Pokémon Go has teased the arrival of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Paradox creatures within the hit smartphone game.
Paradox Pokémon are new versions of familiar creatures from alternate past and future realities, and debuted in the series' most recent mainline games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet for Nintendo Switch.
Artwork for Pokémon Go's 9th anniversary shows the primordial Great Tusk, which looks like it's wandered off the set of Jurassic World Rebirth, and the neon-coated Iron Treads, which could have rolled straight out of Cyberpunk 2077. Both are versions of the classic Pokémon Donphan — and now fans are debating how Paradox Pokémon will debut.
In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, players can encounter Paradox Pokémon in the wild — though in Pokémon Go, there's an expectation that these powerful creatures will likely pop up in raids, similar to how the Ultra Beasts from Pokémon Sun and Moon debuted.
Paradox Pokémon originally being spotted in Scarlet/Violet's "Area Zero" crater has meanwhile led some fans to suggest the species would be a good fit for this year's Pokémon Go Wild Area event, which is designed to feel like something of a safari.
22 Paradox Pokémon species exist, with a selection of more common and Legendary Pokémon remixed. Jigglypuff gets a billion-year-old variant named Scream Tail, for example, while the Legendary Terrakion gets a new variant, Iron Boulder, that looks like an anime robot. Regardless of how some of the Paradox species are introduced, these new versions of Legendary creatures seem most likely to be found in raids.
One note of caution about Pokémon Go's anniversary artwork is that the game has, on occasion, not always followed through with what these images have set up. Fans have been quick to point to past teases for Mega Mewtwo and fan-favorite Ghost critter Mimikyu in previous annual artworks, only to not materialise. But Pokémon Go's developer has seemingly become wiser to these expectations — and indeed Paradox Pokémon are the logical choice for the next big selection of creatures to join the game, after the recent debut of Gigantamax creatures, the fully-launched Ultra Beasts and almost all Mega Pokémon now being available.
Other teases in this year's artwork include Gigantamax Butterfree, which fans expect to debut soon, Mega Metagross, one of the game's last remaining Mega species yet to turn up, and a player avatar receiving a virtual thumbs up (which some fans are taking as a sign that remote communication or even remote trading might be arriving).
And then there's Zygarde, star of the upcoming Pokémon Legends Z-A for Switch and Switch 2. While already in Pokémon Go, fans are currently limited to having just one of the creature. Could we see more become available, and potentially through Mega Raids, if Zygarde does get a Mega in Z-A? As with the temporally-divergent Paradox Pokémon themselves, time will tell.
Last week, Pokémon Go's developer said it was investigating an issue with Golden PokéStops that intefered with in-game 9th anniversary celebrations. Last month, IGN sat down with Pokémon Go director Michael Steranka to discuss the game's future, including its recent introduction of a $20 Golden Bottle Cap item to boost a creature's stats for the first time, and why the game's new Saudi-backed ownership at Scopely would not negatively impact Pokémon Go — or result in Cristiano Ronaldo being added.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
