Galarian Pokémon are something that those older players like me who grew up with Generation 1 aren’t as excited about when it comes to anticipating roster updates to Pokémon Go. But of course, that mentality doesn’t translate to the majority of the fanbase. Pokémon Sword and Shield being the latest main game in the franchise, and the first core entry to land on consoles drummed up plenty of hype.
So when the idea of Galarian Pokémon getting bumped into Niantic’s Pokémon Go was announced, it’s understandable that some people are waiting for their introduction with bated breath. With eight different regions and generations worth of monster to pull from Niantic has plenty of choices too. Now, Galarian Pokémon are set to make their debut to Pokémon Go, and people are wondering when it will happen and which monsters will come first.
Let’s get right into it then, as Niantic is planning to drop the various roster updates they have planned through the ongoing Throwback Challenges that recently debuted in the game. Niantic will be rolling out various regional roster updates at different times over the next month. Here are the respective times for each one. The time of these tasks occur in your timezone:
- Kanto: May 1 at 1:00pm to May 8 at 1:00pm
- Johto: May 8 at 1:00pm to May 15 at 1:00pm
- Hoenn: May 15 at 1:00pm to May 22 at 1:00pm
- Sinnoh: May 22 at 1:00pm to May 29 at 1:00pm
There are more things on the way than just new Galarian Pokémon too. Niantic is adding some special rewards for completing the new Throwback Challenge Champion tasks. Players who complete each of these tasks, usually involving capturing certain types of monsters in sequence, will be rewarded with items and special encounters.
But don’t worry if you haven’t been able to complete all of these tasks, Niantic will allow access for Galarian Meowth, Zigzagoon, and Darumaka through 7-kilometer eggs. So that’s something for more casual players at least.
The bulk of the new rewards will drop on June 3, with the final day to complete these new research tasks being on June 8. After those dates players who completed the various challenges get a shot at capturing Galarian versions of Stunfisk, Zigzagoon, Darumaka, and Meowth. Players will also notice that during the next month there will be various other Galarian forms out and about in the wild. When this first wave of special spawns wraps up, Niantic will introduce the full roster in waves of future updates.
It’s unclear how the developer plans to roll out the whole of the new Pokémon Sword and Shield roster. It’s a safe bet that future events like Community Days and Research Tasks will be used pretty heavily to dole out a few Galarian forms at a time.
