Nintendo is naturally looking to celebrate their big money-making franchise, and they’ll be doing so with Pokémon Day on February 27! Here’s what’s in store for fans so far.

According to Nintendo’s Pokémon Company in a Japanese press release regarding first-week sales, Sword and Shield has sold very VERY well.

Pokémon Sword and Shield is everything that you love about pocket monsters and then some. With an emphasis on sharpening what works and ditching more bloated elements aside to create the best region yet for the franchise, Pokemon Sword and Shield is pocket monster catch ‘em all mania at its very best.

Nintendo may be holding back most of the review copies for this game until Friday (Us included), but a select handful of publications got their hands on early code and now that the embargo is up, they have plenty to say.

Maybe you have a gripe and you need the world to know that you won’t stand for a reduced Pokemon count, that one texture of grass not being on par with your expectations and your outrage that 800 of the Pokémon you don’t care for aren’t in the game. Or maybe, and hear me out here, you kind of need to shut the hell up because the rest of us are still looking forward to a grand ol’ time.

Mr Mime has never been high on anyone’s list of desired Pokémon. Sure, he usually boasts a superb defense but unless you’re looking to complete a pokedex then the Marcel Marceau-inspired Pokémon is usually only good for a spot of quick breeding so that you can complete a Pokedex. In Pokémon Sword and Shield, he’s getting a side-evolution of sorts. Say hello, to Mr Rime.

There’s a new Pokémon game out this Friday and like most of you, I can’t wait to collect most of them. With hundreds upon hundreds of critters now officially existing within the pocket monster library, developer Game Freak is now forging ahead to keep the National Pokedex trimmed of all fat.

Choose your Pokémon, level it up and stick to four moves. Simple. Except, it really isn’t. Beneath that familiar surface is a very different game. A game that has been tweaked and transformed over the years to shake up its formula and then some. Here’s ten such changes made over the last two decades, that have been strokes of genius for the franchise.