Is Pokemon Go About to Add New Pokemon?

Pokemon Go‘s newest event has players speculating whether even bigger changes on the way. Earlier this summer, dataminers discovered evidence in Pokemon Go‘s code that developers were working on adding Pokemon first seen in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire to the game. These “Gen 3” Pokemon would add over 100 new Pokemon to the game, including some that could shift how gyms are attacked and defended.

While most players didn’t expect Pokemon Go to roll out Gen 3 until later this year, the currently ongoing Equinox event has some players speculating that the Pokemon are coming sooner than we expected. Here’s a look at the clues that Pokemon Go is about to spring a big surprise on fans:

Triple XP for New Pokedex Entries

The biggest “clue” that new Pokemon are on the way is one of the Equinox event’s perks. Players can earn triple XP for any new species of Pokemon they catch during the event. 

For most players who regularly play Pokemon Go, that’s a bit of an empty perk. After all, many players are only missing a handful of Pokemon, which means the event doesn’t really give players an opportunity to earn a lot of extra XP. However, players speculated that if Pokemon Go were to release new Pokemon during the event, the triple XP perk would become a lot more useful.  

Obviously, that didn’t come to pass, but some players are still pointing to the Pokedex perk as a sign that more Pokemon could soon be on the way. After all, Pokemon Go extended one of the perks from the “Pokemon Day” event in early March to help promote the release of their “Gen 2” Pokemon. Therefore, it’s not unprecedented that Pokemon Go could extend the Pokedex perk to get players to catch as many new Pokemon as they can find. 

Special Eggs

The other “clue” that Pokemon Go is prepping for the release of more Pokemon is the special eggs being distributed during the Equinox event. These eggs are all 2 KM egg and contain a mix of rare and strangely common Pokemon. 

Here’s the list of known Pokemon hatching from Gen 2 eggs: 

• Chansey
• Mareep
• Tyrogue
• Larvitar
• Dratini
• Miltank
• Porygon
• Skarmory
• Snorlax
• Remoraid
• Slugma
• Slowpoke
• Zubat
• Nidoran
• Oddish
• Togepi

While Pokemon like Chansey, Larvitar, Dratini, and Mareep are usually pretty rare in Pokemon Go, it seems pretty strange that Pokemon like Slowpoke, Oddish, and Zubat are included in this special egg pool.

However, some fans have pointed out that several of these common Pokemon have “Gen 2” evolutions. Pokemon Go could be using the event as a way to help players finish filling their Pokedex so players can prepare for a new group of Pokemon in the coming weeks. 

Hold Your Horses….

While the evidence is certainly convincing, there’s still a couple things that need to happen before Pokemon Go can release a new set of Pokemon. Although developers added the framework for more Pokemon in their code, they still need to update the GAME_MASTER file and add more attacks to the game. Image assets for all the Pokemon also still need to be added before the Pokemon can be released into the while. 

Whether new Pokemon are added next week or in the next couple of months, we’re still expecting Pokemon Go to add more Pokemon before the end of the year. It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when” we’ll get another chance to catch a ton of new Pokemon species in Pokemon Go.