The 2014 FIFA World Cup is almost here, and it’s that time when all countries start preparing for the mega event. Incredibly, The Pokemon Company have announced that Pikachu will be the mascot for the Japanese national football team in this year’s World Cup.

Pikachu will be joined by other Pokemon too as an entire team of mascots travels to Brazil. These will include Meowth, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Chespin, Froakie, Fennekin, Pancham, Helioptile, and Litleo. Pikachu will, naturally, lead the contingent.

Just so there’s no confusion, Pikachu is not the official mascot for the entire FIFA World Cup- that’s Fuleco, the Brazilian three-banded Armadillo. Pikachu is just going to be representing Japan in the event. But that’s incredible enough as it is.

The World Cup begins on June 12, and Japan will be facing Colombia, Greece and Ivory Coast in the group stage, with their first match being against Ivory Coast on June 14.

It’s been nearly two weeks since the monumental release of Pokemon X and Y, and it’s safe to say that, although it never fully halted, the Pokemon hype train is once again very much up and running. However, it looks as though Game Freak isn’t taking much time to sit and bask in the glory of their most recent release.

Earlier today footage of a brand new Pikachu game was released onto the internet. While very little is known about the game at this time, we can see from the video that part of it’s functionality is to have Pikachu mimic the facial expressions of the player in real time. This will likely be done via the use of the Nintendo 3DS camera.

This apparent video leak supports several rumors that have surfaced regarding a brand new Pikachu based title being in the works from Japan. While Nintendo declined to comment on the video, Tsunekazu Ishihara, the president of the Pokemon Company has a televised interview scheduled for October 28th. It’s safe to assume we will hear some more details at that time.

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt to find out the details.

Source: Neogaf