Pokémon Go Brings Mega Evolution, OS Compatibility Updates

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Four years after its release, Pokémon GO continues to hold cultural currency. This is in large part because Pokémon remains popular and Niantic, the game’s developer, continues to add refreshing updates. Here are two major updates coming to Pokémon GO in the coming months:

Mega Evolutions

Pokémon GO started as a game with only first-generation Pokémon and has since grown tremendously. This month, the developers are adding Mega Evolutions into the mix.

According to Pokémon GO’s website, Mega Evolutions will be the highlight of this month as part of the game’s Mega September event. Throughout the month, players will be able to gather the Mega Energy needed to Mega Evolve their Pokémon through raids as well as find certain Pokémon more readily in the wild. The month itself is segmented into three parts: September 1^st 8:00am – 8^th 10:00pm, September 11^th 8:00am – 17^th 10:00pm, and September 22^nd 8:00am – 28^th 10:00pm, all in local time.

Each portion highlights different community and individual events. The first focuses on Mega Pidgeot, with wild Pokémon like Abra, Treecko, and Lotad, among others, appearing more frequently. The second has Mega Houndoom as a community reward with some bug type Pokémon appearing more frequently. The final portion of the month extends how long you can Mega Evolve a Pokémon for (from four to 12 hours). All details can be found on their post about the event.

The addition of Mega Evolutions itself will likely be well praised, while the implementation criticized. Mega Evolutions were originally introduced in the Pokémon X and Y series, with it being a way to essentially supercharge one Pokémon for the duration of the battle. Mega evolved Pokémon were beloved as it added some nuance to the competitive scene and some of the designs were extremely well done.

However, there will also likely be pushback on how it is implemented. Mega Evolutions in Pokémon series games only require the Pokémon specific Mega Stone and can be activated in every battle. In Pokémon GO, players need to collect Mega Energy from Mega Raids. Once enough Mega Energy is collected, a player can only Mega Evolve a Pokémon for four hours. This system forces players to grind to get Mega Evolution.

If there is any time to try out Mega Evolution or collet Mega Energy, it’s during this September event.

Pokémon GO Compatibility

As with any piece of software, there may end up being some level of operating system compatibility issues. In a tweet by their official twitter account, the company announced that Pokémon GO will soon no longer work with “Android 5, iOS 10, and iOS11, as well as iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 devices.” This compatibility issue will come into play in an October Pokémon GO update.

While unfortunate for those who still carry an older phone, the game will still work on any device not listed. For example, Pokémon GO will still work on the iPhone 6s.