Good day, Pokémon trainers! April Fools’ is upon us, so stay safe out there! Pokémon GO is no stranger to partaking in the foolish festivities. In fact, Pokémon GO has been hosting April Fools’ events since 2018, often bringing new Pokémon or shinies along with them. So hold my hand as we go through memory lane and remember every April Fools event starting from the first:
The very first April Fools’ event in Pokémon GO brought with it the shiny form of Murkrow. Quite fitting, as Murkrow was one of the first Dark-type Pokémon introduced into the series, a type well known for having attacks involving trickery and underhanded tactics.
In fact, Murkrow’s dex entries often mentions how it lures its attackers in dark mountain trails where they get lost. It even has the hidden ability literally called “Prankster”.
But perhaps the more interesting, and immediately noticeable, April Fools’ gimmick in 2018 was the fact that the static 3D models in the Pokédex were replaced with 2D pixel art sprites reminiscent of those seen in sprites from the Game Boy Advance-era of Pokémon games.
A rather simple name for an equally simple event. April Fools’ in 2019 had you collect Ash-Hat Pikachu from photobombs with its shiny also available. This was however, not the first time Ash-Hat Pikachu appeared in Pokémon GO. What made this April Fools’ event more fun was that Ash sometimes appears to photobomb as well!
The first ever truly substantial April Fools’ event came to Pokémon GO in 2020 with the “Tricky Pokémon” event. This event featured multiple Pokémon known for being tricky or using disguises such as Foongus and Sudowoodo. Ditto also appeared in the wild in higher quantities being disguised as many other Pokémon.
This event also saw the debut of shiny Croagunk and Toxicroak (these Pokémon seem to take inspiration from Japanese delinquents and ninjas so quite fitting), along with the first appearance of Stunfisk in Pokémon GO.
Sharing the same name as last year’s event, April Fools’ in 2021 saw the return of many of the tricky Pokémon in the wild. However, the similarities ended there as the highlight of this event was undoubtedly Team GO Rocket!
Every Team GO Rocket member came equipped with Shadow Aipom, the cheeky monkey Pokémon. This was also the first time you could catch Shadow Aipom after defeating them. And this dastardly team’s antics didn’t end there as they changed many of the user interface elements of the game as well to appear glitchy and inaccurate. They even halved the switch timer in the GO Battle League!
After appearing in the wild in the last 2 April Fools’ events, Ditto was the star of 2022. 2022’s event was not as impressive as the last two years’, however, it did still feature many tricky Pokémon, and a lot of them could end up actually being a Ditto in disguise!
Shiny Ditto made its debut not too long before this event so it was a good opportunity to hunt for one. There were some really nice Ditto themed stickers during this event as well.
A complete shift from the previous few events, 2023 focused entirely on the original bird Pokémon, Pidgey. This was a unique event where the amount of Pidgey spawning in the wild changed throughout the day and a higher number of XXS and XXL Pidgey’s spawning as well.
Pidgey is certainly a unique pick to focus on April Fools’. But other than the fantastic pun of an event name, it’s worth remembering that in real life, pidgeons are known to be quite cunning and intelligent. That, and many of the dex entries and moves of the Pidgey line focus on putting sand in peoples’ eyes.
Another unique event. This time, the focus was not on any specific Pokémon but rather on the act of catching Pokémon as well. As throughout the day, what would usually be Nice or Great Throws now became Excellent Throws, making it much easier to catch Pokémon and finish the event-exclusive research tasks.
The latest April Fools’ event to grace us in Pokémon GO was in 2025. And quite true to its name, it was all about Pokéballs. Or rather, Pokémon disguised as Pokéballs. Pokéballs appeared in the overworld and tapping on them would result in an encounter with a Pokéball-like “mimic” Pokémon such as the two Voltorb lines, the Foongus line, and Galarian Stunfisk!
And there you have it. While not every April Fools’ event brought new substantial content to Pokémon GO, the fact that every one brings some new weird gimmicks to celebrate this equally weird tradition is certainly fun to see. Even this year, we’re getting “A Shockingly Good Time” event which features various Electric-type Pokémon and the debut of Mimikyu, a Pokémon that disguises itself as Pikachu. It even has two unique forms in battles. So this has been a look back at April Fools’ in GO throughout the years and hopefully there will be many more interesting little events like these to see in the future!
Goodbye for now, Pokémon trainers. Priom-out!
