Pokémon Go Event Rollup, 8/28/2020

As I noted during the coverage of Community Day this month, the month following Pokémon Go Fest (editions) is likely to be lively, and this one has been just that with its events. Most of them are due to what happens over the course of Pokémon Go Fest (or its editions) that would then result in the events over the course of the month. As a matter of fact, the concept is not new and was the case for last year in September, only then it was because Pokémon Go Fest was a triad in the summer, not a one-off like this year. Still, for this month, the happenings are or were more or less similar, thanks to the similar efforts of everyone in a similar manner despite current conditions.

At that time, the happenings were called Ultra Bonuses, as rewards for jobs well done over the course of the Go Fest triad as the Summer Tour. This time, the happenings are called Ultra Unlocks, and they were unlocked over the course of the first day of this year's one-off Go Fest as set numbers of Global Challenges were completed (the second day was of course the Team Go Rocket intrusion, so not much came out of that). Like last time, the Ultra Unlocks for this month were sectioned off into weekly periods of events, all with their own unique characteristics, including featured Pokémon in the wild and from 7 km Eggs, Legendary raid boss, and Shiny forms.

The first week of the month was called "Dragon Week" and it featured Dragon-type Pokémon of all kinds, shapes, and sizes. A highlight during this week was Deino, which did have its Shiny form released, but it was exceptionally rare. The Legendary raid boss this week was Rayquaza, which had been possibly Shiny for some time, but it too was still exceptionally rare, at least for some people. As well, there was a Timed Research with appropriate rewards during the week, but for many, it was more problematic than it was rewarding - it had a habit of disappearing at times - so it was to be rectified somehow later on. Apart from this, Dragon-type goodness were abound this week, which should have been the allure.

The second week of the month was called "Enigma Week" and it featured Psychic types and a small selection of Fairy types. Most notably, this week served as the debut of Elgyem from the fifth generation, as well as Shiny Unown for the letters U-L-T-R-A as with last year, but in raids instead of from Eggs; earlier, the letters G and O had their Shiny forms during the Go Fest. For this week, Deoxys in its Normal Forme reappeared, this time potentially being Shiny. Shiny Staryu was also an additional highlight. As can be discerned, everything this week revolved around all these Shiny forms and raids for them, and some may have gotten lots more (or much less) than they bargained for.

The third week of the month was called "Unova Week" and true to its name, Pokémon from the fifth generation or the Unova region were the big thing. The Sewaddle family, Cottonee family, Emolga, and Bouffalant (being a New York regional) all made their debuts this week, as did the Shiny forms of the Roggenrola family and Genesect, something I had touched on over a week ago. As far as everything else was concerned, Genesect was the big thing, as it never made it to EX Raids prior to its first general raid and Shiny availability this week. Otherwise, it did nicely fill in a few gaps in the Unova Pokédex, and now it's a little more complete barring a few standouts that still need to make it in.

While there was nothing for the fourth week, there were remnants all around, also in previous weeks. During the live report on the first day of Pokémon Go Fest, I reported that there would be a make-up event for some habitat blocks, and that happened on August 16 for an hour each of the Fire, Water, and Friendship habitats. However, for Asia-Pacific (my region), things went haywire again, and the make-up was made up again the very next week. It was as fun as it was distressing. Meanwhile, the last week of the month also featured the make-up for the Dragon Week Timed Research as well as Heatran as a stopgap Legendary raid boss. There was also a remnant "preview" of next month's events, which are to be explained then.

After a wild Pokémon Go Fest month last month, this month was also quite wild in different ways, as it effectively became the "after party" with all the Ultra Unlocks that were unlocked after the efforts of everyone involved in the big event last month. Granted, they weren't perfect, but it was still an "after party" to behold after what transpired in the previous month. In current conditions, it's still a miracle that things can happen as they have transpired. It may be taken to mean that once current conditions settle, things have to be as big if not bigger. For the moment, it's good to know that Trainers can pull out similar efforts to make things as similar as they have been.

One year ago: Allying with Characters
Two years ago: PokéVerbalisms
Three years ago: After the Faraway Tournament