The Throwback Challenge Champion Research 2020 Sucks

A while back, I praised the various regional Throwback challenges in Pokemon Go. They consisted of simple tasks. Each one rewarded Pokemon from that region. And we got a cool legendary at the end with an exclusive move. If you completed all of the regional throwback challenges, then you were rewarded with the Throwback Challenge Champion research. Frankly? The research is a massive let down, compared to the regional tasks.

A Lot of Work for Little Reward

Almost all the tasks in the Champion Research were somewhat draining. Almost everything in the research needed doing lots of times. Feed your buddy berries 15 times. Evolve 5 Pokemon. Power up a Pokemon 15 times. Win 15 raids. Hatch 15 eggs.

They’re not hard tasks, but they are tedious tasks. Eggs and raids in particular are VERY tedious since not everyone can go outside, and you need a lot of time to do them.

There’s also a Catch a Dragon Type research which can be a pain in the ass if you don’t have people around to do level 5 raids. Alolan Exeggutor is the only somewhat-common dragon type around. Oh, and this task rewards you… with a Snivy. Not a dragon type. Or anything vaguely interesting.

Mediocre Pokemon

The rewards in this research were mediocre, to say the least. Especially when the research came out alongside Unova starters spawning everywhere! One of the last rewards, on part 5 (before you get your Genesect) is a Galarian Stunfisk… which was also spawning everywhere throughout the Unova event. Oh, and it’s also now a common hatch from 7km eggs.

The other rewards weren’t much better. Sure, an Audino is nice for the stardust. And I guess a Galarian Meowth is nice because those are egg-bound right now. But we have so many Unova Pokemon that aren’t spawning regularly in the wild, and we just get starters? Would it have been that hard to give us one Axew?

We had to do 4 other Throwback research challenges to get the Champion research, and all we get are starter Pokemon and a handful of uncommon spawns? The Sinnoh research gave us a Gible, for heaven’s sake!

Other Awful Rewards

The other rewards all suck as well. 500 stardust and some experience for each step? Really? The previous Throwback tasks all gave something vaguely useful, like pinaps and razberries. The Kanto challenge was the most generous, but at least you can do something with the others. The 500 stardust and experience per stage just aren’t very useful. That’s the same as catching 5 Pokemon. With basic straight throws.

So you have to work harder for less rewards.

And then you have “power up Pokemon 15 times” for… 500 stardust. Yes, 500. Unless you’re powering up a low CP lucky Magikarp or something, that 500 stardust isn’t going to get you anywhere.

We could have had something cool and rare, but no, we got nothing.

The only valuable thing in the research was the rare candy, TMs and Genesect at the end. A Genesect which is most likely going to be mediocre, because it’s doubly weak to fire and will come back better and stronger in the future. In fact, both Genesects I own are absolutely awful, not far off the minimum base IVs of 10|10|10. And even then, the rare candy and TMs were more plentiful in previous throwback tasks!

For a “champion” special research task, a reward for completing all 4 prior throwback challenges, this special research didn’t feel “champion” at all.