'Pokemon Go' Announces Battle Showdown Event, Starts Today

Pokemon Go's next event starts....right now!

Moments ago, Pokemon Go announced a new "Battle Showdown" event focused on Fighting-type Pokemon. The event, which starts today and runs through March 12th, will increase the spawn rates of Fighting-type Pokemon like Machop, Mankey, Makuhita, and Meditite and offer additional rewards for players who participate in Trainer Battles or challenge Gym Leaders. Players will also get a 2x Stardust bonus when they catch Pokemon or participate in Gym or Raid battles.

💢 Ready to add a bit more punch to your #GOBattle teams? 🥊
💢 Starting now, powerful Fighting-type Pokémon, like Mankey and Machop, will appear more frequently!
💢 It’s time for an epic Battle Showdown event!//t.co/PS8vpUujqG pic.twitter.com/b0p97qvrBz

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) March 5, 2019

The new Fighting-type event will also include Pokemon having access to a new Fighting-type move, Power-Up Punch. This is one of Pokemon Go's new buff moves and will increase a Pokemon's stats in addition to dealing out damage.

As part of the event, Pokemon Go is also adding two new families of Shiny Pokemon - Shiny Machop and Shiny Mankey. Shiny Pokemon have alternate colorations than non-Shiny Pokemon and are usually quite rare. Shiny Machop and its evolutions Machoke and Machamp have green skin instead of grey, while a Shiny Mankey has light green fur.

The new Pokemon Go event will be handy for those players looking to challenge the new Legendary Raid Boss Dialga, as one of its only weaknesses is against Fighting-type Pokemon. Loading up on Machamp will go a long way in defeating this Raid Boss in battles.

The new event runs from today through March 12th. We'll report on any other surprises as they're discovered.