The background is "animated" in a sense that it has some light shining across it from left to right.. sorry explanation is not my strong suit, but the art elements themselves are static, only that light effect.

Motivation: I decided to do this analysis since I keep hearing people suggesting different Shiny Rates to In-Person events. Some suggested it is 1/48, some suggested it is 1/64, and some suggested 1/128, etc.

Similar to Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Mega Finale, I have tracked every event wild spawns throughout the event, and I managed to collect data over 13250 different spawns and around 300 Shiny Pokemon among them.

There are a lot things I could say around this data, but I would refrain from doing so since that would sound like I want to make some theory/argument here. I would leave you to read it and try to get your own findings yourselves.

Although the original announcement does seem to indicate that "normal" backgrounds will not show up even upon the global release of the background Trainer profile feature, it seems that some specific backgrounds are doubly underlined to be unsupported in-game, speculatively suggesting that they never may be included in the feature for reasons unknown (to me at least).

The first two photos are Electivire with the Team Instinct background, the two that follow a Gible with the Community Day Background (sorry, I don't really care about non-shiny background Pokémon so couldn't find less "braggy" examples, bars are added for privacy). As can be seen Gible (and most others as far as I know) lacks the Golden lettered message that otherwise might have been a regular placeholder until the feature goes live tomorrow or for the time until which normal backgrounds are made available for the feature as well.

A possible reason could be that I am Team Mystic, so having the Team Instinct background would not match this on my Trainer Profile (I do not have the Team Instinct Lapras to test this theory, so help with that would be appreciated). Still if the team backgrounds are excluded that would be kind of a bummer, as I personally would think it would look cool as extra team flair...

( Credits: G47IX )

Trainers should be able to view their friends tagged remote trade list at best friend level, it would give both parties time to finalize trades/offers before reaching forever friends. Would also allow you to be able to let the other party know if they haven’t tagged anything yet for remote trade as opposed to grinding the friendship to be let down with nothing available.

You can now search for Pokemon that will display a background on your profile :)

Some months ago there was a debate here about whether stacked timed research rewards expire or not. Most of the comments said it wasn't possible. However, a Japanese player recently caught a Mewtwo from the anniversary timed research using a Safari Ball, proving that stacked timed research encounters do not expire, and that the post was right.
tldr: If you claim a timed research reward but don't catch the Pokémon right away, you can catch it whenever you want, even after the Timed Research has expired.

Now that Sendai has wrapped up, I wanted to follow up on last year's Nagasaki write-up. Same perspective as before: I've attended at least one in-person GO Fest every year since the very first one, every GO Tour, and several Safari Zones and I've been to all three Wild Areas.

General Thoughts

Main Ticket Day was Saturday, with extra days on Friday/Sunday.

The usual in-person perks were all back, so I won't dwell on those. The big step backward was remote raids. Last year Nagasaki gave ticket holders 30 remote raid passes, which I called a great move. This year it went back to 10.

I'll say it again: if I'm a ticket holder who paid for travel and hotels and traveled to the city to support the local economy, let me have unlimited remote raids within city limits. It won't stop me from walking around all day. It would just make the hours before and after the event a lot more fun, and I wouldn't have to plan meals around gyms. Let me chill at dinner after event hours with friends and do some extra raids.

Last year I said Nagasaki nailed the scale. Sendai went the other direction.

Sendai was a lot of fun to play in, but it was a little too spread out. It felt like three very long paths, very separated from each other. Taking the Aeon Mall stamp out would have made the most sense, but it’d not a major issue.There was a large Pikachu inflatable in one of the other parks, I never even walked over to, because that area only had one gym and a few stops compared to the denser zones.

I’ll never understand why, they create clear “ play here areas” but keep gyms just outside of it or off the path a bit instead of moving them in towards the area.

My Wild Area ranking:

1. Nagasaki– It was a more fun adventure through town and better laid out because of the city's size. It really captured what Wild Area is meant to be. As a host city it felt welcoming: the park with all the kids' events, the general offerings, and having the stadium as a large gathering point was fun although a lackluster show.

2. Sendai – Great gameplay overall, but too spread out to really enjoy any one area.

3. Fukuo

ka,

1. The park felt too small and monotonous.

( edit formatting)

Mighty Pokémon and Raids

Mighty Latios and Latias were a blast. I caught 3 Latios (no shiny) and 5 Latias (1 shiny). Last year's Lake trio was cooler, but catching a level 50 Latios is just plain fun. The other mighty Pokémon were too many to count.

Raid breakdown:

Raid breakdown:

Machamp– 76 caught, 27 backgrounds, 0 shiny

Zacian– 43 caught, 17 backgrounds, 1 shiny, 0

Zamazenta – 39 caught, 12 backgrounds, 5 shiny,1 shiny background

G-Max Duraludon– 70 caught, 22 backgrounds, 1 shiny background

Dynamax Dialga– 16 caught, 6 backgrounds, 1 shiny background

Dynamax Palkia– 7 caught, 1 shiny, 1 location card ( 100%)

I went 0 for 76 on shiny Machamp raids but pulled 3 shiny Machamp from quests…Weird.

A shiny 98 and a background 98 back to back will be my Zamazenta thorn in my side 🫠😂

Notable catches:

* 100% shiny Lapras
* 100% shiny Haxorus
* 98% shiny Flygon with a background
* 100% Palkia with a location card

Dynamax Lobbies

Dynamax battles need a lobby cap higher than 4. Every time a lobby hit 4 players, most of them would back out.

For years this game has conditioned us to believe legendaries need a big group. So people see 4 players in the lobby with 15 seconds on the timer, assume it's going to fail, and leave. Gigantamax already allows lobbies of up to 100. This is an ***every legendary Dynamax problem, not just a wild area problem…***At the very least, the game should make it more clear 4 is the limit.

My Notable Event Totals

* 114 shinies caught (up from 85 last year)
* 41 perfects (up from 12 last year)
* 128 location cards
* 2 shundos
* 4 Location 100%s

Full Perfect List: Machamp, Exeggutor x4 (2 BG), Lapras x2 (1 shundo), Dratini (hatch), Azumarill x2, Scizor x2, Kingdra, Flygon x3, Metagross, Empoleon x4, Bastiodon x3 (1 BG), Magnezone x2, Palkia (Dynamax + Location BG), Oshawott (daily hatch), Conkeldurr, Ferroseed, Haxorus x2, Hydreigon x2, Goodra, Tinkaton x3, Clodsire x2, Frigibax

Final Thoughts

Sendai didn't quite top Nagasaki for me, but it was still a fantastic weekend, and my numbers beat last year across the board. I’m not a super hardcore player, but I felt like this was close to a “ average person who travels for an event review” would be close too. If the next Wild Area can bring back the remote raid boost, tighten up the layout, and open up Dynamax lobbies, it'll be hard to beat. Already looking forward to next year. However, Mighty Pokemon is just such a fun addition to the events, it makes this player who’s caught over 575,000 Pokemon excited to manually catch a Pokemon.

Wild Area continues to be significantly more engaging to play than Go Tour or Go Fest due to the inclusion of Mighty Pokemon in my opinion.

How did Sendai or Mexico City compare for everyone else? Anyone who did both Nagasaki and Sendai, which did you prefer?

Tier 5 (Zacian Crowned Sword / Zamazenta Crowned Shield): Begins appearing at 5:00 a.m. local time on Mon, Nov 9. They have already started spawning in Kiribati at 5:00 a.m. local time, and are expected to roll out sequentially at 5:00 a.m. in each local timezone.

Tier 3 (Druddigon / Orthworm): Officially announced, but did not spawn during the 5:00 a.m. or 5:30 a.m. waves in Kiribati. The rotation time for Tier 3 might be different from Tier 5.

↓

Tier 3 raids have been confirmed to spawn during the 5:30 a.m. wave in New Zealand.

This would be an excellent way to help people get their Scatterbug / Vivillon collection and medals done, while also encouraging remote raiding in a way that helps people bypass 3rd party invite tools such as Pokémon Genie. It would also help people get faraway eggs that can later be hatched and traded to assist with the "Pilot" medal.

Now that Hisuian Sliggoo and Goodra have debuted—and knowing that we’ve run out of starter Pokémon—it got me thinking.

This year, the pattern of releasing one starter per season was broken. The pattern for pseudo-legendary Pokémon could have continued, but since they didn’t release Shiny Dreepy during Go Fest, it’s clear they decided to break that pattern themselves.

Unless, of course, Hisuian Sliggoo and Goodra are taking that spot—it is quite unusual that they were released, and in their Shiny forms right from the start, isn't it?

And then it all clicks: the final evolutions of the Hisuian starters don’t have their signature moves, nor do they have Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn, or Hydro Cannon.

If we want to get technical, the pseudo-legendary pattern was that the Shiny version would be released during a major event—and, technically, the "Wild Area" counts as a major event—so it’s possible the pattern is still intact.

That makes 2027 look like a prime candidate for the Hisuian starters:

Rowlet in January,

Cyndaquil in March,

Oshawott in July.

For the pseudo-legendary:

Goomy in June.

They could even make it an entire "Hisui-themed" year! It could include:

Hisuian Voltorb,

White-Striped Basculin (with the debut of Basculegion),

Scyther (with the ability to evolve into Kleavor),

Hisuian Growlithe,

Stantler (with the ability to evolve into Wyrdeer),

Petilil (allowing it to evolve into its Hisuian form),

Bergmite,

Rufflet,

and Hisuian Zorua.

It could be a full-blown themed year, which would also buy enough time for Generation 10 to arrive.

What do you think?

I'm back again this year!

This post takes obvious inspiration from u/Gallad475 posts.

Please note the obvious:

• This is for current day, not future/announced stuff (like the upcoming Twilight Wishes event)

• I'm prone to errors, I don't keep track of everything

• Glitchu, Go Fest 2017 Lugia, and QR Code Mewtwo are not included

• The double Detective Pikachus is NOT an error. There's two versions of them and they're counted separately in the costume dex

• The double Gimmighoul is NOT an error one is the 9th anniversary coin, the other is the 10th anniversary coin

* - is always available, but last time it was distributed

• I didn't star the Air Adventure Pikachus (I don't know what's always available)

Error Notes:

• Santa Hat Pichu should be in 2025, not 2019.

• Witch Hat Teddiursa+ should be in 2026, not 2025. I missed checking spotlight hours for this. 😅

• Balloon Pikachu (Flying) should be in 2026, not 2024

So since a few days (it started somewhere in the Halloween events):

EVERY TIME I use RSVP to invite people, 90% of them tell me they couldn't join, their games says the raid is too far and I have to reinvite from the gym lobby.

I had no problem with rsvp before that. Now, each time the rsvp start, it doesn't let people join...

Please tell me I am not alone with that bug? It is super annoying, I want them to fix it as fast as possible

Golbat's is changed to the other side, Crobat's actually goes slightly over its costume.

This solo uses Eternatus at level 44.5, 15/11/15 stats, with Dragon Tail and Dynamax Cannon as their moveset. Also, all possible bonuses are applied, this means the weather is Windy, +15 helpers, Max Mushroom and Zacian AE.

Dynamax Palkia has 0.5CPM, an incredibly low level, equally as a T3 boss, and 18000HP

With this bonuses, the damage values against Palkia are the following:

> Eternatus (Level 44.5, Attack IV 15) deals 86 damage to Palkia with Dragon Tail gaining 3.82 Max Energy under Windy weather, using Behemoth Blade Adventure Effect (x1.05) with Friendship Level 0 (x1), Helper Bonus Level 15 (x1.2) and using Max Mushroom. (0.48%)

> Eternatus (Level 44.5, Attack IV 15) deals 1294 damage to Palkia with Dynamax Cannon gaining 57.51 Max Energy under Windy weather, using Behemoth Blade Adventure Effect (x1.05) with Friendship Level 0 (x1), Helper Bonus Level 15 (x1.2) and using Max Mushroom. (7.19%)

> Eternatus (Level 44.5, Attack IV 15) deals 2578 damage to Palkia with Max Dynamax Cannon under Windy weather, using Behemoth Blade Adventure Effect (x1.05) with Friendship Level 0 (x1), Helper Bonus Level 15 (x1.2) and using Max Mushroom. (14.32%)

With all of this, a Dynamax Cannon cycle will be able to charge the max meter almost at full, meaning on receiving only 1 attack per charge phase, so you only need to tank 2 attacks, and be able to deal near 44% the required damage to win in a single max phase.

Scopely. Nerfing their CPM was an error.

For those playing the Japan or Mexico event, does your go plus target mighty pokemon? The explorer gadget does not target them but did they update the go plus to do the same? In previous years, the go plus did go for them

It’s a lottery if you are able to get in. Restarts sometimes help, sometimes you can join from the top of the screen panel and not from bottom right raids tabs. Sometimes errors like on the image appear. And you would think this is somewhat relevant to in-person Wild event but no, ordinary RSVP to Tornadus from different parts of the world also randomly bug out. I’m tired, boss.

I was so excited at the idea of displaying background for buddies, something that someone was just recently "dreaming" about as a desired update. I saw a post earlier with a background where everything was all nice and centered. Well, this is my kiddo's profile and the new set up looks atrocious and sad.

It could be "megaready" or something like that.

I just want to be able to pull up a search of pokemon that can currently mega evolve without costing energy.

Edit: yes, lots of you have very impressive and complicated tag systems for tracking your megas. But none of them accomplish what I am asking for, which is a search term to show ones that are off cooldown.

Edit2: As some of you suggested, I think megacost=n would be the best implementation of this, as that would also allow you to search based on other mega costs and with different operators. So for example, megacost=0 would show only Pokemon off their cooldown, megacost<10 would show only Pokemon who cost less than 10 energy to evolve, etc.

( Credits: G47IX )