The Dark/Psychic-type Inkay made its Pokémon Go debut back during the Psychic Spectacular event, first appearing in the wild and one-star raids. Since then, it’s also been featured in other Research tasks.
Fans who’ve played Gen VI will know Inkay is a bit odd. It not only has a rare typing but also lives up to its title of the Revolving Pokémon with its unique evolution method, which might confuse players who haven’t yet encountered the Kalos-native.
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Typically, in order to evolve Inkay into Malamar in the mainline games, players would need to level up their Pokémon to level 30 and then hold their Nintendo 3DS or Switch systems upside down at the end of the battle. As weird as it might sound, this fits the two Pokémon’s designs perfectly since Malamar is the larger upside-down version of Inkay—something you might not realize until after you’ve learned about their evolution.
And just like with many other mechanics, Niantic has replicated this to an extent in Pokémon Go.
How to evolve Inkay into Malamar in Pokémon Go
After you capture an Inkay in Pokémon Go, you will also need to get 50 Inkay Candy before you can evolve it.
Related: How to evolve Hisuian Qwilfish into Overqwil in Pokémon Go
Once you are ready, hold your mobile device upside down, which should register fairly easily. Then you can initiate the evolution and get yourself a Malamar.
Don’t feel bad if you couldn’t figure out this random evolution method on your own. Inkay arguably has one of the most bizarre evolution requirements in the franchise. After all, who would ever think to flip their mobile device or gaming system upside down in order to evolve a Pokémon?
