DeNA's mobile game Pokemon Masters finally released its first Pokemon Sword and Shield character, Gloria, as of its daily turnover last night. This addition comes over a year after the Galar Region titles came out, and the mobile game has been celebrating the assembly of every mainline title in the series with events and giveaways. However, the English localization team also decided to include references to the Pokemon anime in Gloria's introductory event.
"Battle Buffet Bash" is the first of a brand-new piece of content called a Prestige Event in Pokemon Masters; one part of its effort to branch out after rebranding to Pokemon Masters EX for its first anniversary. Players can use stamina to rack up as many points as possible over the course of a week for the chance to rank highly and earn bonuses such as medals, gems, and move candies.
There is also a set of tiered rewards every Pokemon Masters player can unlock, which include story events featuring Gloria and her Sync Pair Zacian trying to win plates of food in a competition styled after Pokemon Sun and Moon's Battle Buffet feature. One battle she witnesses between Gym Leaders Brock and Ramos ends with Brock remarking, "I really had my eye on those jelly-filled donuts," a reference to the 4Kids Entertainment dub of the original anime series where Brock talks about donuts when eating onigiri.
The jelly-filled donuts reference is short and sweet, but it is not the only time the Pokemon anime has gotten a shout-out in the primarily video game-centric mobile title. Pokemon Masters has featured Team Rocket's Jessie and James in two events based on the upcoming Pokemon: Secrets of the Jungle movie.
Pokemon Masters is available now on Android and iOS devices.
Source: YouTube