Pokemon GO, Niantic's genre-defining AR mobile game, has been out for a few years now. The title was an almost instant success, combining the cute creations of Nintendo's Pokemon series with unique Augmented Reality game-play. Pokemon GO has since managed to retain this popularity through a steady stream of updates and new features.

The latest update comes in the form of a new Buddy System, allowing players to journey alongside a virtual Pokemon pal. Like Ash and Pikachu in the original TV series, players and their buddies will walk side by side, exploring, eating berries, and working together to catch new Pokemon.

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Getting Started

The first step to acquiring a Buddy is by feeding berries to a Pokemon that's already been captured. This will upgrade it to the Good Buddy level, and allow it to walk on the map, as seen in the adorable Buddy System trailer. The Buddy can then be fed or played with from its new profile page. There are four ranks of Buddy, listed below, that can be reached by increasing its Affection.

Good Buddy: Your buddy can join you on your map view! You’ll also see how your buddy feels on the buddy profile page.

Great Buddy: Having a hard time catching a Pokemon? Your buddy may help you out in Pokemon encounters! It can also bring you items that can help you in your Pokemon GO journey.

Ultra Buddy: Your buddy will help you explore the world around you by letting you know about interesting places nearby! Your buddy will also bring you Souvenirs, which you can keep track of on the buddy profile page.

Best Buddy: Become Best Buddies, and your buddy will sport a Best Buddy Ribbon to show off to everyone just how close you two are! Pokemon that you’re Best Buddies with can get a CP boost in combat as long as they’re still assigned as your Buddy Pokemon.

Pokemon Eevee Flower Crown

Trainer's Best Friend

Affection is measured in hearts, which can be earned in a variety of ways. Exploring, battling, playing, feeding, and even taking snapshots with the Buddy will increase its Affection. This also increases the Buddy's Mood, which gives various bonuses when it reaches Excited, its highest level.

An excited Pokemon finds Candy more often, earns double hearts per action, and even has a chance of earning bonus hearts. All of this information is visible on the Buddy's profile page in the main menu. The page shows current mood, progress toward finding Candy, and a chart of daily activities.

Pokemon GO is available now in select regions on Android and iOS devices.

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