Meet Meltan

Remember the little creature that suddenly came out in Pokémon Go and which I discussed a few posts earlier? Well, it turns out that that creature has a name, and its name is Meltan. And because it was introduced in Pokémon Go, it has officially become the newest member to grace the franchise. Its official-ness came with some notable exchanges on its own.

Just before its "reveal", so to speak, the English-language Twitter accounts for Pokémon and Nintendo agreed to let Trainers in on the new stuff, and so they did... but on the Japanese side first. Of course, it wasn't too long before everyone else got to know who the little creature that ambushed everyone was, and that was helped by an exchange with two professors.

Those professors are namely Professor Oak from Kanto and Professor Willow from Go. In a recorded exchange, they definitively identified the Pokémon as Meltan, based on what they know. After this exchange, the new Pokémon also received a species designation (Hex Nut Pokémon), which also came with the tag of "Mythical", which makes this Pokémon something beyond the ordinary.

Even way before the reveal, someone posted a Japanese-language fanmade "reveal" of the new Pokémon. In it, however, the Pokémon is named "Metalmon", which alludes to the "metal" aspect and the Japanese name for Ditto, "Metamon". It wasn't too far off from the official name, which is the interesting part. The insights for the approximated name are appropriate as well.

As for meeting the little creature again, it's almost definite that the Pokémon is coming to the Let's Go games, which is due out in about one and a half months. Meanwhile in Go, its traces are still visible; I almost re-encountered one today, but I didn't get close enough before it fled. But because it got its start in Go, it will likely reappear in the game again, though things are still up in the air at this point.

After these exchanges, the mystery of the past few days has become clear, as every Pokémon fan got a glimpse of what is the newest Pokémon to date and understood its background as well. The next challenge - one that will likely be elucidated in a matter of months - is how to definitively meet the Pokémon again. For now, I say that it's nice to meet you, Meltan, and we hope to see some more of you real soon.

One year ago: Pokémon Stuff at a Neighborhood Store