Will Japan Get Mewtwo First in Pokemon Go?

Pokemon might be a global franchise, but there's no question that it treats Japan a bit [...]

By Christian Hoffer

Pokemon might be a global franchise, but there's no question that it treats Japan a bit differently from the rest of the world. Japan gets the best Pokemon merchandise, gets first dibs on all the cool Pokemon giveaways, and for the longest time was the first to get the Pokemon games.

Even Pokemon Go, which was made and run by a company in the United States, has had several exclusive events just for Japanese fans. Twice, Pokemon Go has run regional events in which Japanese fans could travel to certain areas to catch otherwise rare Pokemon. In both cases, those events were tied to efforts to drive more charity to disaster-stricken areas, but they were still exclusive to Japan.

Now, Pokemon Go is running another special event in Japan, this time at Yokohama's Pikachu Outbreak Festival. Almost everyone assumes that the upcoming "Pokemon Go Stadium" event in Yokohama on Monday will feature the launch of a new Legendary Pokemon. And while many believe that Pokemon Go will release Ho-Oh (and there's plenty of reasons to believe that), there's still a possibility that Pokemon Go is thinking a bit....bigger. So, what if Pokemon Go's big surprise for "Pokemon Go Stadium" is the Legendary Pokemon Mewtwo?

The Case For Mewtwo

There's a lot of good reasons why Pokemon Go would release Ho-Oh at the Pokemon Go Stadium event. Ho-Oh has been front and center of advertising for the new Pokemon movie and the Pokemon appeared in Pokemon Go's trailer announcing the release of Legendary Pokemon last month. However, Ho-Oh wouldn't bring the same excitement and reaction as the appearance of Mewtwo, arguably the most popular Legendary Pokemon in the franchise.

Fans have wanted Mewtwo to appear in Pokemon Go for a very long time. When the game first came out last year, many players thought that Mewtwo was some sort of secret boss or Easter egg to unlock. Eventually, Niantic announced they were holding back Mewtwo and the other Legendary Pokemon for a special occasion, which many thought to be a massive live event...just like the Pokemon Go Stadium event.

In fact, Mewtwo made an appearance in Pokemon Go's first ever trailer, battling thousands of trainers in an event at Times Square. And while many thought that Pokemon Go Fest would be where Mewtwo would first appear, Pokemon Go decided to release Lugia instead.

Because the Pikachu Outbreak Festival is a bigger event for the overall Pokemon franchise, it wouldn't surprise us if Pokemon Go held back its biggest surprise for the Japanese event. After all, Japan usually gets the coolest Pokemon stuff, so why wouldn't they get first crack at Mewtwo? Plus, an appearance by Mewtwo would give Pokemon Go a second chance to show off thousands of excited fans clamoring for a chance to capture it, an opportunity they blew at Pokemon Go Fest due to all of its issues.

If Mewtwo does make an appearance at Pokemon Go Stadium on Monday, fans outside Japan probably won't have to wait very long for their chance to capture it. While Lugia and Moltres both had small windows of exclusivity, they were eventually rolled out to the rest of the world just a few hours later.

We'll find out on Monday which Legendary Pokemon (if any) makes an appearance at Yokohama.

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