Pokemon Go: Pokemon Go Fest 2021 day one: Catch!

Pokemon Go Fest 2021 is coming mid-July, and we can expect quite the event for the first day, with plenty of new spawns, raids and shinies.

You should also be aware that the Pokemon Go fest event for 2021 will take place over 2 days – some changes are shared between the days, others are day specific. Additionally, there will be a ticket available for $5 / adjusted prices that will give you additional content for both days.

When is Pokemon Go Fest 2021 day one?

Pokemon Go Fest 2021 day one kicks off on July 17th at 10:00 AM and ends the same day at 6:00 PM. As usual, both of these are Local time.

For those not familiar, Local time means that you don’t need to worry about timezones at all, as the time specified is when the event kicks off in each time zone respectively – so it’ll be that time for you, barring any errors.

What can we expect from day one of Pokemon Go Fest 2021?

Here’s a little snippet from the announcement that should convey the overall theme nicely.

Pokémon GO Fest 2021 is a music festival, and you’re the show director! Help Professor Willow and the team leaders put on an incredible concert celebration by choosing between certain Pokémon to join the festivities. Complete this Special Research for special rewards, including an encounter with a Mythical Pokémon, Meloetta, a shirt avatar item, and an exclusive avatar pose! After you complete the Special Research, take a snapshot for a surprise!
PokemonGoLive.com

If those things aren’t enough for you, don’t worry – the event has plenty more, and I’ll be trying to cover every change I can with the lists below. Strap in Trainers, this is the big one.

Meloetta Aria Forme in the Pokemon anime, introduced to Pokemon Go for the Pokemon Go Fest 2021, day one — Meloetta Aria Forme in the Pokemon anime, Credit: Bulbapedia

Event Features available to everyone

This section will feature quite a few lists to cover all the Pokemon available during the event. As a reminder, if a Pokemon in a list has a bolded name, then it is available as a Shiny for the event.

Additionally, Pokemon appearing in the wild and those attracted to Incense will have an increased Shiny chance. Though do note it will be easier to find Shiny Pokemon on Saturday than Sunday, as the bonus chance seems implied to weaken on Sunday.

Hourly rotating Habitats

One of the key features of this Pokemon Go fest, particularly for Day one, are these habitats. They’re basically hour long mini events that will rotate more Pokemon in and out of the spawn table. To see precisely what can be expected during each hour, read on.

Jungle Habitat

Scyther
Aipom
Froakie

Desert Mountain Habitat

Skarmory
Shieldon
Hippopotas

Ocean Beach Habitat

Dratini
Swablu
Alomomola

The Pokemon Swablu — Swablu makes an appearance during the Ocean/Beach Habitat hour, Credit: Bulbapedia

Cave Habitat

Roggenrola
Galarian Stunfisk
Deino

Other Spawn changes

Wild Pokemon

Pokemon related to music including all of the following are expected to make an appearance during the event, alongside a costumed Pikachu.

Chimecho
Kricketot
Audino

Eggs

Igglybuff
Chingling
Audino

The Pokemon Audino, Owned by Nurse Joy in the Pokemon Anime, — Audino appears in both the wild spawns during Day one of Pokemon Go fest and the 7km Egg pool,
Credit: The Pokemon Company

Raids

These raids are expected to be specific to Saturday, aka Pokemon Go Fest day one.

1-Star raids

Galarian Ponyta (Meloetta hat)
Galarian Zigzagoon (Meloetta hat)
Deino

3-Star Raids

Galarian Weezing
Hitmontop
Cranidos

5-Star Raids and Mega Raids

Mewtwo will be the only Pokemon making an appearance in 5-Star Raids for day one, while Mega Gengar will be occupying the Mega slot on its own as well.

Mewtwo in the Pokemon Anime — Mewtwo will be appearing for 5* star raids during day one of Pokemon Go Fest, Credit: Bulbapedia

New Shiny Pokemon

Shiny variants of 8 separate Pokemon are expected to be released during this event. 4 of these new Shinies are evolved forms of the basic version that is also getting a Shiny, so in effect 4 different Pokemon families are gaining Shiny variants.

Whismur
- Loudred and Exploud
Chimecho
Audino
Tympole
- Palpitoad and Seismitoad

Event Features for players with tickets

First, all players should be aware that tickets this year have been reduced to only $5 as opposed to the usual $15.

With this year being both the twenty-fifth anniversary of Pokémon and the fifth anniversary of Pokémon GO, we’re simply jazzed to share more details of what’s in store for Pokémon GO Fest 2021, happening on July 17 and 18! It’s been five whole years of Pokémon GO, and we couldn’t have done it without all of you. To celebrate, ticket prices will be reduced from USD $14.99 to $5!
PokemonGoLive.com

Music choice

Your very own Pokemon Go fest music festival for day one of the 2021 event will feature either Pikachu Rock Star or Pikachu Pop Star.

Your choice between these will even determine the in-game music that will play for you during the event.

Either way, the Pokémon music producer Junichi Masuda has produced brand-new tracks just for Pokémon GO Fest 2021. Your music choice will be either a rock-and-rolling track for Pikachu Rock Star fans, a high-energy electro-pop song for Pikachu Pop Star stans, and more!

Habitat bonus spawns via Incense

Note that these additional spawns during Incense are only enabled for players holding an Event Ticket, meaning they are premium only spawns.

There’s also this little event bonus for those of you with Tickets, if the Incense spawns below aren’t enough of a boost.

The Global Challenge Arena is back this year. On Saturday, ticket holders will work together to complete a collaborative challenge each hour. If they complete the challenge in time, they’ll earn a bonus for the remainder of the hour. You can check the Today View to keep track of global progress! You’ll be able to complete four Collection Challenges, each themed after a habitat hour.

Jungle Habitat (Incense)

Unown F
Unown G
Ludicolo
Chatot
Leafeon
Serperior

Desert Mountain Habitat (Incense)

Flareon
Unown F
Unown G
Tyranitar
Flygon
Throh

Flareon in the Pokemon Anime, Credit: The Pokemon Company

Ocean Beach Habitat (Incense)

Gyarados
Vaporeon
Azumarill
Unown F
Unown G
Sawk

Cave Habitat (Incense)

Umbreon
Unown F
Unown G
Gardevoir
Absol
Galvantula

More Shiny Pokemon

Ticket holders can expect to potentially encounter all of the following Pokemon as Shiny versions

Unown F
Unown G
Throh
Sawk

Unown in the Pokemon Anime, many of which appeared during Pokemon Go Fest 2021 — Unown in the Pokemon Anime, Credit: Bulbapedia

Is there anything else?

After all that? Really?

Somehow, surprisingly, yes, there is more stuff. For starters, Lures will be boosted to 3 hours in duration, and Egg Hatching distance during the event will be halved.

There will also be the usual event exclusive field research tasks, alongside special music created by Pokémon music producer Junichi Masuda that will be playing in the app throughout the event. And on top of that, there will even be special on-map visual effects too.

Outside of the stuff mentioned above though, not really, though event tickets are available to those who are interested in Pokemon Go already, so if you’ve been leaning towards getting one you might want to go check out the game now and get your ticket sorted.

In any case, that’s everything for Go Fest 2021 Day one. If you’d be interested in reading more about Pokemon Go, you can find more Pokemon Go pieces on The Click right here, and more by me personally here.