Niantic wasn’t all that subtle about the upcoming Team Rocket for Pokémon GO, because it literally flew the rocket on Pokémon GO FEST last week. But thanks to the GO Chrales dataminer, we know exactly how Team Rocket will come to the game.
The next event will force us to fight Team Rocket, capture Pokémon from them and save them. There are three steps to this process that have been developed so far, including an activity dialog:
Introduction to Invasion Ground:
“Some mysterious characters have appeared on PokeStops! Be careful, this can turn into a battle!”
So Rocket will appear in several Pokestops, where you’ll fight them as if they were in charge of a mini-raid or something. It’s probably something you can do 1×1 instead of needing a group, like most rallies.
So here is where things get interesting. After Rocket loses, get all the Pokémon they are using. But not just any Pokémon, a Shadow Pokémon, which was introduced in Pokémon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness. In fact, it is a Pokémon whose “essence” has been captured by the forces of evil and you have to purify it to save it.
Grunt Shade Cleaning:
“It seems we can help this Pokémon to become stronger through a process called purification. Let’s try!”
The process of purification here is unclear, but if we are based on the ancient games, you can purify a Dark Pokémon by fighting it, walking with it, putting it in kindergarten, using perfumes or putting it in a purification chamber. Since this is Pokémon GO and half of that stuff does not exist here, logic would probably require purifying those Pokémon by walking with them, fighting them, or perhaps leaving them in gyms and feeding them with wild fruits. Walking with them as a friend seems a pretty obvious way to cleanse them, given the origin of the Dark Pokémon concept, but let’s see what Niantic does.
Does this event sound … quite radically?
I remember years ago that I was pleading with Niantic for Team Rocket to invade the game, and eventually, I grew up where such a thing is not only possible but inevitable. We don’t have a start date, but I have the feeling that the event will be released next week or two. I’m not sure if it will be limited in time or it will only be a part of the game. I suppose it will be a repetitive “rally event” that appears from time to time with the new Shadow Pokémon introduced with time.
Exciting times to be a GO player. Niantic really turns this game into something special.
Recent data from the Pokémon player, Go Chrales, showed that “shadow pokemon” are entering the mobile game.
Final Words
What it means is not entPokémon GOirely clear, because all we have to solve is the dialogue that Chrales discovered. According to data published on Twitter, Pokémon Rockets will appear in Pokéstops and defeat them with an unknown method, abandoning the Pokemon they fight against you. These Pokémon have a dangerous aura and are slightly different from ordinary Pokémon. “The Datamines also mentions the purification of Pokémon, but it is not known how the players will do it.
