How To Begin Pokemon Pokopia's Bubbly Basin DLC

Published Aug 5, 2026, 7:06 PM EDT Although Kaitlyn grew up with a passion for both video games and writing, she never imagined she'd eventually combine them into a career. Now, with several years of experience in the industry across Guides, Features, News, & Reviews, Kaitlyn enjoys nothing more than continuing to deep dive into the games she's passionate about and share her findings with readers. In her downtime, Kaitlyn enjoys unwinding with her favorite horror films, despite being a major scaredy-cat. After purchasing the Expansion Pass for Pokemon Pokopia, the download should begin automatically. If it doesn't, ensure you've downloaded the DLC and your overall game is updated. As long as all those things are done, you're ready to open up Pokopia and enjoy the new content. When you start the game, you won't be told where to go, but as you might expect, Bubbly Basin's entrance is in the water on Bleak Beach. With that in mind, you'll also need to have completed a certain amount of the base game before you can head to Bubbly Basin, so if you find yourself unable to progress, you may need to finish a few more main story tasks. Bubbly Basin Prerequisites Since Bubbly Basin is an expansion, you do need to have a large amount of base game content completed, including unlocking Bleak Beach and raising its environment to Level 5. You also need to have learned Surf from Lapras. As long as those requirements are met, when you enter Bleak Beach, you should see Professor Tangrowth has new dialogue at the Pokemon Center. This is the free content update that involved finding Manaphy and unlocking the Dive ability. You'll also need to complete this before you can reach Bubbly Basin. After Manaphy teaches you to dive, head back to the Pokemon Center and you should find Popplio waiting for you. If Popplio isn't there, try leaving the area or entering and exiting the Pokemon Center to reset the area. How To Start The Bubbly Basin DLC After meeting up with Popplio at the front of Bleak Beach's Pokemon Center, Popplio will ask you to lead them to the entrance of their town. They won't tell you exactly where to find it, but on the map it's underwater just west of the Pokemon Center. Head over there, with Popplio following you, and you should be able to scan your Pokedex and open the door to Bubbly Basin. Inside, you'll find a brand-new area, almost entirely underwater, and be directed to the Pokemon Center by Professor Tangrowth over a Pokedex call. Since Bubbly Basin is an expansion area, it will have its own Collection page in the Pokedex, including Human Records, Ancient Artifacts, Highlight Reels, and more. It will also have its own Pokedex and Habitat Collection, so be sure to tab over to the 'Basin' tab to find all the new additions to the game. With that, you're ready to start the expansion. So get to building your Pokemon Center and discovering new habitats to help Popplio and the others in Bubbly Basin.