Pokemon Go Reveals October and Halloween-Themed Event Details

October is nearly upon us, and Pokemon Go is celebrating with new information on events coming to the mobile game during the month. Fans can look forward to new items for their avatar, the game's usual Halloween event, and a holiday-themed cup in GO Battle League season 4. In addition to these updates, Niantic has also revealed new details regarding the Legendary Raid Battles players can participate in. The first of these will kick-off this Friday. A special Raid Boss will be available closer to Halloween, but the developer is keeping things quiet, for now! Here's the official word from Niantic:

• From Friday, September 25, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. to Friday, October 2, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. PDT (GMT −7), Zapdos will be available to challenge in five-star raids.
• From Friday, October 2, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. to Friday, October 9, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. PDT (GMT −7), Moltres will be available to challenge in five-star raids.
• From Friday, October 9, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. to Friday, October 23, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. PDT (GMT −7), Origin Forme Giratina will be available to challenge in five-star raids. If you're lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!

In addition to Legendary Raid Battles, Niantic also revealed the schedule for Pokemon Spotlight Hours.

• Tuesday, October 6, 2020: World Cap Pikachu will be in the spotlight, and you'll earn twice the XP for catching Pokémon.
• Tuesday, October 13, 2020: Original Cap Pikachu will be in the spotlight, and you'll earn twice the Candy for catching Pokémon.
• Tuesday, October 20, 2020: Shuppet will be in the spotlight, and you'll earn twice the Candy for transferring Pokémon.
• Tuesday, October 27, 2020: Duskull will be in the spotlight, and you'll earn twice the XP for evolving Pokémon.

In addition to the Spotlight Hours, fans can also look forward to the next Pokemon Go Community Day, which will feature Charmander. The event has been confirmed for October, but a date has not been given, as of this writing. Since the Porygon Community Day event just wrapped up, it seems likely fans will be waiting until later in the month.

On October 10th, Meowth fans will get the chance to obtain all of the Pokemon's currently discovered regional variants. From 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time, players will be able to complete Field Research tasks to obtain the Kanto, Alola, and Galar versions of Meowth.

The month of October will give players the chance to complete a new Research Breakthrough encounter centered around Shedinja. From October 1st through November 1st, participants will have the chance to encounter the Bug/Ghost-type Pokemon by completing certain research tasks. If that's not enough, an event celebrating Niantic's anniversary will be held sometime in October, there's the recently announced Fashion Week event, and an event surrounding the changing of the seasons. All in all, it seems like Pokemon Go players will be pretty busy over the next few weeks!

Are you looking forward to playing Pokemon Go in October? What Special Raid Boss are you hoping to see around Halloween? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!