I’ll get straight to the point: The Special Illustration Rare Aarune card from the Pokémon TCG’s upcoming Delta Reign expansion looks awesome. It’s got a plush art style, courtesy of Shimaris Yukichi, which brings to mind a combination of Animal Crossing and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. The Pokémon series has had its fair share of spin offs: from the Mystery Dungeon games, to the Legends titles, to that one dreadful Pikachu racing game from 2004. Now I don’t know about you, but I would absolutely play some sort of flag collecting spin off, featuring Aarune, with this chibi art style.
Before Aarune was a Special Illustration Rare Pokémon card, he was a character from Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. These games feel very recent, but actually came out 12 years ago (yikes). Aarune exists to give players a tutorial on how secret bases work, a mechanic allowing you to construct a little hidden home in the Hoenn region. Secret bases all contain flags that other players can steal, which is why Aarune is carrying that red flag in this artwork.
When played, Aarune fetches three cards from your deck that can be any combination of either supporters or stadiums. His inclusion in Delta Reign indicates that he is intended to help players assembled the new legendary stadiums that are split over two separate cards.
Do you have any ideas for Pokémon spin offs that you would absolutely play? Some sort of Bulbasaur based gardening simulator, or a game about what trainers get up to when they aren’t battling? Feel free to share them in the Wargamer Discord community.
If you’re wondering about the Pokémon TCG expansions that were released during the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire era, when Aarune last appeared in the games, then you’ll want to check out our complete list of all Pokémon sets.
Source: Wargamer
