Regions

Regions are an organized areas of the Pokémon world known from previous games about Pokémon such as games from core series. In Pokémon GO there are currently only five regions referred, which are Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Alola.

Kanto
The Pokémon known from Kanto region were the base Pokémon released in Pokémon GO, but not all Pokémon of this region were released at one time.

History

 * Most of the Pokémon from Kanto was released with the game release.
 * November, 2016 – Ditto was released in the games, disguised as other Pokémon.
 * July, 2017 – Articuno was available from Raid Battles for the first time.
 * July, 2017 – Moltres was available from Raid Battles for the first time.
 * August, 2017 – Zapdos was available from Raid Battles for the first time.
 * From August, 2017 to August , 2017 - All three Legendary Birds were available from Raid Battles.
 * On August, 2017, during the Pokémon GO Stadium event, Mewtwo was confirmed as a Raid Boss.
 * On March, 2018 – Mew became available as the reward for completing Special Research tasks.

Johto
Johto is the second region from which Pokémon are available in Pokémon GO. The Pokémon from this region were firstly released in December, 2016 as Baby Pokémon available to hatch from Pokémon Eggs.

Currently only Smeargle is still not available nor officially scheduled to be released.

History

 * December, 2016 - Togepi and Pichu along with other Baby Pokémon (except Tyrogue) and Togetic as evolution of Togepi were released as Pokémon available only to hatch from Pokémon Eggs.
 * February, 2017 - over 80 Pokémon from this region became available to catch in the wild and hatch from eggs.
 * July, 2017 - Lugia was released as the Legendary Raid Boss for the first time and were available to catch only after defeating it.
 * From August, 2017 to September , 2017 - Legendary Beasts were available as the Legendary Raid Bosses for the first time and were available to catch only after defeating them. All three of these Pokémon were exclusive to following regions:
 * Raikou could be battled throughout the Americas
 * Entei could be battled throughout Europe and Africa
 * Suicune could be battled throughout the Asia-Pacific region
 * On September, all three of Legendary Beasts moved to different locations and are available until October in following regions:
 * Raikou could be battled throughout the Asia-Pacific region
 * Entei could be battled throughout the Americas
 * Suicune could be battled throughout Europe and Africa
 * On October, all three of Legendary Beasts moved for last time to different locations and were available until November in following regions:
 * Raikou - Europe and Africa
 * Entei - Asia-Pacific region
 * Suicune - the Americas.
 * November, 2017 - Ho-Oh was released as the Legendary Raid Boss for the first time and were available to catch only after defeating it.
 * December, 2017 – Delibird was announced to be released along with 20 Ice and Water-type Pokémon from Hoenn.
 * It was released day later, on December, 2017.
 * On July, 2018 – Celebi became available for Pokémon GO Fest 2018 attendees only.
 * On August, 2018 – Celebi became available worldwide as the reward for completing Special Research tasks.

Hoenn
Hoenn is the third region from original core series of which Pokémon are now available in Pokémon GO.

Selected non-legendary Pokémon from this region were mostly released in 5 waves:
 * 1) In October 2017 as a part of Halloween event - 5 Ghost-type Pokémon.
 * 2) In December, 2017 as main release of Hoenn-region Pokémon - 50 selected Pokémon.
 * 3) In later December, 2017, more Pokémon of this region were made available - 20 aquatic themed, mainly Water and Ice-type Pokémon.
 * 4) In January, 2018, yet more were made available - 23 dessert themed, mainly Ground and Rock-type Pokémon.
 * 5) In February, 2018, more selected, sky themed, mainly Flying and Dragon-type Pokémon.

Currently there are 5 Pokémon that are yet to be released &mdash; Kecleon, Clamperl, Huntail, Gorebyss and Jirachi.

History

 * On October, 2017, five Pokémon of Ghost and Dark types were released as a part of Halloween event. Those were Sableye, Shuppet, Banette, Duskull and Dusclops.
 * December, 2017 - 50 selected Pokémon from Hoenn-region were announced to become available to catch in the wild and hatch from eggs later that week along with Weather game feature.
 * They were made available to catch in wild and hatch from eggs on December, 2017, along with Mawile and Absol introduced as Raid Bosses.
 * This release might be called the "main release" of this-region Pokémon, as it brings  to the gameplay  the most of them.
 * December, 2017 - Groudon was available to be defeated and caught in Raid Battle for the first time.
 * On December, 2017 - 20 Water and Ice-type Pokémon from Hoenn region were announced to catch in wild and they were released day later.
 * January, 2018 - Kyogre was available to be defeated and caught in Raid Battle for the first time.
 * On January, 2018 - 23 mostly Rock and Ground-type Pokémon from Hoenn region were announced and later this day released to catch in wild.
 * On February, 2018 - 19 mostly Flying and Dragon-type Pokémon from Hoenn region were announced to catch in wild and they were released day later.
 * February, 2018 - Rayquaza was available to be defeated and caught in Raid Battle for the first time.
 * April, 2018 - Latios was able to be defeated and captured across the Americas and Africa for the first time; until it switched with is counterpart Latias, which is now available in Europe and Asia.
 * May, 2018 - Latias is able to be defeated and captured across the Americas and Africa for the first time; while is counterpart Latios is available in Europe and Asia.
 * June, 2018 - Regice was available to be defeated and caught in Raid Battle for the first time.
 * July, 2018 - Registeel was available to be defeated and caught in Raid Battle for the first time.
 * August, 2018 - 8th pattern form of Spinda was made available as reward for Field Research tasks.
 * On September, 2018, there was 3rd pattern variant of Spinda released.
 * On October, 2018, there was 1st pattern variant of Spinda released.
 * On November, 2018, there was 7th pattern variant of Spinda released.
 * On December, 2018, there was 6th pattern variant of Spinda released.
 * On January, 2019, there was 5th pattern variant of Spinda released.
 * August, 2018 - Regirock was available to be defeated and caught in Raid Battle for the first time.
 * October, 2018 - Deoxys became available to be battled exclusively in EX Raid Battles.
 * December, 2018 - Attack Forme Deoxys became available to be battled exclusively in EX Raid Battles.
 * November, 2018 – Nincada, Ninjask, Shedinja were exclusively released with the Bug-type Pokémon themed Research tasks. Nincada became reward for regular Field Research tasks, while Shedinja could be rewarded from Field Research Breakthrough.

Alola
Alola is the fourth region, in release order, to be mentioned in Pokémon GO. Unlike three previous regions there are currently no Pokémon from this region planned to be added to the game but only Alolan forms of Kanto-region Pokémon.

History

 * May, 2018 - The release of Alolan forms of Kanto-region Pokémon was announced to be released in game.
 * May, 2018 - Alolan Exeggutor was released.
 * June, 2018 - Alolan variants of Vulpix, Sandshrew, Meowth, Grimer and their evolutionary lines were made available to hatch from 7-km Eggs.
 * June, 2018 - Without prior announcement, Alolan Rattata became available to be caught in the wild.
 * July, 2018 - Alolan variants of Geodude, Diglett and their evolutionary lines were released to catch in the wild with the beginning of 2018 edition of Pokémon GO Fest.
 * They were added to 7-km Eggs hatchlings pool after the event has ended.
 * July, 2018 - Alolan variants of Raichu and Marowak were made available to be defeated and caught exclusively in Raid Battles.

Sinnoh
Sinnoh is the fifth region from which Pokémon are available in Pokémon GO. Pokémon originaly discovered in this region are released in waves. The release in waves is similar to Hoenn-region Pokémon release however there are no particular type-themes of these waves.

Currently there are 79 out of 107 Pokémon species from Sinnoh region released to the game.

History

 * October, 2018 – Release of Sinnoh-region Pokémon was officially announced.
 * October, 2018 – 26 select Pokémon were released to the gameplay. Including:
 * Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup, Starly, Bidoof, Kricketot and Buneary started appearing in the wild.
 * Shinx and Riolu started to hatch from Eggs.
 * Carnivine was reported to appear exclusively in Southern areas of the.
 * Chatot was reported to appear exclusively in countries of Southern Hemisphere.
 * Pachirisu was reported to appear exclusively in North-Arctic countries (, Northern ).
 * October, 2018 – 6 select Ghost- and Dark-type Pokémon were released to the gameplay. Including:
 * Drifloon, Stunky and Skuntank were released to the wild, with Drifblim available from evolution.
 * Spiritomb was made available from event-exclusive Special Research task series.
 * Giratina was released as Legendary Raid Boss for the first time.
 * November, 2018 – Budew, Buizel, and Floatzel were released, but not Roserade.
 * November, 2018 – 11 select Pokémon, that are evolved forms of previously available in game Pokémon from other regions, were released to the game. These Pokémon were: Roserade, Mismagius, Honchkrow, Weavile, Rhyperior, Electivire, Magmortar, Togekiss, Gliscor, Porygon-Z and Dusknoir were released into gameplay along with the Sinnoh Stone.
 * November, 2018 – Cresselia was available to be defeated and caught in Raid Battle for the first time.
 * December, 2018 – 14 Pokémon were released to the gameplay. Including:
 * Families of Bronzor, Skorupi, Croagunk, Finneon and Snover were released in wild.
 * Chingling, Munchlax and Mantyke were available in Eggs.
 * Heatran was available to be defeated and caught in Raid Battle for the first time.
 * January, 2019 – Palkia was available to be defeated and caught in Raid Battle for the first time.
 * January, 2019 – 15 Pokémon were released, including:
 * Families of Combee, Glameow and Fossil Pokémon – Cranidos and Shieldon were released.
 * Bonsly was made available to be hatched from eggs and was the first Baby Pokémon in the game to require Buddy distance walked in order to evolve it.
 * 6 select Pokémon, that are evolved forms of previously available in game Pokémon from other regions, were released to the game. These Pokémon were: Ambipom, Lickilicky, Tangrowth, Yanmega, Gallade and Froslass.
 * February, 2019 – Happiny became available from Eggs with the beginning of Valentine's Day event.
 * February, 2019 – Mamoswine was released on a day prior to February Community Day that featured Swinub.

Trivia

 * Another term used in Pokémon GO players community to describe Pokémon groups from each region is Generations. This term was adopted by community but it is not correct in context of Pokémon GO game as the game itself does not have generations as a result of being under ongoing development. This term wasn't officially referred in game nor by its creators on official social-media and information channels.
 * Therefore Kanto is Generation I, Johto is Generation II, Hoenn is Generation III and so on.
 * More about generations is available here.
 * Common thing for Pokémon, that were not available with main release of Kanto- and Johto-region Pokémon, is that those Pokémon either were legendary and/or mythical or have certain, special moves like Ditto, Delibird or Smeargle.
 * Pokémon from Hoenn region although didn't have their one main release as they were released in smaller groups.
 * There has been Pokémon species from Hoenn added to game code since update 0.71.0.
 * On December, 2017 in Apple Watch Store, Pokémon GO banner with Starter Pokémon from Hoenn region appeared- spoiling official announcement about release of Hoenn-region Pokémon that happened next day.
 * Release of fifty Pokémon from Hoenn region and Weather feature had trailer with similar cinematic style as trailer for release of Legendary Pokémon in raid battles and new gyms system and trailer of the game itself.
 * Teaser trailer and release trailer of Sinnoh-region Pokémon also had similar cinematic style.
 * On October, 2018, Pokémon from Sinnoh region were announced to be released.
 * There are at most sixteen known regions that have appeared in the various Pokémon canons.