region, you should unblock a cave that’ll lead to a cove that’s home to a strange lighthouse.

This lighthouse is covered in sand, but the player can ring a doorbell, prompting a voice to sound.

This kickstarts the mysterious Team Initiation Challenge where players will essentially have to gather and deliver items.

Once they’ve done so, a new tier of the challenge is unlocked. The required items are spread across the game’s various maps, so you won’t be able to complete this task immediately.

I wonder what awaits us at the end, tehe.

4. Play Jump Rope With Bulbasaur

With the vast majority of your ‘mon, you’ll simply be allowed to ask them about their comfort levels, show them items, or request them to follow you.

With Bulbasaur though, you can ask them to play jump rope.

It’s very simple. Players will press a prompt to jump, with the goal being to set a new high score every time.

Nintendo

Well, I say it’s simple but I did terribly. The timing is so precise that it took me ages to even get a score of one.

3. There’s a Mysterious Mural You’ll Need To Complete

Once again within the Withered Wastelands, there’s a Mysterious Mural players can uncover.

It’s perhaps one of the game’s most unique mysteries and much like the Team Initiation Challenge, you won’t complete what it demands very quickly.

I’m opting for non-spoilers but you’ll soon pick up which rock variations in Pokémon Pokopia signify a wall that you should break, leading to something new.

Breaking one specific wall in this region opens up a passageway to an underground room filled with what’s known as the Mysterious Mural.

Players will need to gather items to fit into each slot on the mural. What happens at the end? You best get searching.

2. Look To The Skies

Throughout the early hours of my playthrough in each of Pokopia’s maps, I’d hear strange noises from time to time - as if there was a large, powerful Pokémon nearby.

It took me a very long time to clock on to what I was missing.

If you hear the sound of a loud, powerful ‘mon, I’d urge you to look up. Chances are that you’ll see a legendary ‘mon circling the skies.

If you follow them, you stand a chance of gaining a variation of a feather which may not sound all that exciting, but this is a rare crafting item.

Follow the legendary ‘mon and eventually, you’ll see an item descend from the skies.

You might have to cut through a mini hurricane or douse a fire to pick up the feather. I shan’t spoil which legendaries you can encounter.

1. Animal Crossing’s Blathers Would Love Rocky Ridges’ Museum

From pretty early on in Pokémon Pokopia, you’ll unearth fossils but it’ll take a while before it becomes abundantly clear what these are for.

After the Withered Wastelands, I explored Bleak Beach next before eventually moving onto Rocky Ridges.

It’s here that I unearthed a museum run by a Gimmighoul in a chest. It’s hidden away pretty well at first but I’d advise just opening up your Pokédex to see which areas of the map are still greyed out.

I always set about heading in those directions to see what I might not yet have stumbled across.

You can take all found fossils to the museum, restoring the various creatures by placing the relevant fossils together.

You might even unlock some unique habits in doing so.

I’m sure plenty more Easter eggs and secrets will continue to come to light, but hopefully this gets you started.