A Free Mewtwo!

So there’s been a fuckton of 10th Anniversary stuff in Pokemon GO. And I get why! It’s a game that’s done exceptionally well! We’ve had all sorts of cool stuff, like a mostly free GO Fest, all the Unowns available in incense, new mega Pokemon, the release of Mega Mewtwo and the mythical Pokemon Zeraora and a day of 10x XP. Pokemon GO has also made tons of money from this, but it’s all mostly been great, whether you are a F2Per or a whale. So many cool things celebrating a big event.

There was one little setback. Before GO Fest, Scopely did a private event at Times Square, where everyone was given two Mewtwos with a unique background, with one of those Mewtwos being guaranteed and caught in a master ball. This kinda rubbed people the wrong way, mostly because it was a private event that wasn’t advertised or even accessible to most people outside of influencers and some local Community Ambassadors. I think the issue was more the guaranteed hundo than the background. Guaranteed perfect Pokemon haven’t really been a thing before, doubly since, well, it’s Mewtwo. It’s THE Legendary Pokemon. The best guy after Pikachu, Charizard, Arceus and Bidoof. There’s been LOADS of unique Pokemon events, especially location backgrounds, but a guaranteed perfect Mewtwo with a one-off background and a Mega already unlocked just felt… weird.

But Scopely decided not to leave everyone out. Starting 13th August 2026 (or the 15th for some people?), all players can log in and get a timed research. The research is stupidly simple: Catch 10 Pokemon for a Master Ball, Power Up Pokemon 10 Times for 500 Mega Mewtwo Y energy and then you get an encounter with Mewtwo. And that Mewtwo is guaranteed to have Mega Mewtwo Y unlocked AND it has one of the coolest backgrounds in the game.

Whether they decided to give a hundo to everyone because of a backlash or because they planned it, or because they wanted people to raid Mewtwo again for the big event in September 2026, I have no idea. But the research is genuinely pretty damn generous. You even get a fricking Master Ball! You don’t need to use that on the Mewtwo but you can for pizzazz. I decided to be silly and catch my Mewtwo in a normal red Pokeball and somehow I did it in three balls.

As of posting this article, you have 24 days to catch this Mewtwo. I wouldn’t leave it though until the last minute. You CAN theoretically wait until the very last day (September 6th) to catch him, for a chance for your Mewtwo to get Psystrike, but in all honesty, it’s worth just using an Elite TM on him.

Admittedly, when I told aabicus about this, I just said “it’s a free mewtwo, go do it”. He showed me the catch screen after finishing the research and, guess what? It was shiny!

He didn’t know it was a shundo until I told him, he was just so excited to get the shiny!

Mine wasn’t shiny, but I don’t mind in the slightest. I already got my shundo, I’m just happy that other folks get to join the Shundo Mewtwo Club. I will power my hundo up to level 40 though and maybe give him an elite TM to give him Psystrike.

Is it weird, giving everyone a perfect Mewtwo after everyone spent tons of money doing raids to gamble for a perfect Mewtwo? Yeah, probably. But in my opinion, who cares? It’s Mewtwo. Everyone loves Mewtwo. And there are other things to chase, other shundos to catch. Let folks have their fun. Doubly so since it’s the game’s 10th anniversary.

This research is genuinely the best research to ever appear in Pokemon GO. A guaranteed perfect Mewtwo with Mega Mewtwo Y unlocked and a genuinely really fucking cool background. What an amazing way to say Happy 10th Anniversary for Pokemon GO!