‘Pokemon Go’: Niantic Finally Adding A Tracker And Other Huge Features For A Very Exciting Reason

A huge milestone is coming up for the Pokemon world with the November 18 release of Pokemon Sun and Moon, and Forbes points out it is almost sure to bring some pretty big updates for Pokemon Go. These updates are extremely likely to include a revamped tracking system and may very well throw in alternate forms of certain generation one Pokemon.

Even those who were never Pokemon fans before probably know all about Pokemon Go, the augmented reality Pokemon-catching app developed by Niantic that has swept the global pop culture scene since its release in July. Niantic had developed apps very similar to Pokemon Go before this year (Ingress, for example), but it is the fact that a franchise as iconic as Pokemon agreed to collaborate with them on their most recent offering that it became such a huge success.

Although Pokemon Go uses exciting new technologies and has raked in loads of microtransaction income, however, it is no big secret that it is far from a complete gaming experience. For a while now, Niantic has been promising to add many more features to Pokemon Go to make it feel a bit fresher and more immersive. Well, those changes, which include the much-requested comeback of a Pokemon tracking system, may finally be upon us – they’re already being rolled out in some places, in fact.

Fortuitously, the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon, the next pair of titles in the main series of Pokemon handheld games, is coming up on November 18. The release of a new Pokemon generation does not happen every day – this is the seventh new Pokemon generation released in the franchise’s 20-year history, in fact. Because of that, it is difficult to imagine the date will pass with no nod to the release from Pokemon Go, the app single-handedly responsible for bringing Pokemon back into the mainstream.

So what kind of nod will Pokemon Go players be seeing, you may ask? In all likelihood, a few things. After all, such a big event in the Pokemon community will probably make some waves in the world of the very topical Pokemon Go.

The new feature most likely to be announced as part of the Pokemon Sun and Moon celebration is the new Pokemon tracking system known as “Nearby Pokemon.” The system, as shown by Tech Crunch, shows several Pokemon that can be found nearby and, for each of them, also shows an image of the Pokestop nearest to their location. This may not be a big help to players in rural areas where Pokestops are few and far between, but it will certainly be a big help for players in cities where Pokestops are plentiful.

The reason it is such a good bet the “Nearby Pokemon” feature will be added to all Pokemon Go-enabled devices in time for Pokemon Sun and Moon is that it was just rolled out to a greater area. Whereas before it was only available to Pokemon Go players in San Francisco, reports the app’s official Twitter, it is now available for those in the entire SF bay area as well as the Seattle area and parts of Arizona. It seems likely that, since there is movement on the “Nearby Pokemon” feature and Pokemon Sun and Moon is due out soon, it will go worldwide sooner rather than later.

A new tracking system is certainly the most requested new Pokemon Go feature, but it does not really have anything to do with the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon, specifically. For that reason, what seems like a perhaps even more likely addition to Pokemon Go for the seventh gen releases, noted the Inquisitr in a previous report, is the addition of Alolan forms for Pokemon.

For those Pokemon fans who don’t follow the main series games, Pokemon Sun and Moon will be introducing a new feature: regional forms for existing Pokemon. In a mechanic inspired by the divergent animal species evolutions on the Galapagos Islands, Pokemon Sun and Moon are replacing a select few generation one Pokemon with slightly different versions of those same Pokemon that are supposedly better suited to the Hawaii-inspired region in which the games take place. The alternate versions were developed exclusively for Pokemon Sun and Moon and will not appear in other titles (unless the games are remade at some point in the future).

Pokémon Sun & Moon – Alolan Ninetales https://t.co/phC67gL856 pic.twitter.com/XssnFKj1m7

— Luther from NintendObs Daily (@NintendObserver) August 4, 2016

It would be sort of genius, and not at all unexpected, if Niantic and The Pokemon Company jumped on the idea of Alolan Pokemon – the name for the new alternate forms of generation one Pokemon – in order to publicize Pokemon Sun and Moon. The main series games are the franchise’s bread and butter, after all. What if the Pokemon that are getting new forms (Sandshrew, Sandslash, Vulpix, Ninetales, Exeggutor, Meowth, Persian, Marowak, Raichu, Rattata, Raticate, Grimer, Muk, Digglett, Dugtrio, Geodude, Graveler, and Golem) were all suddenly replaced in Pokemon Go by the new forms?

“Why is this Pokemon, while still recognizable, all of the sudden very different?” people would wonder. They would then go to the internet, look up the reason for the change, and bam! That’s a free and very intriguing Pokemon Sun and Moon advertisement, just in time for the games’ release.

Even with both the Nearby Pokemon update and the Alolan Pokemon update, of course, Pokemon Go would still be far from a great game. The fact is that it is still riddled with problems. The app’s latest update, which was reported by The Bit Bag, adds daily quests, makes it easier to take down powerful gyms, and prevents gym ownership from being sniped. Surely that is more than enough to keep Pokemon Go fans satiated for at least the next week.

#PokémonGO's next update adds daily bonuses. #Pokémon #Niantic #Nintendo — Read here: https://t.co/LSBww2Nbl0 pic.twitter.com/kPyBwJ0UIt

— Gamnesia (@TheGamnesia) November 3, 2016

What Pokemon Go updates, if any, will be rolled out to honor the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon? We’ll know for sure in about a week and a half!

[Featured Image by KeongDaGreat/iStock]