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

Pokémon GO Launches Team GO Rocket Event April 1st

Tomorrow, Pokémon GO will host a one-day Team GO Rocket event for April Fools' Day. Here's what trainers can expect from this event, which starts at midnight.

The full details from the official Pokémon GO blog are as follows:

Date + Time: Thursday, April 1, 2021, from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. local time

Features Pokémon prone to mischief—like Aipom, Croagunk, and Purrloin—will be appearing more often in the wild!

Ah man, what a nice time for a Purrloin Shiny release. No new Shinies are coming out for the event, but it's nice to see Purrloin, who hasn't been a common spawn since the Seasons of Legends began, back in the rotation. For Shiny hunters, Aipom and Croagunk can both be encountered in their Shiny forms. There is something else kind of new coming out.

Sources tell us that Team GO Rocket Grunts will only have Shadow Aipom on their teams during the event. They thought catching Aipom would put a stop to their pranks—but how wrong they were!

Get your Fighting-types ready to blow through these battles. This is going to be more for the collection than being super useful. Shadow Aipom and Shadow Aimbipom, its evolution, aren't going to end up having that much use in Pokémon GO in either PVP or raids, but I'm personally excited to see a little pissed off Aipom with a purple Dragon Ball Z aura and stoner eyes.

Team GO Rocket will be appearing more often at PokéStops and in balloons.

The Team GO Rocket Timed Research launching during this event will be available from Thursday, April 1, 2021, at 12:00 a.m. to Thursday, April 8, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. local time. Complete it within that time to earn a Super Rocket Radar and other rewards!

This is the first time that the Team GO Rocket Research will be Timed rather than Special, so just be sure to keep an eye on that clock. The Super Rocket Radar will lead to an encounter with Giovanni when active. If encountered during the month of April, the encounter at the end will be Shadow Zapdos.

The switch timer in the GO Battle League will be cut in half! Could this be more Pokémon mischief at work?

Now this is a unique feature. I personally can't wait to see how this will impact PVP during this day. I hope changes like this will be featured on an ongoing basis, as it'll shake things up a bit.

Take a few snapshots for a surprise!

Personally, I'd guess either more Aipom or Wobbuffet.

Ditto will be appearing more frequently in the wild during the event, so be sure to catch Pokémon that Ditto are known to transform into! We've also received reports of Ditto transforming into one more Pokémon species than before, and it seems this phenomenon will continue after the event concludes.

And that's it! This one-day event will keep things interesting in the week leading up to Sunday's Spring 2021 event, which will feature the debut of Shiny Bunnelby and Mega Lopunny.

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