Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: , , , ,


Pokémon GO Wooper Watch Event Review: Surprise Shiny Release

Niantic delivered a huge surprise to Pokémon GO trainers with a one-day event yesterday. Players went in expecting this event, which was a tie-in to the Game Awards, to feature buffed Incense, double catch Stardust, and a chance to remove Frustration from Shadow Pokémon using Charged TMs. However, in addition to all of that, Pokémon GO treated us to the release of Shiny Wooper along with an absolute abundance of Wooper spawns.

Wooper in Pokémon GO. Credit: Niantic
Wooper in Pokémon GO. Credit: Niantic

Honestly, this was the best event in Pokémon GO since the Halloween 2020 event. While November was something of a dry patch for the game with very few Shiny releases and more low-key events, the fact that this one-day-long surprise ranks up that highly just speaks to how nice of a surprise it was.

Niantic has a strange history with surprises. In the past, their marketing of surprise events has felt a bit too much like taunting with a lack of information. They'll say, for example, something like, "Giratina is going to be the raid boss for the first week of the month. For the second week of the month, you'll never guess the surprise Pokémon in raids! For the third week, it'll be Darkrai. For the fourth? Well, start wondering!" This form of marketing, where Niantic informs players that there will be a surprise, creates a bit too much expectation and leaves it hard for any choice to truly satisfy. This kind of surprise, where Niantic adds a Shiny release to an already incredibly useful day of bonuses, is a perfect way to keep Pokémon GO exciting and dynamic.

The only critique that I have of the Wooper Watch event was that while Team GO Rocket balloons were indeed boosted, having the balloon arrive every two hours instead of every three was underwhelming in comparison to the other features. Having hourly arrivals would've been a better move but, looking at how much they added to this one-day event that was already going to be good enough as is, there's not much that even the pickiest of Pokémon GO trainers will have to complain about. Hopefully, Niantic takes note of the community's warm reaction to this Wooper event and continues on this path of actual surprises.


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Theo DwyerAbout Theo Dwyer

Theo Dwyer writes about comics, film, and games.
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