Pokemon GO Getting Alolan Variants of Kanto Pokemon

Niantic and The Pokemon Company have announced that Alola variants of Kanto Pokemon, which were added to Pokemon Sun/Moon as ways to refresh some of the oldest Pokemon in the series, will now be coming to Pokemon GO.

Alolan variants, for those of you who may not be familiar, are redesigns of existing Pokemon- so not only do they give the Pokemon a new look, they also change its typing, stats, and also give it a new move pool. For all purposes, it’s a new Pokemon at that point.

Until now, Alolan variants have been reserved only for Kanto Pokemon (though who knows if that will change with a new game?). Now, we know they will be coming to Pokemon GO as well- though the timing is a bit curious, since Pokemon GO currently only has Pokemon from the first three generations, and has over 400 more Pokemon to add before resorting to the Alolan Kanto variants- maybe this is to tie into the impending announcement of Pokemon Let’s GO Pikachu and Let’s GO Eevee, which are rumored to have Pokemon GO integration?

Pokemon GO is available now on iOS and Android smart devices.