Welcome to the latest One More Catch weekly newsletter, offering you a guide to the days ahead in Pokémon Go.
Hope you're all recovered from the Mega Finale, as there's another Mega-focused week ahead. The 'Mega Squads' event sees the debut of Mega Level 4 Beedrill and Houndoom, two new Gen 9 additions, a new shiny to chase, and a very welcome Community Day Classic on Saturday.
So here's a snapshot of everything coming to Pokémon Go in the days ahead, the biggest opportunities available, and a roundup of Pokémon news and site updates you may have missed.
Events in Pokémon Go this week (7th to 13th September)
All times are at your local time, unless otherwise stated.
What to know about this week
Here's what jumps out to me in the days ahead:
Five new debuts
For completionists, there are five new things arriving as part of the 'Mega Squads' event starting 10am Tuesday:
- Gen 9's Maschiff and Mabosstiff (from Eggs and Field Research from Friday, and the event Go Pass)
- Shiny Flamigo (appears in the wild, Field Research, event Go Pass and Eggs)
- Mega Beedrill at Mega Level 4 (plus third Charged Attack Fell Stinger+ at all Mega levels)
- Mega Houndoom at Mega Level 4 (plus third Charged Attack Dark Pulse+ at all Mega Levels)
Thankfully, there's a few ways to get Mega Beedrill and Mega Houndoom Energy throughout the event - from the usual Mega Raids (Beedrill from Tuesday, Houndoom from Friday) and a chance of Mega Energy dropping when catching Weedle and Houndour - or their evolutions - in the wild (something which also applies to Pidgey and Carvanha spawns).
Mega Energy dropping upon catches is particularly useful because...
There are two Spotlight Hours this week
There are Spotlight Hours on both the usual Thursday slot and Sunday this week, focusing on Weedle (and evolutions) and Houndour (and evolution) respectively.
On paper, this is a great way to try and get both all the way to Mega Level 4 without having to lean on Mega Raids. Of course, we don't know the Mega Energy drop rate, or how much Mega Energy you'll receive each time, so it could be a bit of a bust - but I'm going to be showing up to both to see how far I get.
Both share also the same 2x Transfer Candy bonus, by the way - perfect for clearing out your storage post-Mega Finale week.
A worthwhile Community Day Classic
Community Day Classic events usually offer a welcome chance to get a powerful Pokémon you might have missed, and in Gible's case, final evolution Garchomp is one of the best Ground-type attackers in the game (especially its Mega Evolution, which is only bested by Primal Groundon). As such, it's well worth showing up for to get one with decent stats, and catch enough XL Candy to then fully power it up.
As for how the day works, expect boosted spawns for the highlighted Pokémon during event hours (2pm to 5pm), with extra spawns appearing at Lure Modules until 9pm, as well as an increased chance of finding a shiny throughout.
A few extra Community Day tips:
- Don't forget to have a Mega Evolution active for additional Catch Candy. With the Ground- and Dragon-typing, you have quite a few options available to you.
- There is no 2x Catch Candy bonus unfortunately, but there is 2x Catch XP if you fancy popping on a Lucky Egg.
- If you haven't got it already, it's a good opportunity to get Dipplin's Special Evolution Hydrapple (catch 7 Dragon-type with Dipplin as your Buddy)...
- ...as well as getting the elusive Dragon-type Catch medal closer to Platinum.
The return of the Collection Challenge
Collection Challenges have gone out of vogue since Daily Discoveries arrived in the Spring (ignoring location-specific events, the last was for the Pokopia tie-in event back in March) so it's a delight to see one return during the Community Day Classic.
It sounds like it'll be pretty straightforward - tasking you to evolve Gible and Gabite, according to the official comms - but it rewards you XP, Stardust and Garchomp Mega Energy, plus - most importantly - another digit for your Elite Collector medal.
What's new in Pokémon and Pokémon Go?
Here's a roundup of stories from the week:
- If you're reading this on Sunday 6th, then today is the final day you can get a free Mewtwo with max stats in Pokémon Go. It'll take you 5-10 minutes tops to claim, and you can always trade it to Pokémon Home for use in other games in you prefer:
Matthew Reynolds
- During the Mega Finale weekend, we saw a free Mega Finale Global Challenge code - MEGACOMMUNITY - rewarding 10 Ultra Balls and 1 Premium Raid Pass.
- No idea on the expiry date for this one, but since it's tied to the Mega Finale event, best to redeem sooner than later; the above link will fill out the code on the official redemption site automatically to speed things up.
Matthew Reynolds
- A small interesting UI tweak with the arrival of Mewtwo's Adventure Effect that can break two shields instead of one: the lobby now says what the shield break potential is to help clarify the numbers you have before jumping into a raid. (Thanks reddit for revealing!)
mega pokemon count replaced with shield break potential
by u/Pleasant-Animal4283 in TheSilphRoad
- Elsewhere, Pokémon Champions is seeing a 'Junior' edition in Germany and Brazil to allow younger players to practice and compete in competitions while also complying with local in-app purchase regulations.
- The official site has details on how the version differs to the regular edition. It's such a welcome idea that I'd love to see it available globally, given the chance.
- In the latest instalment of 'the value of Pokémon cards has gotten a bit silly', The Guardian has published a report on how small businesses are being affected by a growing trend of thieves targeting postal deliveries:
Guardian staff reporter
- Finally, in wider industry news, Savvy Games Group CEO Brian Ward is stepping down. As for why this is relevant, he oversaw the group's "$37.8 billion investment to expand Saudi Arabia's presence in the global games industry", according to GI.biz, including the acquisition of Scopely in 2023 (which, in turn, acquired most of Niantic's games division, including Pokémon Go, in 2025):
Sophie McEvoy
One More Catch notes
Between having a sickness bug (just as well I didn't book in travel to gamescom, eh?) and shuffling to my desk occasionally to cover news and guides from Worlds around it, I completely missed the site's six month anniversary last week!
The time has absolutely flown by, and as a little thanks and way to celebrate, here's a newsletter-only subscriber sale that I'll keep active until the arrival of the next instalment:
- 25% Good Supporter discount (£10 / ~$13 off a year)
That's the end of this week's newsletter! As usual, we wrap with a reminder that you can subscribe to One More Catch for bonus articles, extra site functionality such as ad-free browsing, and as a way to show your support for the newsletter and site in general.
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Hope you have a great week!
