The Pokémon Company is continuing to roll out the Pikachu-related content this month, with all new Pokémon toys and treats going on sale at McDonald's in Japan. This promotion will be running beginning on June 11 for those lucky enough to be overseas in Japan at the moment.
Pokémon is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of the franchise, with Pokémon Green first launching in Japan back in 1996. Over the course of the year, the video game studio and Nintendo have been running a number of promotional events across various online Pokémon titles. There has also been some limited edition merchandise being released, with the franchise making its way through the different regions of the Pokémon world as the year goes on. Currently, the celebrations are on the 5th generation of Pokémon, the Unova region from Pokémon Black and White.
Showcased in a recent upload to McDonald's Japan's Youtube, Pikachu is making its way to local McDonald's outlets across Japan in the form of themed sweets and a range of toys to collect. These limited-time Pikachu-themed sweets include a peach-flavored McShake in a Pikachu cup, which has six different varieties of Pikachu to collect. There is also a Choco-Banana McFlurry, which is soft-serve ice cream with banana and chocolate syrup and crushed nuts served in a cup adorned with Pikachu’s cute face. The final of the three “Fruit-chu" sweets available is a Hot Apple Custard Pie, with three different Pikachu-themed packages on offer. Also included in the promotion are some Pikachu-themed toys included in Happy Meals. Thanks to a post from 4Gamer in Japan, fans can view all of the toys beforehand and pick their favorites ahead of time.
This isn’t the first Pokémon-themed McDonald's promotion this year, with Pokémon trading cards being distributed at the fast-food company locations across the world. This Pokémon-themed Happy Meal included a special pack of anniversary promotional trading cards, with some lucky fans finding foil editions in these packs as well. Unfortunately, this caused the promotion to be quickly targeted by scalpers, and restrictions on purchases had to be placed.
This current promotion running in Japan is similar to the one from May this year in Hong Kong, although some of the items on offer are different. Hopefully, McDonald's and The Pokémon Company will take the time to expand these food-related Pokémon promotional events outside of Hong Kong and Japan for fans around the world to enjoy sometime during the anniversary celebrations this year.
Source: 4Gamer, McDonald's Japan/YouTube