On Wednesday, Feb. 15, the Pokémon Go craze might just have returned with over 80 new Pokémon released into the virtual wilderness.
These Pokémon are the second generation of Pokémon (a.k.a Gen 2) from the Johto region, or those that debuted on the original Pokémon Gold and Silver games in 1999 on the Gameboy Advance Colour.
Pokémon that you can catch this time include the iconic Gen 2 starters, like Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile; and a host of other unique Johto additions like Mukrow, Sunkern, Ledyba, and Skarmory and even the quirky Sudowoodo.
While for some these are simply more Pokemon to catch, for many millennials who grew up with the games and animated series, it’s a great source of nostalgia.
A tribute to its origins
Eevee can now evolve into Umbreon and Espeon, and if you’re wondering of a sure-fire way to get them, the answer lies in a reference to the original animated series.
When you name your Eevee “Sakura”, it will evolve it into the glamorous Espeon;
Input the name “Tamao” instead, and you’ll evolve it into the mysterious Umbreon.
This is because they are the names of the two sisters who owned the two final forms of Eevee. The two are part of a group of five siblings, known as the Kimono Sisters, who own Vaporeon, Flareon, Jolteon, Espeon and Umbreon respectively.
Sakura and Tamao are, you guessed it, the owners of Espeon and Umbreon.
There are also additional evolution items you can collect to evolve some Pokémon, as well as expanded avatar and accessorising options such as necklaces (though it’s not the most important part of the update, anyway).
Lag
This might be one of the signs that the popularity of the mobile app is picking back up.
Singaporean Pokémon Go fans were complaining about the app slowing to a crawl after the Gen 2 release, taking to popular Facebook group Pokémon Go Singapore to
complain
give heads-up to other players.
On the app side (pun intended), however, that seems to have been resolved for now… or at least that’s what the official Twitter account says:
Thanks for your patience, Trainers! We’ve resolved the recent latency issues and will continue to monitor performance.
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) February 17, 2017
No live duelling just yet
Dueling between trainers on Pokémon Go, a long-unfulfilled dream of many who grew up with the animated series and games, however, is nowhere near in sight for now, despite being featured in the first official trailer for the app:
We suppose it will take a longer time to actualise this — the adjustment of expectations from the first to the latest trailer for the Gen 2 update is pretty evident:
It won’t stop many more from having fun, though. Happy catching!
Top image via Pokémon Go Youtube Channel
If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.