'Pokemon Go' Briefly Adds and Then Pulls New Pokemon From Game

Pokemon Go players had a ten minute window to catch a new Pokemon species yesterday evening. Around 11:45 PM ET yesterday evening, Shellos began spawning in the United States. Shellos is a Water-type Pokemon that resembles a slug and eventually evolves into the Water/Ground-type Pokemon Gastrodon. Many players assumed that Shellos was a permanent addition (similar to yesterday's surprise release of the Lake Guardian trio of Legendary Pokemon) but the Pokemon abruptly de-spawned after just 10 or so minutes. Just before midnight, players had confirmed that all Shellos had disappeared from the game.

So why did Shellos appear and then suddenly disappear from the game? Well, players noticed that both forms of Shellos, the pink "West Sea" form and the blue "East Sea" form, were both available at the same time at the same location. Shellos was one of the Pokemon franchise's first "regional" Pokemon whose appearance varied depending on where you caught it in the games, and it seems unlikely that Pokemon Go would pass up on an opportunity like that, given how much it enjoys putting regional-exclusive Pokemon into the game.

The fact that Shellos was added to the game last night seems to indicate that the Pokemon is ready to go, so we could see another wave of Pokemon added soon. There are still a few fan-favorite Pokemon that needed to be added from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, and the addition of the Lake Guardian trio (the last of the Gen IV legendary Pokemon) indicates that Pokemon Go is getting ready to transition to adding Gen V Pokemon soon.

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