Here's What You Might Have Missed in Pokemon Go's Legendary Trailer

Pokemon Go released a new trailer on Thursday, July 20 to announce the arrival of Legendary Pokemon. The trailer showed off the new gym upgrades, along with a series of Legendary Raids in a busy town.

Videos by ComicBook.com

Besides the obvious “OMG, look at the Legendary Pokemon!” moments, there were a couple of hints as to what we could expect when the Legendary Pokemon appear this weekend. Some of this information was already known, but there were a few more subtle teases too.

We’re not going to provide a blow by blow analysis of the trailer, but we will point out a couple of things you might have missed:

48 Hour Notice

For the most part, the trailer implied that Legendary Raids followed most of the same rules as normal Raids. Players have one hour to beat a Raid Boss, and up to twenty people can team up in a Raid at one time.

However, there’s at least one big difference between Legendary Raids and non-Legendary Raids (besides the whole Legendary Pokemon part.) Players will have 48 hours notice before a Legendary Raid is to start.

One of the bigger complaints about Raids is that players just don’t have enough notice to properly plan for higher level raids. Two hours (or less) just isn’t enough time to find enough players to beat a high-level raid, especially in smaller communities where there aren’t as many players to begin with.

Having 48 hours to prep for a Legendary Raid should give players enough time to clear their schedule, grab some friends, and get ready for an epic battle.

Legendary Exclusive Moves

As we pointed out yesterday, both Lugia and Ho-Oh appear to use their respective signature moves Aeroblast and Sacred Fire. For those unfamiliar with the Pokemon franchise, “signature moves” are moves that can exclusively be used by a single species of Pokemon.

If Pokemon Go does add Aeroblast and Sacred Fire to the game, it opens the possibility that other Pokemon will eventually get their signature moves too. A lot of Pokemon have signature moves, and adding some exclusive moves could open up Pokemon Go‘s metagame in surprising ways.

After all, players tend to use the same set of high Attack Pokemon in gym battles no matter what, but a few special moves could add some unpredictability and variety to the game.

No Legendary Beasts or Mythical Pokemon

Most of the trailer involved players fighting Pokemon‘s five Legendary birds. Using these Legendary Pokemon in the trailer makes sense in terms of recognition, as Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres are the mascots for Pokemon Go‘s three teams, and Lugia and Ho-Oh were the “mascot Legendaries” for Pokemon Gold and Silver.

However, there were some other Pokemon notably absent in the trailer. The Legendary Beasts Entei, Raikou, and Suicune didn’t make an appearance, nor did the Mythical Pokemon Mew and Celebi. It’s likely that Pokemon Go is holding both sets of Pokemon back until most players have had the chance to catch some or all of the Legendary Birds.

Knowing how Pokemon Go operates, we might not see all of the Legendary Pokemon in the game until later this fall or even into early 2018.

But a Mewtwo at the End

Another Legendary Pokemon missing from the trailer’s massive Legendary Pokemon battle was Mewtwo, which is arguably the most powerful Pokemon in Pokemon Go. However, Mewtwo did make a cameo appearance flying away from the raid at the very end of the trailer.

Mewtwo was a prominent part of Pokemon Go‘s first trailer, released long before players had any idea what Raids would eventually look like. Since Pokemon Go is promoting Legendary Raids as a new feature, it makes sense that they wouldn’t rehash a battle we’ve already seen.

Mewtwo was one of our guesses as to which Legendary Pokemon will appear at Pokemon Go Fest this weekend, but Mewtwo’s fleeting cameo could indicate that Pokemon Go is holding back this Pokemon for later too.