Niantic has just revealed the Legendary and Mega Raid Battles that will be available during Pokémon GO Fest 2022, which will give players the chance to catch Shiny variants of popular creatures like Mewtwo and Groudon starting next week. The latest iteration of the annual Pokémon GO Fest was announced back in March, with both virtual and in-person events planned for aspiring Pokémon trainers all over the world. The last two Pokémon GO Fests were reduced to a virtual-only affair due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this didn’t stop Pokémon GO Fest 2021 from breaking records and making about $21 million in revenue over the course of two days.
Details for this year’s Pokémon GO Fest have started to emerge as Niantic and The Pokémon Company continue to build excitement leading up to the first day of the event on Saturday, June 4. As was the case with past Pokémon GO Fest events, players who participate will get the chance to capture legendary Pokémon like the Generation 4 grass-type Shaymin, who is finally being made available to capture after being announced back in March. Players will also start earning stat-boosting Candy XL at an earlier level than usual during the “Season of GO” event that will kick off Pokémon GO Fest 2022, and fans will be able to catch all manner of rare Shiny variants through raids and challenges held across four different in-game environments.
Yesterday, Pokémon GO announced the full list of events and bonuses being made available in the upcoming month, as posted on the official Pokémon GO Twitter page. This includes the Legendary and Mega Raid Battles that will be held as part of Pokémon GO Fest 2022, which will all be held for a week apiece throughout the month. The Legendary raids will start with the sea-commanding Kyogre on Wednesday, June 1 through Tuesday, June 7, followed by its land-based counterpart Groudon from Tuesday, June 7 to Thursday, June 16. The lab-grown Psychic Pokémon Mewtwo will be available to capture not once but twice – trainers will be able to catch a version equipped with the Charged Attack Shadow Ball between Thursday, June 16 and Thursday, June 23, 2022, and another variant with the Charged Attack Psystrike from Thursday, June 23 to Friday, July 1. There will also be several Mega Pokémon Raid Battles in June, starting with Mega Steelix from Wednesday, June 1 until Tuesday, June 7, Mega Aerodactyl from Tuesday, June 7 to Thursday, June 16, Mega Venusaur from Thursday, June 16 until Thursday, June 23, and Mega Blastoise from Thursday, June 23 to Friday, July 1. All of these Pokémon GO Raid Battles feature their designated Pokémon in both regular and Shiny variants.
Even before this month’s Pokémon GO Fest 2022, players have been logging into a wide assortment of designated events themed after the Alola region of Pokémon Sun and Moon all year long. Last month’s Pokémon GO “Season Of Alola” event added several new Raid Pokémon, Shiny Variants, and evolutionary stages from the tropical Generation Seven region, and the recent Pokémon GO Alolan Geodude Community Day put the spotlight on the Electric/Rock hybrid and even inspired some tasty chocolate treats.
The stage is now set for Pokémon GO Fest 2022, with plenty of new events, Raid Battles, and Shiny Pokémon variants coming to the highly successful mobile game all month long. The first of these festivities will begin this Wednesday, when fans will get the opportunity to capture regular and Shiny versions of some of the franchise’s most well-known Legendary and Mega Pokémon in special Pokémon GO Raid Battles.
