There are a bunch of Pokémon in Pokémon Go that feel like the developers have completely forgotten about. Whether it's Arceus not appearing in Go Tour: Sinnoh in 2024, or the unknown whereabouts of Mewtwo raids in the past years, there always seems to be something missing.
So, when I had the chance to talk to Michael Steranka, Pokémon Go's Director at Scopely, about two of the biggest missing Pokémon in Pokémon Go so far. I made sure to ask him what was going on with both of them.
After all, White-Striped Basculin has been in the game for a couple of years now and even has a Shiny form, and Honedge has been one of the most sought-after Pokémon for a while. So why is it taking so long for both of them to appear?
Starting with Honedge, I bought up that the Aegislash line of Pokémon was one of the most requested and feared competitive Pokémon, and it was weird that it still hadn't been released yet. Steranka was quick to explain why the Honedge line was taking so long to be added to Pokémon Go, though, during an interview at Pokémon Go Fest: Paris.
"So Aegislash has its battle form change that goes from Shield Form to Sword Form," Steranka told Destructoid. "We needed to [first] build the underlying technology to release Morpeko, and now that that in-battle form change foundation is there, we do have more of an ability to tackle other Pokémon that have similar characteristics."
Steranka went on to explain the complexities that come with the Aegislash line, and it wasn't a simple case of changing forms in battle that needed to be worked out. He explained to us that there were "so many unique things" the team needed to consider as well.
"Whether it's the form changes when you receive damage, or the form changes when you use a specific move." Steranka concluded, before saying that the team was very aware of everybody's desire for Honedge and Aegislash, but it will come out at the "right moment" as the team "want to do so in a way that does right by that Pokémon for PvP as well."
Steranka said that the team did not want to release the Honedge line prematurely, a sentiment I agreed with, as any complications could lead to a chaotic Battle League environment, especially ahead of any events like the Pokémon World Championships.
On Basculegion, Steranka was a bit more coy about when the Pokémon might appear. Pokémon Go has seen a small trickle of Hisui Pokémon over several years now. When asked about Basculegion's unavailability over the past couple of years, Steranka mentioned that the team was trying to "find the right moment thematically" to release it.
"We definitely want to make sure that we're not just putting things out there willy-nilly, we want to make sure that we can, one, do right by the Pokémon's unique characteristics," Steranaka explained. "But two, make sure that it's done in a way that is cohesive with everything else happening in the game at that moment in time."
When asked to follow up, Steranka had no other comment, but we imagine that Basculegion will appear during some kind of themed event in the future. So, not a lot to go on for now. Hopefully, when Basculegion does release, it'll do so without a convoluted evolution method we have seen recently with Pokémon like Urshifu and Kingambit's requirements, where you need to beat X-type of Pokémon in raids.
Arceus forbid.
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