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‘Pokemon Go’: Ditto Is Now Out There, And What It Means For The Game Is Huge

By Dustin Kemp
Published on: 18:20 PST, Nov 23, 2016

Ditto, the androgynous, transforming, silly putty-esque blob Pokemon, is now active in Pokemon Go, and the little creature is a lot more interesting than his physical description would suggest. One of the reasons Ditto’s addition to Pokemon Go is so exciting is that the method of locating the Pokemon is completely different from any of the other creatures. The other reason, which might be an even bigger deal, has more to do with the general direction in which Pokemon Go is heading. Hint: it’s up.

For those unfamiliar with Ditto’s role in the existing Pokemon universe, it is essentially a blob Pokemon that can transform itself into any Pokemon it encounters. In Nintendo’s Pokemon handheld games, that usually means Ditto takes on the form of its opponent in a battle, complete with copies of its appearance, moves, and statistics. After a battle is over, Ditto will go back to being an almost featureless purple blob.

The Verge reports that Ditto’s signature quality of being able to transform into other Pokemon is also utilized in Pokemon Go, although the mechanic works a bit differently. Instead of Ditto transforming after an encounter, it will transform beforehand into another Pokemon. It might take on the appearance of something rare, but it more often becomes Pokemon that look less tantalizing, like Pidgey or Rattata. This is an ingenious way for Niantic to make sure players do not just ignore all the common Pokemon they see. After all, any one of them might be a Ditto in disguise.

After a Pokemon Go trainer manages to wade through all the ultra-common ‘Mons and actually captures a Ditto, the Pokemon starts behaving more similarly to how it would in the flagship Pokemon RPG games. That is, Ditto will take on its natural form when it is out of battle and will transform into its opponent when it is time to throw down. So far, this means the Pokemon only takes on other forms at gyms, but it is very likely the mechanic will be the same for player v. player battles whenever they are implemented in Pokemon Go.

Although Ditto’s game mechanics present a cool new way to find a Pokemon, Forbes notes, they are not the most exciting or meaningful part about its addition to Pokemon Go. Not only is Ditto the final non-legendary Pokemon of the original 151 to be added to the game, but it is the first new Pokemon to be added since Pokemon Go’s release. The addition of a brand-new catchable Pokemon will accomplish something that Pokemon Go’s recently-added lateral content, like the opportunity to get a higher number of candies or stardust, cannot: it will give hardcore players who have already done all there is to do in the game a reason to come back.

Hopefully, the fact that Niantic has popped its cherry in terms of adding more Pokemon to Pokemon Go is a sign of what is to come. Pokemon Go fans have been eagerly speculating about the release date of the generation two Pokemon almost since the app came out in July, and it would definitely be a good way to recapture the interest of the hardcore trainers who have already caught all the Pokemon available.

There have been several hints lately that gen two is coming to Pokemon Go — the Inquisitr recently reported that one was even found in the app’s code. Just yesterday, in fact, we discussed a leaked Starbucks internal memo that discusses the addition and even specifies a release date of December 7.

Do you think the addition of Ditto to Pokemon Go bodes well for a sooner-rather-than-later release date for the generation two Pokemon? Make yourself heard in the comments section below!

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