Pokemon Go Rolls Out New Biome Changes

As part of the Rediscover Go campaign, Pokemon Go has been rolling out a number of changes to the game’s graphics. The latest of these began to appear in North America today, with the game’s backgrounds getting a long overdue facelift. As a result, players should expect different biomes that reflect their real-world locations, and that will be highlighted in Catch and Battle screens. The improved environments look a lot nicer than they did before, and should help players feel a little more immersed in the game’s world. 

An image of a new background in Pokemon Go can be found below. 

Player Reception

So far, players seem to be really happy with these biome changes! There’s already been a lot of positivity on social media about the game’s new backgrounds, with many players sharing screen grabs to showcase these improvements. It’s a stark difference with how fans reacted to the game’s new avatar changes, which were rolled out last week. The new avatars have been universally hated by the Pokemon Go community, and many are questioning whether Niantic will end up going back on that change, or at least tweaking things as a result. 

Rediscover Kanto Event

To celebrate the changes to the game’s biomes, Pokemon Go has announced a new event that’s already live! The Rediscover Kanto event will see Pokemon from the Kanto region appearing more frequently in their respective biomes. During the event, players can expect to see Shiny versions of Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle more frequently in the wild. All three of those Pokemon have been the focus of Community Day events in the past, which means that all of their final evolved forms has had a Featured Attack. Players can usually only get those moves on Community Day, but the Featured Attacks will return for this event. Anyone that evolves a Venusaur, Charizard, or Blastoise during Rediscover Kanto will get a Pokemon that knows the following:

• Venusaur: Frenzy Plant- A Charged Attack that has a power of 100 in Trainer battles, Raids, and Gym battles. 
• Charizard: Blast Burn- A Charged Attack that has a power of 110 in Trainer battles, Raids, and Gym battles. 
• Blastoise: Hydro Cannon- A Charged Attack that has a power of 80 in Trainer battles, and 90 in Raids and Gym battles. 

For players that have yet to Mega Evolve any of these Pokemon, Pokemon Go will be making Mega Energy available outside of Mega Raids. Certain Field Research tasks during this event will get players Mega Energy for Venusaur, Charizard, or Blastoise. At this time, we don’t know exactly how much Mega Energy players will receive for completing these tasks, but there should be plenty of time to rack it up, as Rediscover Kanto is going to be pretty lengthy; the event will run through Thursday, May 9th at 8 p.m. PT. 

What do you think of these changes to Pokemon Go‘s biomes? Do you think the graphic changes make the game look better? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!