 Pokemon Go's Pokemon Day event is underway until March 2. Not only has Niantic brought Armored Mewtwo back for the occasion, it has also introduced new kinds of Pokemon to the game: Clone Pokemon. Like Mewtwo, you can encounter these monsters in Raids, but they'll only be around for a limited time. If you're hoping to catch a few of them while you can, we've broken down everything you need to know about Clone Pokemon below.
What Are Clone Pokemon? Like Armored Mewtwo, Clone Pokemon are from the Pokemon movie Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution (which itself is a CG remake of the very first Pokemon film from 1998). They are just as their name says--cloned versions of other Pokemon that Mewtwo created. While their general appearance is the same, they feature unique patterns on their bodies that regular Pokemon don't have. What Clone Pokemon Are There? There are four different Clone Pokemon in Go:
Each of these Clone Pokemon will be available until the Pokemon Day events at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on March 2. Aside from their unique appearance, what makes the Clone versions of Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise special is they each know their respective Community Day moves, which they can't normally learn outside of that event. Clone Venusaur knows Frenzy Plant; Clone Charizard knows Blast Burn; and Clone Blastoise knows Hydro Cannon. These attacks are all very useful in battle, so it's a good idea to catch some Clone Pokemon before they leave the game. How To Catch Clone Pokemon Clone Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise will appear in four-star Raids throughout the Pokemon Day event, so to catch them, you'll first need to team up with other players and defeat them in battle. Here are some good Pokemon to bring along when you face each:
Clone Pikachu, meanwhile, can be encountered a little differently. When you take a photo of a Pokemon using the game's Go Snapshot feature, there's a chance Clone Pikachu will photobomb your picture. If that happens, it will appear in the wild once you back out of the menu. Tap and catch it as you would any other Pokemon to add it to your collection.
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 Pokemon Go's Pokemon Day event is now live. Not only can you find special party hat-wearing versions of Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, and other Pokemon for a limited time, but Armored Mewtwo has returned to Raids as well, and this time it knows the Psychic-type Charged attack Psystrike.
Until the Pokemon Day event ends on March 2, Armored Mewtwo will appear in five-star Raids, making this your first chance to catch it since July 2019. If you need help adding one to your collection, we've put together some tips on how to battle and capture Armored Mewtwo below. What's Different About Armored Mewtwo The most obvious difference between Mewtwo and this new Armored form is its appearance. This version of the Legendary Psychic Pokemon is wearing the same power-suppressing armor that it dons in the Pokemon movie Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution. As a result, it has lower attack power than a standard Mewtwo, but it compensates by having higher defense. As previously mentioned, this Armored Mewtwo is also different from the one that appeared back in July. This time, the Pokemon knows Psystrike, a powerful Psychic-type Charged attack. Since Armored Mewtwo typically can't learn this move, it's a good idea to catch it while it's still available, even if you already have one from its previous appearance. How To Find Armored Mewtwo Throughout the Pokemon Day event, Armored Mewtwo will appear as a Raid boss in five-star Raid Battles. These Raids can happen at any time, but you'll be able to tell when one is about to begin. Prior to the Raid, a giant egg and countdown timer will appear over a Gym. The color of the egg signifies what level the Raid will be; if the egg is blue, the Raid boss will be Armored Mewtwo. You'll also be notified in-game when a nearby Raid is about to occur. Once you find an Armored Mewtwo Raid, you'll need to travel to the Gym that's hosting the Raid and exchange a Raid Pass to participate. You can get one free Raid Pass when you spin the Photo Disc at a Gym, but you can only hold one of these free passes at a time. (You can also purchase Raid Passes from Pokemon Go's in-game store.) After joining a Raid, you and your teammates will have a limited amount of time to battle Armored Mewtwo. If you can successfully defeat it, everyone who participated in the Raid will earn a chance to catch the Legendary. Armored Mewtwo Weaknesses And Counters Despite its appearance, Armored Mewtwo is still a pure Psychic type, which means it's vulnerable to the same kinds of Pokemon as a regular Mewtwo. Ghost, Bug, and Dark types in particular have an advantage over it in battle, so you'll want to fill your team with Pokemon of those types before heading into the Raid. Your best choices when facing Armored Mewtwo will be other Legendary Pokemon such as Darkrai and Origin Forme Giratina. Hydregion, Weavile, and Gengar can all dish out super-effective damage against Armored Mewtwo as well. However, Gengar will take super-effective damage in return due to its Poison typing, so it may not last very long. Scizor is another solid choice; it can deal super-effective damage with Bug moves, while its Steel typing will help insulate it from Mewtwo's Psychic attacks. Two types of Pokemon you'll want to avoid using, however, are Poison and Fighting. Each type is vulnerable to Psychic attacks, so they'll get knocked out fairly quickly by Psystrike. You can see more tips for facing Armored Mewtwo on the official Pokemon website.  Rhyhorn was the winner of the first Community Day poll in Pokémon GO, and so the exclusive move that Rhyperior was able to learn during Rhyhorn’s Community Day is Rock Wrecker! But how good is Rock Wrecker Rhyperior? Let’s see how it performs in PvE and PvP.
Rock Wrecker First of all, let’s take a look at the stats of Rock Wrecker. 110 base power for 50 energy looks pretty solid by itself, but it must be said that the move is a bit slow. Is it good though? Yes, overall the move is pretty good, but just not as good as other Community Day moves such as Hydro Cannon or Meteor Mash. In fact, its stats are very similar to Blast Burn‘s (110 DMG, 3.3s cooldown, 2.75s dmg window). Wanna see how it compares to other top-tier charge moves in Pokémon GO? Don’t worry, we have prepared a table sorted by DPS*DPE where some (not all) of those very good moves are listed for comparison. Important note! Although DPS*DPE is a very decent metric to rank charge moves, the damage window should also be considered somehow. For those of you wondering what the damage window is, it’s the time elapsed until the charge move connects (and thus the damage is actually applied). If you faint between the moment you press the charge move button and the moment the damage applies, NO damage is actually taken into account. The shorter this time is, the better the move will be! That’s why this variable also matters a lot. As you can see, Rock Wrecker is very good. It’s an upgrade over Rock Slide and Stone Edge, the best rock type charge moves in the game until now. Although it might feel a bit too slow, the move is pretty decent. Keep in mind that due to Rock Wrecker’s huge base power & large damage window, fainting right before the final Rock Wrecker connects might influence Rhyperior’s performance significantly. PvP stats Rock Wrecker is a heavy-hitting charge move (110 BP ain’t no joke!) and one of the most energy-efficient too, which means that the move is very good! 50 energy cost might seem a little steep, but Rock Wrecker is without a doubt one of those moves that you might want to shield even if it does not deal super effective damage against you. Pretty solid, don’t you think? Keep in mind that DPE is not the only metric to consider in PvP (and don’t forget that using some of these moves above will decrease your stats!). If a move is energy-efficient but it takes too long to charge it up, then you might end up losing the game due to fast move damage from the opponent. Although Rock Wrecker is not the spammiest charge move in the game, 50 energy cost ain’t that bad. Furthermore, 110 Base Power will allow it to hit pretty hard when shields are down. Overall, a very good move. Rock Wrecker Rhyperior in PvE – can it raid? Now that we know how powerful Rock Wrecker is in Pokémon GO, it’s time to analyse how well Rhyperior can make use of it. The competition is fierce, can Rhyperior live up to the expectations though? Although Rhyperior can also be used as a very decent ground type Pokémon (with Mud Slap and Earthquake), Rhyperior performs better as a rock type attacker. Rhyperior’s typing makes it extremely vulnerable to water and grass type moves, and if a raid boss knows a charge move of any of these types, it’s almost game over for Rhyperior, whose performance is hindered significantly. Some examples below:
Rock type moves are super effective against fire, flying, bug and ice type Pokémon. There are plenty of legendary raid bosses weak to rock type moves, which basically means that Rhyperior might be a very useful attacker in raids. The main focus of the comparison is to see how the rock type attackers compare, that’s why other raid attackers with different typings have not been considered unless they are #1 or perform extremely well against that raid boss. Several things can be seen in the graphs above. Just take a look at the number of faints if Tornadus has Grass Knot… quite a significant amount for Rhyperior even though it is quite bulky, don’t you think? That’s one of the main drawbacks of using it against raid bosses with water and grass type charge moves in their movepool. As you can see, Rhyperior offers a great performance with an estimator that is not that far from Rampardos’ and with less than half the amount of faints thanks to its bulk and TDO. Rhyperior will be one of the best counters against Thundurus, period. But let’s go a bit further. With Reshiram, one of the future fire type kings, in the horizon, we want you to be prepared for what’s to come, and Rhyperior is looking absolutely amazing in this case! As it can be seen in the graphs above, Rhyperior is an amazing rock type attacker. Rampardos is a beast when it comes to raw damage output, whereas Rhyperior is a bulkier option with less DPS but significantly better bulk and TDO (which means less relobbies and less revives needed). In a neutral and fair scenario, Rampardos would take the edge mainly due to its massive attack stat (above most legendary Pokémon, in fact!). However, Rhyperior’s bulk would compensate for its lack of DPS (when comparing it to Rampardos) and their performances would not be too far apart, as it can be seen in the graphs. Finally, let’s see if Rhyperior has any niche uses. As a ground and rock type Pokémon, it has something that Rampardos (and the other top-tier rock type attackers) do not have: an immunity-tier resistance (2xresistance in GO) to electric type moves. Just take a look at the amount of times Rampardos faints and how long it lasts in battle. With that moveset, Rhyperior can go solo until the 300s timer stops. And in fact, a full team of Rock Wrecker Rhyperior will take out half of Zapdos’ total health (15000HP, Tier 5) without even needing to relobby. TS/TP Thundurus shows a similar output but it must be taken into account that those moves (especially Thunder Shock) do not hit as hard as CB, thus the type advantage from Rhyperior is less noticeable. Thus, it can be said that Rhyperior ranks #2 in the list of best rock type attackers in the game as of now. Should you invest in a Rock Wrecker Rhyperior? Absolutely! Unless you already have a team of maxed out Rampardos and don’t care about relobbying. It’s not really worth maxing out 6 Rock Wrecker Rhyperior if you already have a team of very strong rock type attackers, but if you have a couple of empty spots in your rock type attacking lineup, Rock Wrecker Rhyperior will not disappoint you at all. It offers everything you need: very decent DPS, great bulk and TDO (watch out for grass/water type moves, though) and a better accessibility than other top-tier rock type attackers in the game. Rock Wrecker Rhyperior in PvP – a force to reckon? Alright alright, enough PvE for now: Let’s focus on PvP. Great and Ultra Leagues Unfortunately Rhyperior does not have enough bulk to be viable in these two leagues, as its attack stat is too high. Furthermore, there is fierce competition and plenty of meta counters that can absolutely destroy Rhyperior due to its large set of weaknesses. Master League Things change quite a bit in the Master League, where its bulk can be maximized and you can take full advantage of its potential. Rhyperior can be used as a counter to plenty of relevant meta defining Pokémon, which makes it part of the meta too. Examples are: Dialga, Melmetal, Heatran and Melmetal. Why Mud Slap and not Smack Down? Well, if you want to counter the meta threats just listed, you’d appreciate having Mud Slap as your fast move instead of Smack Down. Rock Wrecker is a must and Surf is the chosen 2nd charge move for coverage. Superpower could be a nice alternative depending on your team composition, though. Let’s go to PvPoke (a wonderful PvP resource!) and run some simulations to see how Rock Wrecker Rhyperior performs. All credit from the sims below goes to PvPoke. What does Rhyperior win/lose to in a 1-shield scenario?
A 40% win rate against the Master League meta subset is not that bad, especially if some of the wins are against some of the best Pokémon in the league. But what happens if towards the end of the battle you have shield advantage? Due to Rock Wrecker’s massive damage output, the win rate goes up significantly. From the losses listed below, the only ones that persist are Pokémon like Swampert, Kyogre, Garchomp, Lugia, Giratina and Machamp. To sum up, terrible matchups. And even then, in some cases having a little bit of extra health than your opponent can flip the matchup! If your opponent does have a Rock Wrecker Rhyperior in the back and shield advantage, you’re probably gonna have a bad time. Conclusions
 Today is a rather special Community Day in Pokémon GO, one where players were actually the ones to get to pick the Pokémon chosen to be featured. Between Vulpix, Dratini, Machop and Rhyhorn, players chose Rhyhorn. Probably not because of any particular attachment to the Gen 1 Pokémon, but rather everyone wanting its powerful Gen 4 evolution, Rhyperior.
Community Day is live today at 11 AM local time and runs for three hours with 3x bonus catch Stardust, which is the perfect Community Day modifier if you ask me. And while players are looking for high IV Rhyhorns, a main attraction of Community Day, as ever, is to get a shiny powerful final evolution by the end of the day. The official catch rate for shinies on Community Day is 4.1%, meaning about in every 24-25 encounters should get you a shiny. You can bolster the amount of chances you get at finding shinies by activating three hour lures for the duration of the event, and by having incense running at all times, which generates more Community Day Rhyhorns spawning on top of you. Unlike some of the other shinies, Rhyhorn, Rhydon and Rhyperior are pretty noticeable in their shiny forms. Rhyhorn and Rhydon are more of a sandstone color than traditional grey, and the Rhyperior flips his armor plating from orange to bright yellow, making him very easy to spot. The special movie you get from evolving a Rhyperior today is Rock Wrecker, which you will not be able to get any other time, making a shiny, Rock Wrecker Rhyperior one of the more rare Pokémon in the game. You need to find the highest IV shiny you have at the end of the three hours and evolve it to make sure it gets the unique movie. There’s a catch, however, as you will need a Sinnoh Stone to evolve Rhydon into Rhyperior. Those are…somewhat less rare than they used to be when they first arrived, so hopefully you have kept a few around in your inventory for a special occasion like this. If there was ever a time to urgent use one, it would be now. Rhyperior is a pretty dominant force in the GO raiding and battling scene, which is why everyone will be on the hunt for the best version of him they can find today. The shiny part is just an added bonus, but when he’s someone that will probably be on your core team for a long while, you might as well make him styling as well as powerful  Another event is dropping out of the blue, this time focusing heavily on friendship bonuses!
Friendship Weekend Duration During this time, the following bonuses will be available:
While not the most exciting update for many, it does provide a few opportunities. For example; finally hitting Best Friends with that one friend, making that unowned Legendary and/or Shiny trade, or hoarding 7k eggs in hopes of that big hatch from the ongoing Fossil Pokemon event. Strangely, this event has only been mentioned in-app, and as of the posting of this news it has not been added to the official Pokemon Go news site. Either way, do you plan to take advantage of this event? Let us know what you think below?  February's been a busy month for Pokemon Go, but there are still a couple of events lined up for the game before the month comes to an end. On top of the upcoming Pokemon Day event, there's February's Community Day, which takes place this Saturday, February 22.
Community Days typically only run for three hours, but the specifics of each event--such as what Pokemon you're more likely to find--vary month by month. To help you get ready for this month's event, we've rounded up everything you need to know about February's Community Day below. What Is February's Featured Pokemon? Each Community Day event revolves around one "featured" Pokemon, which will appear more frequently throughout the event. While Niantic usually chooses the featured Pokemon each month, this time the developer gave players the chance to vote on February's featured Pokemon, and the winner was Rhyhorn. Throughout this month's Community Day, you'll be more likely to find Rhyhorn in the wild and in Raid Battles. On top of that, you'll have your first chance to encounter a Shiny Rhyhorn during the event. These will appear in the wild rarely, but you should be able to find some with a little persistence. What Is February's Community Day Move? In addition to increased Pokemon spawns, each Community Day offers the chance to snag an event-exclusive move. If you can evolve the featured Pokemon into its final form by the end of the event, it'll automatically know an attack that it otherwise couldn't learn in Pokemon Go. This month's Community Day move is Rock Wrecker, a powerful Rock-type Charged attack. If you can evolve Rhydon--Rhyhorn's evolved form--into Rhyperior up to two hours after the Community Day ends, it'll know Rock Wrecker as one of its attacks. This applies to any Rhydon you evolve during the designated time frame, even if you caught them prior to the Community Day. What Time Does February's Community Day Start? Just as last month, February's Community Day will take place at different times depending on where you live. In the Northern Hemisphere, the event will run from 11 AM to 2 PM local time; in the Southern Hemisphere, the Community Day takes place from 3 PM to 6 PM local time. This means players in the Northern Hemisphere will have until 4 PM local time to get a Rhyperior with Rock Wrecker, while those in the Southern Hemisphere will have until 8 PM local time. February Community Day Event Times
What Other Bonuses Are Available? Along with increased Rhyhorn spawns, another bonus will be available during February's Community Day. Throughout the event, you'll earn three times the normal amount of Stardust for capturing Pokemon. This applies to any pocket monster you catch during February's Community Day, not just Rhyhorn.  Pokémon Go, the popular Niantic mobile game, is having a fossil fest, as 7 kilometer eggs now only hatch fossil Pokémon. These eggs require players to incubate them and then walk a specified distance; for example, some eggs require just 2 kilometers of walking, whereas others require 10 kilometers. Though players normally find these eggs at PokéStops, they can only receive 7 km eggs as gifts from friends. This requires them to add real-world friends who play Pokémon Go as friends in the game, who then become known as fellow Pokémon trainers, and then send and receive up to one gift per day.
Different types of eggs hatch specific types of Pokémon. In the past, 7 km eggs have shaken out baby Pokémon, such as the popular little Pichu, as well as Alolan Pokémon, which are unique forms of existing Pokémon. More recently, during the game's Valentine's Day Event, 7 kilometer eggs revealed pink Pokémon such as Alomomola, Cleffa, Happiny, and Porygon, to name just a few. According to Pokémon Go's website, 7 kilometer eggs are now only hatching fossils. Specifically, the Pokémon players can find from these eggs are Omanyte, Kabuto, Aerodactyl, Lileep, Anorith, Cranidos, Shieldon, Tirtouga, and Archen. These Pocket Monsters will no longer hatch from any other eggs, which means if players want to obtain one, they need a friend to send them a gift and hope it contains a 7 km egg. Pokémon Go players know that with this game, any day can bring a change that will shake up their Pokéball-throwing routines. That's part of the fun of the mobile Pokémon title: It thrives on community events and updates that generates buzz among players, many of whom have been logging in since the game first came out in 2016. Players love the game so much, one even went so far as to bake incredibly detailed treats for fellow Pokémon Trainers on Community Days. The Pokémon series has long hosted these Prehistoric fossil-type Pokémon, with some being more coveted than others. Every player has their own favorites, but a few of the fossil Pokémon now available from 7 km eggs are sought-after. For instance, the shrimp-like Anorith evolves into Armaldo, a strong tank with a set of gorgeous armor, and Aerodactyl, a Pokémon resurrected from Old Amber rather than plain old rocks like the rest of them, is one of the more imposing figures in Pokémon battles, with his gigantic wingspan and dragon-like mouth. Players keen on obtaining these rare Pocket Monsters soon should grab their friends to start gift exchanges. As is so often the case with Pokémon Go, nobody knows how long this particular hatching rule will last.  The long awaited Go Battle League has been out for a few weeks now and it is great to see Niantic responding to feedback. The walking distance got reduced from 5 km to 3 km, stacking kilometers became a thing and total daily battles went from 15 to 25. Here’s what some of us at GoHub thinks about Go Battle League so far.
BinetCauchy The Good:
The Bad:
Rudolf Go Battle League got me interested in PvP for the first time. I mean, I never liked the Silph Arena thing and was waiting for Go Battle League for a long time. It did not disappoint me at all as you can battle directly from home and earn cool perks for it! As for teams, I always go with Pokemon that can cover each other (A technique I got from Silph Arena players). I have won some battles with this method and its really cool! Fitz City I like the randomness of opponents around the world. Not seeing their team can be discouraging, but knowing the meta helps! Off-meta Pokemon are the key to winning in my eyes! As far as the feature goes, still needs some work on bugs that slow play or cause an immediate loss. All in all, great feature that allows many Pokemon to thrive! Not just the “meta” 😉 Grumwitch I was pretty pumped on getting five charged TMs and being able to battle people from around the world. I’m not sure why Pokecoins are involved in what is considered the “competitive” feature of the game. Blind 3’s can be fun but not when every match is a super meta team or an anti meta team. It would be awesome if we can have a team of six and choose a line of three, maybe there can be a 30-45 second lobby screen where we can see both teams of six? I get it, it’s Pokemon “Go” but I’m not too fond of the walking or paying to battle. I don’t mind missing out on the rewards if battling was for free and without the kilometer requirements. All in all, it’s been pretty fun. Zeroghan I find the variety challenging! Sure, some folks go for the optimal team compositions and try to min max everything, but the occasional Venomoth or a weird encounter with Vileplume was really refreshing. I do find the difference between matchups a bit daunting, as some fights feel super easy, and others feel like I’m being stomped, but it’s all fun. The lack of a “creative”, aka unranked mode is fairly weird, as that is really missing. Don’t remember seeing any serious PvP games missing out on unranked.  Every Pokémon fan has dreamt of a place where they can gather all of the Pokémon they have discovered. With Pokémon Home, a new cloud service from Nintendo, this is finally possible. This new app allows you to transfer Pokémon from older generation games to Sword and Shield, trade with people from around the world and more! Here is everything you need to know about Pokémon Home.
What is Pokémon Home and how does it work? Pokémon Home is a cloud-based service which works as a hub for all your Pokémon. You can store, trade and transfer them to and from recent Pokémon games with some restrictions. The app is now available for Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch. You can download it for free, but it has some premium features which can only be unlocked with a monthly subscription. To get the most out of Pokémon Home, you need to link it to your Nintendo account, and you will be prompted to do so when setting up the app. That will allow you to transfer Pokémon to and from Sword and Shield, as well as Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee! and Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu!, and to add Pokémon from older 3DS games through Pokémon Bank. In the future, you will also be able to add your Pokémon Go collection to the cloud service. But these aren’t the only perks. Here are some other cool features that Pokémon Home offers:
Trading Pokémon Trading is an essential part of the Pokémon experience — it has been available since the first Pokémon game when you had to connect two Gameboys with a cable to swap Pokémon with a friend or evolve your Haunter into a Gengar. Nowadays, things are much easier, especially with the help of Pokémon Home. The service offers four ways to trade Pokémon. Here is a quick explanation of how they all work. Wonder Box trading Wonder Box trading is basically blind trading. You put a Pokémon you want to get rid of in your Wonder Box and it will be replaced with another random player’s Pokémon. You don’t need to be interacting with the app for the trade to take place. With a free plan, you can trade up to three Pokémon at the same time using this method. Global Trade System (GTS) trading GTS trading allows you to specify what Pokémon you want to receive in a trade. For example, if you want to trade your Venomoth for a Gengar, the app will try to match you with a trainer whose trade requests meet your criteria. Don’t expect to get rare Pokémon in exchange for your Ratata, though! Trading is always better with more people! This is exactly what Room Trade offers, as its name implies. With a premium plan, you can create a room which holds up to 20 people and exchange Pokémon to your heart’s content. Be careful though — you don’t know what you will get until the trade is complete. Friends Trade This is the most self-explanatory trading method. Simply add Pokémon Home friends through the app and swap some Pokémon! Games compatible with Pokémon Home Transferring Pokémon between the Home app and multiple games in the franchise is one of the main perks the cloud service offers. Here are all the compatible titles:
However, moving Pokémon is a bit more complicated than it might seem on the surface. At the moment, the games which offer the greatest freedom of movement are Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield — you can add and receive Pokémon via the Pokémon Home app on both games. The same doesn’t apply to other titles on the list. You can move Pokémon between Let’s Go Eevee! and Let’s Go Pikachu!, but if you place any of them in Sword and Shield, they are there to stay and can’t be transferred back to their original game. Moving Pokémon from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon Home is also a one-way transfer. It’s also important to note that you can only transfer supported Pokémon — no Gen 2 or higher Pokémon can make it onto Let’s Go Eevee! and Let’s Go Pikachu!, for example. Pokémon Home price and premium features As previously mentioned, Pokémon Home can be downloaded for free on all three available platforms. However, if you want to make the most of it, the service has a paid Premium Plan. It costs $3 per month or $16 a year. Here are the features subscribing to Pokémon Home will net you: Moving Pokémon from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon Home
 Pokémon Home launched overnight Tuesday, giving fans of the Nintendo franchise the ability to transfer Pokémon from past games to Sword and Shield through a centralized cloud database, but whatever happened to integrating Pokémon GO into the mix?
Currently, Home directly links together Sword and Shield, the Let’s Go games, and eight 3DS games. In theory, it's even possible to transfer pocket monsters all the way from Game Boy Advance titles as well. When it was originally announced, Pokémon Home was said to also incorporate the smash-hit mobile AR game Pokémon GO into the mix as well, but the service's surprise launch left GO hanging. For anyone anxiously wondering why the Pokémon Home mobile app can't interact in any way with Pokémon GO, just know that it's still in the works. "There are plans to support Pokémon GO in the future as well," Nintendo states plainly on Home’s landing page. Nintendo has yet to announce when gamers should expect to be able to transfer Pokémon from the mobile game to Home, but it's probably delayed because GO is unlike any other Pokémon game in existence right now, so integrating them can't be nearly as easy. Currently, Home directly links together Sword and Shield, the Let’s Go games, and eight 3DS games. In theory, it's even possible to transfer pocket monsters all the way from Game Boy Advance titles as well. When it was originally announced, Pokémon Home was said to also incorporate the smash-hit mobile AR game Pokémon GO into the mix as well, but the service's surprise launch left GO hanging. For anyone anxiously wondering why the Pokémon Home mobile app can't interact in any way with Pokémon GO, just know that it's still in the works. "There are plans to support Pokémon GO in the future as well," Nintendo states plainly on Home’s landing page. Nintendo has yet to announce when gamers should expect to be able to transfer Pokémon from the mobile game to Home, but it's probably delayed because GO is unlike any other Pokémon game in existence right now, so integrating them can't be nearly as easy. WHEN WILL POKÉMON GO FUNCTIONALITY BE ADDED TO POKÉMON HOME? The next major update coming to Sword and Shield in June 2020 is the Isle of Armor expansion that will add new Pokémon, quests, and a whole new area of the Galar region explore. That DLC pack could feasibly include the smaller announcement of Pokémon GO getting support for Pokémon Home. Nintendo’s January Pokémon Direct primarily focused on the two-part expansion pass being added to Sword and Shield, but the company also took a few minutes to announce that Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX would be released on the Nintendo Switch in March. The company’s next Direct ahead of the Isle of Armor release might also include squeeze in some good news for Pokémon GO fans that want to train the pocket monsters they’ve caught on the app in Sword and Shield. HOW WILL POKÉMON HOME FUNCTION WITH POKÉMON GO? Once support for Pokémon GO is added to Home, players will be able to transfer the pocket monsters they found walking around using the mobile app into Sword and Shield, where they can be further trained and evolved. Home won't function the other way around, however, meaning that this one-way trip cannot happen in reverse. Pokémon can be transferred between Sword and Shield and the Home database, but anything added to Home has to stay there. The only requirement for Pokémon to be transferred into Sword and Shield is that they need to exist in the game's somewhat limited Pokédex. Therefore, attempting to transfer a Rattata you found in Pokémon GO to Sword and Shield won’t work because the purple rodent was cut from the Switch games. That means many players’ Pokémon will be stuck in the limbo that is Pokémon Home, but Nintendo has plans to try and remedy this. The companies added 35 additional Pokémon to the Galarian Pokédex Wednesday following the Pokémon Home announcement. Some highlights include the other two Kanto starters, Bulbasaur and Squirtle, along with Mew and Mewtwo. This move seemed like a direct answer to the “Dexit” controversy that bedeviled Sword and Shield even before they launched once fans realized many classic Pokémon would not be included in the Switch games. It’s possible that even more legacy Pokémon are added to the franchise’s latest releases in the future so gamers can make the most out of the critters they found in Pokémon GO and other titles from the series when the time comes. |