Item Drops in Pokémon Go

In recent Pokémon Go events, one might have noticed that some Pokémon can have an additional item "aspect" to them. Specifically, when they are captured, they may beget additional yet certainly useful items. This aspect is called "item drop", as the Pokémon let go of what is essentially an item being held as they are captured, and the capturing Trainer receives the item along with the caught Pokémon. It's an aspect that has now made its debut in Pokémon Go and stands to be rather useful.

The first Pokémon to receive the aspect were Carbink and Rayquaza, way back during this year's global edition of Pokémon Go Fest. For Carbink, the dropped item was Diancie Mega Energy, since by lore, the latter arose out of a mutation of the former; this makes sense, especially practically as Diancie is a Mythical Pokémon of a special nature and is not to be raided for. For Rayquaza, the dropped item was a Meteorite, which by lore is the item that allows Rayquaza to Mega Evolve; in the case of Pokémon Go, the item teaches the move Dragon Ascent (here a Charged move) and enables Mega Evolution for a chosen exemplar. These two work out by the properties of the items and their backstory.

Last month, as I've mentioned, the item drops were for Oddish, which is useful for evolving it to Bellossom. This leads to the intriguing possibility that future item drops will be for highly pertinent items - in this case, an evolutionary item - to the species dropping the item. For example, Slowpoke could drop a King's Rock, or Scyther could drop a Metal Coat; yet, they could also drop from other relevant species like Hariyama and Lairon respectively.

As for other future developments, they may be tantalizing to consider. Item drops may become a replacement for Timed Research sets that furnish evolutionary items during Community Day. Like with Carbink above, it may be possible for relevant species to drop Mega Energy, as an alternative to raiding, Field Research, or walking. If they occurred even more often generally for all Pokémon, they could even furnish Berries, or in the case of Pokémon that in the main series games have the Pickup ability, the items that they usually grab from the wild. All of these possibilities make sense to a certain extent and could just be implemented.

With item drops, there are greater possibilities of showing how Pokémon interact with items of different kinds, as well as the possibilities of items that Trainers could just obtain by catching Pokémon. In that regard, the usefulness is highly evident and the expansion possibilities are rife. That may also just become the precursor for capturing more Pokémon as the primary purpose of this game.

One year ago: Quickies: Needing a Speed Boost

Two years ago: Possible Future Unite Licenses?

Three years ago: The Sun Also Rises... on SLA

Four years ago: Dub Reunion, Dub History

Five years ago: A Strongly Brilliant Thing

Six years ago: Feelings for Female Trainers