Pokemon GO Halloween Event: The Real Dark Business

The Pokemon GO Halloween event was confirmed – in part – by the Pokemon company itself earlier this week. In the announcement, the Pokemon company threw caution out the window and included mixed signals from all over the Pokemon universe, throwing caution to the wind as they included an image of all sorts of Pokemon from generations aplenty, all at once! To add confusion to the matter, all Gen 3 Pokemon have now been added to Pokemon GO – at least in the code for the game – but not in full practice.

The image above was illustrated by Leashe and posted to DeviantArt. It is hardcore. It shows a furious interpretation of Houndour and Houndoom as real-deal devil doggies.

The Pokemon dot com update released this week leaves one whole heck of a lot to the imagination. It's as if they were directed to say nothing other than a Halloween Pokemon GO event is in the mix. "The Halloween season is a special time in Pokémon GO," said the Pokemon post, "Plenty of good stuff is coming to the game later this October, and we can't wait to get out and about to see what sort of excitement we can scare up while catching new Pokémon to fill out our Pokédex."

What's more, the article included the image you see above this paragraph as part of their presentation. If this were the only image attached to an article about ONLY Pokemon GO, we'd be calling Gen-3 for sure! But it isn't, and the post is not. This image is attached to the post, alright, but the post itself includes a vast array of Pokemon media – TV shows, a set of Pumpkin stencils, a little bit about Pokemon Sun and Moon, and other oddities – like Halloween-themed plushies in the official Pokemon Center store.

It's not too much a stretch to expect that Mimikyu would appear in a future Halloween update – but certainly not this year. They've not even come close to releasing the whole Gen 2 collection yet – and only this Summer did the first 150 Pokemon finally reach a near-complete Pokedex of availability in Pokemon GO.

As I wrote – and we mentioned – back in early September, this Halloween, Pokemon GO is getting DARK. Our anonymous source with information on the subject matter teased us with a few possibilities for this event, starting with a reflection on last year's event.

The Halloween 2016 event was the first in which Pokemon GO held an in-game event. Last year we predicted Pokemon GO Halloween, too. Back then it was a fairly Gengar-based Ghost-type-Pokemon sort of affair. That made sense at the time since there are a number of Pokemon in Gen 1 that fit the Halloween theme perfectly.

• Drowzee

• Hypno

• Gastly

• Haunter

• Gengar

• Zubat

• Golbat

This year, since we have Gen 2 in the mix, a change needed to be made. The Pokemon types had to expand beyond the basics – and certainly beyond Ghost-types. While Ghastly, Haunter, and Gengar will more than likely still be able to appear, they won't be the main characters in this year's event.

SEE NO EVIL: Pokemon GO's Cardinal Sin

The most evil-looking of Pokemon that'll likely show up this year is Houndour – and of course Houndoom. These are the dogs that guard the gates of heck, after all, and they're clad in their own built-in skeleton costumes. Other Dark-type Pokemon that've appeared in Gen 2 since last year's event include Sneasel, Murkrow, and Umbreon.

Then there's Misdreavus, bridging the gap between Ghost-type and Dark-type Pokemon. While not the most powerful pocket monster in the game by any measure, Misdreavus is most certainly one of the most ghoulish.

Eevee is also sort of perfect for Halloween, as it evolves into a number of different sorts of Pokemon instead of just one or two. Eevee evolves – most importantly – into Umbreon, too. That's another one of the few Dark-type Pokemon in the game as of this week.

Don't be surprised to find that we get a few other bonuses during this Candy-intensive holiday. Last year we got 2x Pokemon Candy for every Pokemon caught, 2x Pokemon Candy from Professor Oak for transfers (grinding), and 4x Pokemon Candy from Buddy Pokemon (4 candy instead of 1). That's sweet business.

Much like last year's event, we expect that this year's Pokemon GO Halloween will last much more than a single Hallow's Eve. If I were a betting man, I'd toss some chips at the event beginning on Friday, the 27th of October, 2017, and lasting until Wednesday, the 31st of October – Halloween itself.

*NOTE: The above statement is not an endorsement of any sort of bet, nor is it advice from SlashGear or the author on how to use (or bet) any sort of cash, money, or crypto-currency.

Stick around our Pokemon GO Central Facebook page for more information and discussion of all things Pokemon GO! And don't forget to share your own odds and ends too – like your Pokemon-themed costume!