Pokemon news this week includes the launch of another Pokemon Go event, the Water Festival, and the release date of Pokemon Masters.
Both are free-to-play games available on mobile phones, but they also focus on different gameplay aspects.
So there shouldn’t be too much rivalry between the two games when they’re both available to download.
The 2019 Pokemon Go Water Festival is now in full swing, and that means new Research to complete and rewards to unlock.
Trainers can also enjoy other bonuses that are available outside of the new tasks set by Niantic.
This includes an increase in water-type Pokémon spawns, as well as more water-types hatching from eggs.
And according to the latest reports, shiny versions of Barboach and Carvanha are also available in the wild.
Many of the best water types have seen spawn increases, and these will stay in place during the entirety of the Water Festival.
Some of these will spawn around areas of water more often, others like Magikarp will appear around the map.
This new event runs until Friday, August 30, 2019, at 1 p.m. PDT and will be available during the Pokemon Masters launch.
“Out in the wild, Water-type Pokémon like Magikarp, Wooper, and Wailmer will appear more frequently,” a message from Niantic reads.
“It’s also a great time to head to the beach because rarer Water-type Pokémon—including Wartortle, Poliwhirl, Lapras, Mantine, Feebas, Piplup, Finneon—will appear more often around water.
“If you’re really lucky, you might even encounter a Shiny Carvanha or Shiny Barboach! You’ll get double the usual Candy from hatching Eggs, too, and Water-type Pokémon will be more likely to hatch than normal.
“Pokémon like Blastoise, Lapras, and Vaporeon will appear in Raid Battles during this event. The three Legendary Pokémon associated with the lakes of Sinnoh—Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf—will also be making a return to five-star raids in their respective regions for one hour on Wednesday, August 28, 2019, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time.
“Plus, Kingler and Crawdaunt will be more fun to use in battle than ever because they’ll be able to learn Crabhammer, a Water-type Charged Attack that hasn’t been available in Pokémon GO till now.
“Enjoy a week of adventures during the Water Festival, Trainers. And don’t forget to set a Water-type Pokémon as your buddy throughout the event—you’ll only have to walk half the usual distance to earn Candy if you do.”
For those wanting a more battle-type Pokemon experience, Pokemon Masters will be releasing later this week.
It’s now been confirmed that the full launch will happen on Thursday, August 29.
It will be a free game to download that will be supported by microtransactions, in-game currency and a randomised loot box system.
For those that don’t know Pokemon Masters is a strategy and battling game where players form teams of sync pairs (the combination of a Trainer and their partner Pokémon) to engage in 3-on-3 real-time battles against AI opponents.
The game takes place in an all-new location, the island of Pasio, where Trainers and their partner Pokémon from every known Pokémon region will gather to compete.
Players can still preregister for Pokémon Masters to automatically download the game to their device when it launches later this week.