Pokemon Pokopia Beginner Tips and Tricks

Pokemon Pokopia gives players a lot more early-game freedom than most of its mainline counterparts. While the lack of hand-holding is great for those who just want to dive straight in and begin their adventure, it does mean that certain mechanics are glossed over a little, leaving players to figure certain things out for themselves.

Most are pretty intuitive, but some things can only be learned through experience, by which point, a fair amount of time may have been wasted. Luckily for you, I’ve already sunk a ton of time into Pokemon Pokopia and thus can share a few beginner tips and tricks to help you get off to the best possible start and avoid wasting any time.

Dismantle Habitats Once You’re Done with Them

Eventually, you’ll be able to craft or clone just about any item or decoration in Pokemon Pokopia, but to begin with, you’ll be limited to the ones that you can buy from the shop or find lying around in the game’s semi-open world. As such, some items are quite rare early on, which can be problematic if you need one of them to make a new habitat. Thankfully, you can dismantle habitats once a Pokemon has made its home there and repurpose the materials as you see fit. Granted, this will leave the Pokemon homeless, but there’s actually a rather strange benefit to this. Unlike Pokemon with an active home or habitat, homeless Pokemon will never leave the area in which you found them, which can make keeping track of them a whole lot easier.

Time Travel to Speed Up Construction Times and Harvests

Although it borrows elements from various genres, Pokemon Pokopia is a cozy game at heart. As such, it incorporates a lot of ideas and mechanics from some of the genre’s heaviest hitters, one of which being its real-time mechanics. Constructing buildings takes a set amount of time, as does growing flowers, hedges, and vegetables. For most cozy game enthusiasts, waiting around for these things to finish is all part of the fun, but Pokemon fans who are used to more fast-paced gameplay may grow tired of waiting pretty quickly. Thankfully, you can change the time and date on your Switch 2 to speed up the process, allowing you to build new homes and grow crops in a matter of seconds rather than hours or days.

Make the Most of Your Lucky Days

Every once in a while, you’ll get a notification on your Pokedex letting you know that today is your lucky day. On lucky days, sparkling ripples and lost relics show up a lot more often than usual, which makes them incredibly useful for new players. Through our testing, we’ve found that you get a lucky day every seven days or so, so if you’re planning on playing for more than an hour, it’s well worth changing the date and time on your Switch 2 until you trigger a lucky day before getting started. Examining sparkling ripples is a great way to learn new crafting recipes, some of which are needed to unlock new Pokemon Habitats. Changing the system time may also benefit players who always play at the same time each day, as certain Pokemon will only show up during specific hours.

Keep an Eye Out for Shiny Spots

Whether you’re playing on a lucky day or not, you should always keep an eye out for anything shiny. As mentioned above, sparkling ripples often reward players with new crafting recipes, while digging up sparkles with the Rock Smash ability is a great way to find more lost relics, music discs, and mysterious slates. Every now and again, you’ll also come across Pokemon traces, which can be easily identified by their rainbow patterns. Examining these will give you clues on how to make new habitats, making them incredibly useful for both new and more experienced players alike.

Create More Than One Version of Each Habitat

Most Pokemon Pokopia habitats can accommodate more than one type of Pokemon. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to make multiple versions of each habitat so that you can fill out your Pokedex faster. This isn’t the only benefit, either. Sometimes, when you examine a Pokemon trace, it will reveal a Pokemon that can thrive in a habitat you’ve already discovered rather than providing clues for unlocking a brand-new one. Given how obscure some habitats can be, you’ll want to get as many clues as possible, so it pays to complete all of your existing habitats as quickly as you can by befriending all of the Pokemon who can live there.