UPDATE: The Update is live!

During the next week the next update for Pokémon GO will be launched, bringing over 80 second generation Pokémon to the game. We’ve put together our thoughts on the new details and include a few new scraps as well to consider.

The Pokémon – who will appear?

We know we’re getting over 80 Pokémon, but what aren’t we getting? It’s safe to assume that like with Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mew and Mewtwo, we won’t have access to the Legendary Pokémon in the second generation just yet. Don’t expect the likes of Suicune, Entei, Raikou, Lugia, Ho-Oh and Celebi. As we have eight generation two Pokémon already (Pichu, Cleffa, etc., plus Togetic), this means we can likely expect 86 new Pokémon in this update (100 – 6 – 8 = 86).

Unown will be interesting given its numerous forms based upon the alphabet and punctuation. Will we see 28 different forms of Unown? Data mining suggests yes. We know we’re getting gendered versions of Pokémon as well – check out the female Pikachu, for example.

New Pokémon may mean needing to make more space for them in your Storage. Niantic announced that a sale will start soon for Pokémon Storage upgrades – 50% off (100 PokéCoins) for the rest of the month. If you haven’t yet earned enough you may want to start taking on some Gyms!

To help you prepare for upcoming adventures, Pokémon Storage upgrades require 50% fewer PokéCoins starting the afternoon of Feb. 16–28 PST!

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) February 16, 2017

Meanwhile, new Pokémon also means new Attacks. Data for these include Counter, Powder Snow, Air Slash, Zap Cannon, Outrage and Crunch. Expect revamps to the Gym system with these changes!

New evolutions and items

Crucially, the second generation Pokémon include evolutions for several first generation Pokémon. These bring new items required for some of these evolutions. You still need some Candy as well. Here’s a list of what we know thus far:

• Crobat evolves from Golbat through the usual method (100 Candy)
• Blissey evolves from Chansey through the usual method (50 Candy)
• Espeon and Umbreon evolves from Eevee randomly as before – but nicknames can force the evolution (25 Candy)
• Bellossom evolves from Gloom via Sun Stone (100 Candy)
• Porygon2 evolves from Porygon via Upgrade (50 Candy)
• Kingdra evolves from Seadra via Dragon Scale (100 Candy)
• Politoed evolves from Poliwhirl via King’s Rock (100 Candy)
• Slowking evolves from Slowpoke via King’s Rock (50 Candy)
• Scizor evolves from Scyther via Metal Coat (50 Candy)
• Steelix evolves from Onix via Metal Coat (50 Candy)

All those bolded items have been found within the game’s code, as reported by The Silph Road. You can get these items from PokéStops, so be sure to spin them while stocking up on Candy! It does appear that these items are rather rare however.

Only Espeon’s and Umbreon’s evolution methods remain unknown, as their evolutions in the games were time dependent. UPDATE: You can get Eevee to evolve into Espeon by nicknaming it Sakura, and Umbreon with the nickname of Tamao.

No time-based Pokémon have been added.

While not an evolution, there is one more pre-evolution we don’t yet have – Tyrogue (pre-evolution of Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Hitmontop). It remains to be seen if it is restricted to Eggs only, and if evolution into the Hitmon trio is similar to how Eevee evolves or closer to the main games (in which Tyrogue’s evolution depends upon its stats – Attack and Defence, specifically). UPDATE: Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan Candy has changed to Tyrogue candy.

New Berries

We have two new types of Berries in Pokémon GO. These add further functionality to battles.

Nanab Berries slow the movements of wild Pokémon, and hence make it easier to catch them. These may not be that worthwhile however for the most part, especially as unless you leave in a remote area it is easy to get a large stockpile of Poké Balls.

Pinap Berries however will be worth stockpiling. They double the amount of Candy you receive if your next catch attempt succeeds. You’ll want to save them for any wild Starters (especially Chikorita, Totodile and Cyndaquil) or rare Pokémon such as Dratini or Larvitar. Every Candy counts!

Considering that we also have evolution items on top of new Berries, you may want to consider getting more Item Storage/Bag space as well.

UI Revamp

This wasn’t announced, but released images and footage from the trailer has revealed changes to the UI! This includes the Berry selection screen above.

Gender is identified on the Pokémon status screen, and you can see what the Pokémon will evolve into.. Berries and Poké Balls are now easier to select during battles. The Shop Icon is arguably unnecessary but for a free-to-play game it is not surprising.

Other changes

We’re cataloguing other changes now that the Update is live!

• There is a First Throw bonus now for catching a Pokémon with the first Poké Ball thrown in the encounter. It is worth 50 XP.
• Middle/second stage Pokémon now give 5 Candy for capture, rather than 3. Third stage evolutions give 10.
• New animations have been introduced. Pokémon now have unique side-to-side animations when trying to catch them.
• It appears the Avatar also has new animations, such as glancing around the overworld.
• Evolution items are rather rare, while the new Berries are more common to obtain from PokéStops.
• It appears you can get an evolution item with the seventh ‘first PokéStop of the day’ bonus. That means you can get at least one item per week.

Avatar Customisation

The announcement has informed us that we can finally dress up our characters beyond the initial narrow range! Datamining has revealed that skin colour, shirt, pants, hat, shoes, eyes, gloves, socks, belt, necklace and glasses can be changed.

Thus far it seems the new clothing all cost some PokéCoins. Prices range from 100 to 800, so they aren’t necessarily cheap (that’s 10 to 80 Gym takeovers). Maybe some clothing will appear as rewards to trainers for getting new medals?

Future Updates

What can we expect after this update? An obvious answer is third generation Pokémon, but it’s likely there will be a significant gap between those releases. Other features will likely be implemented first. Datamining has revealed code for Critical Capture and Shiny Pokémon mechanics, for example. Meanwhile, Niantic CEO John Hanke recently talked about trading, player-on-player battles and further Gym features in this interview:

…But the patching and bug-fixing of those first few months did stall the work on other parts of the app that Niantic had considered essential—and still does.These include monster trading and player-versus-player battles.

These are on the way, says Hanke, who adds that if the servers hadn’t been so sketchy at launch, at least one of them would already be out there, likewise a gym battle system, supplementing what he feels is a “rudimentary” version of the game they envisioned.

“It’s going to be done soon,” he says. “It is what it is. I’ll take the massive wave of hysteria we enjoyed, and just deal with the fact that it’s caused us to take a bit longer to get the rest of the features up. We’re really happy to make our users happy.”

What excites you the most about the next update? Which second generation Pokémon do you want to catch first?