A Pokémon GO rep has confirmed in a statement to Dot ESports that the upcoming Los Angeles, and Global Pokémon GO Sinnoh Tour events, will not feature Arceus, Manaphy or Phione.
Arceus, Manaphy and Phione are currently the only unreleased Pokémon from the Sinnoh region in Pokémon GO, and as all the previous Tour events have completed the featured region Pokedéx, many trainers expected that Sinnoh Tour would follow suit.
“All three of these Pokémon are indeed extra special, and we wanted to give them some dedicated space when they eventually make their Pokémon GO debut” – Pokémon GO Live Events Team member to Dot Esports.
Whilst previous Tour events have completed their region’s Pokedéx, it appears that Niantic feel that releasing all three of these Pokémon would be too much new content for Sinnoh Tour, especially with the release of the Origin Formes of Dialga and Palkia.
It may be disappointing, but it is also somewhat understandable. The Tour events have followed a set pattern for three years, and with a total of nine regional Pokedéx, we are quite quickly working our way through the National Pokedéx, and need to slow down. Niantic want Pokémon GO to be a forever game, and if they continue releasing rare and valuable like Mythical Pokémon, there won’t be enough prized Pokémon to release in the future. If we complete a Pokedéx each year, there won’t be many reasons left to play Pokémon GO in years to come, and we can’t risk catching up to the main series games, with nothing left to release.
Arceus, the Alpha Pokémon, is considered the God of all Pokémon, it makes sense that it would get a spotlight to shine in an event dedicated to it. Given that it also has a whopping 18 different forms, it is a Pokémon that could be quite complicated to release in Pokémon GO. Releasing it as anything other than the star of the show just wouldn’t do the Original One justice. Perhaps it will star in a future GO Fest? It certainly seems appropriate that Arceus would get an entire event dedicated to Arceus, and Arceus alone.
Manaphy and Phione are a little different as Mythical Pokémon, because we’ve seen Mythicals released in a variety of different ways in GO. The most traditional way is as part of a long special research quest line, typically released during GO Fest for attending trainers, then globally sometime later (though this isn’t always the case!). Keldeo featured in a paid special research, and Zarude was released in a special research to promote a Pokémon movie. As Manaphy and Phione are linked, with Phione being considered Manaphy’s offspring, we may see them released together in a special event.
We had no teasers that any of these Pokémon would be released during the Tour, but with the precedent set by Niantic and the former Tour events, many trainers will be disappointed that they won’t be completing their Sinnoh Pokedéx this February. We suspected that this may be the case, as it would have been a lot of new releases for one event, but we are curious to know how the community will feel about this.
