As happens every year, October Community Day gets announced and I immediately get in the Halloween spirit! With the long awaited Litwick Community Day finally happening this year, I am hyped. Last year I speculated that we’d see Pumpkaboo and Phantump be released (success!) along with Zorua (not so much). I thought we might see shinies for Galarian Yamask, Frillish, Golett or Stunky. I was totally wrong. All my potential legendary Pokémon predictions were wrong too. Oops! So with 2022, I am back again to wildly speculate and hope I have more success with my guesses than I did in 2021. There are things I don’t think we’ll see, and Pokémon I am almost convinced we will. Let’s get into it!
Remember, these are my own wild speculations based on datamines by the pokeminers, teasers we’ve had on social media, and my general love of the Halloween event that means I want to guess.
New Pokémon
Banette (Mega)
Given their appearance in recent datamines, I feel pretty sure that Mega Banette will make an appearance this spooky season. So sure in fact I am currently working on getting my hundo Banette to Best Buddy ready. It makes perfect sense as a Mega to release for the season!
Guzzlord
Guzzlord seems like another we can say with almost 100% certainty will be released during October, it’s even in the current game loading screen! It’s been teased on social media with the ‘found footage’ style videos that Niantic has been hyping the Ultra Beasts with, so it seems fair to say it’ll be our next Ultra Beast to appear from the Wormholes.
Sandygast
A Ghost type I think is likely to appear as part of the wild spawns, is Sandygast! This ridiculous sand castle creature would fit right into an event and seems a likely choice for me. It’s daft and fun, what isn’t to love about this Pokémon design? We typically get a new Ghost type Pokémon each Halloween, and my vote is Sandygast this year.
Lunala
The progression of the Cosmog special research will happen in October, maybe we’ll see the cool bat-like Pokémon Lunala, one of their two potential evolutions mentioned. We know the research will progress, so more of the Cosmog family is bound to appear, and Lunala makes the most sense aesthetically.
Morelull
Last year threw us a curve ball, with a focus on Poison types rather than the typical Ghost and Dark types, so for my more left field choice, I’m going with the little mushroom Morelull. Morelull is a Grass and Fairy type, but is kinda Halloweeny feeling don’t you think?
Mimikyu
Now sadly, this is my ‘almost certain it won’t happen’ Pokémon. Mimikyu is SUCH a fan favourite, and so loved, I feel like they’d already be starting to make a big deal about it’s potential arrival. Unless teasers start appearing on Pokémon GO social media the second October hits, I think sadly we may just have to wait another year for Mimikyu.
New Shiny Pokémon
Phantump
While Phantump only made their debut in GO in 2021, I think we could see those sparkles in 2022! Phantump and Trevenant have beautiful shiny versions, and would be a welcome addition to the game. Could there be any more perfect Halloween Pokémon than Phantump?
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Xerneas
My other shout is for a shiny Legendary, and as Legendary Pokémon often appear with their counterparts in GO, after Yveltal leaves raids, I think we could see Xerneas reappear, along with their shiny release. Whilst not the most traditionally Halloweeny of Pokémon, it’s shiny is ghostly pale, and it would make sense with Yveltal being in the raid pool.
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Frillish
Last year I thought we might get Frillish as a shiny, and this year I still think we might! They have really fantastic shinies, and it would be good to see both forms spawn frequently in the wild.
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Golett
My other guess in 2021 was for Golett, and I am standing by that for 2022. Still a surprisingly rare Pokémon Golett would be a fun choice. It isn’t necessarily the most glaringly different shiny, but the more I look at it the more I enjoy it. Would be exciting to hunt!
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Returning Pokémon
There are Pokémon who return every year for Halloween, like Yamask and Spiritomb, and of course, the costume Pikachu! Both forms of Yamask are likely to return, with the potential for a Galarian Yamask shiny release. Spiritomb will be back in field research tasks, and the hunt for that exlusive shiny will be on! Phantump and Pumpkaboo both debuted in Halloween 2021, and are likely to feature again this year. Maybe they’ll even gain a cute costume! There are always a variety of costume Pokémon, last year saw Piplup and Drifblim, so who knows who it could be this year. Maybe this year we’ll be able to evolve some of the previous costume Pokémon, we’ve been able to do that a few times recently, so we can but hope.
What Pokémon or new shinies do you think we’ll see this year for the Halloween event? Are you as excited as I am?!
