Attention, Pokémon Trainers! Dynamax visual assets have been discovered in the game’s network traffic, including the Dynamaxing logo, stadium skin, new sparkle effects, and more. In this article we’re going to cover everything that’s been datamined surrounding Dynamaxing to date, bringing you up to speed.
It is becoming increasingly clear that this mechanic is coming, we just don’t know when. The current assumption is that the next season is going to revolve heavily around the Dynamax phenomena and the Galar region.
Note on Bread references and sources 🍞 🥖
Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing appear to be called "Bread" in the game code, so a lot of these lines of code will reference bread. This is not a mistake, and earlier big Pokémon GO features also had code names, such as Beluga, Wailord, etc.
All the information contained in this article has been provided publicly by the PokéMiners and other Dataminers, and this article includes some of my commentaries. Remember, while the data miners have provided this information, always take these updates with a grain of salt. Some of these features might take a while to go live or may never go live at all.
KikitheTiki wrote an excellent article in March about this, but in short:
- Dynamax and Gigantamax were the “gimmick” introduced in the Galar region in Generation 8. Quite similar to Mega evolutions, but more widespread and frequently used
- With a Dynamax band trainers were able to essentially super-size one of their Pokémon in battle.
- This doubled a Pokémon’s HP stat and changed each of their moves into “Max Moves”, which are more powerful versions of whatever type the move originally was.
- This feature only lasted for 3 moves, or if the Pokémon fainted in battle.
You can read more about the mechanic in this article, but in a nutshell, this is what Dynamaxing is.
Now, Gigantamaxing is special, and it is reserved for a select handful of Pokémon. Gigantamax is a variation of Dynamax that is limited to specific species of Pokémon. When these Pokémon Dynamax, they take on a unique Gigantamax Form. These Gigantamax Forms also get a signature Max Move that will replace one of its generic Max Move types.
An example of a Gigantamax Kingler is pictured below:
A new type of map object has been added, commonly referenced as “Bread Station”. We think this new object type refers to Dynamax Dens, which were introduced in Sword and Shield, and allowed Pokémon to Dynamax/Gigantamax.
The following code has been spotted, hinting at “stationing” our Pokémon at these new places:
BREAD_STATIONED_POKEMON_SPAWN_BOOST_TABLE_SETTINGS SOURDOUGH_STATIONED_POKEMON_SPAWN_BOOST_TABLE_SETTINGS STATIONED_POKEMON_POWER_BOOST_TABLE_SETTINGS
It’s unclear if existing Gyms or PokéStops will change over to dens, or if we will be able to use a special currency to temporarily activate them at Gyms or Pokéstops.
In Sword and Shield, if a den didn’t have a Dynamax raid at it you could use a Wishing Piece to activate one. It also appears that bread stations will also be visible on the nearby, but that is all conjecture at this moment.
Dynamax Assets for Stations
Here are the visual assets that were added for Dynamax stations:
Although most of these are early versions, they depict the pink color theme commonly associated with Dynamaxing.
Upgrading your Pokémon’s Dynamax Level
In addition to these new station, it looks like we gained some understanding of how the Dynamaxing leveling system is going to work.
- It looks like there will be some sort of collectable crystal that we can use to power up the Dynamax/Gigantamax level of the Pokémon.
- This suggests that the leveling system will be a little different than Megas, it’s unclear if we’ll get bonuses for leveling up the Dynamax level of the Pokémon but it stands to reason they’ll have to give us some incentive to do it.
- It appears that the crystal mentioned above is called “Bread MP” in the code. It looks like we’ll get some replenished every day, perhaps these can be used as Wishing Pieces to trigger these raids? Bread MP will also be available in the shop.
BREAD_MP_AMOUNT ITEM_MP_REPLENISH
- The details are sparse at the moment, but this won’t be a simple “Press button to Dynamax” system, there is some progression built into it.
Dynamax Raids
And of course, there are new visual assets associated with Dynamax, with a clear hint that this will be a new type of Raid Battles:
Dynamax Battle Tier Groups
In addition to the Dynamax levels, there are also Dynamax Raid levels mentioned in the code. There are 6 levels as of today, we are not sure if they are used or not, but there is support for more difficulties in the codeČ
BreadTierGroups BREAD_BATTLE_LEVEL_UNSET BREAD_BATTLE_LEVEL_1 BREAD_BATTLE_LEVEL_2 BREAD_BATTLE_LEVEL_3 BREAD_BATTLE_LEVEL_4 BREAD_BATTLE_LEVEL_5 BREAD_BATTLE_LEVEL_6 BREAD_DOUGH_BATTLE_LEVEL_1
Fun fact: Bulbasaur was the first Pokémon to be assigned a “Bread Tier Group” and it was defined as “Group_1” This leads me to believe these will be various raid levels.
As we previously mentioned, Dynamax Pokémon get special Dynamax Moves, which replace their original moves while Dynamaxed. These are also already in the code, conveniently prefixed with “BM”, aka Bread Move:
BREAD_MOVE_ID_UNSET BM_001 BM_002 BM_003 BM_004 BM_005 BM_006 BM_007 ... BM_060
These are likely all of the Max moves, and the special Gigantamax moves. If this is not enough, there are also special Dynamax Move Sound effects added, showing which moves are in:
Dynamax Move Sound Effects
Max Flare Max Flutterby Max Lightning Max Strike Max Knuckle Max Phantasm Max Hailstorm Max Ooze Max Geyser Max Airstream Max Starfall Max Wyrmwind Max Mindstorm Max Rockfall Max Quake Max Darkness Max Overgrowth Max Steelspike
These are the sound effects for the generic type-based Dynamax moves.
In addition to these big hitters outlined above, there are a metric ton of new actions, camera moves, error messages, and little bits of code here and there hinting at how Dynamaxing will work. Some of these look wild, especially the combination of dodging and shielding in Dynamax battles.
New Dynamax Battle Actions
It looks like this is various actions/mechanics added like Dodge, Enrage, Minigame, and Shield. Shield, Minigame, and Stat_Change are interesting, suggesting these might function like PvP battles?
UNSET_EVENT_TYPE START_BATTLE BATTLE_JOIN BATTLE_QUIT ATTACK DODGE DODGE_SUCCESS SHIELD SWAP_POKEMON ITEM ACTOR_ABILITY STAT_CHANGE ATTACK_TELEGRAPH MINIGAME TRANSFORM ABILITY_TRIGGER ACTOR_MOVE BATTLE_END COUNTDOWN FLINCH BREAD_MODE BREAD_MOVE SIDELINE_ACTION ADD_FIELD_ACTOR REMOVE_FIELD_ACTOR ENRAGE ENRAGE_TELEGRAPH MODIFY_ACTOR_AURA CINEMATIC CONSENSUS BREAD_MODE_REVERT ATTACK_BOOST
New Dynamax Camera movements
Dynamaxing will have its own animation and some special camera views.
DEFAULT_CAMERA PRE_TRANSFORM_CAMERA TRANSFORM_CAMERA LOAF_CAMERA MOVE_1_CAMERA_1 MOVE_2_CAMERA_1 MOVE_3_CAMERA_1
New Dynamax Search Filters
You’ll be able to filter by Dynamax and Gigantamax. This is likely Pokémon that you’ve previously Dynamax’ed and Gigantamax’ed.
RESOURCE ID: filter_label_dynamax TEXT: ? RESOURCE ID: filter_label_gigantamax TEXT: ???
Tutorial
What’s a new Pokémon GO feature without a tutorial for us to skip through read thoroughly?
BREAD_POKEMON_INFO_TUTORIAL BREAD_MOVE_INFO_TUTORIAL
New Dynamax Error Messages
A new series of Dynamax error messages has been added, and one of them mentions the mysterious Power Crystals, which we don’t know what those are yet. They could be an item that you can forge out of “Bread MP” to make something that’s equivalent
ERROR_NOT_IN_RANGE ERROR_BREAD_BATTLE_UNAVAILABLE ERROR_BREAD_BATTLE_COMPLETED ERROR_NO_AVAILABLE_BREAD_LOBBIES ERROR_PLAYER_BELOW_MINIMUM_LEVEL ERROR_STATION_INACCESSIBLE ERROR_NO_POWER_CRYSTAL ERROR_NO_INVITE ERROR_NO_POWER_CRYSTAL_SLOTS_REMAINING ERROR_BREAD_LOBBY_FULL ERROR_BREAD_LOBBY_EXPIRED ERROR_POWER_CRYSTAL_LIMIT_REACHED ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_MP ERROR_ALREADY_IN_BATTLE ERROR_ALREADY_IN_EXISTING_LOBBY_OR_BATTLE ERROR_FAILED_TO_CREATE_BATTLE
Parting Thoughts
Dynamaxing is coming to Pokémon GO, it’s now just a question of when. I suspect that it will get introduced as part of the next season with an influx of Pokémon originally introduced in the Galar region. It will do a lot to revitalize and infuse some excitement into the game. The Season of Shared Skies ends on September 3rd, so we likely won’t have to wait long for the arrival of Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing.
There are still all sorts of questions surrounding the mechanic and how it’s going to work in Pokémon GO.
- Are these going to be raid battles? PvP-style battles like Team GO Rocket? or some combination of the two?
- How will we Dynamax our Pokémon? Will this be a Mega evolution style, where it lasts for a set number of hours? Will it be Fusion-style where it’s permanent? Or will it be something we can do mid-battle and it’s done
- If it’s mega style, will we get bonuses?
- Are we going to be able to Dynamax anything we want, or will they slowly roll it out to all Pokémon?
- Will Gigantamax Pokémon be introduced with Dynamaxing?
So many questions! All I know for sure is I am super excited to Gigantamax my boy Snorlax:
Until next time, stay safe out there trainers.
