Earlier today, Niantic revealed a large amount of information on the upcoming Pokemon GO Fest 2021 event. This time around, the event will have a major focus on ‘mons that are closely connected to music and raids. The two-day event will take place on July 17-18 and this time around the tickets will only cost $5 instead of the regular $14.99.
Day one of the event will take place from 6 AM to 10 PM local time on July 17. The theme of this first day will be Catch. And even if you don’t buy a ticket, you’ll be able to take part in all of the following activities.
Throughout the day, the game world will switch between four different habitats: Jungle, Desert Mountain, Ocean Beach, and Cave. You can find the featured Pokemon for each habitat below.
- The Jungle habitat will feature Pokemon such as Scyther, Aipom, Froakie, and more.
- The Desert Mountain habitat will feature Pokemon such as Skarmory, Shieldon, Hippopotas, and more.
- The Ocean Beach habitat will feature Pokemon such as Dratini, Swablu, Alomomola, and more.
- The Cave habitat will feature Pokemon such as Roggenrola, Galarian Stunfisk, Deino, and more.
On top of the special habitats, Pokemon that are closely connected to music like Chimecho, Kricketot, and Audino will be appearing throughout the day. And four new shiny versions will be making their debuts in Whismur, Chimecho, Audino, and Tympole.
The raids will be featuring a mishmash of different Pokemon like Hitmontop, Cranidos, and Deino as well as the Galarian forms of Ponyta and Zigzagoon in special costumes.
The last little bit you’ll get for free on the first day is a Pokemon GO Fest 2021 t-shirt for your trainer avatar. The rest of the features and bonuses are reserved for the trainers who purchase a ticket for the event.
The overarching Special Research for GO Fest will focus on helping Prof. Willow and the team leaders put on an amazing concert. Along the way, you’ll obtain a new shirt avatar item, a new avatar pose, and an encounter with a debuting Mythical Pokemon. There are no details yet on what any of these items or the Mythical Pokemon will be.
During this event, you’ll also get to choose between Pikachu Pop Star or Pikachu Rock Star to lead the concert. This decision will impact what music plays during GO Fest. Each track is a brand-new composition by Junichi Masuda. On top of that, you’ll also get to pick the rest of Pikachu’s band with ‘mons like Galarian Ponyta, Galarian Zigzagoon, Gardevoir, and Flygon all in special music-themed costumes.
For the players who purchased a ticket, you’ll also get a shot at obtaining more Pokemon than what was listed above for the hourly habitats. The rest of the list is down below.
- Jungle: Unown F, Unown G, Ludicolo, Chatot, Leafeon, and Serperior.
- Desert Mountain: Flareon, Unown F, Unown G, Tyranitar, Flygon, and Throh.
- Ocean Beach: Gyarados, Vaporeon, Azumarill, Unown F, Unown G, and Sawk.
- Cave: Umbreon, Unown F, Unown G, Gardevoir, Absol, and Galvantula.
And to go along with the hourly rotation of these habitats will be the Global Challenge Arena. If enough trainers complete enough of a certain task within one hour, then a special bonus will be activated. Each habitat will also have its own collection challenge, just like GO Tour Kanto did.
All of this is just day one, but there’s one more thing that shiny hunters will be happy to hear. Every Pokemon attracted by Incense will have a greater chance of being shiny and the shiny versions of Unown F, Sawk, and Throh will be making their debuts during GO Fest 2021.
With day one out of the way, now it’s time to focus on day two. The second part of Pokemon GO Fest 2021 will take place on July 18 from 6 AM to 10 PM local time.
The free features for day two of the event are essentially the same as day one. Instead of the rotating habitats, all of the Pokemon from day one will be featured in the wild during day two during the hours of the event.
Players who don’t buy a ticket will also be able to take part in raids focusing on returning “favorite” Pokemon. However, Niantic didn’t spill the beans yet on what they mean by favorite Pokemon. That will be coming in a later announcement.
If you pick up a Pokemon GO Fest 2021 ticket, then day two will be absolutely filled with raids and free raid passes. All of the details about what you can expect from day two can be found below.
- Earn an extra 10,000 XP in raid rewards when you complete a Raid Battle!
- Spin Gym Photo Discs to earn up to 10 Regular Raid Passes.
- Complete Timed Research to earn up to eight Remote Raid Passes.
- Pick up a free event bundle containing three Remote Raid Passes! This will be available in the shop on Sunday, July 18, 2021, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. local time.
- All Pokémon attracted to Incense from Saturday will be attracted to Incense during event hours on Sunday.
There will certainly be many raids on day two, but as of right now, it’s unclear which Pokemon will be featured. But it’s clear that Niantic wants players to have plenty of chances to do raids since they’ll be giving away 21 raid passes (11 Remote, 10 Regular).
Besides the features that are exclusive to these two days, there will be a bunch of other features and bonuses available to all trainers on both days of Pokemon GO Fest 2021. These include all of the following:
- Trainer photos will be featured in the Today View Share your photos with #PokemonGOFest2021 for a chance to see them featured during the event.
- All Lure Modules activated during event hours will last for three hours
- Special music created by Pokémon music producer Junichi Masuda will be playing in the app 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!
If you purchase a ticket, then you’ll be able to obtain special stickers from Gifts and PokeStops, encounter special photobombing Pokemon, and encounter F and G Unown.
Surprisingly, there’s even more to Pokemon GO Fest 2021. This time around Google Play is the official sponsor of the event. It might not seem like much on the cover, but thanks to this sponsorship, Google Play Members will get 4x Google Play Points for purchases made in Pokemon GO until May 30. Also, trainers who use an Android device will get access to a special gift on July 17. More details on this item will come in a future announcement.
There are also a few real-world items you’ll be able to pick up to make your Pokemon GO Fest 2021 experience that little extra bit more memorable.
- The print-at-home kit is returning this year for Trainers around the world!
- Trainers in the United States and Canada will be able to purchase a new Pokémon GO Fest T-shirt from PokemonCenter.com! More details to come.
- Check out the Niantic Shop to equip yourself with new limited-edition items for a day of adventure and exploration. Available for shipping to US addresses only.
Just like past events, Pokemon GO Fest 2021 tickets can only be purchased with real-world money from the in-game Shop. If you would like to check out the official announcement about Pokemon GO Fest 2021 from the Pokemon GO Team, you can find it right here. While you’re here, don’t forget to check out the details on how to obtain the latest eevlution added to Pokemon GO, Sylveon.