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Shiny Pokemon, holiday costumes hidden in the code of the new Pokemon Go update

Published Dec 8th, 2016 2:42PM EST
Pokemon Go datamine
Image: Niantic | Pokemon

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Earlier this week, Niantic announced a new update for Pokemon Go which will add Pokemon type icons to Gym battles and give trainers the ability to transfer multiple Pokemon to the professor at once. Those are welcome changes that players have been requesting ever since the game launched this summer, but as usual, the most exciting elements of the update are hidden in the code.

As soon as the APK for the update appeared online, the sleuths over on The Silph Road began mining through the data, looking for any hints of additional, unannounced features. With so many events and updates scheduled for December, they expected to hit the jackpot — and it turns out they weren’t far off.

Here are the highlights of the datamining expedition:

  • Sound files for the next 100 Pokemon have been added to the game.
  • A “gender” tag suggests that Pokemon Go may soon differentiate Pokemon genders.
  • More code has been added for Shiny Pokemon variants.
  • Avatar customization is being overhauled, and it looks like trainers will soon be able to change their hair, shirt, pants, hat, shoes, eyes and backpacks. The code also indicates that players will be able to buy and unlock customization items as well.
  • Pokemon costumes are coming! It appears that Niantic is going to allow Pokemon to access costumes for certain events. Does that mean we can dress Pikachu up like Santa? We’ll find out soon.

While there’s not telling how long it will be until some of these features make their way into the game, it has never taken long for datamines in the past to come to fruition. Plus, some of these are time sensitive, such as the Pokemon holiday costumes, so we should see those sooner than later.

Be sure to check out the full list of discoveries at The Silph Road.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.