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

Pokémon GO Secrets Of The Jungle Event Review: Shiny Celebi Release

The Secrets of the Jungle movie tie-in event is ending in Pokémon GO today and will lead into the Chill Tunes event. Before we celebrate the arrival of Galarian Mr. Mime, though, let's take a look back on the event that did something historic in Pokémon GO by debuting a guaranteed Shiny Celebi.

The Shiny Release in Pokémon GO

December 2020 may always be remembered as the time Pokémon GO offered us all a free Shiny Celebi. In a month that felt otherwise lacking in Shiny releases, especially with the upcoming Holiday Event's major Shiny release (Jynx) being a species that could already be obtained in its Shiny form through hatching and evolving its baby form, this guaranteed Shiny mythical release felt like the culmination of the whole year of events.

The Special Research that led to Celebi was easy. Potentially too easy. Six or seven pages of tasks would've made more sense than four… but there is a caveat here. It must be noted that many trainers were annoyed at the infrequency of Jessie and James balloons. Defeating the Team GO Rocket duo twice (four total battles) was required to catch Shiny Celebi and, personally, I found this to be fair. Many wanted Shiny Celebi on the day of release, of course, but the rarity of the balloons made the win all that much sweeter. The Shiny Celebi release was a major success for Niantic.

Less of a success was the release of Shiny Rufflet in raids and Eggs only. The Shiny rate was observed by many trainers on social media to seem oddly high for a raid/Egg-only species. This event would've been better overall with increased Shiny Rufflet raids because, as is, it felt like a bit of an afterthought.

Secrets of the Jungle Raid Rotation & Eggs

Durant raids! While Durant was in the wild, the fact that this regional Pokémon was popping in raids worldwide was a terrific bonus. Now, the Eggs were less of a win. As Niantic reinstates pandemic bonuses, it would also be smart of them to return event eggs to the 7KM Gift Eggs which are more obtainable for those quarantining, especially during the winter. It would have been great to be able to grind out hatches for coveted Shiny Pokémon like Bonsly, but the randomness of the 5KM Egg drops made this aspect of the event less doable for many trainers.

Pokémon GO Bonuses

Finally, the return of Jessie and James and the concurrent Explorer Pikachu event, both of which are set to outlast the Secrets of the Jungle event, enriched this week of gameplay. The choice to give Jessie and James Shadow Pinsir and Shadow Scyther worked well, giving trainers a chance to hunt these Shiny Shadows that they may have missed when Cliff and Arlo awarded these encounters.

Overall, while the Rufflet Shiny release and Eggs were undercooked elements, the Secrets of the Jungle tie-in was another stellar event from Pokémon GO.

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