When Pokémon GO launched in 2016, it absolutely took over the world. Even though the number of people playing has since dropped off some, there are still very active communities of players around the globe that are enthusiastic about the mobile title. Nintendo and Niantic have kept players interested all this time by gradually introducing new features like new Pokémon, new storylines, and new quests, and recently, the ability to trade Pokémon between players. It turns out that trading also includes another new feature: “Lucky” Pokémon (via Polygon).
I’ll let Niantic themselves describe how it works, as they wrote in a blog post, “There is a chance that Pokémon, when traded, can become sparkly Lucky Pokémon. It seems that Lucky Pokémon require less Stardust to power up, which means they can reach a higher CP much faster than other Pokémon. Plus, a Lucky Pokémon can be detected by the Pokédex, so you can keep track of them! The longer the Pokémon spends inside a Trainer’s Pokémon storage, the higher the chance of them becoming Lucky Pokémon when they are traded.”
Seasoned Pokémon fans have surely realized that this is essentially Pokémon GO’s version of “shiny” Pokémon from the main series RPG games. Unlike shiny Pokémon, though, the alternate color of lucky also gives them a competitive advantage by allowing them to level up more quickly.
Are you still playing the game? Why or why not? Let us know what you think down in the comments!
Featured image: Pokémon GO