Pokemon Go Datamine Finds Two New Pokemon, New Evolution Mechanic

A datamine of Pokemon Go's most recent update revealed the addition of a handful of new Pokemon and a new mechanic evolution. Earlier this week, Pokemon Go started the rollout of its latest update and dataminers quickly dug in to find out what changes were in store. While the dataminers confirmed that this update would bring the long-awaited option to mass transfer Legendary and Mythical Pokemon, they also discovered evidence that Pokemon Go is preparing to add two Pokemon from Pokemon Sword and Shield. Dataminers found entries for Cursola and Galarian Slowking, two Pokemon that appear in the newest Pokemon games.

Both Pokemon are evolutions of existing Pokemon species - Cursola is the evolved form of the Galarian variant of Corsola, while the Galarian Slowking is the evolved form of the Galarian variant of Slowpoke. Neither the Galarian Corsola nor the Galarian Slowpoke are currently available in Pokemon Go. One major question is how Pokemon Go will add the Galarian Corsola - like Mr. Mime, Corsola is a regional-exclusive Pokemon, so we could see some sort of ticketed event to make up for the fact that the Pokemon is usually limited to a specific part of the world.

In addition, dataminers also discovered a new evolution mechanic, which will require that players hold the phone upside down to evolve a Pokemon. This is a major hint that Inkay, a Dark/Psychic-type Pokemon, could be added to the game soon. In the main Pokemon series of games, players have to hold their game consoles upside down to evolve Inkay into Malamar.

Pokemon Go is prepping for its next Season of events, titled the Season of Legends, which will bring new Legendary Pokemon to the game in addition to a bevy of new events. The upcoming season change will also switch up which Pokemon appear by default, along with what Pokemon appear in eggs.

Since this information comes from a datamine, it should be taken with a grain of salt. There's no guarantee that any Pokemon or datamined material will actually appear in Pokemon Go. You can check out the full datamine here.