In celebration of the ongoing Team Rainbow Rocket events, Pokémon GO is making one of its iconic Pokémon a raid boss. Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, is known for having a Persian and a Nidoking, and the latter is the new raid boss. While Nidoking has previously been a raid boss, Giovanni’s Nidoking is stronger than its predecessors.
Sadly, this special raid boss is only available in Japan. Those players who manage to defeat the newly-added pocket monster will receive a special sticker from the staff. It will last from February 26 to March 11, appearing every 90 minutes from 4 pm throughout the week and from 11 am on weekends. This special raid boss ties in with the current Team Rainbow Rocket takeover of the Pokémon Center stores. This event entails actors protraying various trainers giving away special Pokemon to trainers who visit them.
Players outside Japan can get special Team Rainbow Rocket clothing from the in-game shop, so don’t feel too bad if you don’t live there.
With Legendary Week underway, Niantic is also adding some limited time Pokes back to the roster of available captures. Niantic is adding Kyogre and Groudon back to the game for a limited time as raid bosses, this means all the Gen 3 mascots will be available for now. Kyogre and Groudon will be joining Rayquaza in legendary raids in Pokemon GO until March 5.
But new raid bosses aren’t the only cool new addition. Niantic is also adding some shiny new variants for the games Community Day events. As you can see from the album below, shiny versions of the dragon-type Dratini are being placed in the game. Dratini caught during this event will also know the unique move, Draco Meteor.
Pokémon GO is available now in select regions for Android and iOS.