‘Pokémon GO’ to Release Gen 1 Legendaries Soon; Trading and PVP Still in the Works

Ever since the release of Niantic's "Pokémon GO," fans have been waiting for the chance to capture the legendary Pokémon. Niantic's CEO John Hanke has assured players that they are arriving this year, at the same time addressing other missing features of the hit mobile game.

While Hanke did state that the legendaries are on their way to Pokémon GO," Den of Geek reported that tentatively only the ones from Generation 1 are making their debut in 2017. These include Mew, Mewtwo, and the legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, which also happens to be the mascots of the existing teams in "Pokémon GO."

In a separate interview with "Pokémon GO" director Tatsuo Nomura, he emphasized that each Pokémon has a story to tell and that not all of them are the same. Taking this into the context of "Pokémon GO," players could expect that the release of these legendaries would be in a form of an event or a series of events.

Meanwhile, the Niantic CEO also discussed their stand on several of the features in "Pokémon GO," both existing and missing. According to Nintendo Everything, he pointed out the issue with the gym battles, calling it very limited and not playing out the way they wanted it. Hanke promised to overhaul the gym battle system, making it more teamwork-oriented and more rewarding for players.

Regarding the missing features in "Pokémon GO," primarily the trading and player vs player options, Hanke has stated that Niantic is still working on the best way to implement those features. The glaring omission of those options at the game's release, as well as the stretch it is taking for the developers to implement them, have been one of the major drawbacks for "Pokémon GO." The said options are major gameplay mechanics that made the original handheld Pokémon games famous.

"Pokémon GO" is experiencing a great second wind thanks to the recent inclusion of Generation 2 Pokémon. As of the moment, there is still no word when the other generations will join the roster of the game, which is available on iOS and Google Play.