While all eyes might be on the upcoming full-blooded Pokémon game Pokémon Sword and Shield and the potentially massive Detective Pikachu, Niantic’s Pokemon Go is still going strong. Since its launch in 2016, the company has continually added new features to the game, including recently announcing that it would get a cool-sounding photography mode.
Now, to mark the changing of the seasons, they’ve revealed the Equinox Event, which will celebrate the arrival of spring (or autumn if you’re in the southern hemisphere). It starts on Tuesday, March 19th at 4 pm ET and runs until March 26th at 4 pm ET. Over the week, Grass-type Pokémon will appear more frequently in the wild, with Oddish, Exeggcute, Shroomish and Sunkern specifically mentioned in the announcement.
In addition, Pokémon Lunatone and Solrock will switch hemispheres permanently. So, if you haven’t caught either one yet, I’d advise doing that this weekend. There will also be Grass-type themed field research and more Grass-types turning up during raids.
In addition to all that, players will find new moves being permanently added to the game. The first of these is Acid Spray, which can be used by Arbok, Victreebel, Tentacruel, Muk, Alolan Muk, Quagsire, Qwilfish, Octillery and Swalot. The second is Leaf Tornado, which can currently only be used by Victreebel and Shiftry.
Some Pokémon Go fan sites theorize that there’s a suspicious lack of bonus XP, candy or any stardust bonus, but perhaps these may be added at a later date. Either way, it goes to show that this is still very much a developing game.
Thing is, though, Niantic is soon to be switching their attention to their much-hyped Harry Potter AR title Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, which is set for release in Q2 2019 and could very well syphon a lot of attention away from Pokémon Go. So, my advice is to enjoy the game while you still can.