With the COVID-19 pandemic still impacting cities around the world and the concerns over traveling, Niantic rightly decided to host another Pokemon Go Fest as a virtual only event that anyone in the globe could participate. Unlike the previous year, ticket prices for the Pokemon Go Fest 2021 were reduced to AUD$7.99. So was it worth it?
It is great to have annual game event to look forward to where friends and family come together in a common desire to capture new Pokemon, whether we missed them the first time around or introduced for the first time exclusively for during event. For Australians, it was nice to be able to access Throh for the first time and some unique costumed Pokemon such as Pikachu, Galarian Zigzagoon, Flygon and Galarian Ponyta.
Pokémon Go Gest 2021 took a decidedly theme turned by making the event thematically a musical affair where the Special Research tasks for Day 1 revolved around creating a band with unique costumed while unique music played throughout the event. In regard to the Special Research tasks, there were four rounds, round one Pop Star or Rock Star Pikachu, round two Galarian Zigzagoon or Galarian Ponyta each with a Meloetta hat, round three Flygon or Gardevoir each with a Meloetta hat and round four was a Meloetta encounter, which is a mythical Pokémon.
Pokémon Day 1 was titled ‘Catch’ while Day 2 was titled ‘Raid’. I found it exciting capturing a whole bunch of shinies on Day 1. I managed to capture in order the following Alolan Exeggutor, Audino, Growlithe, Skorupi, Skarmory, Growlithe, Feebas, Clamperl, Ralts, Gible, Chimecho and Trapnich. My last couple of shinies were disappointing given they were all in abundance in previous Community Days (and I haven’t missed any Community Day Pokémon). I was hoping that I would snare some shiny legendaries on Day 2, but despite doing more than 20 raids, I wasn’t as lucky as some of the other people who caught one or two shiny legendaries. In fact, the only shiny I caught on Day 2 was another Growlithe.
Day 1 had Ultra Unlock time researched tasks that were tied to each habitat. Each hour, players would have to work together within their region to do certain tasks like land Great Throws or Spin PokeStops. Once the threshold was reached, all players within the region were rewarded with the bonus such as 5x experience on catch experience for the remaining hour. Unfortunately, Melbourne and the other populous Australian city Sydney were both in lockdowns so some of the tasks were harder to complete due to a majority of players having restricted movement.
Whether you had a ticket or not, all Trainers had access to the following perks:
- Every Trainer was able to make up to six Special Trades, i.e. trading shinies, etc, each day.
- Pikachu wearing a special Meloetta-inspired hat appeared in the wild during event hours on Saturday and Sunday.
- During event hours on Saturday, 17 July, the following Pokémon appeared in raids:
- Galarian Ponyta and Galarian Zigzagoon wearing Meloetta-inspired hats appeared in one-star raids, as well as Deino. If you’re lucky, there was a chance to encounter a shiny Galarian Ponyta, shiny Galarian Zigzagoon, or shiny Deino,
- Galarian Weezing, Hitmontop, and Cranidos appeared in three-star raids.
On Day 1, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm local time, the festival rotated two times between the following four habitats:
- The Jungle habitat featured Pokémon such as Scyther, Aipom, Exeggutor, Chimchar, Froakie, and more.
- The Desert Mountain habitat featured Pokémon such as Skarmory, Shieldon, Hippopotas, Cacnea, and more.
- The Ocean Beach habitat featured Pokémon such as Dratini, Swablu, Marill, Alomomola, and more.
- The Cave habitat featured Pokémon such as Roggenrola, Galarian Stunfisk, Deino, Snorlax, Absol, and more.
Also during both days, shiny Unown F, shiny Throh, and shiny Sawk made their Pokémon GO debut during the fest.
On Day 2, there were raids that popped up for about 20 minutes each and each legendary was allocated to one of four hours as follows:
- Raid Day Wind Hour: 10am and 2pm local time
- Raid Day Lava Hour: 11am and 3pm local time
- Raid Day Frost Hour: 12pm and 4pm local time
- Raid Day Thunder Hour: 1pm and 5pm local time
As a ticket holder, on Day 2, we were given three Remote Raid Passes via the Shop and up to eight (one at a time) after completing a timed researched task, which just required players to complete one raid. I wish we were given more Remote Raid Passes due to our lockdown or even a way to see which Raids were waiting for people, since it can be hard to start a raid with only two or three people.
The legendaries that made an appearance were all the following:
- Articuno
- Zapdos
- Moltres
- Mewtwo
- Raikou,
- Entei,
- Suicune,
- Lugia,
- Ho-Oh,
- Regirock,
- Regice,
- Registeel,
- Latias,
- Latios,
- Kyogre,
- Groudon,
- Rayquaza,
- Dialga,
- Palkia,
- Heatran,
- Regigigas,
- Altered Forme Giratina,
- Cresselia,
- Cobalion,
- Terrakion,
- Virizion,
- Therian Forme Tornadus,
- Therian Forme Thundurus,
- Reshiram,
- Zekrom,
- Therian Forme Landorus,
- Kyurem,
- Xerneas,
- Yveltal
Many of the newer legendaries did not have their shiny forms avaliable, so I found the legendaries that had shiny versions to be far more popular in getting people to join the raid and use their Remote Raid Pass.
Also, for both days:
- All Lure Modules activated during event hours will last for three hours, however Incensed only lasted for one hour
- Special music created by Pokémon music producer Junichi Masuda played throughout the event.
- 1/2 Hatch Distance when Eggs are placed in an Incubator during event hours.
- Pokémon hatching from 7 km eggs include Igglybuff, Chingling, Audino, and more.
- Event-exclusive Field Research tasks, special on-map visual effects, and more.
Before the Pokémon Go Fest 2021, I admit that my excitement levels were low. The idea that Throh was the only exclusive being made available was disappointing, since I have been wanting the regional exclusive Heracross or Tropius. But after catching an abundance of shinies on my first day, my mood changed. Although I was not lucky on Day 2, I still managed to capture a whole bunch of legendary Pokémon. Overall, I enjoyed the event. I thought it was worth it and it definitely brought me closer to other people.
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