Pokemon Go Could Be Adding Jessie and James

A datamine of the newest Pokemon Go update discovered an intriguing mention of two of the Pokemon anime’s most famous characters. Niantic is starting its rollout of a new Pokemon Go update, and dataminers are already digging through the code to see what could be coming to the game in the very near future. Perhaps the biggest news is the appearance of Jessie and James in code related to NPCs, meaning that these iconic Pokemon characters could be added to the game in the near future. As Jessie and James are included in the NPC code along with Team Rocket Grunts and admins, it seems likely that the pair will be trainers that players can battle while fighting Team Rocket.

If Jessie and James do make an appearance in Pokemon Go, it will be a surprising crossover between the game and the anime series. While Pokemon Go has occasionally alluded to the anime series with different events and the occasional hat-wearing Pikachu, we rarely see established Pokemon franchise characters actually appear in the game. In fact, all of Pokemon Go‘s human characters are originals for the game except for Giovanni, who appears as a boss-level villain that can only be faced once per month.

Jessie and James have appeared in previous Pokemon games, namely Pokemon Yellow and its Switch remake Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee. While Jessie and James are typically portrayed as bumbling villains in the anime series, the Pokemon games depict them as legitimate threats who work directly under Giovanni.

Other information discovered in the most recent Pokemon Go update is confirmation that Obstagoon, Perrserker, and Sirfetch’d will all appear in the game as part of June’s Throwback Challenge event, the possibility that players can battle Professor Willow, and the discovery that Team Rocket will be using Shadow version of various Galarian Pokemon in an upcoming update. Maybe that’s how Jessie and James will make their first appearance in Pokemon Go.

What do you think about Jessie and James coming to Pokemon Go? Let us know in the comment section or find me on Twitter at @CHofferCBus to chat all things Pokemon!