7 Theories About the Coming 'Pokemon GO' Additions

Expect big news regarding Pokémon GO on Monday. Niantic teased that they would be making an announcement on December 12 regarding the new Pokémon arriving in an upcoming update. We’ve been waiting for new Pokémon to wander into our neighborhoods for quite some time now, and excitement for the next wave is quite high. But even knowing that there’s more critters to come, what exactly is coming and when remains unclear. Here’s what we might expect.

New Starter Pokémon

A new generation means new starter Pokémon. If this is the Generation II update, that means new players will likely get to choose from Chikorita (Grass-type), Totodile (Water-type), and Cyndaquil (Fire-type). All of them are great options, though Totodile is commonly considered the toughest of the bunch. It’s hard to say if Niantic will let us choose new starters to celebrate the big launch, but either way, these new starter Pokémon will likely be catchable in the wild.

New Competitive Potential

Pokémon Silver, Gold, and Crystal introduced new Pokémon types, paving the way for new elemental balances and hybrid typings. Onyx, for example, gets a new evolved form, Steelix, in Generation II that is a formidable Steel/Ground-type. With the potential addition of 99 new Pokémon, there’s a lot more room for competition at gyms. Psychic can now be thwarted with Dark-type Pokémon, while others get new typings that make things extra exciting.

New Eeveelutions

The addition of Espeon (Psychic-type) and Umbreon (Dark-type) are almost inevitable, but everyone loves their Eeveelutions, and these two are some of the most popular. Stock up on your Eevee candies, folks.

New Partnerships

Just this past week, Starbucks launched a new campaign alongside Pokémon GO transforming locations across the country into PokéStops and serving up Pokémon GO-themed drinks. Sprint, too, has plans to partner up with Pokémon GO, but we suspect this is just the beginning.

In the coming weeks, it’s likely Niantic will reveal more Pokémon-friendly businesses. In Japan, McDonald’s ran a Pokémon GO campaign, so perhaps expect something similar to pop up stateside. Pokémon GO Happy Meal toys, anyone? We can see video game retailers jumping into the fray, too. GameStop has hosted Pokémon events in the past, so who’s to say they wouldn’t want to cash in on Pokémon GO as well? Toys“R”Us could be a likely candidate, too.

The Legendary Birds, Mew, and Mewtwo

Even with the promise of new, run-of-the-mill Pokémon coming down the line, we still haven’t had any real word of Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres, Mew, or Mewtwo’s whereabouts. Some suspect Niantic is still figuring out how to release these Pokémon into the wild without causing mass hysteria, but they’ve had plenty of time. Unleash the legendaries! It would certainly be the perfect Christmas gift.

Generation II Legendaries

Of course, that raises the question of when we’ll be seeing Generation II’s own set of legendaries. In this case, we have the three legendary dogs, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. And then there’s the two version exclusives, Lugia and Ho-oh, and mythical Pokémon Celebi.

The three dogs alone could be an interesting addition. In the games, they ran around the world at random until you, the trainer, bumped into one accidentally. They run away very quickly, so the only way to catch one is to whittle their HP down over the course of the game and track them on the map once you get their Pokédex data. It was a maddening but thrilling process. Perhaps Niantic will sneak a bit of that spirit into Pokémon GO? I can see a sort of collective effort to hunt down the three dogs cooperatively. How fun would that be?

Exclusive Spawns

More Pokémon means more room for exclusive spawns. As it stands now, there are a few region-exclusive Pokémon. Tauros only appears in North America, while Farfetch’d, Kangaskhan, and Mr. Mime only show up in Asia, Australia, and Europe respectively.

But what about Generation II? Miltank or Teddiursa both seem like natural choices for North American exclusives. Corsola would make an adorable tribute to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Natu and Xatu, both based on Native American, Aztec, and Mayan spirituality, would be a fitting exclusive for South America. Heracross, meanwhile, resembles the giant stag beetle and would easily fit in in Asia.