Pokémon's 30th anniversary merch has fans in multi-hour queues

The Pokémon Company pays homage to fat Pikachu and nostalgic pixel art of the original Game Boy games

The Pokémon Company just held an event in Japan detailing how it will celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary this month, and boy, is Pikachu's steward pulling out all the stops. There are all sorts of brand tie-ins, from ramen to pastries, that will be region-specific goodies. But the news that has Pokémon fans in a chokehold has to be the first-generation throwback merch. As of this writing, and despite no announcement of a Western release for the 30th anniversary Pokémon goods, simply visiting the Pokémon Center's website will place you in a multi-hour queue.

What could possibly be so noteworthy that fans are already melting down the official Pokémon store website? Why, its merch stylized to look like the original Pokémon Red and Blue. These releases, which include plushies of the OG Fat Pikachu and the S.S. Anne, replicate the nostalgic pixel art from the Game Boy titles. The photographs shared below by the king of Pokémon, Seribii's Joe Merrick, were originally snapped by Japanese publication Game Watch.

As fans might recall, the S.S. Anne became a cultural touchpoint for Pokémon following the widespread rumor that players could find the legendary monster Mew under a truck. Typically, that truck is parked right by the luxury cruise liner that takes Red and Blue players on a short voyage. To the distress of some fans, TPC has omitted the truck from the diorama.

Mostly, though, people are too hyped up to care about missing details. To wit, I am currently stuck in a four-hour queue to load The Pokémon Center's website. We don't even know if this merch will be available outside of Japan yet. TPC is holding a livestream full of announcements for the west on Friday, Feb. 27 — the proper anniversary date. Judging from the reaction to the monochromatic Pokémon gear, it would be a missed opportunity if the rest of the world couldn't buy the merch, too.

The Pokémon Company is doing much more than simply shouting out the original games that started a sensation, however. The 30th anniversary brought with it logos for every single Pokemon in the 1,000-plus roster for example. It is entirely possible Game Freak will announce the 10th generation of Pokémon games on Pokémon Day as well. So far, we know that the Switch is getting re-releases of a couple of retro Pokémon games that will not be a part of the Nintendo Classics program.

There are some other merch goodies that fans will flock to, like the cutesy plush renditions of Shiny Pikachu or the Game Boy cartridge charms. There's even a to-scale version of Fat Pikachu in its full yellow glory. But the standouts are definitely the pixel art merch.

Good luck to anyone hoping to nab this stuff: You'll likely have to pay an import premium or fight against scalpers.