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Mega Buddy Challenge Event Review In Pokémon GO

The Mega Buddy Challenge Event ends in Pokémon GO tonight. What worked and what didn't? In our review for this event, we look back at all of its features, including raids and the Shiny release of Doduo.

Mega Buddy Challenge event promotional graphic. Credit: Niantic
Mega Buddy Challenge event promotional graphic. Credit: Niantic

Pokémon GO Event Spawns

The Mega Buddy Challenge spawns were focused on "big" Pokémon, which was an interesting change from the way that events generally focus on a Pokémon's typing. This had perks and drawbacks, with a big plus many of the Pokémon spotlighted such as Onix, Lapras, and Skarmory have increased Shiny rates. The fact that so many evolved Pokémon were common, such as Arbok and Furret, made for a diverse spawn pool, but also led to tougher catches due to the fight these put up with Pokéballs. However, the Pokéball problem was balanced out by the extra Stardust that these evolved spawns offer when caught, making this a great week to grind.

Mega Buddy Challenge and Tasks

The Timed Research was the week's "Challenge," and it was the easiest one in recent memory with the lightest rewards. It was essentially another vehicle by which to earn Mega Beedrill Energy. When all is said and done, it was fine because the overall goal was to unlock a Mega Gengar Research for the Halloween Event, so anything else was just a bonus. The prevalence of the "Catch 7 different species of Pokémon," which led to a coveted Doduo encounter, was prevalent at Pokéstops. This kind of limited event research task, rather than clogging Pokéstops with a confusing bevy of tasks with unwanted encounters, was ideal.

Mega Buddy Features

The Mega Buddy Challenge event set itself apart from the others this month with a few special features. Double Poffin duration was good for those leveling up Buddies and the Mega Pokémon photobombs offered a great chance at a Shiny Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, or Pidgeot. Most importantly, though, Mega Evolution lasted for a whopping twelve hours during the event. If this became standard, the fanbase would have nothing left to complain about regarding Mega Evolution. Overall, the focus on these interesting event perks outside of the spawns, and the research made this one feel unique.

Raids

Big Pokémon came into raids this week for the event, with the boosted Shinies of Lapras, Onix, Timburr, and Klink being the highlights. Dragonite also made its debut as a Tier Three raid boss for those excited to finally solo a Dragonite raid. While the current rotation of Legendary Birds is drawing more attention than the Mega Buddy Challenge raids, this was a fine, if standard, rotation.

Shiny Release

The best part of the Mega Buddy Challenge by far was the amount of Doduo spawns, as Doduo is generally only available in abundance to certain, limited biomes. Doduo received its Shiny form this week and it spawned at a steady rate. From the quality of the Shiny to its spawn rate to the overall rarity of the Pokémon outside of the event, Doduo made for the month's best Shiny release.


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Theo DwyerAbout Theo Dwyer

Theo Dwyer writes about comics, film, and games.
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