It should be no surprise to anyone that Pokemon GO is planning a Halloween event for this year. It was the first real holiday event of last year after the game launched, and it makes sense that they would do another event this year, hopefully with a bit more to it this time around, given how much the game has evolved.
It’s The Pokemon Company, not Niantic, which has confirmed that the Halloween event exists in Pokemon GO, as described in a recent post about this fall’s Pokemon plans. And the wording has gotten some fans pretty excited about what might be on the way. Here it is:
“The Halloween season is a special time in Pokémon GO. Plenty of good stuff is coming to the game later this October, and we can’t wait to get out and about to see what sort of excitement we can scare up while catching new Pokémon to fill out our Pokédex.”
What’s getting fans pumped here are the phrases “new Pokemon” and “fill out our Pokedex.” I believe there are three ways to read this statement:
Gen 3 is coming. Many fans believe that this is a hint that Halloween might bring with it the debut of Gen 3, about eight months after the launch of Gen 2, which was itself about eight months after the launch of Gen 1. The timeline works, overlooking the fact that Gen 3 is bigger than Gen 2 ever was, but it would seem odd to drop Gen 3 in the middle of Legendary release season (we’ll still be rotating the Gen 2 beasts then), and it does just seem too soon for Gen 3 to be here, if you ask me. This feels like wishful thinking.
Missing Gen 2 Pokémon are coming. This could be a time for missing Gen 2 Pokémon like Smeargle or Delibird to show up, or it could be time for mythics to make their debut like Celebi, or possibly even Gen 1’s Mew, who seem like they probably won’t appear like traditional raid bosses. To me, these seem more likely than the full launch of Gen 3, but I’m still not holding my breath.
Nothing is coming. To me, this is the most likely option. What I mean is that nothing new is coming, and “new Pokémon” just means “new for some players who don’t have X Pokémon.” Since the Equinox event had nothing to do with raids, I could see some sort of raid-based event with “spooky” raid bosses like Houndoom or other Pokémon that some players may still not have yet. “Fill out your Pokedex” implies filling out the existing Pokedex, not the one spanning the entire series, so I wonder if this will be used as an occasion to just spawn a few rare Gen 1/2s.
History has taught us that whatever you assume Niantic is doing, it’s probably going to be a few rungs below whatever your expectations are. I’m hovering somewhere between options two and three, hoping that we might get one or two new Pokemon added to the game, but expecting a relatively standard event, and not something earth shattering like Gen 3 or mythic releases. I could be wrong, but I think people are letting their imaginations run wild with the phrasing of this announcement.
Where will we actually land? I’m not sure, but I think it’s wise to manage expectations, and not start doomsday prepping for Gen 3 just yet. But hey, I could be wrong. We’ll know soon enough.
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