Fender Japan is celebrating Pokémon’s 30th anniversary with two limited-edition electric guitars inspired by the franchise’s original video games. But catching one won’t be easy: both models are available exclusively through a lottery sale.
The Red Stratocaster and Green Telecaster feature elaborate pixel art drawn from the early Pokémon games, with sprites of the pocket monsters and their characters joined by a Poké Ball and a Game Boy Color. The artwork is displayed beneath semi-transparent pickguards that shift between fluorescent colors depending on the viewing angle. Even the pickguards’ edges get a pixelated treatment.
The video game references continue down the necks, where both guitars feature Poké Ball fretboard inlays. The Telecaster gets a maple fingerboard, while the Stratocaster has rosewood.
Under the hood, things are more conventional — at least initially. Both guitars feature traditional single-coil pickup configurations, but pulling up the push/pull volume knob adds an unexpected twist: an 8-bit sound effect that brings a little old-school video game audio to your playing. It’s entirely unnecessary, of course, which is precisely what makes it so much fun.
Each guitar also gets a custom Pocket Monsters 30th Anniversary neck plate featuring a tiny Pikachu sprite.
The collaboration arrives just days after Ibanez unveiled its own anime-inspired partnership, teaming up with Dragon Ball Z for a special-edition guitar.
Fender Japan has been on an interesting run of pop-culture collaborations, too, with previous releases inspired by Game of Thrones, Monster Hunter and Godzilla. But there’s a little more design ingenuity at work here, particularly in the way the pixel artwork is integrated into the guitars rather than simply applied as a graphic finish.
Both models ship with a hard case, a Pokémon guitar-pick set and a certificate of authenticity.
For anyone hoping to catch one, applications for the lottery sale are being accepted through Pokémon Center Online, where you can find further details. Given the extremely limited availability, the lottery may be the only way to get your hands on one.
