‘Pokemon Go’ Will Add Missing “Gen 3” Pokemon in November

Pokemon Go has announced plans to add a long-missing “Gen 3” Pokemon to the game next month.

In a tweet sent out earlier today, Pokemon Go announced that Shedinja would be the Research Breakthrough reward for November. Shedinja is a Bug/Ghost-Type Pokemon and is one of several problematic “Gen 3” Pokemon still missing from the game.

Shedinja is technically an empty husk of a Pokemon, created when Nincada discards its exoskeleton while evolving. Shedinja is considered a “special evolution” as it only appears when a player evolves a Nincada and has an open slot in their six Pokemon team…and an extra Poke Ball.

What’s more – Shedinja has a special ability that doesn’t translate well in Pokemon Go. Shedinja only has 1 HP, but can only be injured by attacks that would typically be Super Effective against it. So, unless it’s a Fire, Flying, Rock, Ghost, or Dark-Type attack, Shedinja is invulnerable to harm.

Because of its strange evolving ability AND its strange ability (Pokemon in Pokemon Go don’t have abilities), developers have stalled on introducing Shedinja and its pre-evolved form into the game. By making the game a Research Breakthrough reward, developers have at least found a way around its screwy evolution. Hypothetically, this also means that Pokemon Go might also introduce Nincada and Ninjask in a future update.

With the introduction of Shedinja, Pokemon Go is only missing a few “Gen 3” Pokemon. In addition to Nincada and Ninjask, the game is also missing Clamperl and its evolutions Huntail and Gorebyss. The game is also missing Smeargle, a “Gen 2” Pokemon that uses its moves to permanently learn another Pokemon’s moves.

In order to obtain Shedinja, players will need to complete Field Research tasks on seven different days. Field Research tasks are quests given out by spinning Poke Stops, which also give out rewards like Pokemon encounters or items. November will have a bunch of Bug-themed Field Research tasks to keep with its big reward’s theme.