As 2022 finally rolls around, games like Pokemon GO have started releasing information about their plans for the upcoming year. Pokemon GO already has quite a bit going on. The Season of Heritage is in full swing and will feature a New Year's celebration, a Kanto Power Plant event, and an event focusing on Pokemon's various mountains, aside from regular events like Spotlight Hours and Community Days. Niantic has teased that Team Rocket might finally start to factor into Pokemon GO's Season of Heritage in the coming month, meaning players may have to help Professor Willow defend whatever lies behind the mysterious door soon.
These various Season of Heritage events and the upcoming Pokemon GO Tour Johto are great, but there's one promised event that still hasn't come to light yet. For a while now, Niantic has promised that Pokemon GO will add a missing Pokemon to the game in a special way. That Pokemon is Kecleon, the charming chameleon-like Color Swap Pokemon that made its debut in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. Kecleon's arrival in Pokemon GO is long overdue, so players want to know what exactly Niantic has in mind. There may not be room for Kecleon in the Season of Heritage, but hopefully Niantic won't make fans wait much longer than that.
Kecleon's Long-Term Absence
When Pokemon GO debuted in 2016, it only featured the original 151 Pokemon from the Kanto region, but Niantic was quick to expand. By the end of 2017, Hoenn Pokemon were coming to Pokemon GO in droves, and soon they were almost all in the game. However, one Pokemon remained absent from Pokemon GO: Kecleon. As such, fans have been asking themselves and Niantic when they can finally complete the Hoenn Pokedex. A Pokemon GO datamine in 2018 made some players optimistic that Kecleon would show up soon, but it never arrived.
By now, the majority of Pokemon GO's regions have joined the game to some extent. Many hundreds of Pokemon are available now, and even though the Pokedex is still incomplete, Pokemon GO is always adding new monsters over time. For instance, the game's New Year's loading screen suggests that Flabebe and Helioptile will come to Pokemon GO soon, which is great news for Kalos region fans. In spite of all these additions, though, it seems odd that Kecleon still hasn't appeared so many years later. The Hoenn region's Pokedex really ought to be complete by now, but instead Pokemon from Galar and Kalos continue to arrive in Kecleon's place.
Integrating Kecleon into Pokemon GO
It seems likely that Kecleon's delayed debut has something to do with its signature Ability, Color Change, which causes it to change its type to whatever move it last took damage from. Pokemon GO doesn't have Abilities, and even as a unique mechanic, Color Change could be impractical to integrate into Pokemon GO's fast-paced combat. Niantic could still find a solution, though. Maybe Kecleon will get a special mechanic closer to its Hidden Ability, Protean, causing Kecleon's Fast or Charged Attack to define its type, rather than an opponent's attack.
Kecleon will definitely be a fun addition to Pokemon GO if it manages to keep its defining type-changing trait somehow. If it can learn attacks from a lot of different types, then Kecleon's usefulness could be defined by versatility, offering an additional Pokemon of a certain type to any given Pokemon GO team. For now, though, that potential utility remains a dream. The Season of Heritage's focus on ancient Pokemon secrets may suggest that Kecleon won't appear until the next Season; Kecleon doesn't have mythical lore to contribute to Professor Willow's quest to open the mysterious door, after all. Hopefully, that means Kecleon will be a part of 2022's spring season instead, bringing the wait to an end in just a few more months.
Pokemon GO is available now for Android and iOS devices.