Pokemon GO and Pokemon Let's Go recently introduced two brand new Pokemon to the series: Meltan and its evolution Melmetal. The Steel-type Pokemon are classed as mythical and are said to be made of liquid metal. The cute yet curious design of the Pokemon and the newness of the new characters has everyone wondering how to catch them.

Pokemon Let's Go and Pokemon GO players are able to trade Pokemon between them and it's this social feature that allows players to get Meltan in Pokemon Let's Go. There does not appear to be any way to catch Meltan or Melmetal in Pokemon Let's Go and the only way to get them is to get the Pokemon in Pokemon GO and trade them over afterward.

To get Meltan in Pokemon GO, players can complete the Let's Go, Meltan quest. The quest has nine steps altogether, with three tasks each, so that makes 27 objectives altogether. While some of the tasks are quite simple e.g. spin five PokeStops or Gyms, others, such as catching or evolving specific Pokemon and hatching three eggs, will literally take some legwork. The quest gives players the chance to catch Meltan and once caught, the Pokemon can be traded over to Pokemon Let's Go.

Pokemon let's go how to get Melmetal

There is another way players can catch Meltan in Pokemon GO, though, and that's by using the Mystery Box. Here are the steps for doing so:

  • Connect your Pokemon GO account to your copy of Pokemon Let's Go
  • Transfer a Pokemon from Pokemon GO to Pokemon Let's Go
  • You'll then receive an item called the Mystery Box in Pokemon GO
  • Open the Mystery Box and Meltan will spawn around you for 30 minutes (in Pokemon GO)

The Mystery Box is a permanent item and will not disappear. But, it can only be opened once every seven days and every time players want to open it, they'll have to trade a Pokemon from Pokemon GO to Pokemon Let's Go. Moreover, once Meltan has been traded to your Pokemon Let's Go, you can't evolve it into Melmetal in the game. You can, however, evolve Meltan and then trade Melmetal directly from Pokemon GO to Pokemon Let's Go.

The process may be a little frustrating as there seem to be so many hoops for players to jump through. Though given that more than 500 million people have downloaded Pokemon GO, it could also be seen as a way to get Pokemon fans on all platforms another reason to engage with the franchise as a whole.

Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS devices.

Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Pokemon Let's Go Eevee are available exclusively on Nintendo Switch.