Pokemon: Additional PokeWalker route for special Pikachu

Just in case you put aside the PokeWalker (pedometer) that came with your HeartGold or SoulSilver Pokemon game, you now have a new reason to get it back out.

pokewalker First and foremost, this is a really clever extension to the game. In the games, you can walk around with a Pokemon and it impacts their happiness or eventually causes eggs to hatch. So, now, you can download one of your pokemon into this pedometer and it gains as you walk. The more that you walk around the house or anywhere else (though probably not good to take to school), your Pokemon gets XP points. My sons now each routinely point out that they are ‘getting stronger for our next battle’ while they do errands, go to scouts, or just back and forth the back yard.

Along with growing your Pokemon, you can also find additional Pokemon (without paying for pokeballs) as well as items that transfer back to your DS game.

New PokeWalker Route ==> Special Pikachu

Now for the news (originally reported from Joystiq), a new path is available for your PokeWalker, available as a download from the Nintendo WFC called “Yellow Forest”. It is filled with Pikachu. And a few of them are special. If you walk enough steps, you can even find a Pikachu that knows Surf and Fly! The idea of giving kids a special gaming reward for being more physically active is too cool not to do!! Nice job, Nintendo!

This is only available for download until May 5, 2010.

To do this, simply boot up your HG or SS game and go to:

Receive Gift > Receive gift from Nintendo WFC

Upon success, it will be a package available from a deliveryman in any pokemart, which will provide a new route for the next time that you upload a Pokemon into your PokeWalker.

Technical note: Error connecting to Nintendo WFC 52000 or 52100

In searching the Internet for more information on downloading from the Nintendo WFC, I found several people complaining of Error 52000 and 52100, which all appear to be IP address or Firewall issues. The errors all state DHCP or other IP related issues, and I confess that I personally pulled out some of my own hair troubleshooting this, using the following resources:

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/wfc/en_na/ds/results.jsp?error_code=52100&system=DS&locale=en_US

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/wfc/en_na/ds/firewall.jsp

I even updated the firmware on my router, after opening up lots of ports (and then closing them again). As it turns out, Nintendo DS only supports WEP based authentication for wireless, while most newer routers default to WPA (which is more secure). Hey, Nintendo support folks, this information was NOT easy to find! Changing my wireless router to WEP solved my problem. Hopefully, this will help someone else too.

April 12, 2010 · Jason · One Comment
Tags: Ages 10-12, Pokemon · Posted in: Games for Kids, News and Events