Pokémon GO

[QuentinQuonce]

Gonna embarrass myself rn and do some Unova Tour predictions. Let's see how much of it holds up!

• Release of Black/White Kyurem. Seems almost nailed-on. Since the fusion in the MSG is very similar to Necrozma's I expect it'll work in a very similar way. Except that in the MSG Kyurem can only fuse with one at a time so it remains to be seen whether they'll allow multiple fusions at once.
• Global release of Keldeo. Again, seems pretty certain. I could see this one being part of a lead-up research ahead of the actual tour. Like maybe it'll start in January and gradually unfold over the weeks with the final part only unlocking during the tour itself. Unova has a lot of legendaries so I expect the Swords of Justice to be in raids during this period.
• Tornadus and Thundurus as roamers during the event itself, with Landorus either a roamer too or a research reward for snapshotting/catching the other two. Most likely the Incarnate forms, though I could see them putting the Therian forms in research rewards after snapshotting the wild Incarnate forms.
• Release of Pirouette form Meloetta. There's not a shiny mythical they can release here for the first time*, so this squares the circle of a "new" mythical release while technically not being one. Everyone's got a Meloetta already (or is able to get one) but I expect they'll give a second one anyway.
• Reshiram, Zekrom, and Landorus in raids day 1, Black/White Kyurem and Genesect in raids day 2. Or something similar.
• Release of Zen Mode Darmanitan? Stranger things have happened and they need something to fill the Tier 3 raid slot.
• I assume Black/White tickets akin to the division of previous years, with boosted spawns/shiny rates depending on ticket. Something like
  
  Black ticket: Cottonee, Venipede, Roggenrola, Archen, Gothita, Male Frillish, Karrablast, Vullaby (higher shiny chance for Reshiram and Shock/Burn Genesect?)
  White ticket: Petilil, Sewaddle, Timburr, Tirtouga, Solosis, Female Frillish, Shelmet, Rufflet (higher shiny chance for Zekrom and Douse/Chill Genesect?)
  
  
• All three of the monkey trio, Throh/Sawk, Heatmor/Durant, and both Basculin as regular (or incense) spawns, but all the other regionals in eggs. Four habitats based on seasons (Fragrant Spring, Blazing Summer, Calming Autumn, Freezing Winter?) with each form of Deerling in one of them
• Special Research encounters with Zorua and Larvesta, who otherwise won't be common
• Costume Pikachu in black/white hats. Well, I had to have one guess that was absolutely guaranteed to happen.

*If you follow the "Go can't pre-empt the MSG" line of thinking


edit: Fuck it let's do habitat predictions too, why not

Fragrant Spring
Patrat, Pansage, Munna, Cottonee, Petilil, Trubbish, Mincinno, Ducklett, Foongus, Ferroseed, Tynamo, Mienfoo, Vullaby, Durant
Blazing Summer
Pansear, Pidove, Blitzle, Drilbur, Sewaddle, Darumaka, Scraggy, Solosis, Karrablast, Axew, Druddigon, Rufflet, Heatmor
Calming Autumn
Lillipup, Roggenrola, Woobat, Timburr, Venipede, Sandile, Dwebble, Archen, Emolga, Joltik, Klink, Litwick, Stunfisk, Pawniard
Freezing Winter
Purrloin, Panpour, Tympole, Yamask, Tirtouga, Gothita, Vanillite, Shelmet, Frillish, Alomomola, Elgyem, Cubchoo, Cryogonal, Golett, Deino

Incense-only: Audino, Throh, Sawk, Basculin and all three starters

 

[R_N]

Gonna embarrass myself rn and do some Unova Tour predictions. Let's see how much of it holds up!

• Release of Black/White Kyurem. Seems almost nailed-on. Since the fusion in the MSG is very similar to Necrozma's I expect it'll work in a very similar way. Except that in the MSG Kyurem can only fuse with one at a time so it remains to be seen whether they'll allow multiple fusions at once.

Since there's no item tied to Necrozma in Go, I assume the "lore" of using the DNA Splicers won't be applied to Kyurem either. Makes sense to just keep reusing the same set up for all 3 fusion candidates.

I also assume that Ice Burn and Freeze Bolt will get adventure effects, though I wonder what they'll do. Increase Ice/Fire and Ice/Electric encounters, maybe?

• Tornadus and Thundurus as roamers during the event itself, with Landorus either a roamer too or a research reward for snapshotting/catching the other two. Most likely the Incarnate forms, though I could see them putting the Therian forms in research rewards after snapshotting the wild Incarnate forms.

I could see all 3 being Incarnate roamers, and then in the raids as Therian. I could also see Enamorus being trotted out in the lead up (likely as an EX Raid again). She is pretty relevant, even if she is associated with Hisui. Probably no Therian of her yet.

• Release of Pirouette form Meloetta. There's not a shiny mythical they can release here for the first time*, so this squares the circle of a "new" mythical release while technically not being one. Everyone's got a Meloetta already (or is able to get one) but I expect they'll give a second one anyway.

If they decide to do a lead up of Keldeo they could probably do Resolute Keldeo instead, just to tie it all together. Also doubles as releasing Secret Sword at the same time. So plebs get regular keldeo for free but pay up for the fancier much better Keldeo.

My sillier idea is that there's a Shiny Genesect ticket and the shtick is you get 5 of them, one for each Drive. No need to cross reference a million raids, just pay $8-15.

• Costume Pikachu in black/white hats. Well, I had to have one guess that was absolutely guaranteed to happen.

I think instead of hats, it'll be a little tuxedo/dress using the checkerboard iconography that the boxarts use. They could even be cute and release a third one that's literally a checkerboard

 

[pika pal]

What I'd be curious about is how they handle the glut of Signature moves for the Tao dragons. Each has one, but Kyurem not only gets to poach the Fusion moves, not only does Kyurem have Ice Burn/Freeze Shock, but Zekrom and Reshiram have Bolt Strike/Blue Flare as yet more movs they could add to encourage raiding, though I wonder about the prospect of that since they're already the top of their respective types (definitively for Reshiram, competing for it for Zekrom), so they need the upgrade less than Ghost/Steel for the Necrozma fusions. Kyurem might care more about the Ice buff if it gets Ice Fang than the Charge moves.

I also think they'd have to give them Flare/Bolt since the mined movesets are very lackluster for PvP, as the main place they'd be differentiated since the moves probably don't have much room for variance outside their Adventure Effects without making out "definitively" better

 

[Expert Evan]

I did manage to get a hundo Necrozma which is now a buddy on my goateeVGC account. The goatee64 account got 2 shinies and will likely be doing lucky trade swaps in hopes for a lucky hundo which is 1/64 or at least 15/13+/13+ may do as a shiny.

So we needed 1000 fusion energy to merge with either solar or lunar. I only got 820 lunar energy and this is after the secret codes, quests and lunar raids done so since I can't walk as a buddy to earn those it looks like I'm indefinitely stuck until maybe there's an elite raid event in the future or something. Niantic never seems to fail in disappointing me somehow.

 

[pika pal]

I did manage to get a hundo Necrozma which is now a buddy on my goateeVGC account. The goatee64 account got 2 shinies and will likely be doing lucky trade swaps in hopes for a lucky hundo which is 1/64 or at least 15/13+/13+ may do as a shiny.

So we needed 1000 fusion energy to merge with either solar or lunar. I only got 820 lunar energy and this is after the secret codes, quests and lunar raids done so since I can't walk as a buddy to earn those it looks like I'm indefinitely stuck until maybe there's an elite raid event in the future or something. Niantic never seems to fail in disappointing me somehow.

My condolences on missing the Energy. Dawn Wings really wants the Hundo if you play it in PVP so it's a very coveted prize to have hit one even if you don't play that. I hope Niantic doesn't take too long to rerun it, but I'm worried it'll still be bad for accessibility since it'll need a Cosmog rerun (like how Mega Ray was made stupidly hard to catch vs the Primals because of its strength with Dragon Ascent)

 

[R_N]

They had no qualms rerunning Cosmog here, at least, so I imagine next time they run Necrozma they'll probably run another way to get one (probably a paid ticket, if we're being honest).

Also since it's kind of reliant on significantly more raids than Rayquaza, and significantly less powerful, it'll probably be a Raid Day. Probably done next year and then again for the Alola Go Fest in 2026.



Now. Ultra Necrozma. That's probably going to be the one they make a specific pain to get after its initial release

 

[QuentinQuonce]

"Hey so we're doing an Ultra Unlock themed around counterpart Pokemon, should we make it so both forms of Shellos or Basculin or Oricorio or all three elemental monkeys spawn everywhere?"

"Nah sod that, just have Meowth spawning three times as much"



...this kind of feels more like "a regular event" than an Ultra Unlock. Gone are the days of having region-exclusive Pokemon in 7km eggs or raids, numerous new species/shinies being released all at once, or a full week of Dragon-types, I guess. Still, 4x catch experience is nice.

 

[pika pal]

"Hey so we're doing an Ultra Unlock themed around counterpart Pokemon, should we make it so both forms of Shellos or Basculin or Oricorio or all three elemental monkeys spawn everywhere?"

"Nah sod that, just have Meowth spawning three times as much"



...this kind of feels more like "a regular event" than an Ultra Unlock. Gone are the days of having region-exclusive Pokemon in 7km eggs or raids, numerous new species/shinies being released all at once, or a full week of Dragon-types, I guess. Still, 4x catch experience is nice.

I guess it depends on perspective. It's much more underwhelming than past Ultra Unlocks, but compared to the events of the year surrounding it, it IS a significant upgrade in terms of the event tied benefits (i.e. the part that's less subjective vs the Spawn Pool's value per player).

This more to say I think the quality of events has gone down because something like this would have been typical in 2022 or 2023 instead of touted as a big fancy reward event (and Tandemaus would probably have debuted with its Shiny). I at least have value to get out of it with a bunch of the regional forms to shiny hunt, Stardust Combee to stack, and easy EXP for my long trek to 50, but coming off the heels of power gains like UB access and Necrozma fusions, it's underwhelming more than a slow-ride-down from the Go Fest high like they intended.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I guess it depends on perspective. It's much more underwhelming than past Ultra Unlocks, but compared to the events of the year surrounding it, it IS a significant upgrade in terms of the event tied benefits (i.e. the part that's less subjective vs the Spawn Pool's value per player).

This more to say I think the quality of events has gone down because something like this would have been typical in 2022 or 2023 instead of touted as a big fancy reward event (and Tandemaus would probably have debuted with its Shiny). I at least have value to get out of it with a bunch of the regional forms to shiny hunt, Stardust Combee to stack, and easy EXP for my long trek to 50, but coming off the heels of power gains like UB access and Necrozma fusions, it's underwhelming more than a slow-ride-down from the Go Fest high like they intended.

I mean, it's absolutely a good event. 2x candy for a new Pokemon only available in field research (and for which there's a motivation to evolve more than one of them)? Much appreciated, means it's easy to get lots of candy off of relatively few Tandemaus encounters. It's just jarring to have this be presented as some prize we won (I say this fully in the knowledge that the challenges are largely a sham and the "unlocks" would almost certainly happen anyway).

Previous Ultra Unlocks gave access to something not normally available - regionals, shinies, new legendaries that weren't expected to debut for years to come yet. A new species debuting is just... something that should have happened anyway.

Though as I say that I'm recalling that, as per the (understandable) trend of slowing down new releases, this year has been rather bad for introducing new Pokemon: just checked Bulbapedia and by my count only 17 entirely new species have been introduced to the game this year - as opposed to 53 the previous and 79 the year before. Predictions for 2024's total anyone...?

Maybe "introducing a new species" is a prize after all...

 

[RocketSurgery]

Thanks to a stockpile of Poffins I managed to best buddy Marshadow in just 12 days:

Most days I didn't bother with routes, and didn't get new stops on a few days, so theoretically I might have been able to manage a day or two faster.

In terms of global go fest, I didn't buy a ticket on my main account, just an alt I've been using to get things like extra Poipole in beast beast and an extra low level Marshadow so that I can send them to HOME and use them in a playthrough one day. Since I bought the ticket I played a little bit on the alt and managed to get some shinies that I may justbsend straight to HOME instead of levelling up friendship to send to my main, but I also got a few dusk rockruffs that I may eat the stardust cost to trade.

As for legendaries, I am now at 3 cosmog and discovered that all 3 have the exact same stats:

I won't clog up the page with the individual IV photos, but they're all 15/13/13, which is kind of funny. The cosmog I traded away to become lucky was only a 2*. The free Lunala I got from the GO Fest research was also only 2 star, so my IV luck appears to be limited to Cosmog.

As for Necrozma, I enjoyed having plenty of raids to do on Sunday, but I do think Niantic was a bit too stingy on the fushion energy, especially if they're already pushing people to do multiple raids to get a "special background", shiny, or combination.

Between NYC and global go fests I only got 2 shiny Necrozma, neither had great IVs, and I only have enough fusion energy for a single lunala fushion. This is a bit disappointing because I would prefer to fuse a shiny if possible so that when ultra necrozma is released I can at least have shiny ultra necrozman in a game (since it was never made available to the western markets during USUM). That won't be for a while at least, so presumably there will be some opportunity to get more fusion energy between now and then.

Finally, as for the ultra unlocks, I've gotten quite a few tandemaus already, and it's otherwise been fine, but I sure do wish they'd give us an ultra unlock with koraidon and miradon raids like they did with Zacian and Zamanta. That's probably not Niantic's call, but it would be nice to be able to get a Miraidon without waiting for the eventual GameStop shiny giveaway.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Decided to brave a Shadow Entei raid with just my two main accounts and hurrah, was narrowly able to beat it! I'd seen Youtube videos of it being duoed with relatively ordinary counters but I don't have full teams of Kyogre or anything like that so it was a little in question. The time relobbying and reviving my Primals nearly scuppered the raid, you really do need a fast connection to avoid wasting time. I managed to duo Shadow Raikou some time ago earlier but it's so dependent on the moves it knows: if it has Shadow Ball it can tear through your typical Electric resists like Garchomp and Rhyperior incredibly easily.

The irony is that the one I'd want to grind most for is Suicune, which even with the compromised defence I highly doubt is duoable (by me, at least - I'm sure you could probably do it in rainy weather with a team of level 50 Zekrom)

 

[pika pal]

Decided to brave a Shadow Entei raid with just my two main accounts and hurrah, was narrowly able to beat it! I'd seen Youtube videos of it being duoed with relatively ordinary counters but I don't have full teams of Kyogre or anything like that so it was a little in question. The time relobbying and reviving my Primals nearly scuppered the raid, you really do need a fast connection to avoid wasting time. I managed to duo Shadow Raikou some time ago earlier but it's so dependent on the moves it knows: if it has Shadow Ball it can tear through your typical Electric resists like Garchomp and Rhyperior incredibly easily.

The irony is that the one I'd want to grind most for is Suicune, which even with the compromised defence I highly doubt is duoable (by me, at least - I'm sure you could probably do it in rainy weather with a team of level 50 Zekrom)

Congrats on managing the Duo. Stuff like that is why I recommend getting high level Primals/Ray (especially Groudon), since the Mega Boost on top of their massive power level can shred a lot of fights (I have a Best-Friend who I can comfortably Duo Raikou and Entei with thanks to Party Power).

 

[R_N]

So that little comment about the lack of releases this year reminded me:
1. With Global Go Fest, I was able to transfer Necrozma! I sent over a Shiny one I got at the Global; it's one of my favorite shinies. The fact this took the entire transfer bar is very funny to me. +1, much belated.

2. It would have been so easy for Tandemaus to have been impossible to get and I'd have to rely on discord or the GTS to get one. Imagine if it was just exclusively a rare encounter in Party Play. But no, it had 2 guaranteed encounters in the easy Timed Research and it showed up frequently in the Field Research because it's a possible encounter on every event task. You love to see it. +2 for the Home Dex easy as pie.

3. I thought it would be fun to see what's "left" and guess how/when we might see it. Because my mind is consumed with this; I just find it interesting to think about how they might go about it. This might be fun for me exclusively.

Mythics

So for my purposes, I never have to care about Mythics. But may as well spit ball
Phione & Manaphy I presume will be a set. I think the research will be based around eggs in particular, and instead of being gifted the Manaphy itself you get the Manaphy egg that you have to hatch. I can also see, after the release, Phione eggs being added as a super rare encounter in the 10KM eggs. They seem to only do Mythics to tie into stuff so I assume they just wait for some random go fest or tour.

Arceus is probably being tucked away for a "big" thing. Maybe the 10th Anniversary? It's Arceus, after all. I could see it being raid exclusive.
As for its gimmick I see one of two options:

1. It's like the Genesects and if you want a different Arceus you have to get the proper typed raid. Means they could also piecemeal Arceus further
2. You can change it with some candy and some other "thing" to collect like Mega Energy, Zygarde's Cells or the Solar/Lunar Energy. Maybe it could be fun if it was tied to the typed badges you can earn; you get a plate at each Gold/Platinum and withs ome candy you can then swap your Arceus around. Or maybe you slowly accure type energy as you catch Pokemon. Or maybe you get the appropriate energy out of typed raids (ie: like Necrozma); if they do that hope its just "Mysterious Type Energy" and not 18 individual typed energies for you to choose from.

The Shiny masterwork research will finally require the Sinnoh Platinum medal and will probably be the biggest pain in the ass in the game. To give it more gravitas.

Volcanion is the only Gen 6 Mythic left. Could see them releasing it outside of a Go Fest/Tour and just tie into Z-A's release. Alternatively save it for the Kalos Go Tour since it's not that far away relatively speaking.

Magearna, Zeraora are just full on "whenever." Like Marshadow. I dunno if they'll ever release Original Color Magearna. I'll say again that if they want to "premiere" a shiny in Go outside of the MSG, Magearna's probably the best bet since Lillie's in the anime has been retconned into being the Shiny color.

Pecharunt is probably a million years away, but I bet the lead up to its Go Fest will see the release of the Loyal 3 & Ogerpon.

Legends

Type Null/Silvally I think is being saved for the release of Ultra Necrozma. These two are the only "UB-adjacent" thing left at this point. I specifically think Type Null will be like Poipole and exclusive to research in the season-long lead up to UN's release. If they don't want Silvally to be in raids like I think Arceus probably will, you'll probably get the ability to swap types based on the same non-raid options I offered for that.

Eternatus is easy Go Fest fodder, and probably released alongside the crowned wolves. I don't think we'll get Eternamax as a thing you can catch but I could see special event raids for it anyway. With Dynamaxing out this year, maybe we could see it at next year's go fest?

Kubfu/Urshifu are probably just a season long research that'll culminate in G-Max Urshifu's release. I assume G-Maxes will work exactly like Megas in how you get them, but maybe they wont let you catch the Pokemon? Who knows.

Calyrex & the Horses I assume will be similar to Necrozma. You'll raid for their merged form, then capture the solo Calyrex. The horses will be released on their own in the lead up, presumably. They don't really have the "pull" to be tied to a Go Fest/Tour so probably just a random release drop tied to nothing in particular.

Ruinous Treasures likewise probably won't get a big fancy thing tied to them. Just periodically released whenever they decide to do so. Maybe two at a time? Who knows when we'll get to them, though.

Koraidon & Miraidon....I kind of wonder if they might release them in their "unpowered" states ahead of time or if they just ignore that entirely for simplicity. Not like you can use them in battle, even if they have unused dex entries and such. I was a little surprised they weren't the focus for this year. They're the only mascots not in the game yet! Even the wolves are in! Just being saved for a Go Fest I guess. Will usher in the first Paradoxes, I guess?

Speaking of...
All The Paradoxes: You thought the UB dripfeed was unreal? You are like little baby. There's twenty of these things now. They can hold onto them for years & years and make big deals out of the "big" paradoxes in particular. I assume the first ones released will be Scream Tail & Iron Bundle, after that who knows if they even stick with the "equivalents" as release. I assume there will be a bigger batch up front alongside ST & IB but I will be collecting these things in Homes for years and years and years.....

Loyal 3: Like I mentioned before I think these will be released in the lead up to Pecharunt's go fest.
Ogerpon: I can see this being released separately on its own, probably ahead of the others. The masked forms will be released separately. Maybe Teal Mask will be available to everyone, but I bet you have to raid for the Masks.

Terapagos is obvious Go Fest material. I don't think the game will have terastalization ever (Z-Moves I think they will, though) but the Stellar form will likely be treated like any other super form. Normal Form...who knows if they'll bother.

Gen 6

It's literally just Honedge lol. They seem to really like Halloween for new ghosts so...guess they could just drop it at one of those. If they have a Z-A event may as well drop it there instead, though. Like...it's the newest Kalos game and this is the last regular dude....
I think you'll be able to choose which form you evolve into.

Gen 7

Wishiwashi I bet has a whole gimmick week dedicated to it. You catch the solo form in the wild and have to build up a ton of candy to transform it into Schooling. If they want to be evil, every time you get knocked out you have to regather the candy.

Mudbray/Mudsdale. Just some random event. I dunno why but I get "Safari" vibes off them like Skiddo got, though....

Pyukumuku. Probably just some summer event. Just tied to something random with nothing special about it.

Minior. They like their winter/autumn light festivals and this fits with that vibe. The gimmick will be you pay candy to open it up (& close it back up) and you won't know which color it is until then. Different regions will get different colors, as per the norm, with a few colors being available everywhere.

Mimikyu. Halloween. I don't think "Disguised/Broken" will be real form you can swap between or anything. Maybe it'll just have a special effect that it can ignore one Charged move per battle?

Dhelmise. It's a strong standalone Pokemon. It'll be thrown into Raids like Passimian, Turtonator, Drampa, etc. were.

Gen 8

Starters & Morpeko: The gen 8 innagural event that I assume will occur this September. Morpeko's already added its form stuff to the game internally in the recent updates, so I don't think we'll be waiting that long.

Rookidee & Blipbug lines: Could also see them part of the innagural event but could just as easily rerun Skwovet & Wooloo and call it a day.

Nickit, Gossifleur, Chewtle, Rolycoly, Silicobra, Sizzlipede, Cufant lines: Just randomly released as part of various filler events. Could be in eggs, regular tasks, shoved into routes/party play/some new gimmick, etc. I can see Nickit maybe being shadow Pokemon exclusive? That'd be a funny avenue to introduce a Pokemon imo.

Yamper/Boltund: [deep, bitter sigh] I think this winds up being exclusive to the UK. The dead queen and her corgis....

Applin lines: Boy what a hilarious line this is going to be. We have harvest season events every year and apples play into that perfectly. For you guys they'll probably just dripfeed this by letting in Appletun/Flapple, Dipplin & Hydrapple in 3 separate events. Dipplin probably comes as part of the Ogerpon event and Hydrapple with the Pecharunt lead in. Meanwhile for me, I just need to get 3 of the things from the onset!

Cramorant & Arrokuda/Barrskewda: Definitely get a gimmick event to themselves. maybe Cramorant can be in Raids? That'd be funny. Dunno if they implement the Gulp Missile gimmick at all. Could be delayed for a long, long time until they figure out how they want to handle it.

Toxel/Toxtricity: 12 KM Eggs. Toxel is a Poison pokemon and explicitly a Baby Pokemon so....have fun with this one.

Clobbopus/Grapploct: I dunno why, but gives Mienfoo vibes. IE: introduced as a Global battle League possiblity

Sinistea/Polteageist: Halloween. Released alongside the antique forms.

Hatenna & Impidimp lines: So I think Impidimp also lands in 12KM eggs (dark type) and I think to complete them being equivalent to each other they will place Hatenna in the regular egg pool (rare)

Corsola-G/Cursola: Halloween. These are the only cross-gen evos from this gen left and it feels very conspicious. Assumedly like Mr Mime-G they will not be region locked but I could see being really really really obnoxious to get regardless.

Milcery/Alcremie: They implemented the rotation evolution for Inkay so I think they'll do the same thing here to determine the flavor. The decorations will either be completely random or not in at all and just default to Strawberry. If they ever wanted to introduce multiple Pokemon at once, you could pair this with some other food Pokemon. Or maybe Sinistea and don't release that at Halloween? That'd be cute.

Pincurchin: Just some random event like Pyukumuku. Maybe the same event? Since they're just small little stationary guys related to the sea.

Snom: Some Winter event. Has egg vibes to me.

Stonjourner & Eiscue: Raids, like a lot of other strong single staged Pokemon. Maybe regional exclusives by hemisphere?

The Fossils: Adventure week-type event. Probably has a "gimmick" spawn to them. Could be rare spawns, could be exclusive to certain regions...it'd be funny if each "half" was associated with North/South/East/West. So Dracozolt could be in the Northern & Western hemipsheres but Dracovish was Northern & Eastern.

Duraludon: Will be released separately from Archaludon at first (wont matter for me, suckers!!!) and be in raids

Dreepy: Just randomly released like all the other pseudos are. Frigibax was part of an ultra unlock, wasn't it? So I guess same could go for here. maybe it'll even come this year...? Not like Frigibax had to wait very long.

Basculegion: So I already have one but hey for you guys I say Halloween and I specifically think it will be this year because it'd explain the weirdness of releasing White Stripe Basculin without letting it evolve earlier this year. I think it'll be released alongside another Pokemon, though.

Gen 9

Tarountula, Fidough, Nacli, Wattrel, Bramblin, Capsakid, Rellor, Flittle, Tinkatink lines: Just random events.

Squawkabilly: It'll be like Oricorio and each color is exclusive to a different part of the world. It'll have an event wholly dedicated to it because of this.
Flamigo: You know what, release it alongside Squawkabilly. Why not. Go for it, my dudes.

Maschiff, Shroodle, Glimmet lines: All prime 12KM egg candidates. Maschiff probably escapes the pool faster than Shroodle will. Glimmet could alternatively be released in the lead up to Terapagos. Teracrystals and all...

Toedscool, Sinistcha lines: I think one of these will get a Wooper/Paldean Wooper style community day with their counterpart. The other wil be released on their own like Wiglett was. Sinistcha could be thrown into a Halloween.

Klawf, Orthworm, Dondozo: Strong standalones? Check. But also, I think them being titans (well...Dondozo isnt the ACTUAL titan, of course) like Bombirdier also furthers it however.
Tatsugiri: Released alongside Dondozo, but not in raids (despite the titan thing). It is meant to come off as weaker after all. Each form will be regional.
Veluza: I also think this is just going to be a raid but if they feel they have too many I guess it can land in some other random event as a rare encounter.

Finizen: Released in a Party play focused event, only encounterable (& only evolves in) Party Play.
Cyclizar: Released in a Routes focused event, only encounterable on Routes. Probably releases ahead of Koraidon & Miraidon.

Dipplin, Hydrapple, Archaludon: Like I alluded to earlier I think these will be released separate from their pre-evolutions. Just some random other event for Archaludon, Ogerpon/Pecharunt for the apples.

Bonus: I think Combat Tauros will be available everywhere, Water & Fire Breeds will be exclusive to Spanish Raids.

 

[pika pal]

So that little comment about the lack of releases this year reminded me:
1. With Global Go Fest, I was able to transfer Necrozma! I sent over a Shiny one I got at the Global; it's one of my favorite shinies. The fact this took the entire transfer bar is very funny to me. +1, much belated.

2. It would have been so easy for Tandemaus to have been impossible to get and I'd have to rely on discord or the GTS to get one. Imagine if it was just exclusively a rare encounter in Party Play. But no, it had 2 guaranteed encounters in the easy Timed Research and it showed up frequently in the Field Research because it's a possible encounter on every event task. You love to see it. +2 for the Home Dex easy as pie.

3. I thought it would be fun to see what's "left" and guess how/when we might see it. Because my mind is consumed with this; I just find it interesting to think about how they might go about it. This might be fun for me exclusively.

Mythics

So for my purposes, I never have to care about Mythics. But may as well spit ball
Phione & Manaphy I presume will be a set. I think the research will be based around eggs in particular, and instead of being gifted the Manaphy itself you get the Manaphy egg that you have to hatch. I can also see, after the release, Phione eggs being added as a super rare encounter in the 10KM eggs. They seem to only do Mythics to tie into stuff so I assume they just wait for some random go fest or tour.

Arceus is probably being tucked away for a "big" thing. Maybe the 10th Anniversary? It's Arceus, after all. I could see it being raid exclusive.
As for its gimmick I see one of two options:

1. It's like the Genesects and if you want a different Arceus you have to get the proper typed raid. Means they could also piecemeal Arceus further
2. You can change it with some candy and some other "thing" to collect like Mega Energy, Zygarde's Cells or the Solar/Lunar Energy. Maybe it could be fun if it was tied to the typed badges you can earn; you get a plate at each Gold/Platinum and withs ome candy you can then swap your Arceus around. Or maybe you slowly accure type energy as you catch Pokemon. Or maybe you get the appropriate energy out of typed raids (ie: like Necrozma); if they do that hope its just "Mysterious Type Energy" and not 18 individual typed energies for you to choose from.

The Shiny masterwork research will finally require the Sinnoh Platinum medal and will probably be the biggest pain in the ass in the game. To give it more gravitas.

Volcanion is the only Gen 6 Mythic left. Could see them releasing it outside of a Go Fest/Tour and just tie into Z-A's release. Alternatively save it for the Kalos Go Tour since it's not that far away relatively speaking.

Magearna, Zeraora are just full on "whenever." Like Marshadow. I dunno if they'll ever release Original Color Magearna. I'll say again that if they want to "premiere" a shiny in Go outside of the MSG, Magearna's probably the best bet since Lillie's in the anime has been retconned into being the Shiny color.

Pecharunt is probably a million years away, but I bet the lead up to its Go Fest will see the release of the Loyal 3 & Ogerpon.

Legends

Type Null/Silvally I think is being saved for the release of Ultra Necrozma. These two are the only "UB-adjacent" thing left at this point. I specifically think Type Null will be like Poipole and exclusive to research in the season-long lead up to UN's release. If they don't want Silvally to be in raids like I think Arceus probably will, you'll probably get the ability to swap types based on the same non-raid options I offered for that.

Eternatus is easy Go Fest fodder, and probably released alongside the crowned wolves. I don't think we'll get Eternamax as a thing you can catch but I could see special event raids for it anyway. With Dynamaxing out this year, maybe we could see it at next year's go fest?

Kubfu/Urshifu are probably just a season long research that'll culminate in G-Max Urshifu's release. I assume G-Maxes will work exactly like Megas in how you get them, but maybe they wont let you catch the Pokemon? Who knows.

Calyrex & the Horses I assume will be similar to Necrozma. You'll raid for their merged form, then capture the solo Calyrex. The horses will be released on their own in the lead up, presumably. They don't really have the "pull" to be tied to a Go Fest/Tour so probably just a random release drop tied to nothing in particular.

Ruinous Treasures likewise probably won't get a big fancy thing tied to them. Just periodically released whenever they decide to do so. Maybe two at a time? Who knows when we'll get to them, though.

Koraidon & Miraidon....I kind of wonder if they might release them in their "unpowered" states ahead of time or if they just ignore that entirely for simplicity. Not like you can use them in battle, even if they have unused dex entries and such. I was a little surprised they weren't the focus for this year. They're the only mascots not in the game yet! Even the wolves are in! Just being saved for a Go Fest I guess. Will usher in the first Paradoxes, I guess?

Speaking of...
All The Paradoxes: You thought the UB dripfeed was unreal? You are like little baby. There's twenty of these things now. They can hold onto them for years & years and make big deals out of the "big" paradoxes in particular. I assume the first ones released will be Scream Tail & Iron Bundle, after that who knows if they even stick with the "equivalents" as release. I assume there will be a bigger batch up front alongside ST & IB but I will be collecting these things in Homes for years and years and years.....

Loyal 3: Like I mentioned before I think these will be released in the lead up to Pecharunt's go fest.
Ogerpon: I can see this being released separately on its own, probably ahead of the others. The masked forms will be released separately. Maybe Teal Mask will be available to everyone, but I bet you have to raid for the Masks.

Terapagos is obvious Go Fest material. I don't think the game will have terastalization ever (Z-Moves I think they will, though) but the Stellar form will likely be treated like any other super form. Normal Form...who knows if they'll bother.

Gen 6

It's literally just Honedge lol. They seem to really like Halloween for new ghosts so...guess they could just drop it at one of those. If they have a Z-A event may as well drop it there instead, though. Like...it's the newest Kalos game and this is the last regular dude....
I think you'll be able to choose which form you evolve into.

Gen 7

Wishiwashi I bet has a whole gimmick week dedicated to it. You catch the solo form in the wild and have to build up a ton of candy to transform it into Schooling. If they want to be evil, every time you get knocked out you have to regather the candy.

Mudbray/Mudsdale. Just some random event. I dunno why but I get "Safari" vibes off them like Skiddo got, though....

Pyukumuku. Probably just some summer event. Just tied to something random with nothing special about it.

Minior. They like their winter/autumn light festivals and this fits with that vibe. The gimmick will be you pay candy to open it up (& close it back up) and you won't know which color it is until then. Different regions will get different colors, as per the norm, with a few colors being available everywhere.

Mimikyu. Halloween. I don't think "Disguised/Broken" will be real form you can swap between or anything. Maybe it'll just have a special effect that it can ignore one Charged move per battle?

Dhelmise. It's a strong standalone Pokemon. It'll be thrown into Raids like Passimian, Turtonator, Drampa, etc. were.

Gen 8

Starters & Morpeko: The gen 8 innagural event that I assume will occur this September. Morpeko's already added its form stuff to the game internally in the recent updates, so I don't think we'll be waiting that long.

Rookidee & Blipbug lines: Could also see them part of the innagural event but could just as easily rerun Skwovet & Wooloo and call it a day.

Nickit, Gossifleur, Chewtle, Rolycoly, Silicobra, Sizzlipede, Cufant lines: Just randomly released as part of various filler events. Could be in eggs, regular tasks, shoved into routes/party play/some new gimmick, etc. I can see Nickit maybe being shadow Pokemon exclusive? That'd be a funny avenue to introduce a Pokemon imo.

Yamper/Boltund: [deep, bitter sigh] I think this winds up being exclusive to the UK. The dead queen and her corgis....

Applin lines: Boy what a hilarious line this is going to be. We have harvest season events every year and apples play into that perfectly. For you guys they'll probably just dripfeed this by letting in Appletun/Flapple, Dipplin & Hydrapple in 3 separate events. Dipplin probably comes as part of the Ogerpon event and Hydrapple with the Pecharunt lead in. Meanwhile for me, I just need to get 3 of the things from the onset!

Cramorant & Arrokuda/Barrskewda: Definitely get a gimmick event to themselves. maybe Cramorant can be in Raids? That'd be funny. Dunno if they implement the Gulp Missile gimmick at all. Could be delayed for a long, long time until they figure out how they want to handle it.

Toxel/Toxtricity: 12 KM Eggs. Toxel is a Poison pokemon and explicitly a Baby Pokemon so....have fun with this one.

Clobbopus/Grapploct: I dunno why, but gives Mienfoo vibes. IE: introduced as a Global battle League possiblity

Sinistea/Polteageist: Halloween. Released alongside the antique forms.

Hatenna & Impidimp lines: So I think Impidimp also lands in 12KM eggs (dark type) and I think to complete them being equivalent to each other they will place Hatenna in the regular egg pool (rare)

Corsola-G/Cursola: Halloween. These are the only cross-gen evos from this gen left and it feels very conspicious. Assumedly like Mr Mime-G they will not be region locked but I could see being really really really obnoxious to get regardless.

Milcery/Alcremie: They implemented the rotation evolution for Inkay so I think they'll do the same thing here to determine the flavor. The decorations will either be completely random or not in at all and just default to Strawberry. If they ever wanted to introduce multiple Pokemon at once, you could pair this with some other food Pokemon. Or maybe Sinistea and don't release that at Halloween? That'd be cute.

Pincurchin: Just some random event like Pyukumuku. Maybe the same event? Since they're just small little stationary guys related to the sea.

Snom: Some Winter event. Has egg vibes to me.

Stonjourner & Eiscue: Raids, like a lot of other strong single staged Pokemon. Maybe regional exclusives by hemisphere?

The Fossils: Adventure week-type event. Probably has a "gimmick" spawn to them. Could be rare spawns, could be exclusive to certain regions...it'd be funny if each "half" was associated with North/South/East/West. So Dracozolt could be in the Northern & Western hemipsheres but Dracovish was Northern & Eastern.

Duraludon: Will be released separately from Archaludon at first (wont matter for me, suckers!!!) and be in raids

Dreepy: Just randomly released like all the other pseudos are. Frigibax was part of an ultra unlock, wasn't it? So I guess same could go for here. maybe it'll even come this year...? Not like Frigibax had to wait very long.

Basculegion: So I already have one but hey for you guys I say Halloween and I specifically think it will be this year because it'd explain the weirdness of releasing White Stripe Basculin without letting it evolve earlier this year. I think it'll be released alongside another Pokemon, though.

Gen 9

Tarountula, Fidough, Nacli, Wattrel, Bramblin, Capsakid, Rellor, Flittle, Tinkatink lines: Just random events.

Squawkabilly: It'll be like Oricorio and each color is exclusive to a different part of the world. It'll have an event wholly dedicated to it because of this.
Flamigo: You know what, release it alongside Squawkabilly. Why not. Go for it, my dudes.

Maschiff, Shroodle, Glimmet lines: All prime 12KM egg candidates. Maschiff probably escapes the pool faster than Shroodle will. Glimmet could alternatively be released in the lead up to Terapagos. Teracrystals and all...

Toedscool, Sinistcha lines: I think one of these will get a Wooper/Paldean Wooper style community day with their counterpart. The other wil be released on their own like Wiglett was. Sinistcha could be thrown into a Halloween.

Klawf, Orthworm, Dondozo: Strong standalones? Check. But also, I think them being titans (well...Dondozo isnt the ACTUAL titan, of course) like Bombirdier also furthers it however.
Tatsugiri: Released alongside Dondozo, but not in raids (despite the titan thing). It is meant to come off as weaker after all. Each form will be regional.
Veluza: I also think this is just going to be a raid but if they feel they have too many I guess it can land in some other random event as a rare encounter.

Finizen: Released in a Party play focused event, only encounterable (& only evolves in) Party Play.
Cyclizar: Released in a Routes focused event, only encounterable on Routes. Probably releases ahead of Koraidon & Miraidon.

Dipplin, Hydrapple, Archaludon: Like I alluded to earlier I think these will be released separate from their pre-evolutions. Just some random other event for Archaludon, Ogerpon/Pecharunt for the apples.

Bonus: I think Combat Tauros will be available everywhere, Water & Fire Breeds will be exclusive to Spanish Raids.

So a couple of comments that these bring to mind.

- I wonder if Eternamax will be off-limits. Being able to use it could be Go's "thing" over the MSG where it was barred from any form of Dynamax since Megas and the like are only available for PvE content anyway (removing the balance concern of its massive bulk) and its typing being contested/unspectacular for a 5* Raid level (considering it gains Bulk but loses a decent bit of ATK where short-mans would be concerned). Would certainly make for a good "Fest" gimmick and a fight that's absurdly bulky to force larger groups/party play (remember when Shuckle was unsoloable as a 3*? Now give that Tier 6 HP)

- Honedge I could see released for Halloween and then Shiny saved for Kalos Tour/Legends Z-A tie-in event. They space them out with new debuts lately to the point not even an Ultra Unlock species debuts with it despite being the singular mon of the event.

- Wishiwashi probably will be a Candy transformation ala Evolution, but if they wanted to be evil, imagine doing it like Zygarde Cells where you have to gather them or they only Spawn on routes and fuse them like Necrozma (so enjoy having like 5-10 in your storage just to use School).

- Tatsugiri: Maybe Dondozo as the Raid boss and the Tatsugiri Colors in Research/Wild Floor encounters (like a Timed Rsearch to raid Dondozo encounters them or vice versa).

- Paradoxes I'm curious about: Despite their stats, the MSG treat them as regular Pokemon that just appear on the Overworld without much fanfare once the story delves into them (compare how even the UBs have specialized encounters for multiples). Perhaps the "Legendary" Paradoxes will be 5* raid bosses, but I could see some of the smaller ones being Event Spawns/Research (but only specifically during it) or at least lower level raids since they have a hierarchy of things like Scream Tail/Iron Bundle being more "mundane" than Roaring Moon or Iron Valiant of course. Not to say they won't be dripfed but they could vary up their methods.

 

[R_N]

So a couple of comments that these bring to mind.

- I wonder if Eternamax will be off-limits. Being able to use it could be Go's "thing" over the MSG where it was barred from any form of Dynamax since Megas and the like are only available for PvE content anyway (removing the balance concern of its massive bulk) and its typing being contested/unspectacular for a 5* Raid level (considering it gains Bulk but loses a decent bit of ATK where short-mans would be concerned). Would certainly make for a good "Fest" gimmick and a fight that's absurdly bulky to force larger groups/party play (remember when Shuckle was unsoloable as a 3*? Now give that Tier 6 HP)

Yeah like I said I think it will be off limits to use because of the MSG but it's a really obvious go-to for a big ridiculous raid. Eternatus' Eternamax Bulk is absolutely insane, so something where you have to party up with a bunch of people who also party'd up feels like a big "community" moment they would want to push.

Side note: I expect Zacian & Zamazenta's eventual adventure effects to be something akin to "deal more damage to Raid pokemon" and "take less damage from Raid Pokemon" respectively. That'd be a handy effect for both people who grind out raids, and people who can't get out there with a lot of people.

- Tatsugiri: Maybe Dondozo as the Raid boss and the Tatsugiri Colors in Research/Wild Floor encounters (like a Timed Rsearch to raid Dondozo encounters them or vice versa).

Yeah sounds about right. Or maybe it could be a thing where you beat Dondozo and that'll spawn Tatsugiri around the gym?

- Paradoxes I'm curious about: Despite their stats, the MSG treat them as regular Pokemon that just appear on the Overworld without much fanfare once the story delves into them (compare how even the UBs have specialized encounters for multiples). Perhaps the "Legendary" Paradoxes will be 5* raid bosses, but I could see some of the smaller ones being Event Spawns/Research (but only specifically during it) or at least lower level raids since they have a hierarchy of things like Scream Tail/Iron Bundle being more "mundane" than Roaring Moon or Iron Valiant of course. Not to say they won't be dripfed but they could vary up their methods.

A good point. People already complain about the UBs taking up all this raid space, so being able to offload at least the "regular" paradoxes into Wild Spawns that are just hard to catch would probably alleviate a lot of this.
I can also envision a Go Fest/Tour where the final 30 minutes of a given hour goes "Area Zero" mode and spawns a bunch of them as a gimmick.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Hmm. Make up Necrozma raid day incoming perhaps? We can but hope.

(I mean I used quite a few remote passes on the Saturday so uh, yes please)

 

[pika pal]

View attachment 650930


Hmm. Make up Necrozma raid day incoming perhaps? We can but hope.

(I mean I used quite a few remote passes on the Saturday so uh, yes please)

I could go for some re-raiding, especially since the next few rotations don't have a great deal for me to hunt.

Also looking forward to Popplio Com Day, because besides Primarina being amazing among Water Starters, it's gonna be massive for Master League, even against the Legendaries.

 

[Expert Evan]

Today is mega Lucario raid day as I intend to go hard with my duo and making sure I will have either Mega Blaziken or another fighter for more XL candy opportunities. Thanks for the invite QuentinQuonce as I managed to get a shiny before I ran out of remote raid passes. I'll be saving all caught for lucky trade opportunities. From what I read, Force Palm is slight more DPS than counter but has a slightly longer cooldown which situationally can make a difference in certain battles.

 

[Mex]

Played my raid day fine, 9 raids with nothing of note to speak of

However, it did bring me to finally finish the Level 50 Challenge research I unlocked back in October. Frankly, I thought 50 raids was gonna be the task that took me the longest, but Gofest + Mega Lucario carried me through it

my reward

 

[pika pal]

Today is mega Lucario raid day as I intend to go hard with my duo and making sure I will have either Mega Blaziken or another fighter for more XL candy opportunities. Thanks for the invite QuentinQuonce as I managed to get a shiny before I ran out of remote raid passes. I'll be saving all caught for lucky trade opportunities. From what I read, Force Palm is slight more DPS than counter but has a slightly longer cooldown which situationally can make a difference in certain battles.

The trend I see Analysis agree on is that Force Palm is definitely better for PvE and a situational side-grade for PvP

I also had so much energy from the ticket passes that I mega'd like 5 so once I get them leveled I can have Steel and Fighting boosts always on call (since Lucario boosts one of his SE targets it's especially good to have ready)

 

[RocketSurgery]

I ended up squeezing in 8 mega lucario raids yesterday. Got a shiny on raid 3 but the SO didn't, so rushed a few more at the end, to no avail. I did get an xxl, tho, which won me a showcase. (My shiny lucario nearly won but got bumped into 2nd place right before 8 pm).

Overall, not a bad event for what I played. Getting enough mega energy for several evolutions was a nice change of pace after Zecrozma.
If I'd had time to make a full day of raiding I might've bought a ticket.

 

[Expert Evan]

This Adventure Week is so so forgetful as most the stuff I'm catching I'm transferring as well, including the likes of Drilbur since I already have a maxed lucky hundo which I recommend others to get if you don't have one since it's a budget useful next to primal Groudon. Shieldon really needs to be caught in the wild for better chance of PvP IVs for the great league and to farm XL candies for them. I'm already looking forward to Pokemon Worlds event as that features Pokemon useful for GBL which is cool.

Oh I made an embarrasing mistake with a 7/15/15 Lickitung as I maxed it out to 296 XL candies instead of the preferred 276 XL candies. Preciseness needs to be taken care of especially when it comes to details. While I can still use a CP 1491 Lickitung in GBL and it's ranked 2 for those not best buddied, it needs the benefit of having the right amount of XL candies to be used as a best buddy where it's ranked 1 overall.

 

[R_N]

Though as I say that I'm recalling that, as per the (understandable) trend of slowing down new releases, this year has been rather bad for introducing new Pokemon: just checked Bulbapedia and by my count only 17 entirely new species have been introduced to the game this year - as opposed to 53 the previous and 79 the year before. Predictions for 2024's total anyone...?

Maybe "introducing a new species" is a prize after all...

So coming back to this. It's been about a year since I "completed" the Home-Go Pokedex to that point. I was curious and took some tallies

2023 had 56 Pokemon by my count. 23 of those went up to August, with the latest being Passimian at August 11th for Worlds (no such tie in new Pokemon this year....). The remaining 33 Pokemon all happened after this starting in September, largely on the back of Gen 9; 30 of those were all Gen 9 and the other 3 were Wyrdeer & the Skiddo line.

In comparison 2024 has had 18 Pokemon, with the last addition being, well, the Ultra Unlock Tandemaus in mid-July. The last quarter of the year should ideally have a big burst of Gen 8 Pokemon to go with the Dynamax addition*, but I suspect it'll somehow be less over all. Especially if G-Maxes, like Megas, get their own dedicated release sans a Pokemon to go with them (& you KNOW they're gonna release Gen 8 dudes separate from their G-Maxes).

I understand they want to squeeze as much as they can, especially after they had to go hard in the first few years, and a lot of Legendary-esque Pokemon probably makes it hard to drop a lot. But they should really be able to do a little more than this, surely. I didn't track alternate forms, which do help bolster numbers a little, but it's still over all less.


*Incidentally, I kind of wonder if this will be a "worlds reveal" this year. It doesn't seem like we're getting a Presents judging by all the mobile games already pushing out their announcements and Dynamax + Gen 8 is a "big" deal both metaphorically and literally. Go's had a place at Worlds for a while now, may as well announce a thing to go with it like they do with the TCG.

 

[RocketSurgery]

Last month I finished the shaymin masterwork research, but decided to wait until last week to catch it and then send it to home so it had a nice date of 8/8 for catch and arrival. But then I decided to finally also transfer up my shiny deoxys so I could do a photoshoot of shiny mythicals I got from GO:

Not pictured are Celebi, Genesect, or Meltan/Melmetal, which of course can't be sent to SV, but I guess I could do a photoshoot in SwSh at some point.

I guess this'll be it until Kalos tour gives shiny Diancie research in 2026. :P

 

[Expert Evan]

This latest event is far far better than Adventure week so far as my GBL account was lucky enough to receive in trade a Lickitung with 7/15/15 which when set as a best buddy and with 276 XL candies (not 296) it is ranked #1 so the buddy grind has begun as I plan to attend the Pokemon regional in Baltimore next month and will most likely have one on my team. Also caught was a top ranked Carbink with 4/14/15 that also needs to be best buddied with 276 XL candies as well but doubtful I'll want to use on my GBL team until maybe sometime in the future considering.