Pokémon GO brings players to Times Square to battle Mewtwo, recreating an iconic scene as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations. Read on to learn more about Mewtwo’s appearance and details of the event here.
Mewtwo Appears in Times Square
Celebrating Pokémon GO's 10th Anniversary
Pokémon GO pulled off a surprise takeover of Times Square on July 9, gathering nearly 2,000 invited trainers for a Unity Raid against Mega Mewtwo Y. According to a post from Pokémon GO's official X (Twitter) account, Mewtwo had officially arrived in Times Square, confirmed to be a part of the anniversary festivities.
The night started out with an EDM performance from Loud Luxury, which was then followed by Mewtwo’s on-screen appearance across Time Square’s billboards. Trainers battled the Mega Mewtwo Y through the evening and were eventually rewarded with the exclusive Pokémon. Coverage from Pokémon GO Hub's live event updates indicated that catch rates during the raid were effectively guaranteed for those in attendance, meaning all trainers on-site walked away with a 100% IV Mewtwo.
Before the event, the Mewtwo figure on display at Pokémon Center Shibuya had disappeared entirely, and it was later seen that Mewtwo had also vanished from PokéStops in-game. Its hinted letters, NY, on the tube display and sudden disappearance had the community guessing that Mewtwo had suddenly escaped into the real world, setting the stage for its appearance in New York City.
Revisiting Pokémon GO's History
The major raid celebration was a direct re-enactment of the first-ever Pokémon GO trailer back in 2016. That original clip ended with an imagined scene of hundreds of trainers gathered in Times Square taking down Mewtwo together, a moment now delivered in reality for the first time.
One other reference for Mewtwo intertwined with celebrating the game includes the Pokémon GO expansion for the TCG back in 2022. The card pack’s packaging itself includes Mewtwo, Pikachu, and other iconic Pokémon. This out-of-print series contains a still highly sought-after Mewtwo V card alternate full art showing Mewtwo floating in the center of Times Square.
Pokémon GO launched in 2016 and quickly became a global phenomenon, pulling in over 130 million downloads in its first month and a peak of 232 million active players that same year. Niantic, which originally built the game, was acquired by mobile publisher Scopely just last year in a $3.5 billion deal. After the game being live for a decade, Scopely says the game has been played by more than 800 million people total, and more than 1 trillion Pokémon have been caught since 2016.
Michael Steranka, one of Pokémon GO’s valued leaders since 2017, thanked players for the continued support on the anniversary livestream. He highlighted that the team will continue to make efforts to strengthen community play, as well as shape the game to be enjoyable across different generations.
Pokémon GO is an AR mobile game tied to Scopely, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company. For more information about the game, check out our article below!
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