Pokémon GO developer Niantic shared lots – and we mean lots – details on upcoming game events for the New Year and January celebrations, including that month’s Community Day star.
Let’s start with the New Year celebration, which starts on December 31 at 10:00 pm and runs until January 4 at 10:00 pm:
Pokémon GO New Year’s Event
Features
- Some Pokémon will wear festive costumes to celebrate the new year with us!
- Slowpoke wearing glasses 2020 will appear in the wild, appearing after you complete Field Research tasks, appearing in invasions and incubating 2 km eggs.
- Evolve Slowpoke wearing glasses 2020 to get a Slowbro wearing glasses 2021!
- Pichu with a New Year’s hat will hatch 2 km from Eggs
- Pikachu wearing a New Year’s hat will appear in the jungle and after you complete the Field Research tasks. You can also get an evolving Pichu wearing a New Year’s hat.
- Evolve Pikachu wearing a New Year’s hat to get a Raichu wearing a New Year’s hat!
- Wynaut will be incubating from 2 km eggs. If you’re lucky, you can find a Shiny Wynaut!
- Raticate, Wobbuffet and Wurmple wearing party hats will appear in one-star raids. Klink and Espurr will join them too.
- Eevee wearing a party hat will be available as a Field Research reward encounter.
- Dress for 2021! Starting on Wednesday, December 30, 2020, at 13:00 PST (GMT -8), avatar items 2021 Glasses and New Year’s Party Hat will be available in the app store.
- The boxes will contain different items during the event! Check the store for details.
Bonus
- 2 × Hatch Candy
- 2 × Hatch Stardust
- 1/2 Incubation distance when eggs are placed in an incubator during this time
Next, we’ll take a look at everything you can expect to see and do throughout January.
Community Day will take place on Saturday, the 16th, from 11 am to 5 pm local time, and will feature Machop. If you’re lucky, you can find a Shiny Machop and, if you evolve a Machoke during the event, you’ll get a Machamp that knows Payback.
There will be other Machop-based celebrations as well, including a special one-time purchase box for Machop community day and a special research story exclusive to the community day called ‘Straight to the Top, Machop!’
As for everything else that will happen in January? Well, we hope you’re comfortable:
January Research Discovery Meeting
From Friday, January 1, 2021, at 1 pm, to Monday, February 1, 2021, at 1 pm PST (GMT -8), you’ll find Chansey at Research Breakthroughs.
Pokémon featured in five star raids and Mega Raids
Things are heating up in the attacks in January! The following Legendary and Mythic Pokémon will appear in five-star raids in January – one of which will appear for the first time!
- Ho-Oh will appear in raids on Friday, January 1, 2021, at 1:00 pm PST (GMT -8), Tuesday, January 5, 2021, at 10:00 am local time. If you’re lucky, you can find a Shiny Ho-Oh!
- Genesect holding a Burn Drive will appear in raids from Tuesday, January 5, 2021, at 10 am, to Tuesday, January 12, 2021, at 10 am, local time.
- Heatran will appear in attacks on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, at 10 am, until Tuesday, January 19, 2021, at 10 am, local time. If you’re lucky, you can find a Shiny Heatran!
- Kyogre and Groudon will appear in attacks on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, at 10 am, until Tuesday, January 26, 2021, at 10 am, local time. If you’re lucky, you can find a Shiny Kyogre or Shiny Groudon!
- A surprise Pokémon will appear in raids starting on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, at 10:00 am local time.
In addition, the following Mega-Evolved Pokémon will appear in Mega Raids.
- Mega Charizard Y, Mega Blastoise and Mega Abomasnow will appear in Mega Raids, with Mega Charizard Y becoming even more powerful from Tuesday, January 5, 2021, at 10 am until Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 10 am local Time . Mega Blastoise is also an excellent choice for five-star raids this month, so be sure to stock up on Blastoise Mega Energy!
- On Tuesday, January 19, 2021, a certain Mega-Evolved Pokémon will make its Pokémon GO debut in Mega Raids! More details will come to light as we approach the date. Mega Venusaur and Mega Houndoom will also appear in Mega Raids starting on January 19, with Mega Houndoom being even more powerful from Tuesday, January 26, 2021, until Monday, February 8, 2021.
Pokémon Highlight Hours
In the month of January, Pokémon Spotlight Hour will take place every Tuesday at 6 pm local time, and each hour will highlight a different Pokémon and a special bonus!
- Tuesday, January 5, 2021: Lillipup will be in the spotlight and you will earn twice as much Stardust for capturing Pokémon.
- Tuesday, January 12, 2021: Drifloon will be in the spotlight and you will earn double XP for capturing Pokémon.
- Tuesday, January 19, 2021: Shroomish will be in the spotlight and you will earn twice as much Candy for capturing Pokémon.
- Tuesday, January 26, 2021: Phanpy will be in the spotlight and you will earn twice as much Candy for transferring Pokémon.
Celebrate 2021 with our New Year themed event
Happy 2020! Wait, no – it will be 2021 in just a few days. It turns out that Slowpoke is late for the game, as usual. Stupid Slowpoke!
For this year’s New Year event, you can expect new costumed Pokémon (like a silly Slowpoke wearing 2020 glasses) and new avatar items, as well as the return of some familiar Pokémon wearing party hats. This event will take place from Thursday, December 31, 2020, at 10 pm, to Monday, January 4, 2021, at 10 pm local time.
Celebrate the different regions of the Pokémon world in January!
As we count the days for the Pokémon GO Tour: Kanto, we will be celebrating during the Celebration Season with themed events around different regions of the Pokémon world! Different weeks will highlight Unova, Sinnoh, Hoenn and Johto, as the Pokémon originally discovered in these regions will appear more frequently in nature.
Stay tuned for more details this week about the Unova Celebration event, which starts on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, at 10am local.
Collection challenges coming soon
Whether you’re new to Pokémon GO or an experienced Trainer, Collection Challenges provide a practical guide for capturing Pokémon presented during certain events. Look out for the launch of the Collection Challenges in early January 2021.
Ufa! That’s the full list …
Are you going to play Pokémon GO on vacation? Excited for a new year of good things that catch monsters? Let us know in the comments below.