Pokopia Guides

A lot of the cool stuff — events, Mystery Gifts, online play — is locked behind rebuilding your first Pokémon Center. This takes about 1.5 hours if you follow the main quest. Don't skip it trying to go explore. Just do the story and you'll unlock it naturally.

It's tempting to just wander around catching everything, but the main story is actually short and it gates a lot of features. Knock out the tutorial islands first, then go wild exploring.

Materials you find lying around — stones, logs, berries — are used for building and crafting. Grab them whenever you see them. You'll always need more than you think.

Cloud Islands are user-created and online-only. Dream Islands are the main game worlds. Events happen on Dream Islands — not Cloud Islands. Keep this in mind when you're wondering why event Pokémon aren't showing up.

You need NSO for multiplayer, events, Mystery Gifts, and visiting Cloud Islands. If you're playing offline, you'll miss most of the live content.

Events are locked until you've rebuilt at least one Pokémon Center in a Dream Island region. This happens about 1.5 hours into the main story. You'll know because the game specifically tells you the Pokémon Center is back up.

Events only work on Dream Islands. If you're hanging out on a Cloud Island wondering where the event Pokémon are — that's why. Head to a Dream Island region.

Events are online-only. You need an active NSO membership and internet connection. If your Switch is in airplane mode or NSO lapsed, event content just won't appear — no error message, they're just gone.

Try closing and reopening the game. Occasionally after a long session the event Pokémon stop spawning until you restart. Known issue that'll probably get patched.

The Expansion Pass is $34.99 USD and available to purchase now. Buy before Part 1 launches in August and you'll get: a recipe for Ditto print blocks and wallpaper, plus a personal code emailed to you for 30 Rare Pokémetal ingots. That's a solid head start if you're planning to buy anyway.

The first expansion adds an underwater town called Bubbly Basin. New Pokémon confirmed: the full Mudkip, Popplio, and Corphish evolution lines (so Marshtomp, Swampert, Brionne, Primarina, and Crawdaunt are coming too, not just the base forms), plus Manaphy. More details should drop closer to August — habitats and crafting recipes are the obvious next things to announce.

Part 2 is slated for late 2026 and Part 3 for 2027. Both are confirmed but have no detailed content announcements yet. The Teraleak 2 leaks from May described Kanto-themed biomes, but the confirmed Part 1 content (underwater) doesn't match those descriptions — so those areas may be Part 2 or 3, or the leak was partially off.

Even without buying the Expansion Pass, the Dive ability is coming as a free update in August 2026. You'll need to finish the 'Raise the environment level!' request in Bleak Beach and already know Surf. Good to know if you're on the fence about the DLC.

If you're still actively playing, yes — $34.99 for three content drops is reasonable and the early buyer bonus (30 Pokémetal ingots) is useful. If you've taken a break and are waiting to see what Part 1 actually looks like, reviews will drop in August before you'd miss the early buyer window... wait, actually the early buyer bonus has no stated end date so you can hold off. Check back in August.

Zorua shows up outside any rebuilt Pokémon Center. Talk to it to kick things off. The goal: sneak past Zorua and the other patrolling Pokémon and get back to the Pokémon Center without getting spotted. Your best completion time is your score.

Unlike most Pokopia events, this one doesn't add any new Pokémon to your island. There's no habitat to build and no exclusive Pokémon locked behind a farming grind. It's just the minigame — a nice break from the usual loop.

An event trophy is the confirmed prize, plus other stuff based on your best time. The community is still working out the full tier list — we'll fill this in as results come in.

You can run the event with friends on a Cloud Island or in someone's town. On a Cloud Island, only the single fastest player earns the trophy — everyone else still gets participation prizes. In another player's town, only the host gets the trophy regardless of who had the best time. Keep that in mind before you help a friend break their record.

You need at least one rebuilt Pokémon Center for Zorua to show up. If you're past the first 1.5 hours of the main story, you're set. NSO and an internet connection are required, same as every other event.

Update to v1.1.1 first, then make sure you've got at least one rebuilt Pokémon Center — Jirachi hangs around outside it. Talk to Jirachi and it'll hand you the Wish Note recipe. Like every event, this needs an internet connection since the game checks the real date.

The Wish Note recipe sits under the Other tab at the crafting table and only needs Vines. Grab Vines from Grass-type Pokémon habitats, or cut hanging vines with the Cut ability if you've got it.

A plain Wish Note doesn't buy anything yet. Hand it to a Pokémon before you complete their request — once the request finishes, you get the note back and it's now sparkling. That's the currency Jirachi actually wants.

Jirachi's shop has 10 star-themed pieces (Star Bed, Star Table, Star Vanity, Star Wardrobe, Star Lamp, Star Rug, Star Telescope, Star Cannon, and a couple more) — each one costs exactly one Sparkling Wish Note. You need a minimum of 4 to finish the event habitat, or all 10 if you're a completionist.

This is Jirachi's permanent habitat. Don't forget to wire the Jirachi Lamp to an electricity source — the habitat won't count as finished without power running to it. Once it's built and the event ends after July 8, Jirachi moves in for good.

You need multiple completed Pokémon requests to farm enough Sparkling Wish Notes, so this isn't a one-sitting grind. Start early and chip away at requests daily rather than trying to cram it in on July 7.

Talk to Bulbasaur at any Pokémon Center to kick off the event. Then jump rope. That's basically it. Your reward tier is based on how many consecutive jumps you land, so it's all about not missing.

Hit 50 jumps for the Trophy. Get to 100+ for the Rare Pokémetal. The Pokémetal is the main reason to play this one — it's a useful crafting material that's otherwise hard to come by.

You can do this with friends online. If you're playing with others, the host gets rewards based on the highest score in the group — so if someone in your party is good at rhythm games, let them lead.

Unlike some events, time travel has no penalties here. If you're messing with your system clock for other reasons, no issue.

April 19 to April 27 — just 8 days. Don't sleep on it. There's no grind here, it's more of a score challenge, so give yourself a few attempts to hit 100+.

Cotton spores are scattered across Dream Island maps. You pick them up and bring them to Hoppip. Each spore adds to your total. The more you collect, the more rewards you unlock. It's simple — this is one of the more chill events.

Spores appear in open grassy areas and fields. They respawn over time, so you can farm the same spots by leaving and re-entering the area. The event habitats — Yellow Carpet (Flowering Field), Field-trip Friends, and Dandelion Lunchtime — have the highest concentration.

The three event-exclusive habitats have way more spores than regular areas. If you're trying to grind the rewards, stick to those. Dandelion Lunchtime especially tends to have dense clusters.

Spores sitting in your inventory don't count until you hand them to Hoppip. Make regular trips back. There's no point farming 100 spores if you forget to turn them in before the event ends.

You unlock: Picnic Blanket, Flower Garland, Lunch Box, Water Bottle, and Flower-patterned Furniture. The furniture pieces are the hardest to get and require the most spores. If you're short on time, prioritize those — everything else is relatively easy to hit.

All three are event-exclusive — you can't catch them outside of this window. They all have the Grow specialty. If you want to complete your collection, prioritize catching them alongside farming spores. They spawn in the same areas.

Sableye shows up at every Pokémon Center you've already built — just talk to it and you're automatically friends. After that, it'll sell you event-exclusive items in exchange for Red Crystal Fragments, which is the event currency you farm on Dream Islands.

Red Crystal Clusters spawn inside caves on Dream Islands. Smash them with any tool and you'll get 4 Red Crystal Fragments per cluster. They respawn over time, so you can clear a cave and revisit it a bit later for more. Caves are your main farming spot here.

If you're running low on clusters or just want to grind faster, you can 3D print Red Crystal Clusters at a cost of 1 Rare Pokémetal ingot each. Not the most efficient use of Pokémetal if you're saving it for other things, but good to know if you're trying to finish off the last few items.

The event habitat is called the Treasure-Hunting Set. You need to place an Adventure Kit, a Map and Compass, and Treasure in at least a 2×2 grid. All three items are bought from Sableye with Red Crystal Fragments. Build this on your island and Sableye will start showing up to hang around it.

The event only runs two weeks (April 29 to May 13). Fragments are farmable but the habitat requires three separate items, so pace yourself and don't spend all your fragments on decorative items first. Unlock the habitat pieces early and fill in the rest as you go.

IKEA partnered with Pokopia to build an official Cloud Island to celebrate IKEA's 20th anniversary in Japan. Two rooms on the island were designed by actual IKEA interior designers — one Pikachu-themed (yellow and red), one Snorlax-themed (teal and white). It closed on June 30, 2026 and is no longer accessible.

You needed Nintendo Switch Online and the Mysterious Goggles (bought from the in-game shop with Life Coins, unlocked at Environment Level 3), then entered code 0SJ8 5TRX at any Pokémon Center PC → Mystery Gifts → Get with Code/Password. The code had been circulating online by the end, so you didn't need to visit an IKEA Japan store in person. That code no longer works now that the island's closed.

Same reason you'd visit any official island — inspiration. IKEA designers have a very different eye for furniture arrangement and room layouts than most players. Even if their style doesn't match what you're building, seeing how items actually look when placed well is genuinely useful. Screenshot anything you like and use it as a reference.

IKEA Japan ran an in-store stamp rally from April 18 – May 10, 2026. Seven Pokopia-themed stamps were hidden around participating stores. That one's done, and the island itself closed for good on June 30.

If you didn't get Surrounded by Stars built before the event ended, it's too late for this run — Jirachi only sticks around if the habitat was completed with 4 of its 10 star-themed items and the Jirachi Lamp wired to power. Worth remembering for next time the event comes back.

Zorua's Hide-and-Sneak Contest is running through July 27. It's a pure minigame — no new Pokémon join your island, so there's nothing to farm. Talk to Zorua at any rebuilt Pokémon Center to jump in. Note: on a Cloud Island only the fastest player earns the trophy, and in another player's town only the host gets it.

Hidetaka Kano's island (QBRK 7FVM) and Rino Sashihara's island (MGL4 83P4) both expire August 12, 2026. Good for island-building inspiration if you're planning your next build during the gap.

Zorua's contest doesn't need Pokémetal, but nothing's confirmed for the gap between July 27 and August 26, and every farming-style event so far has wanted Pokémetal in some form. Build a buffer now while there's no time pressure. Rocky Ridges and Withered Wasteland caves are the best spots, and time-traveling your system clock forward to respawn ore nodes carries no penalty.

That's the date for two things: the free Dive software update (needs the "Raise the environment level!" request in Bleak Beach done, plus Surf already known) and Expansion Pass Part 1, Bubbly Basin — a new underwater town with the Mudkip, Popplio, and Corphish evolution lines plus Manaphy. If you're buying the Expansion Pass, doing it now still gets you the early-buyer Ditto print block recipe and the emailed 30 Rare Pokémetal code.

Rare Pokémetal is one of the most versatile crafting materials in Pokopia. You need it for high-tier furniture, certain Pokémon habitats, and it becomes especially important during events — the Sableye event lets you 3D print Red Crystal Clusters at 1 ingot each, and Bulbasaur's Jump Rope Contest pays it out at 100+ jumps. Basically every mid-to-late game thing wants Pokémetal.

Caves in Dream Island regions have the best Pokémetal nodes. Smash the metallic ore clusters you find inside — they drop Rare Pokémetal ingots. The key thing is that these respawn over time, so you can clear a cave, go do other stuff, come back, and farm it again. Rocky Ridges and Withered Wasteland caves tend to have the densest clusters.

The further into the game you are, the better the Pokémetal yield. Later regions have bigger ore clusters that drop multiple ingots per smash. If you've unlocked all the story regions, prioritize farming the later ones — you'll fill your inventory way faster than grinding the early-game caves.

Ore nodes are tied to real-time respawns. Moving your system clock forward (time travel) respawns them. The game doesn't punish you for this — no penalties, no spoiled items, nothing. It's a widely-used method in the community and totally fine if you want to grind a big stack quickly.

It's easy to spend your Pokémetal stash on furniture and then have nothing left for an event that needs it. Try to keep at least 10–15 ingots in reserve heading into any event season. Between events is the best time to build that buffer — no time pressure, no event grinding competing for your attention.

To visit any Cloud Island, you need a Nintendo Switch Online membership and the Mysterious Goggles item. Buy the Goggles from the in-game shop with Life Coins (unlocks at Environment Level 3). Once you have them, go to any Pokémon Center PC → Mystery Gifts → Get with Code/Password.

The official developer Cloud Island. Built to show off what Cloud Islands can actually look like when properly designed. Great starting point to see how the game's building system works at its best. No known expiry — this one's been up since launch.

Built by Hidetaka Kano, the actor from the Japanese Pokopia commercials. A more personal island with a city theme. Expires August 12, 2026, so don't put it off too long.

Built by Rino Sashihara, another actress from the Japanese commercials. Expires August 12, 2026. Worth checking out alongside Kano's island — different style, different layout ideas.

The real value of visiting official islands is seeing how items and habitats actually look when placed well. Screenshot layouts you like and use them as references when building your own island. The devs clearly designed these to show off what's possible.

Same as events — you need to rebuild a Pokémon Center (about 1.5 hours in) before Mystery Gifts become available. If the option isn't showing up in the terminal menu, that's why.

Press A to interact, then select Mystery Gifts from the menu. Every Pokémon Center has one — you don't need to go to a specific one.

Select "Get with Code/Password" and type the code exactly as shown, spaces included. Codes are not case-sensitive but the spaces matter.

Select "Get via Internet" — no code needed. The gift downloads automatically. Make sure you have internet connection and NSO active.

We keep the full list of known working codes updated. Head to the Gift Codes page to see all current ones.