This year happens to be the 30th anniversary of Pokemon, the world’s most successful media franchise ever. Joining in with the celebrations is Casio, with a special edition version of its GA-110 model G-Shock watch. There’s a lot more than meets the eye with this watch, though the company should probably have been more bold with the references packed into this timepiece.

On the surface, the look of the Casio G-Shock GA-110PKM-7A would not really stand out much were it not for the sprinkling of red and blue that are the buttons. They give quite a bit of texture to the translucent white body, which is otherwise pretty plain, at least at a glance. Looking closer at the watch face, and you’ll see more red and blue for the hands, the Poke Ball and the Pikachu silhouette on top, and the Pokemon branding proper on the other side. Of course, there has to be some more yellow somewhere, and this comes in the form of the LED light.

Though what deserves a much closer look are the straps on this G-Shock. Beyond the staples that are Pikachu and Eevee, the strap features every starter available throughout the nine generations of the games. The cherry on top of this low-profile cake is the strap loop, which features Mew, because it’s said to have the genes of all other Pokemon. These are on top of a translucent strap, printed in opaque white. I would argue that the company should have been bolder and printed all of them in full colour.

For what it’s worth, you do get a Poke Ball-shaped inner packaging for the Casio G-Shock GA-110PKM-7A. And here you see the 29 Pokemon printed in full colour instead, minus Mew. The outer box has all 30, per the watch’s product page.

While the official pages do not mention a price or release date, Taiwan-based Toy People reports that the 30th anniversary Pokemon-themed Casio G-Shock GA-110PKM-7A costs JPY 33,000 (~RM839). It’s scheduled for an official launch on 17 July, but Japanese buyers can participate in the raffle from 1 to 6 July.

We’ve reached out to a local Casio rep about this watch’s availability locally, but we were told it’s arrival is not confirmed yet. So while there’s a non-zero chance of it showing up, I wouldn’t hold my breath for it.

(Source: Casio [1], [2], Toy People)

Updated 3:53 pm, Thu, 25 June 26