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Pokémon GO Game Releases Mewtwo at Stadium Event in Japan

posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Legendary Pokémon debuts worldwide in Exclusive Raid Battles soon

Niantic released the legendary Pokémon Mewtwo at the Pokémon GO Stadium event at Yokohama Stadium on Monday. Niantic also announced that Mewtwo will soon be available to players around the world in a new Exclusive Raid Battle feature.

To catch Mewtwo at the event in Yokohama, players who registered to participate through an advance lottery scanned a QR code to give them access to special Mewtwo Raids inside Yokohama Stadium. Players reported that all players to participate in the Raids were able to catch Mewtwo after defeating it in battle in the game.

In addition to Mewtwo, the game's anniversary events in Japan are offering increased spawns of the rare Pokémon Unown and Mr. Mime, which is normally exclusive to Europe.

The Pokémon GO Stadium event was related to the Pokémon GO Park event and this year's Pikachu Outbreak event for the franchise, which are being held in Yokohama on August 9-15. Niantic had teased that the Pikachu Outbreak event would feature "a special Pokémon GO experience." Similar events were held in Yokohama in 2015 and 2016.

Players around the world will soon be able to battle and catch Mewtwo through invitation-only Exclusive Raid Battles. People who recently completed a Raid at a Gym where an Exclusive Raid Battle will be held will be able to receive invitations to participate. Players will then receive advance notice of when the Exclusive Raid Battle will take place. Mewtwo will be the first Pokémon available through Exclusive Raid Battles, but Niantic said that "other powerful Pokémon may also start to hatch from the Raid Eggs found at Exclusive Raid Battles over the next several weeks."

Mewtwo appeared in the first trailer for the game in 2015, but the Pokémon did not appear in the game until Monday. In the game's original trailer, players defeated Mewtwo in a battle similar to the current Raid Battles.

The Legendary bird Pokémon that Niantic began releasing through Raid Battles in the game at the Pokémon GO Fest Chicago event in July will also reappear in Raid Battles on August 14-31. Niantic initially released Lugia as the first legendary Pokémon in the game at the event in Chicago. Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos were available for limited periods in the following weeks.

In addition, Niantic is holding the Pokémon GO Safari Zone events in Europe this summer and fall. The developer rescheduled part of the events to "to ensure a great experience for Pokémon GO Trainers." Kangaskhan, which is normally exclusive to Australia, and Unown are also appearing in cities around Europe this month. The events are also part of the smartphone game's one-year anniversary celebration.

Pokémon GO Fest Chicago, the game's first major real-world event, was held at Grant Park in Chicago on July 22. Some attendees filed a class-action lawsuit last month against Niantic. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages to recover travel expenses for the event. The event was hampered by cellular network issues that prevented many attendees from participating in the day's activities. Niantic clarified during the event that the root cause for the issues were related to the game's servers, as well as local cellular networks' inability to handle the number of participants. Niantic offered refunds for the price of admission, PokéCoins worth US$100, and the Lugia Pokémon to attendees.

The Pokémon GO app launched in select countries including the United States in July 2016, and has since launched in more than 50 countries.

Sources: Engadget (Ittousai), The Verge (link 2; Sam Byford) via Hachima Kikō


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