Skip to main content

Mega evolutions are coming to Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go is getting a mega upgrade. Mega evolutions, a popular feature from Pokémon X and Y, will hit Niantic’s mobile game on August 27.

Mega evolutions allow players to temporarily transform certain Pokémon into a powerful, alternate form. Trainers will need to collect a new material called Mega Energy, which is gained by completing Mega Raid Battles, to evolve a Pokémon. More energy is rewarded depending on how fast players complete the event. Niantic will remove two- and four-star raid battles from the pool to increase the focus on mega battles with Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard raids being the first to go live this week.

Max Energy is Pokémon-specific in the same way candy is, meaning that players will need to fight Mega Blastoise to collect Blastoise Max Energy.

Only four Pokémon will support mega evolutions when it arrives on Thursday: Charizard, Blastoise, Venasaur, and Beedrill. Charizard will be able to evolve into both its X and Y forms, and players can choose which one they want when evolving. A new Mega Pokédex will track how many forms players have discovered. As with Stardust, Pokémon’s evolution will require less energy after the first transformation.

Much like in Pokémon X and Y, only one creature on a player’s roster can mega evolve at a time. Once a second Pokémon is evolved, the first will lose the effect. Shadow and clone Pokémon cannot mega evolve.

Players can use the souped-up Pokémon in the game’s most competitive events, such as gyms, trainer battles, and raids. When using a mega evolved Pokémon in a raid battle, all other Pokémon in the battle receive an attack boost. Pokémon that are the same type as a mega evolved monster will get an even bigger power increase in the battle. Megas can be set as a buddy Pokémon, but cannot be left to defend a gym.

A host of new events and special research tasks based around the mechanic will also come in September. The first will take place between September 1 and 7, focusing on mega raids. Later events will focus on battles and the game’s buddy feature.

Editors' Recommendations

Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
No, Palworld isn’t going to be a ‘Pokémon killer’
Sheep carry guns in Palworld.

We have our first hit video game of 2024, and it's a shocker. The eccentric Palworld, an early access game available now on PC and Xbox Game Pass, is smashing Steam records as developer Pocketpair sells millions of copies. That's thanks in large part thanks to its bizarre elevator pitch, which is succinctly described as "Pokémon with guns."

That success has come with some heated debates. Palworld earned a lot of criticism in its inaugural weekend as players discovered monster designs that looked nearly identical to some of those in Pokémon. Accusations of plagiarism ballooned into suspicions over AI usage that have yet to be proven. An army of already dedicated fans have rushed to its defense with their own over-the-top claims. That army includes disgruntled Pokémon fans who see the new game as an antidote to buggy titles like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Palworld defenders have already labeled it a "Pokémon killer" and hope that Game Freak learns from its success.

Read more
Amazon’s grab-and-go stores arrive in hospitals
A health care worker shopping at a store using Amazon's Just Walk Out technology.

Amazon is bringing its Just Walk Out technology to hospitals so that busy staff can shop food and drinks without having to wait in line.

For the uninitiated, Just Walk Out technology uses cameras and sensors -- and, in more recent setups, radio-frequency identification (RIFD) tags -- to track customers' selections as they make their way around a store and then automatically charge their accounts when they leave.

Read more
I replaced my gaming laptop with a Legion Go, and I’m not going back
Lenovo Legion Go standing up in case

My HP Omen 15 was one of the best investments I’ve made in my life, right next to my down-filled sleeping bag. That's not because I think it’s the best gaming laptop ever, but because it’s the only one I’ve ever owned. It was my PC gaming device of choice until I got a Lenovo Legion Go, my first portable gaming PC.

I bought my HP Omen 15 in 2020. It was one of the worst years in recent history for building your own PC due to COVID-induced shortages, and I was too depressed to learn anyway. I figured I’d go with a prebuilt gaming laptop because my 2013 Macbook Pro was having issues and I wanted to play PC games. I went searching on Black Friday and saw the HP Omen 15 on sale, but couldn’t get what I thought to be a good enough graphics card for $1,000. I found a similar model on eBay with a RTX 2060 and called it a day. It’s been with me since.

Read more