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Team GO Rocket's Jessie & James Are Leaving Pokémon GO

Jessie and James were first introduced into Pokémon GO two months ago, but the iconic duo from the anime series will make their exit from the game on September 30th. Niantic has confirmed that, while other Team GO Rocket activity will continue, Jessie and James, along with their Meowth balloon, will no longer drift onto players' screens once the month closes out. With these two gone, what is next for Team GO Rocket and how can Pokémon GO trainers make the most of their final month in the game?

Team GO Rocket's Jessie & James Are Leaving Pokémon GO. Credit: Niantic
Team GO Rocket's Jessie & James Are Leaving Pokémon GO. Credit: Niantic

You can't find Jessie and James. They find you. Every six hours, a Team GO Rocket balloon will drift onto your screen in Pokémon GO provided that your game is open. Balloons can be expected at 12AM, 6AM, 12PM, and 6PM outside of events. Most of these balloons will be regular Team GO Rocket grunts, or a Leader if you have a Rocket Radar enabled. However, sometimes instead of the standard balloon, the Meowth balloon will arrive. There is little information on how rare it is, but some players have suggested that they'll encounter one per day, while others have claimed to go a week or more without seeing Jessie and James' balloon. The best way to find these encounters is to wait patiently and have your game open and ready during the arrival windows… because once their gone, so will your shot at catching a Shadow Shiny Ekans or Koffing.

There is reason to believe that, once Jessie and James leave, two things will happen: a shift in the Shadow Pokémon that Leaders Sierra, Cliff, and Arlo have, as well as a new Giovanni quest. When the lockdown started, Niantic announced that Giovanni wouldn't return with a new monthly research through September (though, that turned out to be untrue when a GO Fest quest focused on him). With Jessie and James set to depart at the exact time that Giovanni is set to return, it would be a good bet to expect Team GO Rocket monthly research to resume in October.


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Theo DwyerAbout Theo Dwyer

Theo Dwyer writes about comics, film, and games.
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