After years of being excluded from the game in updates and Niantic talking about wanting to implement it properly, Kecleon is finally starting to appear in Pokémon Go.
In leading up to the festivities around February’s Pokémon Go Tour: Hoenn, Gen III’s Color Swap Pokémon is appearing in a unique way befitting its disposition as a creature that can turn mostly invisible to match its surroundings.
Following the Chespin Community Day on Jan. 7, some players noticed that select PokéStops were not able to be spun in the overworld. This means players could not redeem items from them as they usually would. Upon further inspection, however, interacting with those odd PokéStops will actually reveal something very interesting.
If you look at the image featured on some of those PokéStops, players will notice a mostly transparent Kecleon in various positions—acting as if it were blending into the image used on that location’s PokéStop disc.
According to the documented encounters, trying to spin certain PokéStops will prompt players with a notification stating that “an object prevents you from collecting these items,” and they can tap Kecleon to make it move around the image and briefly become visible. Clearing it will prompt Kecleon to appear in the overworld after you spin the PokéStop, finally allowing you to capture one of several Pokémon that has been absent from Pokémon Go for years despite nearly every Pokémon from Hoenn being included in the game already.
Leaks dating back to mid-December pointed to Kecleon being added to the game around the Hoenn Tour, though it is a bit odd to see it appearing randomly after Chespin Community Day.
In the past, Niantic continually noted that it was aware of fans wanting Kecleon added to the games for a number of reasons, but that it wanted to “do justice” to the unique characteristics that make the Pokémon so special. That is an approach that Niantic always takes when implementing Pokémon that have odd mechanics tied to their appearances in the main series titles—with Zorua and Zoroark being among those who haven’t been added yet.
“Perhaps, you know we haven’t made any announcement about next year and any of our event plans, but I will just say we haven’t forgotten about Kecleon, Zorua, or any Pokémon that has unique characteristics,” Niantic director Michael Steranka told Dot Esports last July. “We just really want to do right by them. It shouldn’t just be Kecleon appearing in the wild and that’s that. We want to make it a special thing.”
This article is being updated as more information about Kecleon encounters become available.
