We're nearly a year and six months removed from the game's launch in June of 2016 and Pokemon GO is still missing hundreds of Pokemon. Developer Niantic has announced plans to slowly introduce gen 3 Pokemon to Pokemon GO, with the first five added as part of the game's recent Halloween event. However, the most recent generation of Pokemon games is gen 7, and while we won't see those Pokemon added for years at the current rate, there is some evidence that at least some seventh generation Pokemon will be added to Pokemon GO sooner rather than later.

Even though Pokemon GO is multiple generations behind Pokemon Sun and Moon, those titles have still had an influence on the augmented reality game. For example, as part of its Halloween 2017 event, Niantic added a new hat for players to customize their avatar with that was based on Mimikyu, who has broken out as one of the most popular seventh generation Pokemon.

About a month later, Niantic surprised Pokemon GO fans with tropical-themed clothing items for their avatars as a way to commemorate the launch of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The addition of these customization options gives Pokemon GO a decidedly Alolan region-flavor, and we think there is a possibility Niantic will take it a step further.

It's possible that Alolan region variants will be added to Pokemon GO years before the rest of the Sun and Moon exclusive Pokemon are added to the popular mobile game. After all, Alolan variants wouldn't be quite as labor intensive as adding brand new Pokemon, as many of them are basically palette swaps of first-generation Pokemon.

Of course, there are some Alolan region variants that look drastically different than their gen 1 counterparts. Take Exeggutor, for example, who goes from a fat, walking tree to a long-necked dragon-type Pokemon. Alolan Exeggutor may take a little bit more time to add to Pokemon GO, but Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio, who look basically the same except with hair, seem like they could be added without too much difficulty on Niantic's part.

If Alolan Pokemon are added to Pokemon GO, it's possible they could join the other region exclusive Pokemon, and only be found in a certain part of the world. Since the Alola region itself is based on Hawaii, perhaps only Hawaiians will have the opportunity to catch them. Of course, that's just speculation at this time, and if we're wrong about Alolan region variants being added to Pokemon GO soon, it could be years before we find out how Niantic plans on handling them.

Pokemon GO is available now for Android and iOS mobile devices.