Pokemon Go trainers have been waiting, not so patiently, for the release of Generation 2 – Gold and Silver – Pokemon and on Friday 17th, finally, it happened. Over 80 new species have been released along with the fabled unown which is reported to have been caught in a couple of different countries to date. However, at least for me, Gen 2 isn’t, at all, as I’d hoped. As luck would have it, when Gen 2 released, I was at Paddington Station, heading off on a weekend away. An excellent opportunity, I thought, to get a few Gen 2s that I otherwise wouldn’t have seen, due to leaving my usual haunt. However, I found that the small rural town which I visited that weekend, one hundred miles away, had exactly the same Pokemon available as my own, very urban, locale predominately – Swinub, Natu, Sentret, Spinarak Ledyba and Murkrow. I also visited central London on my return and took a jaunt down the Thames from St Pauls to Tower Bridge and found that other than the Gen 1 differences, the Pokemon spawns there were also, in terms of Gen 2, the same as listed above. This is normally a hang out spot for many exciting water and general rare spawns but not for Gen 2 apparently.
In short, despite travelling, I’ve been hard pressed to catch anything other than the mass evolve trash equivalent of Gen 2, despite journeying to drastically different biomes that still show differences with Gen 1 spawns. I’m not sure what’s gone wrong at Niantic HQ, but this can’t be how they envisaged the Gen 2 launch. From reports on Reddit, and other social sources, it appears that the only variation, with regards to spawns, is country specific rather than biome specific with Gen 2, which is a huge disappointment. However, it is worth noting that the variety from egg hatching in Gen 2 appears to be improved. So it seems, at least in the short term, it’s better to stock up on eggs and walk, even locally, to hatch them, if you want to fill up that Pokedex, rather than taking a trip in the hope of encountering some new species. I’ve hatched a few eggs 5kms, 2kms and one 10km in which I’ve gained most of my new species discoveries. It also worth noting, that in the last week, I’ve been fortunate enough to have collected three 10km eggs from Pokestops, so if that’s any indication then now might the time to invest in a few incubators, if you have any spare coins laying around.
As part of the Gen 2 launch, there is also a sale on Pokemon storage expansions which are half price, that’s 100 coins, until the 28th February. This is likely in part compensation for the fact that the Gen 2 launch didn’t come with any free increase to Pokemon storage, but let’s not forget that the original limit was 250, for Gen 1’s 150 odd Pokemon. That did still, technically, allow enough space for one of each species including Gen 2. If they do the same with Gen 3, however, then it may become unfair, as people may be forced to pay for extra storage just to fill their Pokedexs. Still, if you want to expand your storage for all those hatched species then now is the time. There are also now avatar customisation items available for coins, which can be found in the customisation screen, not the shop, but they are quite high priced and I personally, would much rather spend my hard earned coins on increased storage or incubators over avatar T-shirts that cost 300 coins each.
Pokemon to watch out for this generation are as follows:
A few Gen 1 evolutions must haves:
Blissey – evolved from Chansey for 50 candies – Crazy powerful tank and exceptional, at the moment, in terms of Gym defence. A high CP Blissey can cause attackers to time out.
Esperon – evolved from Eevee for 25 candies – Beware! The first time you evolve one you can get a guaranteed Esperon by renaming the Eevee you are about to evolve “Sakura” and restarting the game before evolving. After that you’ll need to buddy the Eevee you want to evolve and walk with it for 10kms, then, with it still buddied, evolve it during the day only.
Steelix – evolved from Onix for 50 candies and one Metal Coat – rare item from Pokestops.
Scizor – evolved from Scyther for 50 candies and one Metal Coat – rare item from Pokestops.
There are more evolutions from Gen 1 Pokemon but these are the most desirable of the bunch.
A few Gen 2 must catches:
Tyranitar – This is the Gen 2 version of Dratini. It costs 25 candies for the first evolve and then 100 into the final form. Its max CP is right up near the top of the CP list. Well worth catching.
Donphan – Has a two stage evolution from Phanpy for 50 Candies. Very high up the CP chart similar to Gen 1 Rhydon.
Feraligatr – This is Gen 2’s water starter pokemon who evolves in three stages from Totodile. This requires 25 candies for the first stage evolution and 100 for the second, the same as the Gen 1 starters.
Ampharos – This is the most powerful electric Pokemon to date, a type which have fared badly in terms of CP to this point. This Pokemon has a three tier evolution starting with Mareep.
Hopefully, this should help you venturing trainers catch up with the basics of Gen 2. Happy hunting all!
