Alolan Forms are coming to Pokémon Go, before Gen 4

Meowth, that's right!

News by Chris Tapsell Deputy Editor

Updated on May 21, 2018

Alolan Forms of Kanto-region Pokémon are coming to Pokémon Go "in the coming weeks", according to developer Niantic.

There's not a lot of other info on the new forms - in fact, there's basically no official word other than the fact that they're coming - and if you're involved in Pokémon Go or the mainline Pokémon games, the announcement's probably a bit of a surprise.

That's because the Alolan Forms - tropical versions of some original Pokémon from Gen 1 - appear exclusively in Gen 7's Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon region of Alola. Pokémon Go has, so far, only made it's way to the third Generation of Pokémon - so in other words these are way ahead of schedule.

Some drab Pokémon like Muk get colourful reworks for their Alolan Forms.

There's some history though: last November Niantic did release tropical Alolan player outfits in Pokémon Go's in-game store, as a spot of cross-promotion with the release of enhanced versions Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The final Gen 7 Pokémon, Zeraora, is still yet to receive a distribution in the mainline games, so there's a very small chance the Alolan Pokémon's release in Pokémon Go could line up with that in a similar fashion.

It's a long shot though - Niantic's justification on the Pokémon Go blog seems to just be that "sunny days are ahead!" and we've not heard a peep about Zeraora's release date so far - so mainline Pokémon players shouldn't get excited just yet. For now, here's a list of the Kanto Pokémon that get altered Alolan Forms which we can expect to see soon: