‘Pokemon Go’ Developer Niantic To Introduce Legendary Pokemon This Year

Legendary Pokemon are headed to "Pokemon Go" this year. Niantic confirmed that they are working to bring legendary Pokemon to the game by year's end.

Polygon wrote that John Hanke, CEO of "Pokemon Go" developer Niantic, broke the news. He said in an interview with another online news outlet that the San Francisco-based company is prioritizing the availability of legendary Pokemon. He added that players should expect to see the likes of Mew and Mewtwo in their games this year.

However, they should not expect to see all Gen 1 and Gen 2 legendary Pokemon. Because so far, aside from the two already mentioned above, only three others are confirmed to arrive in "Pokemon Go." These are Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, the three flying legends. These three, though not available for play in the game yet, are already involved as the mascots of the three in-game teams.  

Last year, though, Niantic caused quite a stir among "Pokemon Go" players. That is because one trainer got for herself Articuno and conquered a gym with the help of the Flying/Ice Pokemon. She said that the video game company gave it to her as an apology over a technical issue. But game developer clarified later on that it was a mishap on their part, according to Den of Geek.

Players of "Pokemon Go" have been asking for legendary Pokemon since the game's release. Data miners discovered that they are included somewhere in the code, but they are markedly absent from the game. Tatsuo Nomura once said that each Pokemon is unique and they all have their own stories to tell. That is something that he would like to preserve in the game. Although what he said applied to Ditto, those words are also pertinent with regard to the especially rare legendary species. They have been difficult to catch even in previous Pokemon games, so it makes sense that Niantic wants their introduction to the mobile version to be special.