Topeka, the capital city of Kansas, will be changing its name to ‘Topikachu’ in honor of a special demo event for Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee which will be taking place in Gage Park at the Topeka Zoo parking lot (via GoNintendo).
The mayor of Topeka, Michelle De La Isla, announced the news during a council meeting last night and it’s apparently not the first time that the Midwestern city has changed its name for their love of Pokemon.
Back in 1998 –the year that Pokemon Red and Blue first launched in the United States– Topeka (for some reason) was renamed Topikachu to coincide with the release on Sep 28, twenty years ago.
The demo event in “Topikachu” will be taking place this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is part of the Pokémon Let’s Go Road Trip experience that Nintendo is hosting. There are seven other cities that will be part of this tour as well: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Seattle, and San Francisco.
When looking at these other cities, you wouldn’t really compare Topeka in terms of big populous metropolitans, but apparently, Nintendo chose to bring their demos to the city thanks to its central location and Topeka’s similarity to Pikachu’s name.
Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee launches for the Nintendo Switch on Nov 16.
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