Rainbows Appear in 'Pokemon Go'; Could Tie Into Alolan Pokemon

Rainbows have appeared in Pokemon Go, and players think they could have ties to the upcoming addition of Alolan Pokemon.

Pokemon Go released a new update yesterday to coincide with the start of the Adventure Week event. The new update contained several new pieces of code that ties in to Alolan Pokemon forms, which Pokemon Go previously confirmed would be added to the game later this summer. However, the big reveal is a new "rainbow" weather pattern, which seems to have special effects in the game.

The update contained code line items specifying a "Special Weather" effect along with various triggers. It seems that, unlike normal weather patterns in Pokemon Go, the Special Weather effects will trigger randomly and seem to have some sort of limited timer to them.

Interestingly, rainbows have already popped up in the game. A player on Reddit posted a screenshot of a rainbow in the background of his map, which appeared shortly after the weather switched from rainy to cloudy in the game.

The popular speculation is that Alolan Pokemon forms will only appear during "Rainbow" weather. Since the Alolan Pokemon forms are alternate versions of Pokemon already in the game, having them only appear during a specific window of time makes a lot of sense... and would prevent some frustration from players looking for Alolan Pokemon but only finding their more common Kanto forms. It would also incentivize players to keep their eye on Pokemon Go and prioritize playing when the Rainbow weather effect is open.

The new update includes code for all Alolan Pokemon forms, so it doesn't appear that Pokemon Go will hold back any forms from players when they do add it.

Another intriguing change is the addition of a line of code related to "Raid Friends," a possible hint that Pokemon Go could soon have some sort of social function to make it easier to battle and raid together without making private battles. Pokemon Go has stated that they were hoping to add some sort of social function to the game to make it easier for players to coordinate raid groups and battles. Having an in-game friend list would certainly address at least some of those issues.

We'll see what other changes are in store for Pokemon Go players in the week ahead. In the meantime, players are encouraged to get outside and take advantage of the Adventure Week bonuses while they still can!