Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: Niantic, Niantic Labs, Pikachu, pokemon, pokemon go

Pokémon GO Explorer Pikachu Mini Event Review

The Explorer Pikachu Mini-event in Pokémon GO has been a bit of an event-within-events. It ran through both the Secrets of the Jungle event and the Galarian Mr. Mime event, offering this unique Pikachu as well as a photobomb surprise. Let's take a look at this unusual event and see if we think this is something Niantic should do again.

What Worked for this Pokémon GO Event

• Explorer Pikachu itself. Now, this is a hotly debated topic in the Pokémon GO community… or so it seems. Many trainers fill up Pokémon GO subreddits and Twitter feeds with posts about hating Costumed Pokémon but, personally, I love them. As a member of multiple raid groups, too, I also find that most hardcore players I know in real life quite enjoy these as well. Costumed Pokémon are a way to prolong Pokémon GO which is essentially destined for the fate of the Games of Thrones TV series. GO progresses at a speed much faster than the main series games. Releasing Costumed Pokémon allows them to add content to the game without taking another step toward catching up to the main series. Also, many hardcore trainers enjoy hunting these when events are populated with Shinies that they've caught in other events. Keeping this Explorer Pikachu mini-event as something going on in the background of other events, too, was a nice touch.
• Team GO Rocket photobombs. Jessie and James appeared in photobombs throughout this event, offering encounters with Meowth and Wobbuffet, both of which could be Shiny. The artwork of these photobombs was also far and away the best photobomb artwork we've seen thus far, with a cartoony style that is far more appealing than the computer graphics that one might've expected.

What Didn't Work for this Pokémon GO Event

• Nothing to say here!

Overall Thoughts

This low-key event was a perfect way to release a Costume Pokémon, allowing other events to run in the game and giving players a long stretch of time to hunt the Shiny. Niantic would be smart to do more mini-events like this while other, larger events run.

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