Pokemon That Should Always Be Available
These days, most research tasks that ask you to catch Pokemon generally have a wide variety to catch. You’ll see tasks like “catch X fire type Pokemon” for example. During the Paldea event though, we had a “Catch 15 Nymble” challenge for some star dust. That research task was a bit odd, especially since it was just a normal research task. In special research tasks though, having to catch a specific Pokemon is a more common task. For example, for the Meltan special research, you need to catch some Gulpin and Slugma, because they are rather liquid-y, the same way Meltan is. However, some tasks are much more difficult, and require rarer Pokemon. Or, on the flip side, you need a lot of them.
The most common example is Magikarp. For the Mew special research, one task requires that you evolve a Magikarp. While Magikarp does occasionally appear in events (it was last seen in the Detective Pikachu event), you need a LOT of Magikarp to get a Gyarados. You need 67 Magikarp, assuming you use a pinap berry on every one you see. When it’s not available in the wild, it is occasionally the reward for tasks like “catch x Pokemon”, but that number varies depending on the season.
Another Pokemon you need for special research is Feebas. One of the special researches (I think it’s the Celebi research), requires you to evolve a Feebas. But Feebas not only requires you to walk 20km with it, you also need 100 candy. But Feebas has been insanely rare for a long time, and it was only semi-common during the Out to Play event in late September/early October 2023 that celebrated routes and Growlithes. Before that, it wasn’t really available anywhere. Sure, you can walk a Feebas for candy, but it takes 5km to get one candy. Which is pretty sad.
But then there are research tasks that require a number of specific Pokemon. Exeggcute is a common one, you need five for the Mew research. Every time it comes back in an event, there are always people on The Silph Road happy for a chance to catch the bastard. It last spawned in the Detective Pikachu Returns event in October 2023. Well, Alolan Exeggcutor was what spawned, but evolutions thankfully count for these tasks. Cubone is another Pokemon that people easily miss out on. I actually can’t recall the last time it was in an event, but Cubone was spawning in a nest not too far away from my home, up until the most recent event.
Admittedly, most of these Pokemon are from the Mew, Celebi and Meltan researches. So a simple solution would be to alter the Pokemon needed, but that’s never going to happen.
That being said, there is a much simpler solution. Just stick these required Pokemon in permanent research tasks. In fact, that’s already the case with one Pokemon. Aerodactyl is a rare Pokemon that only seems to appear during fossil Pokemon events, and it’s required for the Mew research. Luckily, it is actually available in the “win five raids” research task. It’s not a common task, but it does exist, and it guarantees you an encounter. The same does kinda apply to Magikarp, but it isn’t always in research tasks the same way Aerodactyl is.
While I completed these special research tasks a long time ago, it’s much harder for newer players to finish them due to how random the spawns are. But if these Pokemon are put into research tasks, then there’s at least a chance they can work towards special research, even if there’s an event going on.