As you sink your teeth into Bubbly Basin, you’ll quickly find it’s a treasure hunter’s paradise. Bubbly Basin collectibles are everywhere, from old standby spots like glowing cracks in the ground to new spots like swirling whirlpools and the new Expansion-exclusive relic type.
There are also new ancient artifacts to collect and use as decor as you rebuild Cerulean City. And if you’re interested in snippets of story, there are plenty of new human records to find (including a brand new type!). Plus, the amount of easter eggs hidden around the world and in the new outfits that will make the longtime Pokémon fans grin.
Here’s everything to know about Pokopia pearls, Expansion-exclusive human records, and other Bubbly Basin collectibles.
Table of Contents
Pokopia Pearls
Pearls are the new stone as far as Bubbly Basin is concerned. Grubby pearls can be found pretty much anywhere in Bubbly Basin, both in the water and on the few islands floating above, as well as on the Basin Dream Island. And they are everywhere — there are an absolute ton of these grubby pearls, so you will pretty much never find yourself lacking. Like stones and sticks, they are very visible (as opposed to being hidden in blocks).
The large supply of Pokopia pearls is a good thing considering many of the new craftables in Bubbly Basin require pearls, especially the new marine furniture style. You’ll also need quite a few to progress through this underwater world’s story.
However, the pearls required for build recipes are actually slightly different from the ones you pick up out of the sand. Grubby pearls are the natural pearls you’ll collect, but you’ll need to convert them into shiny pearls to craft the new furniture.
How to Get Shiny Pearls
You’ll need to take your grubby pearls to a Pokémon with the new Expansion Pass ability, Scrub, to turn them into usable shiny pearls. Pokémon with Scrub include:
- Shellder
- Cloyster
- Sharpedo
- Alomomola
- Primarina
Shellder is likely the easiest to find. You can build either the Basin tall grass habitat (four seabed tall grass, one tall coral, and one small coral) or the Sandy digging spot (one sandpile and one sand toys item).
Once you have Shellder, Scrub works like any task-based Pokémon ability: hand over up to 10 grubby pearls and wait a short time before they are given back to you as shiny pearls.
Whirlpool Treasures
In Pokopia’s other worlds, you’ll find sparkling ripples in bodies of water. But since the whole world of Bubbly Basin is a body of water, ripples have been replaced with whirlpools.
Whirlpools work exactly the same way as ripples — you can dive into white underwater tornadoes to find Bubbly basin decorations, materials, and treasures. There are two types just like ripples: whirlpools with small golden shimmers and whirlpools with larger golden shimmers. The latter have better items.
Large Lost Sunken Relics
Bubbly Basin comes with a new kind of relic to dig up from those ground blocks with a golden glow: large lost sunken relics. This relic type is similar to the regular large lost relics in that they give you placeable decorations and furniture. There are 14 new ancient artifacts exclusive to the sunken relics.
Professor Tangrowth’s absence under the sea doesn’t prevent you from analyzing artifacts in Bubbly Basin. If anything, it actually expedites the process. Head to the Bubbly Pokémon Center PC — on it, you can find an “Appraise” category on the bottom row. This will allow Tangrowth to analyze your relics virtually.
Plus, thanks to the new update, Tangrowth can actually analyze multiple of the same kind of relic at once. So if you have five sunken relics, the Professor can analyze them in one go instead of going one by one. Thank Arceus!
FYI — there is a new category under the Collection phone app specifically for all of the Bubbly Basin collectibles, including ancient artifacts, human records, highlight reel photos, recipes, and items.
Human Records
Bubbly Basin collectibles don’t stop with unique new decor. There are plenty of Bubbly Basin-exclusive human records, which you can find in the world and on Basin Dream Islands. Plus, in addition to existing human record formats, there’s a brand new type: treasure maps. More on those below!
Newspapers
There are eight new newspapers, seven of which can be found in Bubbly Basin. The “Pool Open to the Public” paper unlocks the Warm-up stretches emote.
The final newspaper, “New Product Announcement,” can be found on the Basin Dream Island. This newspaper unlocks the Side tails hairstyle.
Magazines
There are 13 new magazines to find, and most of these Bubbly Basin collectibles unlock new hairs, outfits, or emotes. Eight magazines can be found in Bubbly Basin — the rest are exclusive to the Basin Dream Island. The following are the new outfits and hairs found in Bubbly Basin:
The remaining unlockables have to be found on Dream Islands. Make sure to be diving into caves and looking for the laboratory structure.
Notes and Letters
Bubbly Basin’s notes and letters are all located in the actual world. You won’t find them on the Basin Dream Island.
There are six notes and two letters. The notes won’t give you anything, but both letters have rewards. The “All Smiles Update” letter gives you the Preschooler outfit, while the “Post from October 25, 2:00 p.m.” gives you the Hehehe emote.
Treasure Maps
Break out the dowsing machine and grab Frillish, because it’s time for some good old-fashioned treasure hunting. Treasure maps are a brand new collectible and are almost like a hidden side quest. These can be found in the glowing spot blocks in Bubbly Basin.
There are six maps to find. Each one has a classic red ‘X’ marking where the treasure is. You will need Frillish (or another Pokémon with the Search specialty) and the dowsing machine to track down the treasures, as for the most part they aren’t places you’ll find naturally while exploring. You could find them without help, but why make things harder for yourself?
The treasures at each location are different versions of the Decorative Poké Ball item (the plain version of which you can get when learning Dive from Manaphy). Collect ‘em all and you’ll be able to create the Mermaid’s Gym habitat, where you can summon Starmie (who, as one of Misty’s primary Pokémon in the games, will be right at home in the Cerulean Gym).
Treasure Map 1: Great Ball
The easiest way to get to this Ball is to go behind the Pokémon Center and break rocks next to the end of the building adjacent to the Pokémon Center. Head down some steps and through a door to pick up the Great Ball.
Treasure Map 2: Heal Ball
Head to the grass patch to the right of the house right before the big bridge and dig down to discover the Heal Ball.
Treasure Map 3: Dive Ball
If you’re standing in front of the Cerulean Gym (through the breakable rocks on the right side of town), go to the left of the entrance and break through some star-spotted rock to find the Dive Ball.
Treasure Map 4: Net Ball
This treasure map will lead you through the cave to the left of the bridge (if you’ve completed the story, it’s the cave you go through with Frillish to find the Starmie Doll). Navigate through until you reach the blue crystal area with rail road tracks. There should be some blue rock near some blocks of crystal that a Pokémon with Search will take you to. Break through until you reach a cave containing the Net Ball.
Treasure Map 5: Lure Ball
The quickest route to this treasure is to go into the basement of the house with a yellow mailbox in the upper right part of the map. There should be a set of double doors that lead to star-spotted rock. Break the rock to find the Lure Ball.
Treasure Map 6: Quick Ball
The final Ball decoration can be found by heading to the bottom left house in town (if you’re coming from the Bubbly Basin gate). Break the patch of star-spotted rock and you’ll stumble upon the Quick Ball. There will be some berry-themed furniture to grab too.
Highlight Reel
Make sure you have your camera ready, because the final set of Bubbly Basin collectibles are the special moments you can capture with your camera. AKA the highlight reel. There are six new highlights to grab photos of, three of which will earn you new frames. It almost feels like being back in New Pokémon Snap!
- A Closed Mouth Catches No Z’s: sunlight frame
- Statuesque Songstress Set: romantic frame
- Squidding Image
- Noth-ink to Sneeze At: comic photo frame
- Coral Me Pink
- Similar Seafarers
Now that you know what Bubbly Basin collectibles exist, it’s time to take the plunge for yourself. Break all the glowing blocks, jump headfirst into every whirlpool, crack into new sunken relics, and embark on actual treasure hunts to find the prizes hidden behind each treasure map.
If that’s not enough treasure-hunting for you, you can always try earning all the Bubbly Basin Pokémon Center unlockables. And make sure to check out our other Pokopia: Bubbly Basin guides, found under the Guides category.
