Pokemon Go in 2025

2024 was a pretty big year for Pokemon Go. New Pokemon releases, the Dynamax system, our first Gigantamax Pokemon, the release of our first Fusion Pokemon in the form of Dawn Wings and Dusk Mane Necrozma, the list goes on. With yet another year gone, we felt it was time to look forward to the brand new year and make a few predictions to the new year!

Pokemon Go Tour 2025: Unova

Kyurem Black/White

It’s finally time for the long expected Black and White Kyurem to make their Pokemon GO debut. While we’re still waiting on official confirmation, with the Unova Tour coming ever so close we can pretty much say we’ll see the release of these two monsters. They will most likely work similar to Dawn Wings and Dusk Mane Necrozma where we’ll get their respective fusion energy from raids. Fusing a Reshiram with Kyurum will give you White Kyurem and Zekrom for Black Kyurem. Both Pokemon have phenomenal stats and will be the first (apart from mega evolutions) to breach the 5000CP mark. Whether or not we can fuse using existing Kyurem remains to be seen, but don’t count on it as per Niantic.

Keldeo - Resolute Forme

The Keldeo you have (if you have one to begin with), is Keldeo in its base form. It has a second form, Resolution form, that is currently not yet in GO. So what’s there to look forward to in its Resolution form? A new move. In the Main Series, Keldeo's Resolute Forme only exists when it learns its Fighting Type Signature Move, Secret Sword. If this move surpasses the power of Sacred Sword, then Keldeo could become something even more special than it is now. It's anyone's guess how likely this is to happen this year, but it would likely make waves!

Meloetta - Pirouette Forme

Another form is hiding here. Much like Morpeko, Meloetta can only change to its Pirouette form in battle when it uses Relic Song. Whether or not they will allow us to change form during battle is up to Niantic, as it does have different stats in each form, which might not translate well to GO. We could see Meloetta getting access to Relic Song with an adventure effect, rather than getting one that is in its Pirouette form permanently. Either way, it’ll be exciting to see what Niantic comes up with.

Darmanitan - Zen Mode

Do you like form changes? Unova seems to be littered with them. Darmanitan has a Zen Mode which activates when its health drops below half and changes its stats and typing, which would be interesting if it worked the exact same way in GO. It would be absolutely horrible for PvE, but might see some play in PvP, though I highly doubt it. We never know how Niantic handles these sort of “translations” when it comes to GO.

Galarian Darmanitan - Zen Mode

While the basic, old-fashioned Darmanitan's Zen mode is pretty underwhelming, its Galarian version is... something else entirely. This thing is set to be an offensive juggernaut, and it's been waiting to drop for several years now, so let us have it, Niantic! Admittedly, this isn't super likely this year, but it's definitely possible!

Basculin - White Stripe

While this variant of Basculin was not introduced in the Unova region, Basculin was so we can assume White Stripe will show itself again in a similar fashion at some point. The real question is whether we’ll see Basculegion make its debut, or if that will be saved for a later Hisuian-related event.

New Paldea Releases

Paldea, the current latest region in the main series of Pokemon, has a number of interesting and fun Pokemon that are yet to be released. From fan-favorites to legendary Pokemon, there’s a lot to cover here, but here are just a few of the highlights:

Koraidon and Miraidon

The cover legendary Pokemon of Generation 9 are kind of a big deal, but not really that big in Pokemon Go. We have precedent for cover legends showing up at random points, and this duo seems fairly likely to show up at some point in the future, though they’ll need their signature moves if they really want to eventually excel.

Tinkaton

Who doesn’t love a cute little pink girl with a giant, metal hammer and a seething grudge against birds? One of the break-out stars of Generation 9, Tinkaton and its line have a pretty big fan-base, so it’s likely to make some waves when it finally makes its way to Pokemon Go. However, it’s also unlikely to make waves as-is. It currently lacks tools to make it really shine as-is, so it’s going to need an absolutely broken Gigaton Hammer to be great… and maybe Metal Claw for pve-side viability.

The Treasures of Ruin

The Treasures of Ruin, Dark Type legendary Pokemon from Paldea, are an interesting lot. Two of them are more defensive in nature, and two are more offensive, so it will definitely be interesting to see how they work out. Especially if they get their Dark Type signature move; Ruination.

Paradox Pokemon

The Paradox Pokemon are the unique Pokemon gimmick of Generation 9, similar to the Ultra Beasts from Generation 7. They are versions of existing Pokemon from a alternate past/future that tend to out-class the present-day versions of the Pokemon that they’re based on. There are a total of 22 Paradox Pokemon, including Koridon/Miraidon and alternate versions of the Legendary Beasts of Generation 2 and Swords of Justice of Generation 5. Their viability potential shows up all over the map, but chances are that they’ll show up mostly as Tier 5 raids, similar to the Ultra Beasts that have preceded them.

Blood Moon Ursaluna

The alternate forme of Ursaluna, Blood Moon Ursaluna sports a tiny bit more attack and the potential. But more important than that, it’s possible that we could get a version of Ursaluna with a better moveset for PvE… although there is no way to evolve Ursaring into Blood Moon Ursaluna in the main series right now, so it will likely be a case similar to other alternate formes in the past where it will be treated as its own thing. Sadly, this means we likely won’t have Shadow Blood Moon Ursaluna on the horizon any time soon, most likely.

New Gigantamax Pokemon

It’s pretty much a sure thing that we’re going to get several new Gigantamax Pokemon in the coming year, and they have a lot of variability in terms of viability. As for Dynamax Pokemon... it's anyone's guess. Literally every Pokemon with very few exceptions are candidates for this system, so Niantic could make the order whatever they want. One note-worthy fact here is that Niantic tends to release Dynamax/Gigantamax Pokemon in an order that allows each big release to be preceded by at least one Dynamax/Gigantamax Pokemon that can counter it.

Pokemon Legends Z-A Tie-Ins

New Mega Evolutions

What seemed like an endless list of mega evolutions is coming to an end. Mega evolutions are a staple to the Pokemon series, but I feel like they have been executed the best in Pokemon GO. They tie in perfectly with the game, giving you an all powerful Pokemon in a raid team that boosts other Pokemons damage as well. And even for those megas who didn’t hit the mark as a raid attacker, there was always the candy and XP bonus utility a mega Pokemon could fulfill with a niche typing. Mega Mewtwo X/Y will likely be the last megas to be released, to end with a bang.

So it seems rather sad that the list of remaining megas is short and bringing an end to one of the most fun features in GO… Or is it? I’m glad to say that the answer to that is: probably NO! Hopefully coming to us in 2025 is the new main series game “Pokemon: Legends Z-A”. This game takes place in the Kalos region, where we saw mega Pokemon for the first time. So we’re more than likely expecting Mega Pokemon to make a return with some new ones probably thrown in the mix!

While it’s anyone’s guess what Pokemon will receive a new mega evolution, I would like to give a special shoutout to my only prediction I’ll make on this list: Flygon. For those unfamiliar, Flygon was originally planned to get a mega evolution, but it ended up getting scrapped because they couldn’t come up with a good enough design for it. Hopefully they managed to think of something over the past decade.

Zygarde

You can’t spell Z-A without Z and that means that Zygarde will be woven into the story of Legends Z-A. right? We might see the release of another Zygarde or do we dare to dream big with a shiny Zygarde debut to celebrate the release of the new game? Let’s just hope it won’t be locked behind a paywall.

New Shadow Pokemon

Shadow Pokemon have waned a bit lately, due in part to the fact that they can’t currently enter Dynamax battles, and are typically not used extremely frequently in PvP. However, they’re still generally among the top picks for any normal Raid, which is where Legendary Pokemon traditionally come from, meaning they’re still very much important for most players. Add to that the fact that we’re virtually guaranteed to gain access to a slew of new Shadows in the new year and there’s a lot to be excited for.

Shadow Hydreigon

We currently have an entire slew of pseudo-legendary Shadows; Dragonite, Tyranitar, Metagross, Salamence, and even Garchomp all stand as exemplary Pokemon in their different types. That list covers generations 1, 2, 3, and 4… so it seems pretty likely that Niantic will stretch this list into Generation 5 with Shadow Hydreigon.

So how can we expect Shadow Hydreigon to perform? Well, with the semi-recent update to Tyranitar with Brutal Swing, it has some very strong competition to worry about, but its marginally higher Attack stat means it will definitely stay competitive. The fight between these two Dark Type pseudo-Legends will largely come down to if Rock or Dragon is a better sub-type in a given raid.

Shadow Lake Trio

We’ve had the birds, the beasts and the titans, so it’s pretty likely that the next trio on the list is coming up. Chances are pretty good that the group of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf will appear in new Shadow formes starting this year. As of right now, the only member of this trio with any real utility would be Shadow Azelf in raids, though even then it’s still got to compete with monsters like Shadow Mewtwo, meaning it’s not going to be making many waves… though just maybe it’ll get a Shadow forme and the Lake Trio’s signature move, Mystical Power, giving it the potential to have utility.

Shadow Rayquaza

Shadow Rayquaza is something that many players have projected with excitement, as its debut will shake up the Dragon and Flying metas pretty hard. However, Shadow Rayquaza is also something a bit different due to the fact that it would be the first 3rd member of a box art. While there’s no particular reason to think that they’ll be treated any different than other Legendary Pokemon, seeing Shadow Rayquaza drop would soft-confirm the coming of other powerful 3rd boxart Pokemon such as Shadow Giratina and Shadow Necrozma… but hopefully we never see shadow super Pokemon like Shadow Dawn Wings Necrozma or Shadow Black Kyurem.

Shadow Creation Trio

Less a prediction and more a wishlist item, but hey; they're practically guaranteed to show up eventually. The Creation trio has always been a fairly big deal in Pokemon Go, and we may see the beginnings of them show up in the next year. The Shadow boost would actually make Dialga and Palkia semi-competitive with their Origin formes, even without their signature moves

Moveset Updates

Freeze Shock and Ice Burn

Kyurem’s Black/White formes are on their way, and with them we can expect Freeze Shock/Ice Burn to bring them into new viability. But what we should really hope for is Ice Fang, so that this duo can bring about a new ice-age. Kyurem was actually given access to Ice Fang in Generation 9, so it finally has the chance to dominate that meta with a frozen fist, though if our previous big Signature Moves are anything to go by, then they actually might not even need it to bring about a new ice age.

Signature Moves

Kyurem Black/White aside, we actually have a number of note-worthy signature moves that have yet to be released in Pokemon Go. And while this is definitely not a comprehensive list, here are a few current and/or past signature moves for currently released Pokemon that could be highlights:

On the Wishlist side of things, we have Red’s personal favorite theorycraft of Archeops with Fly, and Raven8’s favorite of basic Dialga and Palkia with Roar of Time/Spacial Rend, respectively. Beyond those, it would definitely be nice if the Origin Formes of these Pokemon could gain these moves via Elite T M.

Events

Community Days

Much like 2024 introduced Annihilape early on, Kingambit (evolution to Bisharp) could follow in its steps by introducing it in early 2025 in the Unova Tour. This one seems pretty likely as Niantic likes trends and this could be one they would like to continue: introduce a new evolution to an existing Pokemon and give it a community day not too long after. Give it Kowtow Cleave and call it a community day.

With Sprigatito being January’s community day, it’s pretty safe to say that we’ll see the other Paldean starters being featured in community days. While they won’t bring a shake up to the PvE meta, they come with new shinies and their signature moves. These are often beloved by many players due to them being starters and are sure to get players to go out.

While not happening any time soon, how cool would it be to have a community day with the Hisuian starters being able to evolve in their Hisuian forms? Seeing as we got Cyndaquil in 2024 as a classic without this feature, we could maybe expect these to have their own community days? Unlikely, but cool nonetheless.

If Flabebe gets featured in a community day, it would most likely have the flower of the region you’re playing in with some of the other colors in research tasks. It already has play in PvP in the Master League, but won’t be making a big splash in the PvE meta as it’s lacking in its attack stat to be competitive.

No year shall go past without a Kanto related community day. Much like Ponyta and Sandshrew had their Galarian and Alolan counterparts featured, Nidoran would work the same with having both the male and female version spawning in the wild. Both Nidoking and Nidoqueen have insanely deep movepools, so it’s really anyone’s guess as to which move they’ll receive.

This one feels like it’s been in the making for a while. It’s got a well liked shiny and a mega evolution. Maybe a new move might make it viable in PvP, though it’s still got a bit of an uphill battle to really shine.

Much like Sewaddle, we tend to get a filler community day every year, and this year would be no different with Solosis. PvE, Reuniclus stands no chance whatsoever (thank you Mewtwo and most other fully evolved psychic types). It has some potential to gain PvP relevance given the right moves.

This isn’t a prediction, it’s a fact. This year we can almost definitely welcome Jangmo-o in its very own community day. While it needs a busted move to make itself noteworthy in PvE, it feels like community days no longer cater to the PvE scene, sadly. Oh well, there’s always a chance for any Pokemon to shine in PvP given the right moves.

We all know these are coming at some point: the regional bird community days. I’ve put them together because they are all about equally as likely. Why Pidgey hasn’t received its community day going on the 9th year of this game baffles me. It had its time in the spotlight in PvP and has a mega that is severely outclassed (Thank you Mega Rayquaza), but man is it a fan favourite. All of the above would likely be throw-away Community Days, but they all seem pretty likely to happen at some point at least.

Miscellaneous Events

This year we’ll have 9 years of Pokemon GO and we’ve always had an event to celebrate this special occasion. Usually these events feature a pokemon in relation to the number of that anniversary. So what Pokemon is number 9? Blastoise? I think we’ve seen plenty of the Kanto starters as it is, so let’s just duplicate that digit a couple of times to 999 and we get Gimmighoul! Give players a golden lure, release its shiny and call it an event!

New Gigantamax Pokemon

While there are a bunch of Gigantamax that we will see released over the next few years, there’s some educated guesses we can make as to which ones we will most likely see released this year.

Corviknight is in the front and center of this season's loading screen so that must mean it’s getting a community day or Gigantamax release… right? While we’ll probably see its release this season, it could be in Niantic’s new feature: Gigantamax battles.

Sandaconda is a snake, and 2025 the year of the snake. You see what I’m trying to get at? This one feels more likely as we tend to get Gigantamax Pokemon who are weak to the previously released one (which was Lapras at the time of writing this).So thematically it makes sense as we tend to get an event along with the Chinese zodiac as well as with the cycle we’ve seen Dynamax/Gigantamax Pokemon being released.

Go Fest 2025

You can’t spell Go Fest without releasing a new mythical. So what’s likely to be released during this year's GO Fest? Well we believe Zeraora will make its Pokemon GO debut. Manaphy is a likely candidate, but Niantic is probably planning on something else with it as we all expected to see it during last year's Sinnoh Tour.

Wishlist

While everything in this article is speculation we do feel like we could see these events happen. Meanwhile, these events are unlikely to see the light of day in the upcoming year, but would be great to have!

Larvesta Hatch Day

This Pokemon has been milked long enough for its obscene rarity in eggs and had its shiny released in 2024 so maybe we could finally be rewarded with Larvesta getting its very own hatch day? Knowing Niantic, they probably feel like they could milk out this fiery bug a bit longer before it gets its own event.

Rhyhorn Community Day Classic

Rhyhorn community day happened back in 2020, which was 5 years ago and was a game changer to the PvE scene, replacing Smack Down/Stone Edge Tyranitar as the king of all Rock type attackers. Rock Wrecker is a fantastic move and we’ve seen the release of shadow Rhyhorn in the meantime, so there are a lot of Rhyhorn waiting to be evolved. This is a community day that would get a lot of people out to grind, regardless of the bonus that would come with this event.

Closing

Well, we have a full 365 days to see what predictions come about, and what predictions fall short. Hopefully everyone had a great year, but do us a quick favor before you click off; say hi in the comments, and let us know what you expect/hope to see in 2025!

Oh, and special thanks to Red, who joined the team in 2024, for his work in writing about half of this article! He's been doing a great job, and I hope that everyone looks forward to his continued contributions in the new year!