Another Pokemon line from the Unova region has been added to Pokemon GO with the Deerling line. Both Deerling and Sawsbuck are now available with all of their forms being implemented as well.
What makes Deerling and Sawsbuck special are that both have different forms representing each season. This is no different in Pokemon GO with players being able to catch the spring, summer, autumn, and winter forms of Deerling and Sawsbuck in-game. They are dual normal and grass-type Pokemon before and after evolution.
With their debut in Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, Deerling and Sawsbuck's forms in the wild were determined by the seasons in-game. These seasons would follow a different timescale than the seasons in the real world, allowing players to catch all of the forms quickly. However, this mechanic was abandoned starting in Pokemon X and Y, with both Pokemon only being able to be found in their spring forms in the wild.
While most recent Pokemon games no longer have the Deerling line's other forms, Pokemon GO has returned them. Deerling and Sawsbuck have the advantage in Pokemon GO of being able to make use of the real world's seasonal changes. Because of this, each form of Deerling and Sawsbuck is decided by the real-world season the Pokemon is caught in.
During spring, Deering has a pink fur color and Sawsbuck has flower blossoms on its antlers. For summer, Deerling has a green fur color while Sawsbuck has thick green leaves growing from its antlers. With autumn, Deerling has orange fur and Sawsbuck's leaves turn orange while starting to droop. Finally, winter Deerling has dark brown fur while winter Sawsbuck has bare antlers and large white tufts of fur growing on its body.
These different forms of Deerling and Sawsbuck do not affect the Pokemon's typing or stats, making the forms completely cosmetic. As of this writing, players in the Northern Hemisphere have access to the autumn forms of Deerling and Sawsbuck while players in the Southern Hemisphere have access to the spring forms.
Players that want to collect every form of Deerling and Sawsbuck will need to wait for a year to pass by in order to collect every Deerling form. As time passes, players can additionally get more forms faster via trading or traveling to parts of the world with different seasonal patterns. Players can also catch a Deerling right away as parts of the Seasons Change Timed Research tasks.
Pokemon GO is available for Android and iOS devices.
Source: Eurogamer