Nintendo is holding a Pokémon Art Academy competition where you can create art for TCG cards... that can't be used in official play. Cool?

The whole contest revolves around two different kinds of entries that the contestant can enter, but in order to enter at all the contestant must own The Pokémon Art Academy game for Nintendo 3DS. The game features 40 different lessons on how to paint, sketch and draw popular Pokémon so, if you go into this contest thinking you don't have a chance... you may just be wrong.

The first category that the entering artists can choose is the Dress-Up Pikachu category. Like you could in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, the artist can make up an outfit for Pikachu to dress up in as their entry. However, it may be a good idea to stay away from Pikachu Belle, Pikachu Rock Star, Pikachu Pop Star, Pikachu Ph.D. and Pikachu Libre since those are the outfits that the two previously mentioned games have out already. The second category is the Your Favorite Pokémon category, and tasks the artists to enter an, "artistic impression of [their] favorite Pokémon." So, basically, a re-imagined version of an already created Pokémon.

At first glance, the idea of an art competition based around creating new images for the Pokémon collectible card game sounded great. However, upon reading further into the details of the competition I got a bit disheartened. While the contest is still kind of cool in its own way, it has a lot of details that kind of take the joy out of what the contest should really be.

In my humble opinion, this competition seems majorly disappointing. Not only do I not get to create my own, super cool Pokémon, but myself and 99 others will be the only ones to even own the card that I create if I do win... and then we won't even be able to use the card in competitions. Not to mention the fact that you have to own a Nintendo 3DS and a $29.99 game in order to enter; besides 100 cards that have no real monetary value, there's no money to be won.

The contest will be taking place from Feb. 18 through March 29, and the winners will be announced in May. If you do already have the Pokémon Art Academy game for your Nintendo 3DS and have a little time on your hands, its at least worth entering.

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