Pokemon GO Celebrates New Year’s with Legendary Raids, Spotlights, More

2021 is just around the corner, and Niantic has some big Pokemon GO New Year’s plans to celebrate during the whole month of January.

From December 31 through January 4, Pokemon GO celebrates New Year’s with Pokemon appearing in festive party costumes. New avatar items make their way to the in-game store, and the chance to encounter party-hat Pokemon returns.

First up is a special Breakthrough Research Encounter. From January 1 at 1 p.m. PST through February 1 at the same time, Chancey will show up in Research Breakthroughs.

January also a new legendary five-star Raid each week with special Mega Raids alongside. Here’s the schedule:

January 1 at 1 p.m. PST through January 5 at 10 a.m. local time

• Ho-Oh appears in five-star Raids. May be shiny Ho-Oh.

January 5 at 10 a.m. local time through January 12 at 10 a.m. local time.

• Genesect will appear in five-star Raids holding a Burn Drive
• Mega Charizard Y, Mega Blastoise, and Mega Abomasnow appear in Mega Raids

January 12 at 10 a.m. local time through January 19 at 10 a.m. local time:

• Heatran appears in five-star Raids. May be shiny Heatran.

January 19 at 10 a.m. local time through January 26 at 10 a.m. local time:

• Kyogre and Groudon appear in five-star raids. May be shiny Kyogre or shiny Groudon.
• “A certain Mega Evolved Pokemon” appears in Mega Raids for the first time on January 19. Niantic will release more information as the date draws near, and we’ll update once that happens.

January 26 at 10 a.m. local time:

• Surprise Pokemon appears in five-star Raids

Each week, starting January 5, features a Spotlight Pokemon and special catch-related bonus.

• January 5 — Lilipup Spotlight, earn double Stardust for catching Pokemon
• January 12 — Drifloon Spotlight, earn double XP for catching Pokemon
• January 19 — Shroomish Spotlight, earn double Candy for catching Pokemon
• January 26 — Phanpy Spotlight, earn double Candy for transferring Pokemon

All this is leading up to the Pokemon GO Kanto Tour, and Niantic plans several regional-themed celebrations and collection challenges on top of all the January celebrations.

[Source: Niantic]