Pokemon Go Players Might Have Only One Chance to Catch Mew

Pokemon Go players might only get one shot at capturing the Mythical Pokemon Mew.

Earlier this week, Pokemon Go announced that players would soon be able to encounter the Mythical Pokemon Mew as a reward for completing new "Field Research" quests. Players will need to complete a series of tasks assigned by Professor Willow (the hunky professor from the Pokemon Go universe) in order to make a "Research Breakthrough" that leads to Mew's appearance in the game.

However, Pokemon Go's Japanese webpage suggests that players will have only one chance to capture Mew. An asterisked note states that players can only complete the "Search for Mew" quest one time. If completing the "Search for Mew" quest is the only way to find Mew in Pokemon Go, then players have just one shot at capturing this Legendary Pokemon.

Players shouldn't get too anxious about their chances of capturing Mew, though. A recent datamine of the latest update by the folks over at the Silph Road suggested that the Mew encounter would be "very special" for trainers. It's possible that the Mew encounter would be more cinematic than a normal encounter and would end with a 100% chance of players getting Mew.

This wouldn't be the first time that players had a 100% chance of capturing a Pokemon in Pokemon Go. Players who attended the Pokemon Go Fest last year had a 100% chance of capturing Lugia (as long as they hit it with a PokeBall), and there's strong anecdotal evidence that players have a 100% chance of capturing any Shiny Lugia they encounter after a raid.

It's also possible that the "Search for Mew" quest will unlock Mew in Pokemon Go, leading to multiple encounters with the Mythical Pokemon. Yesterday, Pokemon Go developers added 3D assets for a Shiny variant of Mew in the game, which suggests that it would also become available as part of Special Research quests. Since Shiny Pokemon are super-rare and often require tons of hunting to find, some players might think it's unfair to not have any chance of ever seeing or capturing a Shiny Mew in their game.

We'll find out more about the Special Research and Mew when Pokemon Go officially launches the new feature later today. Stay tuned for more Pokemon Go coverage later this weekend!