Pokémon GO developer Niantic has shared a lot – and that’s what we mean a lot of – detailing the game’s upcoming events for the New Years and January celebrations, including that month’s Community Day star.
Let’s get right into the New Year’s Eve celebration, which starts on December 31 at 10 p.m. local time and continues until January 4 at 10 p.m. local time:
Pokémon GO New Year’s Event
Characteristics
- Some Pokémon will wear festive costumes to celebrate the New Year with us!
- Slowpoke with 2020 goggles will appear in the wild, appear after you complete field research tasks, appear in 2 km egg raids and hatching.
- Evolve Slowpoke with 2020 Glasses to Get a Slowbro with 2021 Glasses!
- Pichu with a New Year’s hat hatches from 2 km of eggs
- Pikachu with a New Year’s hat will appear in the wild and after you complete field research tasks. You can also get one by evolving a Pichu with a New Year’s hat.
- Evolve Pikachu with a New Year’s hat to get a Raichu with a New Year’s hat!
- Wynaut will breed from 2 km of eggs. If you are lucky you might find a shiny Wynaut!
- Raticate, Wobbuffet and Wurmple in party hats will appear in one star attacks. Klink and Espurr will also join them.
- Eevee in a party hat is available as a reward for field research.
- Dress up for 2021! Starting Wednesday December 30, 2020, at 1:00 PM PST (GMT -8), the 2021 Glasses and New Year’s Party Hat avatar items will be available in the in-app shop.
- Boxes will contain various items during the event! Check out the shop for more details.
Bonuses
- 2 × Hatch Candy
- 2 × Hatch Stardust
- 1/2 Hatch Distance when eggs are placed in an incubator during this time
Next, let’s take a look at everything you can expect and do in January.
The Community Day will take place on Saturday at 4:00 PM from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM local time with Machop. If you are lucky you might find a Shiny Machop, and if you develop a Machoke during the event, you will get a Machamp that knows Payback.
There will also be other Machop-based parties, including a special one-off Machop Community Day Box and a paid Community Day-exclusive Special Research story called ‘Straight to the Top, Machop!’
As for everything else that takes place in January? Well, we hope you are comfortable:
January Research Breakthrough meeting
From Friday, January 1, 2021, at 1:00 PM to Monday, February 1, 2021, at 1:00 PM PST (GMT -8), you’ll encounter Chansey in Research Breakthroughs.
Featured Pokémon in Five Star Attacks and Mega Raids
In January it gets warmer during the raids! The next Legendary and Mythical Pokémon will appear in January in Five Star Attacks, one of which appears for the first time!
- Ho-Oh will appear in raids from Friday, January 1, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. PST (GMT -8) to Tuesday, January 5, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. local time. If you’re lucky, you might end up with a shiny Ho-Oh!
- Genesect with a Burn Drive will appear in raids from Tuesday, January 5, 2021, at 10 a.m. to Tuesday, January 12, 2021, at 10 a.m. local time.
- Heatran will appear in raids from Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 10 a.m. to Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 10 a.m. local time. If you’re lucky, you might come across a shiny Heatran!
- Kyogre and Groudon will appear in raids from Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 10 a.m. to Tuesday, January 26, 2021 at 10 a.m. local time. If you are lucky you might come across a Shiny Kyogre or Shiny Groudon!
- A surprising Pokémon will appear in raids starting Tuesday, January 26, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. local time.
In addition, the next Mega Evolved Pokémon will appear in Mega Raids.
- Mega Charizard Y, Mega Blastoise and Mega Abomasnow will appear in Mega Raids, and Mega Charizard Y will be even more powerful from Tuesday, January 5, 2021 at 10:00 AM to Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 10:00 AM local time. Mega Blastoise is also an excellent choice to use in five star attacks this month, so make 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 get closer to the date. Mega Venusaur and Mega Houndoom will also appear in Mega Raids starting January 19, with Mega Houndoom being even more powerful from Tuesday, January 26, 2021 to Monday, February 8, 2021.
Pokémon Spotlight Hours
During the month of January, Pokémon Spotlight Hour takes place every Tuesday at 6:00 pm local time, with a different Pokémon and a special bonus being featured every hour!
- Tuesday, January 5, 2021: Lillipup will be in the spotlight and you’ll earn twice as much stardust for catching Pokémon.
- Tuesday January 12, 2021: Drifloon is in the spotlight and you earn twice the XP for catching Pokémon.
- Tuesday, January 19, 2021: Shroomish will be in the spotlight and you’ll earn twice as much Candy for catching Pokémon.
- Tuesday, January 26, 2021: Phanpy will be in the spotlight and you’ll earn twice as much Candy for transferring Pokémon.
Celebrate 2021 with our New Year’s theme
Happy 2020! Wait, no – in a few days it’s 2021. Turns out Slowpoke is just too late for the game as always. Stupid Slowpoke!
For this year’s New Year’s event, you can expect new costumed Pokémon (like a silly Slowpoke with glasses from 2020) and new avatar items, as well as the return of some well-known Pokémon with party hats. This event will run from Thursday, December 31, 2020 at 10:00 PM to Monday, January 4, 2021 at 10:00 PM local time.
Celebrate the different regions of the Pokémon world in January!
As we count down the days to Pokémon GO Tour: Kanto, we celebrate during the Holiday Season with events themed around different regions of the Pokémon world! Several weeks will highlight Unova, Sinnoh, Hoenn and Johto as Pokémon originally discovered in these regions will appear more often in the wild.
Stay tuned this week for more information on the Unova Celebration event, which begins Tuesday, January 5, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. local time.
Collection challenges are coming
Whether you’re new to Pokémon GO or an experienced Trainer, Collecting Challenges provide a helpful guide to catching Pokémon that occur during certain events. Look forward to the Collection Challenges launch in early January 2021.
Relief! That’s quite a list …
Do you play Pokémon GO during the holidays? Excited for a new year of monster-catching goodness? Let us know in the comments below.