One of the thrills of collecting Pokémon TCG cards is opening a booster pack and getting a rare holographic cards that shimmers under direct light. A new patent has been filed by Nintendo which seems to seek to replicate that effect digitally and which has already been used in Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon!
Fire up any of the games and check the Pokédex for a Legendary Pokémon you have caught (requires all evolutions) and you should see a shimmering background. Tilt your 3DS back and forth and the shimmer will also move using the gyroscope. This is what Nintendo now wants to patent for future use in a digital card format. Detecting a device’s (“game aparatus”) movement to “shine” as if you were moving it under light.
We still don’t know what kind of digital card game Nintendo could be considering, but Pokémon seems like a likely candidate. For what it is worth, the infamous Chinese Riddler has weighed in online and said that this is definitely Pokémon related. Not all patents end up being used in production though, so don’t get your hopes up too high.
Editor’s Note: While writing this article, I came upon a few articles that were somewhat misleading in their description of the patent. Be careful!