Pokémon news (March 11th): new 3DS themes, Battle Spot Season 9 and more

Battle Spot Season 9

Yesterday, The Pokémon Company revealed the rules for the Battle Spot Season 9, which runs from March 17th to May 11th.

Here’s the rules (as compiled by Serebii):

Battle type: Single Battle
Pokémon Restrictions: National Pokédex except Mewtwo, Mew, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Celebi, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Keldeo, Meloetta, Genesect, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, and Diancie
Restrictions: These battles are Speed focused. Battles can take no longer than 10 minutes, Pokémon selection takes 30 seconds and Turn selection takes 15 seconds, Level 50 max. (lowered to 50 if above that level), only 3 Pokémon sent in battle and same item can’t be held by two Pokémon.

Pokémon Shuffle

Yesterday, Nintendo started pushing Pokémon Shuffle to Nintendo 3DS consoles via SpotPass. The company has done a similar thing for several other free games/apps in the past, like YouTube, Steel Diver: Sub Wars and more. This is a way for Nintendo to promote the game to users who don’t visit the Nintendo eShop frequently.

Nintendo 3DS themes

The Pokémon Company released three new Pokémon themes for 3DS in Japan, this morning:

– Pokémon Hanafuda (The Pokémon Company): 200 Yen
– Pokémon Mates (The Pokémon Company): 200 Yen
– Pokémon Mega Rayquaza (The Pokémon Company): 200 Yen

Source: Nintendo / Serebii