McDonald’s Brings Back Its Cult-Favorite Pokémon Happy Meal – But They’re A Little Different This Time

McDonald’s and Pokémon have introduced a new goal for those who feel like they’ve gotta catch ’em all. The two brands have teamed up to introduce a Happy Meal featuring brand-new TCG: Match Battle game items.

The new Happy Meal Match Battle boxes, which are available in the U.S., U.K. and Canada through mid-September 2022, will offer Pokémon fans “one more way to experience the Pokémon Trading Card Game with Match Battle,” according to a Pokémon product announcement.

Each box will contain all the essential elements for engaging in a Match Battle with friends and family. That includes a four-card booster pack — with one foil card in every pack — an instruction sheet, a coin, a spinner and a card box.

“You can find Pokémon friends like Pikachu, Rowlet, Gossifleur and more, and send them into a match of coin flipping, spinning and fun with numbers,” the entertainment brand explained. “The last Trainer with a Pokémon in play gets to claim victory.”

The new Pokémon/McDonald’s Happy Meal collab follows the runaway success of the brands’ 2021 Happy Meals, which sparked a run by collectors and scalpers when they were released in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Pokémon, resulting in a shortage. That time around, McDonald’s had to limit the number of Happy Meals it would sell to each customer in order to reserve availability for the kids and families for whom the special edition meals were originally intended.

Like the previous version, the new Pokémon Happy Meals come in an adorable yellow Pikachu box, complete with pointy cardboard ears. Will they be as insanely popular? Time will tell, of course, but early signs indicate a great deal of excitement from fans.

In response to a Twitter post announcing that the cute Happy Meal Pikachu boxes were “back” — captioned, simply, “pika pika!”— commenters expressed great enthusiasm.

“WHEN IS THIS RELEASING OMGGGG,” wrote one.

“OMG need this,” another chimed in.

“LETS GOOOOOOO,” a third cheered.

In other words, Pokémon fans responding to news of these Happy Meals seem to be very happy indeed.