Totodile, Cyndaquil and Chikorita are all names of the three starters of the Gen 2 Pokemon franchise. Now the whole world can catch them all.
On Feb. 16 Pokemon Go was updated and Niantic added new, exciting features. Besides adding new Pokemon, they have added new berries, items to get more evolutions, new batches of Pokemon eggs, a brand new pokeball rolling mechanism and a new movement to wild Pokemon, making them harder to catch.
Does this seem quick for Gen 2 to come out? It isn’t really. The game was first released July 6 last year. To keep people playing with the original 150 Pokemon, Niantic has had many events in the past in an effort to get the general public playing again.
The first Pokemon Go event was for Halloween. Ghost Pokemon became more common everywhere, and that’s when Gengar became less rare to capture and see in gyms.
Then for the Christmas/New Year event Pokemon Go had present boxes of items that you could buy in the shop, but besides that they had a Gen 1 starter event where those three types of Pokemon (Bulbasaur Charmander and Squirtle) became more common. When everyone thought all the big events for the game were over, Niantic surprised everyone with a Valentine event where pink Pokemon were everywhere. Not even a week later, Gen 2 is released.
The question remains: will this bring players back to the app? There are drawbacks to playing the game again, but also positives — yet players are still intrigued with this phenomenal app that took the world by storm.
Even though players are catching all that they can, Niantic is trying their best to force players to start spending money on the game. Original storage for Pokemon was 250, but with the company adding many new Pokemon, it makes players more tempted to pay and buy the Pokemon storage upgrade. The company also made it possible for players to buy new outfits for their avatars.
Even with these downsides, people are still playing. Pokemon groups on social media, especially Pokemon Go Idaho on Facebook, have been going wild sharing all the new Pokemon they have captured with the world. Also, being a Pokemon Goer myself, I’ve noticed that Blissey (Gen 2) has been added to the strongest Pokemon in gyms recently, and is usually in every gym on campus. Blissey has been proven to be very difficult to beat in gyms, and players are taking advantage of it.
Does that mean people are playing this trendy game again? Not necessarily. Pokemon Go has been very popular because many people know the original 150 Pokemon the most. With players not knowing these new creatures their drive to play has died. But besides that, Niantic didn’t make it too apparent that the app was updated right away. A few days after the update, the screen stated that Gen 2 was added to the game.
Yet another drawback to the update is that the game is missing what some Pokemon players have been asking for ever since the game was released. There have been lots of controversial accidents/glitches of players catch-ing Gen 1 legendary Pokemon. Niantic still hasn’t added these creatures or Mew and Mewtwo. What does that mean for the next set of legendaries and the rest of Gen 2? When will it be added to this trendy addictive game?
Nevertheless, Pokemon Go is still an amazing app that gives people exercise, and a fun thing to do with friends. At the University of Idaho campus I still see people running to catch Pokemon. People do still do play this game, and talk about the new Pokemon around campus.
Pokemon Go is an app that isn’t going anywhere soon, if anything Niantic will come up with a new event — maybe for Saint Patrick’s Day?
To all the Pokemon masters, good luck catching them all, and happy hunting.
Lindsay Trombly can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lindsay_trombly