February 2 was Mewtwo's birthday, and the original, iconic Legendary Pokemon has been all over the franchise's many multimedia outlets. His latest appearance, coinciding with Pokemon Day 2020, finds the Psychic-type monster reaching new heights as a Max Raid Battle in Pokemon Sword and Shield alongside the Generation 1 starters Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle.
Pokemon Red and Green were released in Japan on February 27, 1996, and the series has continued to balloon into the most profitable media franchise in the world ever since. The four well-known Pokemon from those games will be appearing in Sword and Shield's Max Raid dens until Monday, March 2, and will provide rare rewards like Life Orbs, Flame Orbs, Toxic Orbs, and Ability Capsules according to data gathered by Serebii.
The major caveat to these festivities is that trainers cannot capture a gigantic Mewtwo for themselves. However, thanks to the recently released cloud-based storage service Pokemon Home, Mewtwo and other older Pokemon can be brought into the Galar Region from previous titles.
Mewtwo has always been iconic in the Pokemon series because of its raw power and the tragic Frankenstein-esque backstory players can discover surrounding its original appearance in the Kanto Region. But Game Freak and The Pokemon Company have gone all out with representing the Legendary Pokemon this year, featuring it in everything from games like Pokemon GO to merchandise like Pokemon-themed skateboards.
The original Pokemon anime movie from 1998, of which Mewtwo and its progenitor Mew are the stars, has also recently been reimagined as Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution. The CGI Pokemon remake will be available on Netflix to celebrate Pokemon Day this year.
Of course the appearances of Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle are also big news for fans of the original games, particularly those who might not have them to transfer in through Pokemon Home or those who are looking to catch variants of the starters with their Hidden Abilities.
However, Mewtwo is clearly the big draw of this limited-time event given the company's dramatic introduction video using the intense music only otherwise heard when battling Chairman Rose in Sword and Shield — music which is admittedly reminiscent of a Dark Souls theme. The music does fit Mewtwo quite well, though perhaps it would even more if the version trainers could encounter was the same as the Armored Mewtwo in Pokemon GO.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are out now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
Source: Serebii