Special artwork has become a tradition on Pokemon GO anniversaries. This year’s official illustration celebrating the game’s eighth anniversary has fans speculating about the possibility of an exciting new feature — Dynamax mechanics.
Pokemon GO celebrated the game’s eighth anniversary on July 6 by posting an official celebratory illustration. Fans immediately noticed one impossible-to-miss detail — a massive Wartortle, whose large size and overhead purple clouds indicate its appearance as a Dynamax Pokemon.
Fans quickly took the image to mean that we will soon see the Dynamax mechanic, which originally featured as a unique and showy way to temporarily buff Pokemon in 2019’s Sword & Shield games, make its way to Pokemon GO. After a year of wishing for new, exciting additions to the game and frustration with the Rediscover GO avatar updates, players are hopeful.
But not too hopeful, as one player reminds fans, “keep in mind: mimikyu was in the artwork 3 (?) years ago and still isn’t released so keep your expectations low lol.”
Indeed, the anniversary artwork for past Pokemon GO milestones has been a mixed bag of teased features, some of which eventually came to the game and some which turned out to be apparent false promises. Another fan remembers seeing Mega Mewtwo in a previous year’s image, which is one of the few Mega Evolutions still not available in the game. However, others are quick to respond that many features teased in the anniversary artwork have eventually come to the game — even if it took a few years.
More Galar Content on the Way for Pokemon GO?
In addition to the apparent Dynamax tease, there are a few more hints we might finally get more Galar content in Pokemon GO. Close inspection of the art reveals a couple of the Sword & Shield Galar starters, including Grookey and Scorbunny, hanging out in the background. These are highly anticipated additions to Pokemon GO, with many players asking why we have the Paldean Gen 9 starters but still no Gen 8 starters in the game.
Thus far, Niantic has not made any official announcements about future plans for Pokemon GO other than the teases in this artwork. Instead, their blog post about celebrating eight years looks back on a few “favorite features” from the past year. The list includes the addition of Routes and Party Play, two functions that have received a mixed reaction from fans.
If the reaction to a mere suggestion of Dynamax mechanics is any indication, this would be a welcome change for Pokemon GO … if indeed it’s part of the future roadmap for the mobile game.
Pokémon GO is available on iOS and Android.
