The Curiosity that is Meltan
The other day, while I was making room in my backpack in Pokemon GO, I scrolled past the Mysterious Box. This box is obtained by transferring a Pokemon to either Pokemon Let’s Go! or Pokemon Home. Opening the box releases a mysterious scent that attracts a very unusual Pokemon.
This Pokemon is Meltan, the most unusual of Mythical Pokemon.
A Unique Mythical
It turns out, Meltan is unique in a lot of different ways. Not only is Meltan a Pokemon you can get multiple of, but it’s also the only mythical that is obtained outside of the main Pokemon game series. Meltan was first seen during the Chikorita Community Day, the first proper Community Day I ever played. Towards the end of the event, these weird tiny silver things spawned, but turned into Dittos when caught. What we saw wasn’t a glitch, but a teaser of a brand new Pokemon, exclusive to Pokemon GO.
Later on, we had a special research which rewarded us with a single Meltan. After that, we discover mysterious boxes that spawn lots of Meltan. Getting a lot of Meltan is a good thing. Why though? Because we need lots of Meltan candy.
The biggest difference though is that Meltan is one of the first Mythical Pokemon that can evolve.
But ONLY in Pokemon GO
If you have Pokemon GO, then you can get Melmetal. It’s a long process though. To get a Melmetal, you need Meltan candy. And the only real way of getting Meltan candy is to catch Meltan. Luckily, the Mysterious Box, the box you get when you transfer Pokemon to Pokemon Home/Let’s GO, will spawn Meltan for an hour, for you to catch. Sure, the cost to evolve Melmetal is 400 Meltan candy, but it is doable, especially if you use Spotlight Hours to your advantage. The Mysterious Box disappears after an hour, but you can obtain a new one every three days.
Once you have your 400 candy, you can happily evolve a Melmetal. As a bonus, because Meltan is a Mythical Pokemon, catching one will guarantee an XL Candy for Meltan.
However, you can only evolve Meltan into Melmetal in Pokemon GO. If you want one for the main series games, you HAVE to play Pokemon GO and evolve a Melmetal there. I don’t think you need to do the Meltan special research, but that’s for the best. The Meltan research is long and tedious and frankly not really worth it.
That being said, Melmetal HAS been given away in the occasional event. When Pokemon Home began to work with Pokemon GO, connecting your accounts for the first time would reward a Melmetal that can Gigantamax. Outside of events though, Melmetal’s only home is in Pokemon GO.
It’s genuinely a good Pokemon
This all actually surprises me, because Melmetal is a genuinely pretty alright Pokemon. Both in Pokemon GO and the main series games. While the cost looks expensive at first, once you get the ball rolling, you can easily acquire more than one Melmetal, and in Pokemon GO, it does have some good moves. Rockslide and either Thunderbolt or Flash Cannon do pretty well in Master League, and Melmetal is GREAT for Team Rocket fights. I don’t know how good it is in actual PvP, but the Melmetal I transferred to Pokemon Shield does a good job.
You know who else has a Melmetal? Ash Ketchum. In the Pokemon Anime, Ash has a Melmetal on his team, which he evolved from a massive group of Meltan. Okay, sure, the anime doesn’t match exactly with the main series games, but the fact that he has one is neat.
But yeah, basically, Pokemon GO has its own exclusive Pokemon. And that’s pretty damn unique.