Pokemon GO and the legendary incomplete Pokedex
A small set of Pokemon from Gen 2 and 1 are set to be released during special events in Pokemon GO in the near future. For those users that are seeking to fill their Pokedex, there's also a set of Pokemon that are not able to be caught – but are able to be attained. Four separate categories of Pokemon can be separated – and not every Pokemon GO Trainer knows that this separation exists. The first category is the most obvious – common and catchable Pokemon.
Catchable Pokemon
The first category is the largest in Pokemon GO – that of the common Pokemon. Of the full 251 Pokemon in the game's code, just 220 are available to be captured in the wild. There's a number of Pokemon that cannot be captured, and a number of Pokemon that are literally not in the game, yet.
Most Pokemon can potentially be found almost anywhere. There are some Pokemon that are region-specific. These include Tauros, Mr. Mime, Farfetch'd, Kangasghan, Heracross, and Corsola. The map you see below comes from a contributor known as OKTimeforPlanB. The colors show the spaces (in general) where these elusive Pokemon can be caught.
• Tauros: United States• Heracross: Florida, Texas, Mexico, South America• Mr. Mime: Europe and non-Europe Britain• Farfetch'd: Asia• Corsola: Between 35N and 26S latitudes (or thereabouts)• Kangaskhan: Australia (and some surrounding islands)
The Rest of the Pokemon
Of a total of 251 Pokemon in the code for Pokemon GO, 31 are not able to be seen nor captured in the wild. A cool 13 of these Pokemon are not yet available to be attained in any way at all. These will be the Pokemon that'll appear at special events throughout the next couple of years. This list goes as follows – each Pokemon has our best estimation (not confirmed by Niantic) for release event:
• Zapados (Team Event, Electric, Yellow, Instinct)• Articuno (Team Event, Water, Blue, Mystic)• Moltres (Team Event, Fire, Red, Valor)• Mewtwo (Anniversary Event, possibly Sponsored Event)• Mew (Special Event, Time-sensitive, Random Appearance)• Raikou (Team Event 2, Electric, Yellow, Instinct)• Entei (Team Event 2, Fire, Red, Valor)• Suicune (Team Event 2, Water, Blue, Mystic)• Lugia (Gen 2 Legendary Bird Event)• Ho-Oh (Gen 2 Legendary Bird Event)• Celebi (Mew-like event)• Delibird (Special Event, Time-sensitive, Christmas)• Smeargle (Whenever Niantic figures out how to make Smeargle work, Smeargle will be released)
For those Pokemon that are both in the game and can be attained, there's a big set of ways in which they're gotten. The way to get the baby Pokemon in this category is to walk with Pokemon Eggs in incubators. The Pokemon on the following list are only attainable through Pokemon Eggs:
• Pichu
• Cleffa
• Igglybuff
• Togepi
• Tyrogue
• Smoochum
• Elekid
• Magby
While it's been hypothesized that the Pokemon on the following list might appear in Pokemon Eggs in the future, for now they only come from evolutions. Evolutions here are only available through Special Items, also known as Evolution Items. Each Pokemon is listed near its required pre-evolutionary type Pokemon and Special Item.
• Bellossom (Sun Stone, evolves from Gloom)• Sunflora (Sun Stone, evolves from Sunkern)• Porygon2 (Upgrade, evolves from Porygon)• Kingdra (Dragon Scale, evolves from Seadra)• Politoed (King's Rock, evolves from Poliwhirl)• Slowking (King's Rock, evolves from Slowpoke)• Steelix (Metal Coat, evolves from Onix)• Scizor (Metal Coat, evolves from Scyther)
Finally there are two Pokemon that only appear when a certain set of actions occur. These are the Gen 2 evolutions of Eevee, and they go by the names Espeon and Umbreon. To learn how to create these two fox-like monsters, head to our Eevee Evolution Guide from earlier this year. It's been updated with all the latest techniques.
BONUS: Unown
A full alphabet of Unown Pokemon are out in the wild, as well. These Pokemon look very weird and appear completely randomly. They appear anywhere in the world where any more common Pokemon normally spawns, and they're simple. They're barely worth keeping if you're somehow able to find Unown regularly.
Unown are not difficult to catch, if you're lucky enough to have an encounter. Their catch rate is high and their flee rate is low. Their rarity relative to the rest of the Pokemon GO universe is insane, though – so probably just use the Ultra Ball anyway.
Wrap-up
While the wide world of Pokemon might at first seem daunting, it's really a matter of understanding the creator's intent. Niantic wants Pokemon GO to feel like a real-world world-wide adventure. To do this, they've spread out the ways, means, and locations for finding, capturing, or attaining Pokemon of all sorts.
Good news for those annoyed at the idea that some players would cheat their way to a full Pokedex, take heed! The latest word from Niantic is that they're kicking out spoofers as rapidly as possible. Don't expect cheaters to prosper forever! Have a peek at our @TeamPokemonGO Twitter portal to learn more about Pokemon GO and see secrets before they hatch!