Trainers, there has been a specific Pokemon that has eluded the game world of Pokemon Go for a while now: Kecleon.
This Pokemon was one of the first Generation 3 Pokemon to be revealed (along with Azurill and Wailmer) in the main series of Pokemon games. Ever since it’s debut, it’s Pokedex entries features mentions all about its ability to camouflage and adapt the colour of its body.
Its ability involve a mechanic that allows it to change its typing to either the same type as the move that last hit it (to allow for some extra resistance) or its hidden ability which allows it to change its typing to that of the move its about to use (for some extra STAB damage).
Whatever your thoughts on the little green guy, however, one thing remains the same: He’s still missing from Pokemon Go and has been for a couple of years! So where is he? Has Niantic forgotten about our camouflage friend or are they simply waiting for a specific event or time to release him?
Ways we could see his Camouflage mechanic implemented:
Through Photobomb
It’s not too difficult to imagine a scenario whereby players could take a photo, maybe of a Grass type, and get a Kecleon surprise as a reward. Maybe even in the spring of 2021 when everything starts to become green and similar to the seasons changing event that is currently going on within the game currently.
Through Snapshot
You remember catching Mew for the first time, right? This involved you having to “find” Mew and throw Pokeballs at him whilst he was camouflaged in order to finally catch him. I think that it would be a great addition to the game to be able to go into snapshot mode, aim your camera at something inanimate and then watch as a camouflaged Kecleon crawls off of it (if a little freaky) but given all of the advances in Niantics AR technology, this should be a relatively easy thing to achieve.
Through Special Research
The most likely scenario would be for Niantic to release Kecleon through a one-off special research in a similar way to Spiritomb was released in the Halloween event of 2018.
Whilst it wouldn’t be a terribly exciting way to encounter the Pokemon (and terribly unoriginal) it would get the job done and is the most likely candidate for a new Pokemon release. Niantic loves a limited time special research nowadays.
What we likely won’t see:
Abilities. For the time-being, Pokemons abilities (as we all know) sadly did not make it into Pokemon Go and whatever your thoughts are on that, the matter stands that without any abilities at all, means no Keckleon ability to change its type.
I think that this is a huge shame in general as it would add a whole extra layer of interest to the game. I’ll talk more about that another day but for now, just know that I think that this is a huge missed opportunity.
The Ability to change its typing though is something that I think mechanically is pretty difficult to implement behind the scenes as the game stands now. With Raid battles, PvP and PvE content to try and balance it seems pretty impossible for Niantic to implement a potentially game-breaking Pokemon Ability into the game, especially when it currently seems like there are no plans to implement abilities at all.
Final Thoughts
I think Niantic are well-aware that this little Green dude has yet to be implemented and are waiting for a specific event in order to release him. It’s a shame that there are ways that he could be released already present in the game but we will have to wait and see what Niantic is cooking up.
What are your thoughts on Kecleon? Let us know!
