By now, most “Pokemon Go” fans are aware that it’s possible to choose Eevee’s evolution with a simple naming trick. But did you know that players can now evolve Eevee into Espeon and Umbreon too?
That’s right, folks. Generation 2 is here.
On Feb. 17, Niantic unveiled one of the biggest updates to “Pokemon Go” since its inception — more than 80 new Pokemon. With these new additions, there are a total of 251 Pokemon to fill up the Pokedex with.
These newly released Pokemon are all of the Johto region. Fans of the original games will know that the new Pokemon are from the “Gold,” “Silver” and “Crystal” games. Niantic has even gone the extra mile and unleashed gender-specific variations.
The items a player can receive from PokeStops have expanded as well. New berries and evolution items are out. The Pinap Berry doubles the number of candy a player receives for a successful catch, while the Nanab Berry calms down an erratic Pokemon, making it less likely to dodge Poke Balls.
Some of the new Pokemon evolutions require special evolution items in addition to candy. So far, there are five: Metal Coat (for Steelix and Scizor), Sun Stone (for Bellossom and Sunflora), Dragon Scale (for Kingdra), Up-Grade (for Porygon2) and King’s Rock (for Politoed and Slowking). Anecdotally, the easiest way to obtain evolution items appears to be through multi-day streak bonuses from PokeStops, but time will tell whether certain PokeStops have a greater chance than others.
Speaking of evolutions, here’s the new evolution trick for Eevee: renaming an Eevee to Sakura will give an Espeon, while renaming an Eevee to Tamao will give an Umbreon.
Although this naming trick will only work once per evolution, there is another, albeit more difficult, way to ensure that players get the Eevee evolution of their dreams. By walking 10 kilometer with Eevee set as the walking buddy and evolving it while it is still set as the buddy, players can score an Espeon or Umbreon depending on when they choose to evolve; Espeon evolves during the day and Umbreon evolves during the night. This method appears to be based off the original games, where a player had to raise an Eevee’s friendship to successfully evolve it to an Espeon or Umbreon.
In addition to these exciting changes for Pokemon, there are changes available for Trainers as well. Some snazzy new customizable outfits are out, but don’t get too worked up just yet — the really cool ones cost PokeCoins. Still, players with extra currency lying around from some wildly successful gym conquests should check out the selection. From fedoras and top hats to masquerade masks, these new options will definitely spice up any player’s wardrobe.
There have also been some notable changes in game-play. With berries and Poke Balls available directly on the screen during Pokemon battles, Pokemon catching has been easier than ever before. And those who haven’t played Pokemon Go in a while will be relieved to hear that Niantic released a multi-transfer technique about two months ago. Now, players can simply press and hold a Pokemon they wish to transfer and then select as many as their hearts desire.
With this immense update, players might be left wondering what’s next. Niantic has come a long way from their initial, buggy 2016 system. Now all that’s left is for us is to wait for the Pokemon trading system that Niantic has been hinting at for months.