Not too long ago, the long-awaited addition of Trainer Battles went live in Niantic's wildly successful mobile augmented reality title, Pokemon GO, with myriad players undoubtedly diving into all that the fresh feature has to offer as we speak. Now, it looks as if the developer is intent on closing out 2018 on a high note with more in-game materials, as PoGO is set to bring back Lugia and Ho-Oh this weekend.

As indicated by the tweet below, from Friday, December 14 until Monday, December 17, Pokemon GO will host a Special Raid Weekend in which both the Psychic- and Flying-type Legendary Lugia and the Fire- and Flying-type Legendary Ho-Oh will be available in Raid Battles. What's more is that Niantic even teases the possibility of PoGO players encountering a Shiny Lugia or Shiny Ho-Oh during the event.

At this point, it's safe to presume that most Pokemon GO players are familiar with Lugia and Ho-Oh, as they have both appeared in various Raid events multiple times in the past. For those unaware, though, Lugia was the first Legendary Raid Boss, with Niantic having it show up throughout most of summer 2017, while Ho-Oh made its first appearance late last fall.

As far as their aforementioned Shiny forms are concerned, Shiny Ho-Oh is given golden feathers, and Shiny Lugia's look changes to accommodate light purple markings instead of the standard blue coloration players see on it. While acquiring the Shiny iterations of the Legendary Pocket Monsters is never a given, the variant forms will be available once one beats them in Raid Battles.

There's no telling as to why Niantic has decided to bring Lugia and Ho-Oh back this weekend, but whatever the case may be, it's safe to presume that most Pokemon GO players who have yet to catch them will do their best to add the Flying-types to their collection. Until then, trainers will also be keeping an eye out for the possibility of Gen 4 creatures coming to the game.

Pokemon GO is available now for Android and iOS devices.

Source: Pokemon GO – Twitter